[KJ3]

Originally Posted by Bigtinylittle

Third, in out system, and until it changes, the coaches do NOT like to blitz. They want the pressure to come from the front four. There are very few times a game when this isn't the case.

i'm okay with the thought of pressure coming from the line, coverage/man everywhere else. except when it doesn't work during a game for 3 quarters straight yet no change in the gameplan occurs. that's not professional, that's somewhere far below. expecting change based on nothing is silly.

maybe blitzing is just the easiest factor to jump on, but i think what we (the people who want to see our defense improve as much as the offense did) really want to see is a more aggressive set-up. CB's jamming hard LB's and DT's making the HBDraw a non-option, S's taking exception to WR's and TE's running routes over the middle. to me, defense is half ability, half attitude and we've got our share of ability but no one really stands in the way and says "f that, NOBODY is getting past me." make the opposing offense hurt some instead of hurting the fans to watch.

i think i read somewhere that we were either tops or top 3 or so in first downs given up. that's not aggressive at all...that's a very, very reactionary defense getting taken advantage of. less waiting for the action to come to us, more forcing the action on them!!

Demeco Ryans is by general agreement an all-pro caliber MLB. But guess what? In our system he rarely blitzes even though by most expert opinion he is very good at it. The average fan may criticize our system and want it changed, but it is the system the coaches believe in, apparently even Kubiak or he would get a DC who used a different system. My point? Even if we had a free safety who was very good at blitzing, and I'm not saying Demps isn't good at it, we probably would rarely use the free safety blitz.

Fourth, the average fan overvalues the free safety position. It's the one he sees at the end of the play. He doesn't see the linebacker or lineman knocked on his ass at the line of scrimmage. He doesn't see all the other stuff that goes wrong on the play. He just sees the free safety.

how many average fans post on message boards? i'd say very few. and if demeco is so widely regarded as an excellent blitzing option (we all saw the sack, FF, recovery and TD) NOT using that as a weapon is stupid too. if we aren't going to use his talents to make this defense and team better then we need to trade him away immediately because he is wasting his time here.

Summing up, I don't think Kubiak is worried at all about the free safety position this year. Sure he would like to have an all-pro at every position. What coach wouldn't? But he expects to get pretty solid play at the position and I think he will. And like Kubiak, I'll be content with that too.

I just think that fans way overrate the free safety position. It just isn't one of the key positions on the team. If it was, free safety salaries would be through the roof like QB salaries and LT salaries, etc. When was the last time a free safety was the overall number one pick in the draft?

every position is important and serves purposes. if free safety didn't matter then i would be in uniform right now. and the number one pick doesn't matter half the time anyway right alex smith, jamarcus russell, DAVID CARR, vick mexico, tim couch so your point there is pretty weak.

and if kubiak ISN'T worried about how the S are going to play this year he needs to be fired NOW! they were by far the worst group of the team last year and the two things they did to fix it was draft a 6th round guy who maybe makes the team and waited for a guy to be healthy again who is borderline between starter and depth.

i'm not trying to start an argument either, i just felt it needed to be said.