The biggest issue I saw Sunday and this season was a below average LB core and without Nwosu, no solid play in runstop on the edge. At LB we had Wagz and Mafe as the only starting quality players. After them, Bellore and Bush, Rattigan and Oconnell, Hall and Taylor.
Bobby is one dimensional and slow. With Brooks out, Mafe is the only true guy a defense has to account for. Taylor is washed. Hall has utterly disappointed.
So you tell me what your game plan would be if you saw our D and at LB in a 3DL set, we have at LB , a HOFer that's lost two steps and plays inside, a young talent in Mafe who's better at pass rush, and a bunch of guys who's best attribute is looking good in their unis. The fact thst they cut Clark says a lot about his ability.
Brooks is a monster and covered a lot of the difficiencies at the position. You aren't beating anyone with the group we fielded Sunday. It's a massive liability in runstop and pass defense, because it FORCES your safeties to come down.
And for all the applause at benching Adams, this in part, is the result. Jamal was the wildcard they were using to at least partially address the shortfalls in the group. Defenses at least had to know where he was and even with his poor ability in coverage, he had enough their physically to still make them respect us some. And I'm not saying he should be with the team. But you don't delete Adams, even with his diminished skills, Nwosu and Brooks, and not cripple yiur defense if literally no one is taking up the slack.
Love is a good safety, but he doesn't do what Jamal did in the scheme in run defense. No one does. Coby Bryant's PFF grade overall this year is 35.8.
Our interior DL is solid. Our edge play against the run without Nwosu is Mafe... and nothing ...if Brooks isn't cheating hard to cover plays to his side and without at least the threat that Adams was.
Halls PFF grade overall is at 45. Taylor- 53. The LB core as a whole is toast if we aren't pulling a safety down. And if we pull a safety down constantly, we get beat deep.
This unit has been cursed by the fallout from Jamals injuries and Nwosu going down. Adams was counted on to do too much and Bryant isnt a substitute. With Taylor and Hall flopping, we are simply dead without Nwosu and Brooks.
A hobbled Brooks is still at 62.5 for the year IN PFF
Bobby is a 79.3
Nwosu was at 68.5
As much as Hurtt makes me skeptical, I don't know how you objectively evaluate him or this scheme with the defense we are fielding. It's missing too many critical parts, we've completely whiffed on Bush, Taylor (as a complete player) and Hall and now that we've also basically abandoned THE plan fir how we'd make the whole thing work in the first place by removing Adams, at best, we have 6/11s of a defense.
First nail was Nwosu.
Second nail was the failures of Hall and Taylor who fell off a cliff.
Third, abandoning the plan in giving up on Adams ( moving on is right, but it's not without a cost)
Fourth, Brooks being hobbled.
What's left is trying to cover everything an offense can do to you outside the tackles and in the outside middle 3rds with 3 legit starters on the field - Bobby, Diggs and Love.
Look at it like that and it's amazing we had a chance to win at all. Your offense has to be perfect on every drive to overcome that kind of liability.
Draft / FA priority - LB, DL, Safety, Guard.
