Who are your starting Safeties

[Chico23231]

Originally Posted by Defensewins

...and we won the NFC East title for the first time in forever and made the playoffs. Rule #1 in good sound defense, control the line of scrimmage and stop the run. The rest is important as well, but if you do not stop the run you will not make the playoffs and you are playing for next year. We had one of the worst pass defenses last seson and still made the playoffs.

Im still old school and agree with this. +1

[warriorzpath]

Originally Posted by Skinzman

I have already said that if Gomes is better, that he should play over Rambo. I have also said that he clearly needs to work on his angles. But who is better on the team to play the position of free safety? The fact is, NFL coaches agree with me that playing the pass is important for a free safety. Otherwise we would just put a LB as a free safety if playing the run was the only thing they are responsible for.

What you dont seem to understand is that Gomes is not the second coming of Troy Polamalu. Nor is any of the other players that we have at free safety. If Rambo, for all of his deficiencies, is the best free safety on the team, then he should be the one playing.

Where in the hell did anyone, anywhere, come close to saying that Gomes is the second coming of Polamalu? You're the only one that even put them in the same sentence in the history of Gomes and Polamalu playing football. You are obviously delusional and in denial by even implying that I said something like that to bolster your argument.

[Defensewins]

Originally Posted by Skinzman

Because RG3 and Alfred Morris had absolutely nothing to do with that. It was all Doughty and Madieu Williams, without those 2 at safety, we win 3 games...

We won the NFC East due to our offense, not our horribly ranked defense. We won in spite of being one of the worst defenses in the league.

Take a look at the teams that make the playoffs and the ones that don't. The teams that can stop the run and can run the ball on offense (Ravens, 49ers, Seattle, Redskins,etc) make more times than not. You can listen to the fantasy football geeks and people that sell the game all you want that say the "NFL is a passing league". But high passing teams (Brady, Manning and Rogers) were watching the Superbowl while the balanced teams that ran the ball 49ers and Ravens played in it.

[Skinzman]

Originally Posted by Defensewins

Take a look at the teams that make the playoffs and the ones that don't. The teams that can stop the run and can run the ball on offense (Ravens, 49ers, Seattle, Redskins,etc) make more times than not. You can listen to the fantasy football geeks and people that sell the game all you want. But high passing teams were watching the Superbowl while the balanced teams that ran the ball 49ers and Ravens played in it.

The fact is we were average at stopping the run. Look at yards per carry, and we were middle of the pack. Its just that teams constantly passed on us and hardly ran. We had the fewest rushes against in the league. But if you honestly think that the reason the Ravens and 49ers stopped the run so well had nothing to do with any other players except the free safety, you are sadly mistaken. The Ravens and 49ers both had solid D lines and LB's.

Never once did I say that stopping the run was a bad thing. What I have said consistently is that the free safety is not the number one run stopper.

[Skinzman]

Originally Posted by warriorzpath

Where in the hell did anyone, anywhere, come close to saying that Gomes is the second coming of Polamalu? You're the only one that even put them in the same sentence in the history of Gomes and Polamalu playing football. You are obviously delusional and in denial by even implying that I said something like that to bolster your argument.

I will ask this again for the third time. Who is better at free safety on this team? If they are better than Rambo, then by all means they should play over him.

Im pretty sure that if you ask any D Coord. in the league, they will not tell you that the main responsibility of the free safety is to stop the run.

[Skinzman]

Just to add, when you go by total rushing yards against. Which is what is used to rank teams. The two best teams against the run were Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. Two teams that didnt make the playoffs. Baltimore was 20th against the run.

[warriorzpath]

Originally Posted by Skinzman

I will ask this again for the third time. Who is better at free safety on this team? If they are better than Rambo, then by all means they should play over him.

Im pretty sure that if you ask any D Coord. in the league, they will not tell you that the main responsibility of the free safety is to stop the run.

Let me say this for the UMPTEENTH time - he CAN'T play if he has this problem with the basics of tackling. Only IF he shows that he fixed this problem then that's when you put him into the discussion.

Have you seen a starting safety (free or otherwise) play in the NFL that consistently makes this mistake, have any kind of longevity? It's a secondary concern who plays in his place if he's making this mistake consistently, but he needs to be on the bench. He has 2 games to prove that he has fixed this problem, if not, and they start him (which I doubt), Vick and McCoy will eat him alive.

[SirLK26]

Part of the reason we were even average against the run was because teams didn't bother to run. They knew they could beat us through the air. I'm with Skinzman; Rambo is the best option and should start. He might get beat by Vick or McCoy a few times, but we can't pull him out of the Eagles' game and deny him valuable experience just so we win the game.

Edit: warriorzpath, Rambo is a rookie. As in, he has never played in an NFL regular season game. Give him time to develop; he's going to need more than just a couple games to improve.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Reed and Rambo. I don't trust Meriweather's health yet.

Actually, I probably trust him more for week 1 than week 2

Just catching up..but I agree with this. Has Meriweather been on the field this year? Reed and Rambo imo.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by warriorzpath

Let me say this for the UMPTEENTH time - he CAN'T play if he has this problem with the basics of tackling. Only IF he shows that he fixed this problem then that's when you put him into the discussion.

