Something that needs to change....

Turnover differential.

We are currently -1. I have yet to verify, but this has to be the worst we have been in the Carroll era, right?

Obviously, the crap fest in Green Bay (6 turnovers, none forced) really hurt. I don't care about the actual stats as much as I do about the philosophy, and helping out our offense with field position and opportunity. And it's less likely, I suppose, without Earl roaming the deep middle.

We used to be so good at it. I know the lack of consistent pressure is a key factor. The way teams choose to attack us is also. Pete harps on creating turnovers on defense and protecting the ball on offense, so it is unusual to see us towards the bottom of the NFL in this key category.

As much as our offense struggles at times (especially on the road, and on grass)...it would be nice to have that ball hawking defense back to help tilt the field.

It would be nice to see it return. Those kinds of plays can be huge in the playoffs.

Yeah those 5 ints RW had in Green Bay didn't help

That's for sure.

That caustic ratio Pete places so much emphasis on has been lacking. I would think it a huge point of emphasis this week. The team can not return to who they want to be until they start making some progress on turn overs.

It's a lot of things...................defense isn't as good overall, front end or back end.

Offense also isn't controlling the clock with the run game setting up a lot of late game opportunities for picks cause other team has to throw it to catch up.

Also remember we got a lot of turnovers on special teams back when Lockette, Margolis and company had the best coverage unit in football stripping the ball.

But #1 with bullet, defense just isn't the same nasty punch you in the mouth ball hawking unit they were from 2011-2013 when we had a crazy T/O differential.

Jville":1rac7a4v said:

That's for sure.

That caustic ratio Pete places so much emphasis on has been lacking. I would think it a huge point of emphasis this week. The team can not return to who they want to be until they start making some progress on turn overs.

Click to expand...

Pete Carroll's USC teams were defined by elite defense coupled with a lethal offense, particularly when running the ball.

When you can go up 20 or 30 points, other teams have to start to air it out. And when other teams air it out, the pass rush can cause fumbles or force the QB to make a mistake.

Look at how bad Russell and our offense looked once they were in a giant hole at Green Bay.

Sgt. Largent":32bmqpjz said:

It's a lot of things...................defense isn't as good overall, front end or back end.

Offense also isn't controlling the clock with the run game setting up a lot of late game opportunities for picks cause other team has to throw it to catch up.

Also remember we got a lot of turnovers on special teams back when Lockette, Margolis and company had the best coverage unit in football stripping the ball.

But #1 with bullet, defense just isn't the same nasty punch you in the mouth ball hawking unit they were from 2011-2013 when we had a crazy T/O differential.

Click to expand...

Average Time of Possession (excluding OT)

2012: 31:24
2013: 29:57
2014: 31:26
2015: 31:03
2016: 29:16
[urltargetblank]https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/average-time-of-possession-net-of-ot?date=2016-12-17[/urltargetblank]

The net turn overs for 2013 were +20.
Net turn overs for 2014 were +10.
Net turn overs for 2015 were +7.
Net turn overs to date for this year is -1.

This is not a trend Carroll is welcoming.

Source >>> [urltargetblank]http://www.footballdb.com/stats/turnovers.html?yr=2016&conf=[/urltargetblank]

That's another thing I noticed in my re-watch of the Rams game that I failed to put into my post. The opportunity (or lack thereof) for turnovers.

Several times, had our defense been playing the ball instead of the player, they'd have had easy picks. Sherman at least one, one of the linebackers at least one. A couple more that I can't recall, but when I saw the play again, I thought man that's a pick if he has his head turned.

Several of the picks didn't happen because Goff's accuracy was so terrible, he threw it to where nobody was. Seriously, he was terrible that game. If he'd have been just a little more accurate, we'd have had a couple of picks, I'd bet.

And he had a sack-fumble that could have resulted in a turnover. Goff recovered the ball, but the effort was there. And remember, on fumbles, it's essentially a 50/50 ball once it's out.

Part of it may be teams play us differently now, and we never adjusted. When the front 4 cancan't get pressure, we rarely see more blitzes. Seems like they play more off coverage, less bump n run.

The biggest problem has got to be the d-line though. I see teams holding blatently all the time, but maybe this happens to every team. We probably need bigger linemen to compliment the speed in avril and bennett

This is one area that gives me hope for the playoffs. In the past the Hawk defense has benefited greatly from turnovers, field position and a strong running game. This year the defense has still performed relatively well in spite of having often very poor field position and no turnovers and no consistent offense to reduce their time on the field. If the offense can find it's rhythm and the D can create a turnover or two the difference will be significant.