I'll preface this by saying that the defense has been great and is the primary reason why we have had so much success in recent years (and why we were in the game on Saturday). Hank has does a fantastic job and has forgotten more football than I know.
But I've been thinking...Our defensive philosophy, which we have had a lot of success with, is to keep everything in front of us and make a team earn their way down the field with a long sustained drive. To do this, our CB's play off of WR's to give them a cushion, which leads to a lot of easy short completions. While this has worked for us, one thing I don't like about it with this year's team specifically is that it negates a strength of ours, which is a really good group of DE's. Giving the opposition the short passes typically comes with a QB getting the ball out of his hands quickly and not giving our line much of a chance to get pressure on the QB. Considering the fact that our d-line (specifically the DE's) is our deepest position group on the roster, I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more aggressiveness in the secondary with the CB's giving a little less cushion. This makes it more likely that we will give up something deep, but it also forces the QB to hang on to the ball longer, giving our really good DE group more of a chance to get sacks and force turnovers.
No doubt that the old adage of "if it's not broken, don't fix it" comes to mind, but I'd like to see our DE's have more of a chance to cause havoc, which would likely lead to more turnovers. Interested in other thoughts on this.
But I've been thinking...Our defensive philosophy, which we have had a lot of success with, is to keep everything in front of us and make a team earn their way down the field with a long sustained drive. To do this, our CB's play off of WR's to give them a cushion, which leads to a lot of easy short completions. While this has worked for us, one thing I don't like about it with this year's team specifically is that it negates a strength of ours, which is a really good group of DE's. Giving the opposition the short passes typically comes with a QB getting the ball out of his hands quickly and not giving our line much of a chance to get pressure on the QB. Considering the fact that our d-line (specifically the DE's) is our deepest position group on the roster, I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more aggressiveness in the secondary with the CB's giving a little less cushion. This makes it more likely that we will give up something deep, but it also forces the QB to hang on to the ball longer, giving our really good DE group more of a chance to get sacks and force turnovers.
No doubt that the old adage of "if it's not broken, don't fix it" comes to mind, but I'd like to see our DE's have more of a chance to cause havoc, which would likely lead to more turnovers. Interested in other thoughts on this.
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