Area of Improvement - Defense

Hyak · Feb 7, 2015

I think most realize that our defense and team overall was very good this year (should have been good enough to win the SB again but I digress) but that the 2013 team was more dominant. And yes the Hawks down the stretch were playing great defense but they also hit the sweet spot of teams to play: Arizona twice with 2nd/3rd string QB's, SF twice with Kaepernick, the Eagles with Sanchez, and the Rams with journeyman Shaun Hill.

Here's some comparative numbers that illustrate this and pose the question of how they can notch it back up to be dominant on defense. My hope is that PC/JS work to replenish the defense line depth to where we can have a legit rotation without a huge drop off in production and address secondary depth concerns.

2013: 16-3
Points allowed: 271 (14.2/game)
48 sacks, 19 TD/32 INT
2014: 14-5
Points allowed: 321 (16.9/game)
41 sacks, 24 TD/21 INT

Definitely a bit of a regression in 2014 due to multiple factors such as injuries depleting depth, inconsistent pass rush, and facing some really good QB’s.

I don’t know if people realized it but the top QB’s really took it to the Hawks this year as opposed to last year.

2013: 4 games (3-1) facing Luck, Brees, and Peyton Manning
Points allowed: 64 (16/game). Note Indy scored 34 of them and 1 TD was a blocked kick return
5 sacks, 5 TD/2 INT
In the other 15 games (13-2), they allowed 14 TD, 30 INT, produced 43 sacks, and allowed 207 points (13.8 points/game).

2014: 6 games (3-3) facing Rodgers, Rivers, Peyton Manning, Romo, and Brady
Points allowed: 146 points (24.3/game)
10 sacks, 13 TD/6 INT
In the other 13 games, they allowed 11 TD's, 15 INT's, 31 sacks, and the defense allowed 175 points (13.5 points/game) and only 3 teams scored over 20 points and 2 of them had ST scores against us.

brimsalabim · Feb 7, 2015

This should come as a surprise to no one. There were very well publicized " holes" in our cover 3 coming into the season. In order to take advantage of those it was said that a QB must have both the time to let those develop and the acuracy to hit those spots. Once our center pass Rush was compromised (free agent attrition and injuries) we needed to adjust. There are a lot of great things about Pete and his style of coaching but in this case he may have been too stubborn.

As to improving though, well the easy fix would be Suh. With Bennett, Avril, on the outsides and Suh pushing up the middle QBs won't have time to allow those mid range he's to open.

IMO we our two all world safeties need to work on their "heads up" tackles. Some times the LOB beats the heck out of each other during games and practice. How the heck did Kam get hurt on the last play of the last practice before a Super Bowl where he was set to cover Gronk? I know injuries happen in football but some times we really need to be smarter.

Hyak · Feb 7, 2015

To me, the LOB's style of play is what makes them great. The good far outweighs the bad. Much like Wilson's style of play at QB when he's running around back there.

Fix the pass rush (not necessarily sacks) and this unit gets back to dominating even the great QB's. In fairness, injuries were a factor but in addition we need to add here or have Marsh step up to get back to the 2013 model where you have 6 or 7 legit starters in the rotation. To me, that's more important than who replaces Maxwell.

Sports Hernia · Feb 7, 2015

JTB":295yc6fx said:
I think most realize that our defense and team overall was very good this year (should have been good enough to win the SB again but I digress) but that the 2013 team was more dominant. And yes the Hawks down the stretch were playing great defense but they also hit the sweet spot of teams to play: Arizona twice with 2nd/3rd string QB's, SF twice with Kaepernick, the Eagles with Sanchez, and the Rams with journeyman Shaun Hill.

Here's some comparative numbers that illustrate this and pose the question of how they can notch it back up to be dominant on defense. My hope is that PC/JS work to replenish the defense line depth to where we can have a legit rotation without a huge drop off in production and address secondary depth concerns.

2013: 16-3
Points allowed: 271 (14.2/game)
48 sacks, 19 TD/32 INT
2014: 14-5
Points allowed: 321 (16.9/game)
41 sacks, 24 TD/21 INT

Definitely a bit of a regression in 2014 due to multiple factors such as injuries depleting depth, inconsistent pass rush, and facing some really good QB’s.

I don’t know if people realized it but the top QB’s really took it to the Hawks this year as opposed to last year.

2013: 4 games (3-1) facing Luck, Brees, and Peyton Manning
Points allowed: 64 (16/game). Note Indy scored 34 of them and 1 TD was a blocked kick return
5 sacks, 5 TD/2 INT
In the other 15 games (13-2), they allowed 14 TD, 30 INT, produced 43 sacks, and allowed 207 points (13.8 points/game).

