Has the Defense gotten better?
 

............Or is it that Kubiak is finally letting them be more aggressive? Reeves is not playing as bad as he was. Somebody besides Mario has gotten sacks. Adibi has made a difference in the LBing. But the safties still are giving up the deep ball too much. Still a work in progess IMO.

the defense is clearly playing better, and it seems clear that the coaching philosophy has changed somewhat. they don't seem to be playing as "scared" of the big play

The number of deep balls has nothing to do with safety play. It has to do with us blitzing more and not giving 15 yard cushions on the outside.

The upside is we have made some plays and better overall. The downside is we will get beat deep more.

I disagree that the deep plays are from more blitzing, they are from lack of pressure whether from the front or the blitz.

Some bad safety play also, Harrison had two bad plays yesterday that were big, first the TD and then the long pass with him and Reeves. Busted coverages by both S and LB's, and horrid gameplans, such as Greenwood matched up with a reciever havent helped. Wilson has made the secondary alot better and with the return of DRob we have 3 guys that could start for many teams, but probably woulndt be their premier CB.

Are you honestly saying that when you blitz more you don't in turn give up more big plays?

Not at all, that is always a gamble you take when you blitz. I am saying that the front 4 isnt getting presure consistently, and neither are most of our blitzes.

Most of those long plays are busted assignments rather than bringing more defenders.

Well, yes and no. If Harrison had just looked back for the ball, or for matter Reeves, we could have made the int. The fact that both were floundering, undable to look back speaks volumes to me.

Harrison can look back all day and he won't get any faster. He simply doesn't have the range to play a deep ball and be in run support. It is one or the other with him. If we guess it wrong before the snap, then he is out of the play.

As for Reeves, you nailed it. His ball skills are poor. He does a good job of being in the play but a poor job of making it once he gets there. That's what makes him an average/mediocre #2 NFL corner.

My point was not about that play in particular though. It is about the original post that said we are giving up too many deep balls lately. I just wanted to point out that giving up a few more deep balls is an automatic trade-off when you blitz more (which obviously has helped our defense on the whole).

Harrison can look back all day and he won't get any faster. He simply doesn't have the range to play a deep ball and be in run support. It is one or the other with him. If we guess it wrong before the snap, then he is out of the play. That is why you have seen us play alot of cover 1 with wilson (which you don't see much).

As for Reeves, you nailed it. His ball skills are poor. He does a good job of being in the play but a poor job of making it once he gets there. That's what makes him an average/mediocre #2 NFL corner.

My point was not about that play in particular though. It is about the original post that said we are giving up too many deep balls lately. I just wanted to point out that giving up a few more deep balls is an automatic trade-off when you blitz more (which obviously has helped our defense on the whole).

Not to stick on that one play vs. the overall point of getting beat deep because of the blitz....but I can't resist. I think Harrison has the most responsibility on that play. No way to know without knowing the play call but that's how I saw it. I thought Reeves actually had a decent day.

I do agree that giving up big plays is a by product of blitzing. In this case we were so far on the other end of the spectrum with how conservative we played that we were still giving them up. I think the coaches just said "screw it we're getting beat anyway and we've got nothing to lose" and started blitzing. While it hasn't necessarily meant more sacks, I think there have been more hurried throws. My big concern is that when the next season starts, and we've got something to lose again, we crawl right back into the shell.

I posted this in another thread I think, it always seems that at the end of the season the team gets more agressive and pulls back on "complexity". Obviously the other way wasnt working and this is, but it always seems like Smith is trying to do something else for most of the season but damned if i know what it is.

I don't know, maybe at the beginning of the year we are just trying to establish who we are. We seem to blunder around like a blind man and then about midway suddenly regain our sight or something.

I can't remember which one it was, but one of the guys on 610 was joking about how Kubiak is turning into Wayne Fontes. Lose a bunch of games early in the year, fans call for your head, turn it around late, cause for optimism next year. And repeat. He was joking and even said he meant it in a good way, but this thread made me think of it.