FlyingGreg
Active member
I have started re-watching last season in detail. A few things have jumped out:
COVERING TIGHT ENDS
I know we discussed this a lot last season, but holy crap we were TERRIBLE; worse than I thought. TE's were wide open all the time! We were lucky to have the pressure we got from Bennett and Avril in many of those games or it could have even been worse.
Bad, bad, bad. There were reasons, for sure... Kam's holdout, Earl clearly not at 100%, Cary Williams, etc.
But, it lasted all season. Schematically, our coaching staff did a really bad job of fixing this. I have to think when they re-watched last season's film this off-season they took that to heart and we will see huge improvement this season.
JUSTIN BRITT...
Yikes. He really is a revolving door at times. To be fair, he does do a serviceable job in spots. But that is definitely an area where we need to shore up protection. There was tons of A gap pressure all season.
I can't imagine Britt starting at center Game 1. I just don't see it.
Along those lines, I have no idea how they thought Drew Nowak was the right choice to start at center. Nowak and Britt next to each other was lethally ineffective.
DEFENSIVE CREATIVITY
I know Pete's approach is to play their game and rely on his defenders to make plays. But I would really like to see some more creativity on defense. We rarely ever see a corner or safety blitz. One memorable play last season was Williams sacking Nick Foles in the first game against St. Louis, forcing the fumble and then returning it for a TD that put us up 31-24. However, in reviewing that game that does not look like a called corner blitz...it just looked like Williams saw the opportunity and reacted instinctively, not unlike Richard Sherman vs the Jets a few years ago.
Anyways, would love to show some wrinkles. Teams seem like they really know how to attack the soft spots of our zone better and better now.
KILLER INSTINCT
It is painful to watch our defense give up late leads over and over last season. They really lacked a killer instinct, which was a bad combination with all of the other factors combined.
I sense that the D wants some redemption this season, just from comments and quotes I have read the last few months. I think they are fired up.
One positive...if we can pass protect better this season, this offense has the potential to score 30 a game. There were receivers open everywhere but Russ barely had a chance to blink let alone find people. Once they adjusted to a quick-strike passing game, the offense really took off (as has been well documented).
Speaking of Wilson. Any other QB in the league on our team last season (outside of maybe Cam Newton), and we are probably 6-10 or 7-9 at best. His escapability is tuly Houdini-ish. He saved us from so many negative plays. Amazing.
P.S. Man we are going to miss Beast! His tenacity and power was incredible. Thomas Rawls has some big cleats to fill.
COVERING TIGHT ENDS
I know we discussed this a lot last season, but holy crap we were TERRIBLE; worse than I thought. TE's were wide open all the time! We were lucky to have the pressure we got from Bennett and Avril in many of those games or it could have even been worse.
Bad, bad, bad. There were reasons, for sure... Kam's holdout, Earl clearly not at 100%, Cary Williams, etc.
But, it lasted all season. Schematically, our coaching staff did a really bad job of fixing this. I have to think when they re-watched last season's film this off-season they took that to heart and we will see huge improvement this season.
JUSTIN BRITT...
Yikes. He really is a revolving door at times. To be fair, he does do a serviceable job in spots. But that is definitely an area where we need to shore up protection. There was tons of A gap pressure all season.
I can't imagine Britt starting at center Game 1. I just don't see it.
Along those lines, I have no idea how they thought Drew Nowak was the right choice to start at center. Nowak and Britt next to each other was lethally ineffective.
DEFENSIVE CREATIVITY
I know Pete's approach is to play their game and rely on his defenders to make plays. But I would really like to see some more creativity on defense. We rarely ever see a corner or safety blitz. One memorable play last season was Williams sacking Nick Foles in the first game against St. Louis, forcing the fumble and then returning it for a TD that put us up 31-24. However, in reviewing that game that does not look like a called corner blitz...it just looked like Williams saw the opportunity and reacted instinctively, not unlike Richard Sherman vs the Jets a few years ago.
Anyways, would love to show some wrinkles. Teams seem like they really know how to attack the soft spots of our zone better and better now.
KILLER INSTINCT
It is painful to watch our defense give up late leads over and over last season. They really lacked a killer instinct, which was a bad combination with all of the other factors combined.
I sense that the D wants some redemption this season, just from comments and quotes I have read the last few months. I think they are fired up.
One positive...if we can pass protect better this season, this offense has the potential to score 30 a game. There were receivers open everywhere but Russ barely had a chance to blink let alone find people. Once they adjusted to a quick-strike passing game, the offense really took off (as has been well documented).
Speaking of Wilson. Any other QB in the league on our team last season (outside of maybe Cam Newton), and we are probably 6-10 or 7-9 at best. His escapability is tuly Houdini-ish. He saved us from so many negative plays. Amazing.
P.S. Man we are going to miss Beast! His tenacity and power was incredible. Thomas Rawls has some big cleats to fill.