http://touch.sun-sentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-80507547/ The article points out that the stats might be deceiving and poses the question about being clutch, letting Tampa run all over us, letting cam drive at the end of the game.. Idk, I felt when dimitri was in there and we had really good play opposite grimes the defense had a comp,etely different look, as in much more dominating. I think Misi will be better than Ellerbe, Finnegan better than Carroll, and who ever wins the nickel better.. Dion will be better, Ellerbe in a better position..better depth..the rest of our guys are in their prime and we shouldn't see drop off.. I Think our defense will be better..and with a better offense that can score some freakin points it should help them tremendously and put the defensive strengths into a better position to rush the passer and play pass defense.
agreed on the impact of when Patterson was briefly healthy. 2 biggest issues for this team, IMO, since the end of last season: will a revamped Oline be significantly better and who can pick up the slack at #2 CB? I see Finnegan as very hot or cold on a game-by-game basis. We really could use Jamar Taylor stepping it up and cracking the starting lineup.
And the three other teams were protected by good-great offenses. Especially the 49ers and Seahawks who run the ground and pound. The fact that we are in the same conversation as them with a putrid offense that is the complete opposite of ground and pound is nothing short of miraculous imo. If our offense greatly improves as a result of that the defense should too.
The thing Dimitri Patterson did was intercept the football. That's why people perceived him as having such a significant impact on the defense. He allowed 58% of passes to be completed on him at about 7.1 yards per attempt, and in total allowed 1.68 yards per coverage snap. None of these are great numbers. But the fact of the matter is he snagged 4 interceptions and so during the games he played, primarily against Cleveland, NE and Cincinnati, he was an impact player. But if those interceptions hadn't come, he wouldn't have been. A little bit like saying if your aunt had balls she'd be your uncle, but it's worth noting that the perception of the defense's being "deadly" or championship caliber or whatever along those lines was pretty much tied directly to the 4 interceptions he pulled down in those 3 games where he played more than a handful of snaps.
I'm not sure that they can be great, but if one of the young corners can step up, Dion Jordan can play well enough to get into the rotation on a regular basis and pressure the QB, and the LBs can play a little better than last season, they can be very good. All are plausable.
I never buy that kind of argument. I realize that he was deficient outside of the INTs, but you can't take those away from him. It's like when people used to comment that "without all those long runs, Barry Sanders would have had a very mediocre YPC because of all the times he got caught dancing behind the line". I'm not going to miss Patterson too much because I don't want our team depending on a guy that can't stay healthy, but the guy did have impact last season.
The defense's elite/championship status is in the hands of Dion Jordan. For most of the last decade this defense has been 'pretty good.' Solid stats and rankings ever since Wake got here...which is not a coincidence. What will take us to the next level is a SECOND star player who dominates one-on-one and makes splash plays. We've had lots of good/solid players for years, and that's fine...but if we want to raise it to the next level it's bigtime gamechanging players like Dion Jordan who make that happen.
I think the stopping the run is overestimated. We were 28th against the run even with Soliai and still 7th in scoring defense. There are other ways to stop the run rather than having a bunch of "run stuffers" and our offense getting us a 14-20 point lead is one of those ways, and I believe that is what we are banking on.
we weren't good against the run Pod and he is a 2 down player..I know he was stout but maybe some more athleticism at the position is better nowadays, I mean how many runs these days are going up the gut.
We'll see Deej, we have traded a tree stump for a greyhound so to say, lots of penetration, not so sure about being stout at the poa, Koa is a tough man, still w/o that space hogger even he may be hard pressed to whip a guard and make a play
If you put it that way I'll take the greyhound, it was time for a change, what we were doing wasn't working.
That's not even the same thing. The thing about INTs are, it's devastating, yes, but they're still only 4 plays out of how many? If his play to play numbers are bad, the INTs don't make up for it completely
