Preseason is not as inconclusive as some think, as we all saw in preseason, there was a sense of speed and pressure that was evident from our defense. That presense was there against atlanta, and gives me an eerie feeling of comfortability with them. The biggest thing that stood out to me in the game was our tackling... it was superior then what were accumstomed to around here.much much better then last, and the year before, and before that...i like the training camp rule of no tackling, keeps us limited on injuries, and doesnt seem to have an affect when the season starts, just the opposite if atlanta is any sign. What can we say about our 2 corners that has'nt been said...well, I know Sean has already got his nickname Locksmith, and i think its great, but i swear, i was just watchin the movie Predator with Arnold, and iam not joking, when that freakin alien was hissinn, with its long arms, and weird dredded alien hair, I thought Sean smith, lol....Sean The Predator Smith..just throwin it out there. Does anyone else think that vontae is gonna hurt somebody on the edge, I gotta say, the guy is my favorite defensive player right now, hes explosive, he hits like a truck, hes got exceptional make up speed, and hes like a 10 year old boy stuffed in a black ninja body, whats there not to like..and, because i gave Sean a funny nickname, i must do the same for my boy.............Vontae "outbreak" Davis, ya know, because of how explosive he is, ..............ok, maybe not so much. I saw some man to man out there in atlanta.. kinda would like to get some opinions on, what having excellent man to man cover corners on your football team can do for our future defensive schemes, and sucesses?.. I just know that, its exciting to feel that i can put my 2 best guys on the perimeters, and play my other nine anywhere else i want.. I really... really like that concept..and believe both players could excell.. lets go all old school raiders on the NFL baby.. lol. Phillip Meling and Paul Solai....two big, strong, true, young, miami dolphins, that played a serious football game in atlanta...those two will make some nice blu chip dolphin stock if they can be consistent...really like all our young talent on defense. From what i saw, phillip merling and richard seymour were the two best defensive players i saw all weekend..they both dominated at their positions. I just saw a lot of parts play together in the game, they made an excellent offense that has lots of weapons look average...absolutely stoned thee best running game in the NFL, and took away the vertical game. I like the way they pounded Ryan early in the game, if we can get a couple of shots on Peyton early, thats always good when playing him. I wonder if the Bullfrog is gonna be blanketing dallas clark like he was gonzales. he had good coverage a lot of the times. I wonder if JT says "we ride," when Joey says "who ride".. he better monday night.. And a note to anyone going to the game...I dare you to be loud... and to get everyone around you to be loud....i dont think you got the guts...
It's huge....makes it easier for the remaining players to make plays and gives our DC more options. Best of all gives the opponent less option and easier to defend. I agree and am wondering how long before we see more of Solai and less of Ferguson...In his last two regular season games, Merling has showed he's a playmaker and needs to be on the field, regardless of how he looks at practice. And yeah, considering he basically walked in and met his team mates 10 minutes before the game, Seymour made that defense noticeably better. He was a monster and you could see the others feeding off of him
I like your analogies and continued use of "mother grabber" where can i subscribe to your newsletter?
Merling told me he was going to kick some butt....and he did. Our D-backs got real lucky on some missed throws from Ryan on open receivers. Our secondary still isnt that good. Maybe what they learned last week will help.
what it can do for run defense makes me drool. your right about merling having 2 bad *** games in a row...
I agree with you on most things. But I don't think our corners, currently, are good enough to go 1 on 1 with WRs. Sean Smith was completely torched by Roddy White, if Ryan puts that pass on the money that's 6. And every time the pass defense needed to step up on 3rd down to get us off the field, we couldn't do it. The secondary needs serious improvement, but it's possible with Davis, Smith, Allen, Allen, Clemons, Bell, Wilson we already have the pieces in place, we just need time to develop.
Oh we have the pieces to be a top 8 Defense, especially on the front 7. To me the Cb position is the strongest in our secondary...at the moment, Wilson and Bell need more time to mind meld and naturally read formations and implement coverages with both on the same page, once they do look out. Wilson is a hitter. I do believe, and guys like JP and JT know this, our Defense must take things to the next level and create turnovers and better field position, in that sense getting one hand on the ball as Sean Smith did is not good enough, our Defense must become a compliment to the offense by providing the field position the anemic offense needs right now. To me, the insertion (hopefully) of Wake into the lineup means our Front 7 becomes more likely to create turnovers in the passing game.
