Defensive coordinator

I've lurked on the website for years, don't post much but had this question. After losing in the fourth quarter again, at what point is Kris Richard in the hot seat?

We have spent a huge amount of money on the core of our defense. Kris inherited the best defense in the league. The legion of boom has been in disarray and don't seem to have any communication. Even Earl said last week that he wasn't prepared.

Do you think Kris is in the hot seat? Or is this fall on Pete since it's his defense?

I would have to say that Kris and Pete have to share the blame equally. Pete is the head coach and has to take some responsibility. One of the reasons they have given up those leads in the fourth quarter is not only the lack of a defined pass rush, but a push up the middle. That's where you get the QB to move off his spot and record the sack with help from outside pressure. The only reason I think we don't blitz as much is because that would leave Cary Williams on an island that no one would want to see. Our team is in trouble. There are too many parts to fix at this time. The lack of deep speed and separation down the field is apparent. The 0-line as we all have known is not as good. You can't put all of the blame on Russell, because he has to run on every passing play. And too many times we telegraph our runs and pass. When we show pass the other team blitzes and it's lights out. Our play calling is very conservative out side of the flee flicker today that was great to see. Offensively we are very predictable. But the fact that we have to settle for field goals instead of touch downs hurts as the game wears on. Hey there will be better days. But soon we have to face reality that this season could be slipping away. I'm not saying it's over, and I'm not saying you have to start playing for next year. But that question will be answered very quickly within the next 5 weeks as the Hawks play the 49er's twice, the Cowboys, Cardinals, and the Steelers. And the last game with the Steelers concerns me the most. With the speed that they present at wide out I fear to watch Cary Williams try and stay with them. It can be hard to watch at times. But the struggles you see this year are from poor decisions from the coaching staff and indecisive play calling both offensively and defensively that is crippling the 2015 season.

Kris Richards isn't a NFL D-Coordinator, he doesn't belong with the big boys.

Kam Chancellor is the biggest elephant in the room. The LOB didn't support him and he left the team high and dry. I have no idea how Pete is going to bring these guys together.

Hard to say what's on the players and what's on the coaches, but not a great vote of confidence to hear Earl say this defense isn't prepared and is getting the wrong calls in two consecutive weeks. That feels like a coaching problem.

It's possible he's in over his head. But there's no way Pete is going to dump him in the middle of the season. So we just have to hope he grows up fast.

There are just too many breakdowns happening all over the field to place him on the hotseat.

I stand on the side blaming the offense more than the defense. We aren't sustaining drives like we need to be. There are several factors playing a role in this, but I think this offense stunk to high heaven again today ad we will not beat teams if we can't control the ball.

Do we blame him for the defense failing in the 4th qtr last year.
The last few years we won a lot of games we probably should have lost, now things are just evening out.

The easiest place to lay blame is on the OC and DC.The truth is we have lost players and coaches and we arn't the same D.They still can play good enough to win any game we play but so can the other team.There arn't any gimmies in the NFL.

we haven't gotten rid of bevell in 4 damn years.

richard isn't going anywhere. maybe we'll be lucky and he'll get a HC job. probably in washington.

I don't know why but our DB's have blown a lot of coverages this season. The game winner today had a TE run right passed Sherm and Earl. That should never happen.

If Kris was a terrible DC, our defense would be uniformly terrible.

It isn't.

We get big stops repeatedly. Our secondary is playing well despite getting few INTs and being stuck with CJ on one side.

Not saying it is top 5 but it isn't bad either.

Then in the 4th, we give up anything.

Makes it clear taht this is something Kris will need to fix and that can be learned/adjusted. Because again, if we was terrible - we wouldn't have leads in the 3rd, given our team is pretty much a joke on offense.

Not to say Kris does not have fault here, but given how inexperienced he is - the question becomes can he grow out of it?

brimsalabim":2ttx2987 said:

I don't know why but our DB's have blown a lot of coverages this season. The game winner today had a TE run right passed Sherm and Earl. That should never happen.

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Our D-Coordinators sole job used to be making sure they understood their assignments. Now he's running the entire team. We don't have Norton taking care of the linebackers, we don't have quinn taking care of the dlineman. We shouldn't have let them go.

Yeah...so we have blown 4 4th quarter leads (and it should have been 5)...2 of which were double digits. When do we start blaming the DC instead of the OC?

When the OC starts scoring some godd*mn touchdowns or not just punting the ball back repeatedly expecting the defense to have to hold the other team for 3+ possessions.

98% of the blame for every one of these losses is on the offense, the defense is just the last dam to break.

How much does each unit resent one another right now?

We had a crap offense at the end of 2013 as well and the defense didnt choke leads away EVERY SINGLE GAME.

People point out SB XLVIX, but that was a rare example of a meltdown under Quinn. It was a regular occurance under Bradley and it's happening all the time under Richard.