2014: 6 games (3-3) facing Rodgers, Rivers, Peyton Manning, Romo, and Brady
Points allowed: 146 points (24.3/game)
10 sacks, 13 TD/6 INT
In the other 13 games, they allowed 11 TD's, 15 INT's, 31 sacks, and the defense allowed 175 points (13.5 points/game) and only 3 teams scored over 20 points and 2 of them had ST scores against us.

I think lack of depth is what hurt the D this year. That's what the salary cap is designed to do. We have young players that are great and need to be paid so your depth takes a hit. The good thing though is the Hawks are good at drafting and working the cap but there will be ebbs and flows. I expect next season to be a rougher one because of injuries to key cogs, lack of quality depth (see Simon who's always out of position) and Bevell's mistakes will manifest themselves more if he is still here.

I think it's going to take an off year to get us right back where we need to be, and being "Bevell free" would help. I think Bevell will last one more year and then make a lateral move somewhere else.

Hawks46 · Feb 7, 2015

Honestly the only places we really need to improve defensive talent is:

Defensive Line depth and CB depth.

And honestly, we might already have it on our team. We have that guy from SF (Dobbs ?), Hill will most likely improve (which is why we need better depth....Hill has been injury prone so far), and we'll probably add a draft pick or FA. This is the easiest place to pick up good FA signings, as DL is generally cheaper and guys that want to win are starting to take discounts to come here. Also with our rotation, it helps veterans not get hurt and fatigued.

CB depth we also might have. Simon can improve, you have to count last year as his rookie year for on the field experience. He had flashes of brilliance and games that were terrible. Lane is still pretty good, and Burley will likely improve with another year in this system and being around the LOB. I thought Burley was damned good when we needed to count on him and I think he would've out played Simon with his matchups in the SB.

I think they're going to draft for this, and honestly I don't feel comfortable counting on guys that haven't proven anything to improve, but there's a ton of guys like Simon, Burley, Britt, Norwood, Richardson (when he gets healthy) KPL, etc. that got significant playing time and should get better.

IndyHawk · Feb 7, 2015

Number 1 defense in football and it's not good enough?

ukeface:

TeamoftheCentury · Feb 7, 2015

Excited about the talent on the roster and anticipate KPL and Cassius Marsh making big impacts next season. This team is in position to re-tool through (FA? and) the draft. Need to have a Championship off-season.

Hyak · Feb 7, 2015

IndyHawk":23v2ry9z said:
Number 1 defense in football and it's not good enough? ukeface:

I guess my point is that the performance against top QB's wasn't #1 so how do we get it back to 2013 dominance. Again, I think the run of average to poor QB's in the second half helped them get the #1 defense numbers. I also think the Hill, Avril, and Lane injuries were huge going up against a great QB.

The offense has plenty of room to improve as well. Don't get me wrong. That said, I don't ever see them putting up 30 points a game on offense as currently constructed.

hangumhi · Feb 7, 2015

IndyHawk":14f7u7hu said:
Number 1 defense in football and it's not good enough? ukeface:

Has nothing to do with not being good enough it's about how to sustain. You act like just because you're at the top there's not room to improve. There's always room to improve plus as a coach and GM you always have to be looking to the future which is exactly what these posters are talking about.

IndyHawk · Feb 7, 2015

hangumhi":3qu050o1 said:
IndyHawk":3qu050o1 said:

Number 1 defense in football and it's not good enough? ukeface:

Click to expand...

Has nothing to do with not being good enough it's about how to sustain. You act like just because you're at the top there's not room to improve. There's always room to improve plus as a coach and GM you always have to be looking to the future which is exactly what these posters are talking about.

No kidding?Petes mantra tells me that but in my opinion 2013 might never be repeated and I was real happy with 2014 considering all the injuries /fa's we had.We will be fine as long as we keep Pete/John ..They don't go by what we want or speculate(thank god).If you guys were talking offense /special teams and our glorious OC then I'd be quiet lol.

HawkFan72 · Feb 7, 2015

IndyHawk":1iwhlgq2 said:
Number 1 defense in football and it's not good enough? ukeface:

The point is that they regressed. Still the best, but trending in the wrong direction. Just because you're on top doesn't mean you have to sit tight, get complacent, and make no improvements.

chris98251 · Feb 7, 2015

I would say improved health would be a great start. Teams are going to attack us different ways every year trying to break down what we do. Bend but don't break is what we do a lot of and keeping things in front of us, we may give up yards some games but not points. Have to understand the strategy of what we are doing to really tell how successful the defense is on a given day.

So far it's added up to number one tow years in a row.

I think that there will be a lot of eyes focused on them this year with the loss of so many coaches and our DC on that side of the ball.

Area of Improvement - Defense

Hyak

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brimsalabim

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Sports Hernia

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