Yeah they're not yet, and I still think a ball hawk at safety is needed.....but the secondary deff got a good infusion of young talent this year.
absolutely, pure future speculation, dont want will allen goin anywhere...however, when it comes patriot and jet time, i wouldnt mind seein some will, sean, vontae playin some man to man.
Well, it is too early to say one way or another about the offense, the Oline played poorly last week, this week they either climb to "mediocre" or Penny will be whacked again early and often.
I agree that we have the foundation of a good defense. I still think we need an elite OLB, an elite ILB and an elite free safety. If we can get at least two of those next year we will have a Super Bowl quality dominating defense reminiscent of the Ravens and Steelers and Giants best squads. Scout those OLBs because we will be adding one if not two in next year's draft
Let's also keep our fingers crossed that Soliai will continue to impress. Not having to pursue a NT next off season would be huge.
ive been preaching soliai since he got drafted. I have zero doubts that he's here to stay. However you bring up a good point in that we're going to have to invest in a NT because I think this is Fergie's last year. He looks like he's on his last legs to me
Love, Love, Love our defense. We are going to have a top 5 defense this season. We have young talented players mixed with proven veterans. It doesn't get any better than that.
Interesting, introverted fellow?... he seems really to himself in his interviews, sometimes i worry whether hes happy or not ya know. hopefully he is.
I will bet you my home that we will not have a top 5 defense this season...How many points did Atlanta's kicker leave on the field?How many passes did Ryan just miss by inches before he started to put things together? We were so lucky that Atlanta only scored 19 points on us when they could have very easily have had 30+ points if not more. Great defenses do not play like we did...sorry but it's a fact Great that we stuffed the run for the most part but the teams we play with our difficult schedule this year have VERY GOOD PASSING GAMES.These top tier QBs are going to take advantage of our POOR safety coverage. Our only salvation will be the pass rush.Will this pass rush be top 5 material.Will Porter repeat the first half of last season or will we see the Porter of the last 4-5 games including Atlanta.Will Wake amount to anything or become A Vernon Gholston clone?Will JT continue to laugh in the face of "father time"? Who on this defense will make up for the pressure and sacks that Roth had last season(Merling looks the part)if given more playing time. This defense can be good if everything falls into place but I still don't think it has reached top 5 status...not by a long shot
This defense already stopped one of the better rush offenses of last season. Stopping the run is not going to be a problem. The only problem I can see us having will be with the secondary, but I expect that to be straightened out soon because we have too much talent there. Plus, our secondary will benefit off our pass rush. Also, If it wasn't for our offense leaving giving the Falcons great field position, I doubt Atlanta scores more than 10 points. The Falcons may have helped us out, but our offense returned the favor.
Scoreboard said 19. Disagree, good defenses catch breaks, that is part of what makes them good. And therein is the issue, the Falcons ran the ball last season and were successful doing so, we took that away, 4 To's made the difference. That is what makes the NFL so great, they show it, or not, out on the field. And it is odd that our passrush will make the defense work when they also shut down the NFC's leading rusher, perhaps we can do both and earn that Top 8 ranking?
Our strength this season IMHO is our Defense, the offense has a ways to go to catch up to our D. Our pass rush will only get better, our run stopping is already good, and our secondary may be inexperienced at CB, but they have huge talent and upside, just may need a few games for the NFL speed to slow down for them. The pass rush should help counter that. I feel really good about our defense this year, not so good about our offense.
First game impressions are pretty meaningless in the long-run; even first two-games. I mean it's a long season and how many times has the season started just like this one. Patriots start out shaky only to dominate while the quick-jumpers of the AFC East suck wind. JETS and Bills are gonna tank in spite of a little early success! That being said I see nothing but upside to our Defense! Sean Smith will be a beast after some needed experience, Vontae too. Merling looks like a young Seymour to me. I only expect the defense to get better as the year passes along. We've had too many seasons of a strong September and a weak December... Not this time, I don't care what the skeptics say!
