And i was worried about OUR Corners...

Anyone who saw the game last nite saw KC and Alex(368 yds, 4 TDs) put up 42 Nothingburgers against the SB winners from just 8 short months ago, and that included a bunch of torching of NE's CBs and Safeties. Have the new rules finally changed the game, making it triple hard to play Corner (and S)? Or were the Corners on two top echelon teams just having a bad nite? Or were the QBs just so much better than the CBs? Whatever the answer, our CB and S play has been....well, not so hot. It is the obvious Achilles heel of our squad. ( not disregarding OL, but they will end up doing fine...plus great talent even in depth, once we find who our bona fide OG starters are). The corners and safeties last nite got torched on both teams. Both QBs just picked them apart,. NE's Bellichek's D has never given up 549 yds before, but Alex had 368 thru the air. CBs and Ss were bad last nite, So what are we worried about? Everyone has been thinking ITs JUST US. Nope. CB play and S play across the league in PS was not stellar. But that was ok because it was PS.

Now it counts and two of the NFLs best teams clashed last nite and the QBs won. CBs and Ss lost. It suddenly appears our worries about DBackfield a) were well justified, and b) are going to be a problem for virtually all teams. Does that mean that QBs now are going to have to put up massive numbers to win? Maybe so. NE gives up 549 yds on the same nite that they receive the SB trophy? So yes, our DBs do not look very good. But, and here's the catch line...neither do anyone else's. We will see over the course of the season some top flite DBs...say up north of here for one. But overall, whether rules change, CB quality fell off the shelf, or qBs now just own CBs and Ss, DB play this yr is going to be the weak link and it darn near looks pretty widespread besides. Maybe the answer is to win our Qbs are going to have to throw for 42 pts. NE had a respectable 27 pts, usually enough to win, but not last nite. Are Corners and safeties the weak line thruout the NFL? We'll see shortly, but it is a reminder, no matter how bad our DBs look, we got plenty of company. Maybe the answer for all teams CB play is to put up 42 Nothing burgers each weekend. You think Brian can do that? It sure will give shanny a reason to rack up the points each and every game. If CBs are going to get run over like they did last nite...then the answer is to pile up offensive points. That's what won last nite.

NE has some great CB/S. thier issue is not the secondary it's the pass rush

That game and the great players on NE and KC have nothing to do with our DBs.

lol

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

NE has some great CB/S. thier issue is not the secondary it's the pass rush

True, ATT, but last nite they didn't show well. 368 yds in the air ...and yes their passrush wasn't great, but the DBs still gave up a ton of yrds . It looks like having a massive passrush will have to be our answer this yr, Kyle's first. And/or just outscore the opponents. All of a sudden glad that isn't Gagbert out there, or kap...really happy to have both Hoyer and CJ. If we can't stop 'em, then outscore them. And i bet that is foremost in Kyle's mind..

Wouldn't giving up "42 Nothingburgers" mean zero?

Anyhow, our DBs aren't nearly as good as those in NE. Hopefully, our pass rush is dominant this year. If not, we're gonna give up a lot of points.

KC got 153 yards passing on 2 plays. lol
That's only 215 passing yards allowed if you can defend just those two plays from happening.

Brady had his shots in the 4th Q but missed.

Berry did an incredible job holding Gronk to 2 catches for 33 yards.

NE held their own except for 2 plays. When NE lost Hightower and their pass rush KC picked them apart.

Originally posted by SoCold:

That game and the great players on NE and KC have nothing to do with our DBs.

lol

Maybe it does. Maybe the new rules, the Qbs league wide, finally have the CBs at a disadvantage, and playing CB all of a sudden went from difficult to nigh on impossible. It's a passing league as you well know and maybe now Qbs/WRs have the upped hand, thanks to rule changes now on display. Maybe the league has succeeded in making the WRs dominant over Corners and Ss now that their rules changes are in full effect. Maybe a 27-42 game ends up being the norm, not that outlier. Maybe 20-24 pts is nowhere near enough to get a win. Wouldn't that be something? To win you have to be in the high 30s or low 40s. That WOULD have a great deal to do wtih our DBs. It also could mean that while we think of our DBs as a liability, maybe that is a league wide thing. If so we don't start off the season way behind every other team because of our DBs. Maybe our DBs ARE average for the league...as in, not all that great.

The current rules are designed to facilitate offense, no question.

Still, there good secondaries and poor secondaries. Our secondary is most likely the latter. Hopefully, we can field and excellent pass rush to compensate. We'll see.

Originally posted by SoCold:

KC got 153 yards passing on 2 plays. lol
That's only 215 passing yards allowed if you can defend just those two plays from happening.

Brady had his shots in the 4th Q but missed.

Berry did an incredible job holding Gronk to 2 catches for 33 yards.

NE held their own except for 2 plays. When NE lost Hightower and their pass rush KC picked them apart.

