Our Defense

We have spent so much money on our D and we all feel like they are our identity but the last two playoff games, they have not showed up. In fact they have been bullied and made a fool of, they should be embarrassed!! Weren't we down 31-0 in Carolina last year? Atlanta would of put up 40 if Quinn wasn't being respectful to Carroll. Our D players seem like they are doing a little more to a talking than performing, or am I way off? Just something that's been on my mind.

Take a close look at the new blood that has been injected into our D since the 2012 off season.

Starter quality candidates and even solid depth guys are remarkable few.
On the short list that are currently on the team: Clark, Rubin maybe...
After that you have a few "maybe" decent depth players like Shead and Lane. The rest you could replace any given day. Replacements for some of the "stars" should be in the system, but we're not even close to that. Look at what we rolled out there when Earl went down (extreme example- but i don't think anyone is calling Terrell quality depth).

The problem is less at the top and more at the bottom of the roster, I believe. Draft failures have killed the pipeline, and we keep trying to plug UDFAs in and expect them to contribute. What else can happen but gradual and continual weakening under that scenario?