This isnt a matter of playing soft. Its a weakness in our defense that has been exploited now for almost 4 years. The Chargers figured it out when River's and Gate's torched us a few years back. The Manning led Broncos found more kinks after we beat them in the SB. And the Pats and Falcons and frankly most teams with competent qb's and a solid gameplan exploit the weaknesses every time they play us. Even at full strength, the defense has trouble stopping the 10-15 yard plays that are designed to find the gaps in our middle zone, and our db's and lb's constantly get caught in a trailing position or get washed out when trying to defend mid crossing routes. Our D, as solid as it is, cant defend certain plays if we don't get a good pass rush. We're solid 90% of the time, but that 10% can be exploited throughout a game if we dont get pressure. Don't know whether to call it a fatal flaw necessarily because if we can get pressure, the QB doesn't have the time for those handful of plays to work. But its been fatal because our D is one that does not adapt. We lineup and play. And unfortunately this year, get beat. Over and over and over again.