Agree so cold, but that first sentence had a big IF in it. Those two plays did happen. They still count. And 368 yds is a lot...esp against a bellicheck team. And maybe just like us, if our passrush is fantastic, our DBackfield plays well. I have said that for most of PS. But without the passrush push, Corners and Ss may be in for a rough yr. Sure happened that way for NE. But that's not the main point. Main point is DBs may be the unwanted stepchild this yr and may get a beating every week, on most teams. It may not turn out that way, but it was interesting two marquee teams start the season off and both teams DBs got picked on. Maybe we aren't as bad off as many think at CB and S. Is it possible it is league wide, in part due to all the combined rules changes as of late?

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:

Anyone who saw the game last nite saw KC and Alex(368 yds, 4 TDs) put up 42 Nothingburgers against the SB winners from just 8 short months ago, and that included a bunch of torching of NE's CBs and Safeties. Have the new rules finally changed the game, making it triple hard to play Corner (and S)? Or were the Corners on two top echelon teams just having a bad nite? Or were the QBs just so much better than the CBs? Whatever the answer, our CB and S play has been....well, not so hot. It is the obvious Achilles heel of our squad. ( not disregarding OL, but they will end up doing fine...plus great talent even in depth, once we find who our bona fide OG starters are). The corners and safeties last nite got torched on both teams. Both QBs just picked them apart,. NE's Bellichek's D has never given up 549 yds before, but Alex had 368 thru the air. CBs and Ss were bad last nite, So what are we worried about? Everyone has been thinking ITs JUST US. Nope. CB play and S play across the league in PS was not stellar. But that was ok because it was PS.

Now it counts and two of the NFLs best teams clashed last nite and the QBs won. CBs and Ss lost. It suddenly appears our worries about DBackfield a) were well justified, and b) are going to be a problem for virtually all teams. Does that mean that QBs now are going to have to put up massive numbers to win? Maybe so. NE gives up 549 yds on the same nite that they receive the SB trophy? So yes, our DBs do not look very good. But, and here's the catch line...neither do anyone else's. We will see over the course of the season some top flite DBs...say up north of here for one. But overall, whether rules change, CB quality fell off the shelf, or qBs now just own CBs and Ss, DB play this yr is going to be the weak link and it darn near looks pretty widespread besides. Maybe the answer is to win our Qbs are going to have to throw for 42 pts. NE had a respectable 27 pts, usually enough to win, but not last nite. Are Corners and safeties the weak line thruout the NFL? We'll see shortly, but it is a reminder, no matter how bad our DBs look, we got plenty of company. Maybe the answer for all teams CB play is to put up 42 Nothing burgers each weekend. You think Brian can do that? It sure will give shanny a reason to rack up the points each and every game. If CBs are going to get run over like they did last nite...then the answer is to pile up offensive points. That's what won last nite.

no pass rush

The Hill play was blown coverage. That went for 75 yards. Hunt's long reception was just perfectly executed for another 78 yards. That's 153 yards on two plays. I think this game was just an anomoly. I wouldn't expect this to continue for KC or NE.

Strange things happen in week 1. Just go back and look at the Rams last year and the Vikes before that.

I fully expect to see some blown coverages in our secondary and WAY too many PI calls. RR doesn't get his head around and against Benjamin that'll be even more difficult due to his size and catch radius. Reid has struggled giving up big plays and that leaves Jerome over the top. One misstep and Olsen, Benjamin or McCaffrey will doing a TD dance.

If we can contain Cam and McCaffrey that'll be a huge showing for the defense. Saleh will have to pressure Cam, while spying him and McCaffrey. That could Olsen plenty of one on one matchups with our LBs. It'll be a chess match.

For that reason, I think we'll see Reid matching up with Olsen and we'll go heavy nickel to get Williams on McCaffrey. If we try to keep Harold on Olsen, it'll be a bad day for us.

We'll see, but we all know our secondary is very vulnerable. Unless the front 7 swarms QBs, it'll be ugly at times.

Originally posted by dmax:

no pass rush

Same for us. No pass rush pressure and our DBs are in trouble . IF we can get passrush pressure, then DBs may very well be okay. Can they? That is the question. Cannot wait to see what our front 7 does. I Know they stop the run. they have to. But will they bring the pressure needed to make our DBs functional? Right now i think that is a question on every team in the NFL. Can the front 7 generate heat on the qb? If so, DBs "play " good. If not...then no, they won't.

We have top 10 corners

wait till cam puts up 500 on us this sunday.

Originally posted by post_primitive:
The current rules are designed to facilitate offense, no question.

Still, there good secondaries and poor secondaries. Our secondary is most likely the latter. Hopefully, we can field and excellent pass rush to compensate. We'll see.

When I grew up Defense far overshadowed Offense. The rules have made defensive players play with one hand tied behind their backs. Notice how every team has these tiny receivers that blow by the D? The reason being is they can't be hit or it's a penalty. I have long felt that the future of Pro Football is Arena Football, high scoring, minimal contact and no Stadium expenses. Twenty five game schedules in packed arenas with 15-20 thousand fans attending.