well, remember that it was mixed up with sherman's power running style so......it was really weird. but be fair to kubiak, he always mixed it up. he always gave defenses a few looks even if a few of them weren't his looks.

from what i understand about the d they line up the same way but call different plays to give an illusion of "vanilla" when really there is some double-chocolate cherry blast waiting somewhere. i realize last year was some sort of mega-nilla because of all the injuries and such but i just don't want to be anywhere close to last year's d.

especially with how well our d'line and lb corps have turned out. both depth charts are solid from top to bottom.

I would like to see more movement from our defense. They don't necessarily have to blitz 6 every third down. I would like to see some shifts before the snap to disguise pre-snap reads the QB might be looking for. The closest thing I can point to is that Mario would sometimes line up at RDE and LDE at other times. Perhaps I'm just to big of a fan of the Eagles' Jim Johnson and the Giants' Spagnoulo in terms of Zone Blitzing. There's something to be said for running a 4-3 with 3-4 principles.

The big concern is with our secondary. While the Eagles are loaded with talent, the Giants won a Super Bowl with average players on the back end.

I'm not so worried about the pre-snap shifts. It's just as effective if you line up the same way every time, but do different things out of it. If the QB sees the same look every time than there is nothing for him to read. Of course you have to time the snap if this is what your trying to do or else you give things away......and actually change up what you are doing once the play starts. If it's cover 2 with man coverage underneath mixed in with sending one LB 3 times a game, well the QB doesn't really have to make too many pre-snap reads and all the shifting and disguising in the world won't help. Keep'em guessing. I don't care how. Just do it.

i hated when they would make the LB's especially our boy in the middle crowd the lines and then drop back like 10 times a game. the fakey-stack only works if the opposing offenses are wary of the blitz. you have to blitz for them to be wary of the blitz. blitzing effectively is even better.

god....our defense must have been overwhelmed to the max last year. our little group here has had about 40 solid ideas to make the D better and we are just fans. surely a highly paid D Coordinator thought or tried the same things?

When you have a bunch younger guys on the field it is harder to do more than just line up and play. They tend to think more than play.

Same goes for when you have players comming into a new scheme or players that arent used to communicating and playing with each other.

We have had both in abundance the last two years. The first few games two years ago were horrible. 400 yard passing for a few teams. This was because Smith was trying to do more with the scheme, the inexperience of the players on the field and in the scheme killed it and they adjusted to more base def. We saw it again last year after losing starters and depth all around in the secondary.

I expect us to start pretty basic out of the gate this year again. If our secondary lines up Bennet, Demps, Brown, Reeves it may be a bit more than the basic def we saw all last year until the end of the season. By the time Drob gets back I hope that we see more and more of the def play book though.

Dont forget that in theory just by looking at the def you wont know what they are lining up to do, and watching it on TV probably wont give you a great view of their shifts post snap. At the game it will be easier to focus on the def and see exactly what they are running once the ball is snaped.

i'm not sure if you're pointing that last comment at me or not but just for the hell of it i'll say i have season tickets and go to the games. i see your points (and you make good ones about young and new players meshing together) but the point about not being able to tell what the defense is going is right in line with what i said. if you stack the line 20 times and blitz only once or twice that gives you a tell as to what the defense is doing: probably dropping back and trying to fake out the qb with the stack.

i expect a little more than the basic book out of the gate. i know they are still young and new players but see how many players are returning. bennett, demps, probably brown, demeco, greenwood, mario, amobi, tj, weaver, we'll meet up with dunta a little down the road and we added vets like colvin and reeves. the only truly "new" player getting a shot to start is zac diles. some guys might fit into roles but i'm just going to limit it to starters for now. i won't expect page 300 to surface or anything but i will expect to see a little more flare being called.

Does anyone else wonder if Ray Rhodes was brought in to be Richard Smith's successor if the defense does not show marked improvement this year?

I doubt it. Ray had gotten out of coaching for health reasons. I think he took this job because he had gotten bored, it was close to his hometown (Mexia), and it was a position that would let him work with the players but not be as grueling and time consuming as being a full time coordinator would be. I just don't think he would want it. If the defense is getting torched and Smith got fired mid-season I could see him taking over as the interim DC....but I don't thing it would be a permanent long term deal.

not really. i remember rhodes having a heart issue of some sort so he prefers the limitation of db coach instead of the pressure of handling it all. or something like that...

besides, it's not like frank bush a.k.a. kubiak's first choice isn't on the staff already. really, i understand the limitations of youth and injuries...but i believe richard smith's days are seriously numbered if this defense doesn't come out with an attitude. after 2 years (and however many games he gets this year) people need a head to roll to feel better about how lackluster our defense has been.

This tale you speak of, "going to other boards" is the problem. There are many idiots you should not associate with. This is the reason you should only come to this board for intelligent discussions.

When going to the other boards, it always makes me think of a line from a movie..."I feel like I'm sitting here playing cards with my brother's kids or something...nerve racking SOB's."

I talked to a guy from Dallas (still a fan) and lives in Denver. He knew football imo. He said Reeves plays similar to P-Bust. He has speed but can't cover for squat.

I didn't like hearing that one.

I had to go to the other boards because you where sitting at/on HPF waiting for the draft talk to start. :D

And I agree there are a lot of ...

Watch the one on one segment on houstontexans.com and it will also give an indication the defense will be playing a lot of bump and run.



LINK

I, for one, am sure that Jacque Reeves will NOT play like P-Buc, for the simple reason that he was signed by Rick Smith, not Charlie Casserly!

I go to the other message boards in our division because I like to see how ludicrous their homerism can become. The two worst, of course, are 1. The Jags, and 2. the Titans. Both seem to have more than their fair share of post puberty teen agers.

I'm not sure why, but I have just have a feeling that will be true statement. Like you, I have a lot more faith in who did the choosing on this one.