Post by jeffhostetlerfan on Nov 5, 2019 21:48:05 GMT -5
I would venture a guess that we had 2 defensive linemen (traditional D Linemen, not Edge guys) on the field for 80% of the plays last night.....maybe more. And it's probably in the realm of 70-75% for the season. I mean......I don't begrudge DG for getting L Williams, but our interior DL is not the problem here. And we were lucky that Dallas only ran Zeke 17 times. He could have gained 300 yards on the ground last night.
I've screamed/pleaded/whined/alerted about it all season.........we can't run this type of defense without EDGE rushers. We don't have them.....period. Lo Carter is not an Edge Rusher. He's actually probably a rare SAM/pure OLB. Golden is ok......but he gets destroyed in the run game. And we pretty much have no depth beyond that.
This defense won't work without Edge rushers. If DG doesn't recognize it......we're doomed.
In a perfect world I'd love to have Bettcher go to a 3-3-5 defense......but he's clearly too dense/doesn't want to adjust/'get me players I need' moded for this.
I agree we need edge rushers and ours suck. But I fail to see how changing the way we line up fixes that. If your starters suck then you get what you can out of them... but no change in scheme will make it so Carter can shed a block, Ogletree can stay with a tight end, or Baker can stick to ANY receiver (even on the rare occasion he can identify one).
If we all know we have no prolific pass rushers and no one in our secondary can play man to man then our options are already severely limited by our personnel. So I'd like to see that fixed first and foremost. Till then we're just watching the team implement a "well that didnt work... screw it, call whatever. Cat... get out there and tackle someone" strategy.
I guess I look at our D Duke and I think our best players EASILY are Lawrence, L WIlliams, Tomlinson, Hill, Pierre and McIntosh. If we have 3 of those guys out there on every play, maybe opposing offenses can double-team one guy.....but won't get away with 2. It should allow us to rush one more player (LB or secondary player) each down and also create possible openings for Golden/Ogletree/Carter to perhaps get some penetration. Also, I think it would possibly open up Lo Carter to make some more explosive defensive plays and maybe help GOlden get some more one on one free looks at the QB in situations.
It wouldn't solve all of our problems b/c the secondary still is not playing consistent ball. But it might at least make us more dangerous. Right now, we have the 2 interior DL getting neutralized every play b/c there is nobody else that scares offenses about our D's front 6/7.
At any rate.......our D personnel is just not where it needs to be to run the kind of D Bettcher seems to want to throw out there every down. And it won't be until DG takes another swing at adding depth during the offseason.