Originally posted by NCommand:
Originally posted by HessianDud:
Originally posted by NCommand:
Originally posted by HessianDud:
Our defense is going to look A LOT different. I think it'll be a little more exciting but also somewhat frustrating. There's going to be some growing pains, IMO. But Ray Mac is a young player who has shown some real flashes and could be--COULD BE--a real monster as a pressure DE. Its a good signing, I think, that shows something of the direction Fangio will take this D in.
This...this is what we've been talking about; a HUGE philosophical shift to attacking the backfield rather than vanilla and letting things happen in front of us and not giving up the big play (in theory). We already know Smith will be an attacking RDE, now we have an attacking LDE and perhaps, our NT will be at, tacking gaps as well and collapsing the pocket (Sopoaga/Williams/RJF). Now you add true pass rushers on EVERY down in Brooks, Smith, LaBoy (possibly) and guys such as Gibson/Rowe and even Haralson off the bench...then you add a shut down CB, more speed with Bowman and resign Goldson add in Mays we are seeing a huge change in our defense, hopefully for the better!
I hope it works out. I have doubts, at least for this season. Our backfield is going to have problems even if we do make some signings there, and I worry about Soap at NT. Maybe Fangio and the way he runs his D will be the difference, but every time we've put Soap at NT it has been underwhelming.
still, its early, and I think Ray Mac, just a symbol of the direction the D is going in, is exciting. I'm expecting the D to not be very good overall this year though.
Valid concerns. I actually was very encouraged by Sopoaga's growth at LDE but felt he was asked to focus more on holding the LOS for Lawson and others rather than attacking. When I did see him attack, he got a sack. He's bigger and stronger than Franklin and he is put in more of a one-gap attack mode, I think he will be much more successful at NT this second time around; he was a recovering (injured) player and was asked to play two-gap when he originally started at NT and was new to the 3-4. This time around plus the push from RJF & Williams, I expect him to play quite well.
Well, a focus on and a regular and consistent pass rush will make any secondary x10 better no matter who is back there. Nolan did it backwards and spent big $ on CB's and that didn't pan out, did it? I think Baalke/Fangio will do it correctly this time. We'll be behind the 8-ball for most of 2011 but by the end, we should be seeing some real progress and having our work cut out for us for 2012!
good points, and a lot of it has to do with how the D is organized, plays are called, etc, which could make a huge difference in individual performance.
the bolded is the the truf, IMO. I'm expecting progress, not miracles, and while I think we can compete, I know that with a new coach and a f**ked up offseason, 2012 will be the bigger test.