I enjoy football but consider myself a casual fan. i don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the game like some peeps. But one thing is obvious to me. We need big strong defenders in the secondary. Looking at the past game Kevin Walters (6'3") got us for 98 yards and Andre Johnson (Also 6'3") another 178. Going back to the Arizona game we have Larry Fitzgerald (6'3) burn us for 153 yards. And then there was Anquan Boldin (A very physical 6'1") gets us for 140 yards and 3TD's. We can't cover the big guys. Our secondary has a problem covering big physical receivers. And now that our opponents have seen enough film on us I expect that they are going to go all pass happy on us. I don't think our team can progress any further til we can stop getting torched for 379 yards like Matt Schaub did to us or for 361 like Kurt Warner did. I'm sure none of this is a big suprise to anyone. But what can Tuna and Co. due to fix up the pass defense? And what players should we be looking to acquire to fix the problem long term?
There is no quick fix for this secondary, Will Allen is our best Corner but he can't cover those elite WR's, the other guys get abused. Hopefully through FA or the draft they get some DB's because the front 7 is looking pretty damn good out there.
Yeah our front 7 is looking really good. That's our saving grace. Our guys are able to get pressure and make sacks. But once that ball is in the air our secondary has problems defending the big guys. And we're going to lose otherwise winnable games because of it.
LOL! And by other guys you mean Andre Goodman right? He is to big receivers what a hooker is to a pimp... There *****!
Yes our secondary is a BIG weakness now. Among other things, our safeties never give enough support to the corners on the deep passes with the bigger receivers. Teams with bigger, more dominant receivers will hurt us. Also, keep in mind that if we realize this then I'm sure other teams will too and I'm sure we are going to see teams try to exploit that weakness of ours in the games coming up. We have to come up with something to combat that for this season. The thing is, like the cheesy cliche says.."Rome was not built in a day". We had to start the rebuilding process by solidifying the trenches, by building the foundation. It's great this staff gets that. We still have some more to do there, but you can see the obvious improvements of that part of the team. I have no doubts the staff sees the weakness with our secondary and that they will improve that through the draft and a little through free agency. Enjoy the ride! We are getting there!
I agree we absolutely need more talent in the D-backfield, but to be honest, maybe 4 teams in the league have the talent to stay with Boldin and Fitz. Now then if you break down both the Houston and Arizona games, it is easy to see a big part of the problem. In Neither game did our front 7 pressure the QB. San Diego and New England was a different story, and both Rivers and Cassel were throwing from the seat of their pants. One huge thing I do see over last year is our Run-defense is 200% better. Have to take positives where you can. I think the FO addresses the Defensive backfield MUCH this next season.
Essentially, an ideal situation is that we use Jason Allen's size and speed to counter but he's just not getting it right now. Or we pick up Nnamdi Asomugha but I find that also a bit unlikely.
True our run defense is one of the top in the league. The problem is that when we get beat in the air we get beat badly. We do have smart coaches and Tuna who has seen it all. Maybe they can make some adjustments to schemes to make better use of the talent we've got. Otherwise it's going to be a season tantalizing us with potential.
Lets all hope and keep our finger crossed that in the 2009 draft none of the teams who draft ahead of us in the first round need a defensive back so that we can get the best one available. My hope is that we get a DB a WR and a LB with the first three picks.
I don't know I am thinking a Michael Crabtree at reciever or Mauluga at linebacker. That money at the top we should spend on Nmandi. I doubt the raiders might be able to get him.
Highly unlikely Crabtree is here. Maualuga is an option as is George Selvie and a Nose Tackle. If we can't get Selvie, I'd love for us to get Malcolm Jenkins or Vontae Davis but that may be unlikely as well.
Last draft we needed help badly on everything really but especially on our lines. We drafted 3 OL and 3 DL and we picked up some free agents. This season our guys in the trenches are much more improved. I would really love this season for us to draft 2 or 3 DB's and 2-3 WR's. I think with some better play in those areas that we would be a team with a winning record.