Have you seen a starting safety (free or otherwise) play in the NFL that consistently makes this mistake, have any kind of longevity? It's a secondary concern who plays in his place if he's making this mistake consistently, but he needs to be on the bench. He has 2 games to prove that he has fixed this problem, if not, and they start him (which I doubt), Vick and McCoy will eat him alive.

I remember during Sean Taylor's rookie year, he took bad angles trying to blow guys up. Not comparing Rambo to Taylor, but I think it's a technique thing that can be worked out.

[Skinzman]

Originally Posted by warriorzpath

Let me say this for the UMPTEENTH time - he CAN'T play if he has this problem with the basics of tackling. Only IF he shows that he fixed this problem then that's when you put him into the discussion.

Have you seen a starting safety (free or otherwise) play in the NFL that consistently makes this mistake, have any kind of longevity? It's a secondary concern who plays in his place if he's making this mistake consistently, but he needs to be on the bench. He has 2 games to prove that he has fixed this problem, if not, and they start him (which I doubt), Vick and McCoy will eat him alive.

You wont answer the question. Who is a better replacement? Gomes isnt the answer, and Doughty can in no way handle free safety. If he is the best player for the job, regardless of deficiencies, then he plays. And according to Shanny and Haslett, he is the best for the job right now.

Again... If we are relying on our free safety to stop the Eagles running game, we have already lost that game. If the free safety is who we are relying on to stop the run, then we need to put in a different MLB and move London to free safety.

As for free safeties having longevity, some free safeties made a name for themselves as a center fielder. Playing almost exclusively against the pass.

The problem with Rambo is taking angles in the open field. I agree thats a problem, but according to the coaches of the Redskins, he is the best suited for the job. Because they understand that for a free safety, the most important job is defending the passing game.

When we get that free safety who the coaches rate as better than Rambo, then Rambo will sit. I dont really care if he is sitting or not. I want the best player available at each position. And as of right now at the free safety spot, thats Rambo.

[MTK]

Rambo clearly needs work, but he's a rookie. It's to be expected. He just needs to settle down and get some confidence going.

[warriorzpath]

Originally Posted by SirLK26

Part of the reason we were even average against the run was because teams didn't bother to run. They knew they could beat us through the air. I'm with Skinzman; Rambo is the best option and should start. He might get beat by Vick or McCoy a few times, but we can't pull him out of the Eagles' game and deny him valuable experience just so we win the game.

Experience be damned if it means for a greater chance to lose. Maybe this is the disconnect- I'm thinking that winning is the priority.

[warriorzpath]

Originally Posted by Skinzman

You wont answer the question. Who is a better replacement? Gomes isnt the answer, and Doughty can in no way handle free safety. If he is the best player for the job, regardless of deficiencies, then he plays. And according to Shanny and Haslett, he is the best for the job right now.

Again... If we are relying on our free safety to stop the Eagles running game, we have already lost that game. If the free safety is who we are relying on to stop the run, then we need to put in a different MLB and move London to free safety.

As for free safeties having longevity, some free safeties made a name for themselves as a center fielder. Playing almost exclusively against the pass.

The problem with Rambo is taking angles in the open field. I agree thats a problem, but according to the coaches of the Redskins, he is the best suited for the job. Because they understand that for a free safety, the most important job is defending the passing game.

When we get that free safety who the coaches rate as better than Rambo, then Rambo will sit. I dont really care if he is sitting or not. I want the best player available at each position. And as of right now at the free safety spot, thats Rambo.

If he's still making this mistake, I'd think about playing him on obvious passing downs. I would start Reed Doughty at strong and Meriweather at free.

And I can't remember any safety making this mistake consistently in the NFL. Like I said before, one time (even for a long touchdown) you can chalk it up to being a rookie and a learning experience, but twice in his first 2 NFL game appearances is nothing to dismiss. It means that he didn't correct the problem and it wasn't a learning experience the first time around because he didn't learn.

[Skinzman]

Originally Posted by warriorzpath

If he's still making this mistake, I'd think about playing him on obvious passing downs. I would start Reed Doughty at strong and Meriweather at free.

And I can't remember any safety making this mistake consistently in the NFL. Like I said before, one time (even for a long touchdown) you can chalk it up to being a rookie and a learning experience, but twice in his first 2 NFL game appearances is nothing to dismiss. It means that he didn't correct the problem and it wasn't a learning experience the first time around because he didn't learn.

Thats assuming that Meriweather is healthy and can stay healthy. Which im not sold on yet. But if our defense is better with those two as a combo, im not against it.

I also dont buy that twice in his first two games means he didnt or cant learn it. The NFL can take some time to learn and get adjusted to game speed. Look at Alfred Morris, as a rookie, he made plenty miss tackles on him. Some of the players being well established players. Two missed tackles in two games, with one being an open field tackle against Chris Johnson running all by himself, is not some crazy thing that never happens.