Defense

[Chawker]

Our guys on the field are playing good, but give credit where credit is due. Mr. Ken Norton jr. One hellva coach!
Cheers

 

[pittpnthrs]

The D shows up at times but rarely have it together for the majority of the game. Its going to take time to cease the erratic play, but I like the fight and adapting that they do.

 

[jlwaters1]

Martin, Calitro, Green, Jordan, Jackson, Ford, Jones, and Thompson are all playing at replacement level right now. There's not a single one of them that wouldn't be readily supplanted by a veteran signing, a first-round draft pick, or a Kam-type late round gem.

Sure, they lay the wood...in between plays in which they totally misdiagnose things and get out of position. Jordan Babineaux Part Deux. They're especially bad first half. They've done a much better job cleaning up in the second, but their first half problems are leading to a lot of attrition.

Can they improve? Possibly. But they need to, quickly. Otherwise, if this team goes to the Super Bowl in 2019, the pieces on defense that will enable that run probably are not all on the team yet.

Nonsense, so your suggesting that NONE of them are going to take a significant step forward in year 2? (or year 2 of extensive playing time?) When it is generally accepted that players make their biggest gains in years 2 and 3?

I think we'll see Martin and Green develop into nice role players or even better than that. Frank Clark if you recall wasn't much of a factor as a rookie but then had a terrific 2nd year. You have to give players time to develop. They don't stay stagnant. We've seen this countless times:

Here are just a few.
Unger sucks-- Then he doesn't after moving from guard to Center
Britt Sucks- Then he doesn't in year 3 as he moves from Tackle--> guard--> Center
Ifedi sucks- Then he doesn't in year 3 after moving from guard-->tackle

 

[capncrunch]

The D is better than I thought they would be this year. With a healthy KJ and ET all season we'd be fine, but struggling a bit without. Yeah. Kendricks is awesome. I can't wait to get him back. Maybe I will give him some money to invest. Yeah Griffin will have to step it up. Liking Flowers. Interesting to me how well they plaued in the 2nd half vs. Green Bay.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

IMO, Shaquill is the weakest link of this defense, and it's not even close.

Griffin certainly hasn't had a great year, but he's by no means the weakest link on the defense. Calitro, Thompson Flowers, KJ trying to play hurt and Dion Jordan has been non existent the entire year.

Also remember this is Griffin's first year moving over to the primary DB expected to line up against a LOT of #1 WR's, that's a big jump from just expecting to not mess up opposite Sherm.

Overall I can't see how anyone would not be please with how the defense is playing and progressing, they're WAY further along then I thought they'd be.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Nonsense, so your suggesting that NONE of them are going to take a significant step forward in year 2?

right now

Can they improve? Possibly.

 

[themunn]

The defense reminds me a bit of the 2011 defense that ultimately finished 9th in yards allowed and 7th in PPG, but by the end of the season had made notable progress (albeit with the disclaimer of playing just 1 game against a team with a winning record over the last 7 games).

That was a team that included Thomas, Sherman, Chancellor, Browner, Wright, Mebane, Clemons and Bryant, who were all starters throughout the superbowl season. The additions of Wagner, Avril & Bennett over the next 2 years were the missing pieces that helped take us over the top.

This defense sits in 11th and 8th in YPG/PPG respectively (having played 4 games against top 10 offenses), and now has a favourable run coming up against some pretty poor teams in Arizona & SF, and middle-of-the-road teams in Minnesota & Carolina (plus a tough match against KC). I expect they'll probably perform quite well across most of those and end up similarly ranked to the 2011 defense. The real question is can we add those key pieces either cheaply (as we managed with Avril & Bennett) or smartly through the draft (with Wagner & Irvin) to help take us over the top?

 

[Mad Dog]

Run defense was good and they did sack Rodgers 5 times but disappointed in the pass defense. Randall Cobb was out, Graham got injured, and they still got 311 yards passing on the Seahawks. The breaker was a 4th string, PS TE getting behind the defense for a deep TD. Unacceptable. LB play has been atrocious. They have not been playing well defensively (secondary and middle) since the Chargers game. Furthermore, they are not forcing turnovers as they were earlier in the year. They can and need to be better.

Do you really think that MacDougald was expecting an under siege Rodgers to roll out and throw a 58 yd pass on a dime? That was an all world crazy throw. I'm sure the TE was as shocked as Macdougald that Rodgers heaved up a pass that far in that situation.
And he didn't let the TE get behind him, he was trailing him on the deepest crossing route I've ever seen

And as others have said: Rodgers and Rivers are top end QB's. Goff has a great OC and OL and all world RB. Even the LOB would get burned by those guys. I remember Rothlisberger having a field day in 2015 against our supposed dominant D. Give the young kids a break.

 

[chris98251]

The defense reminds me a bit of the 2011 defense that ultimately finished 9th in yards allowed and 7th in PPG, but by the end of the season had made notable progress (albeit with the disclaimer of playing just 1 game against a team with a winning record over the last 7 games).

That was a team that included Thomas, Sherman, Chancellor, Browner, Wright, Mebane, Clemons and Bryant, who were all starters throughout the superbowl season. The additions of Wagner, Avril & Bennett over the next 2 years were the missing pieces that helped take us over the top.

This defense sits in 11th and 8th in YPG/PPG respectively (having played 4 games against top 10 offenses), and now has a favourable run coming up against some pretty poor teams in Arizona & SF, and middle-of-the-road teams in Minnesota & Carolina (plus a tough match against KC). I expect they'll probably perform quite well across most of those and end up similarly ranked to the 2011 defense. The real question is can we add those key pieces either cheaply (as we managed with Avril & Bennett) or smartly through the draft (with Wagner & Irvin) to help take us over the top?

We don't make the schedules, nobody knows how bad or good a team is going to be in a given year, too many variables. We do have current rankings and what we have done, and any team can go on a roll and have a winning record by the end of the season. Why I don't think it's really practical to say we have not played anyone good or we have just played crap teams. The rankings in points and yards don't care about the other teams records.

If you want to rank competition levels then it is different.