John63":3l4rjwfp said:
keasley45":3l4rjwfp said:
John63":3l4rjwfp said:
So le time understand this the rams having the ball for 10.91 minutes compared to the hawks 8.43 is why the defense then gave up an 8-minute drive.
Or on the first position in the SF game for SF they give up a 4+ minute drive
Or the first possession after halftime against Minny an 8.5 minutes drive
Let's look at the minny drives in the 2nd half
8.5 minutes
5 minutes
7 minutes
a 9-minute drive
OR the opening possession against Indy
The defense needs to get off the field. I get TOP but I also get your need to help yourself as well. I do agree the offense could help more but when you only get 1 drive in a qtr pretty tough to do.
Bit isn't the point of collectively allowing them to help themselves, putting them in position to do that. A defense that is out of sync in-game, will need more time on the sidelines, not less between possessions. If they just got whipped down the field, they'll need more time to rest on the sidelines, not less. And if you guve them both of those things, they will get better, not worse.
I dont think anyone disagrees the defense needs to improve. The point is, it's made worse by an offense that's primarily focused on the big play.
And it would be just as easy for me to cherry pick the number of three and out drives or sub 3 minute drives that followed any of the long drives you quote above. But again, that's not productive.
The Pete vs Russ polarization has boiled over in this forum and become offense vs defense. When in reality, it's offense and defense. And to tout the points you put up on one side of the ball as evidence that the O is doing its job is just completely backwards when it comes to trying to win a team game like football.
If we were talking hypothetically about this scenario and people could divorce PC and RW from the convo, i think the exchanges would be much more productuve.
I agree with this "If we were talking hypothetically about this scenario and people could divorce PC and RW from the convo, i think the exchanges would be much more productive"
It would not change my opinion though. When I look at this team I see
Great ST
Good Offense
Crap defense
Logic dictates you fix or try to fix what's worse, first. IT would be one thing if the defense was giving up 3 minutes drives all the time but they are not. They are giving up long drives. This keeps the offense off the field and whatever rhythm they have gone.
I agree they help each other, all 3 that is. But when you look at the 3 parts
ST 100% good
Offense 50% AVG
Defense 0% Worst in NFL
I think I would fix 0 or the worst.
Again, nobody is arguing that they need to be fixed. Just that the style of offense can help the 'fixing'. And when the offense can hold the ball, they show much better .
5 plays 25 yards
5 plays 20 yards
8 plays 62 yards int
3 plays 2 yards
14 plays 64 yards
1 play -1 yards
That's our defense last Thursday against the Rams in the first half. They gave up the 62 yard drive but took the ball away. Then in 2 drives by our offense we pick up 7 points but took only 3+ minutes off the clock and gave the Rams the ball back on an int. Then the Rams get the ball back and go on a 14 play drive that only gets them a fg. Definition of bending but not breaking
If that isn't showing improvement in terms of getting off the field, I don't know what is. From there forward, we have 3 drives that net 16 yards and little clock until Geno comes in, while the Rams have multiple 80 plus yard drives. It's not causation but there's certainly correlation between when our D falls apart and when our O stalls.especiallybas the game wears on.
The week prior, our offense had -5 yards of offense outside of the 80 yard drive in the 2nd quarter. You know what our maligned defense was doing that whole time? Staying on the field and getting worn down.
Something an already questionable unit cannot afford to do.
The defense has improved if you look at the game wholistically and understand everything that's contributing to the failure.
The offense not holding the ball is not the reason they're bad, but it's making it worse than it needs to be.
And btw, the special teams have NOT been good the last few weeks. Dickson is all world but had a punt blocked, and what used to be easy field goals have been all but.
