Ken Norton

Nobody else is going to do it so ....

Ken Norton did his job last game.

He still had some issues on long passing downs (seriously, why split the DTs so wide? It makes it harder to get pressure and the opposing QB usually completes a long pass) but otherwise held serve.

Sure Wentz isn't a consistently accurate QB right now. And the line was missing a starting LT, which is a big deal. So pressure was getting home regularly. We probably won't get that kind of pressure on a QB often.

But when you are getting pressure.....so at least we are taking advantage of it.

We also saw precious little of those 2 or 3 man pass rushes that I hate more than IRS collection notices.

The LBs started the game looking like hot garbage and then settled down and looked to play well. Not even sure I know who our corners are at this point but going into a game with Reed and Flowers as your starting corners is pretty tough. He did a decent job considering.

One game is not a trend but it is a start. Let's hope it continues.

Ken Norton has always done his job, the only difference this year and Sunday's game was he finally has a deep and talented defensive roster in which to operate our schemes.

One game though, against a pretty average offense, so while I LOVE what I saw out of our front seven and safeties, I'm still worried as hell that our CB's are going to be exposed by much better QB's and WR's.

I was pleasantly surprised that after that opening drive, they pretty quickly came up with some adjustments that basically prevented another one until much later in the game.

I'm not sure I've seen that kind of rapid correction much in the past.

Yes. He did a solid job of adjusting. Finally. Credit where it's due.

He finally called a decent game outside of only rushing 3 on 3rd and 13 where Wentz had the time to find a wide open receiver. There should be a substantial fine for coaches when they only rush 3 D-linemen. It never works.

Especially against a guy like Wentz. Give him time, and he can put up some real good numbers. Pressure him, and he folds, almost every time.

sutz":2lytqi9u said:

I was pleasantly surprised that after that opening drive, they pretty quickly came up with some adjustments that basically prevented another one until much later in the game.

I'm not sure I've seen that kind of rapid correction much in the past.

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Yes you can adjust your defense much faster and better when you're not limited and hamstrung with bad players who can't fit your adjustment schemes.

Do you guys think Norton just all of a sudden learned how to coach? Dude's been coaching for almost 20 years, and was one of the best players in the league for 10 years before that. Nothing's changed, Norton's still running Pete's cover 2 and cover 3 schemes, they just have much more speed, depth and versatility now.

But I look forward to the "Fire Norton" threads after our first loss.

We are giving the guy credit and you feel the need to take shots. Seems pretty passive aggressive of you. Irony :irishdrinkers:

He was getting good pressure against a team with some serious protection issues (because of injury).

Saying he 'suddenly improved' is jumping the gun a bit.

And that was evident on how he treated obvious passing downs with long yardage.

What I will concede is it worked for one game. And the short yardage defense was fantastic.

But we need to see a string of these to say he 'improved'.

He did his job and did not look like a terrible DC this game. That is a start.

Let's see how he looks in a few more games, especially against division opponents before we start thinking we are in the clear with this DC now.

SoulfishHawk":2v7xubei said:

We are giving the guy credit and you feel the need to take shots. Seems pretty passive aggressive of you. Irony :irishdrinkers:

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Where am I being passive in the passive aggressive part?

I'm defending Norton against all the people on this thread thinking he all of a sudden learned how to coach defense. It's the players...........it's ALWAYS been the players.

Amazing how much better coaches coach when they have good players. Crazy!

I was just joking with you, that's all.
Go Hawks

I didn't like seeing adams up at the line so much. One play stuck out was a kind of delayed blitz and another when he was sent then stuttered at the back instead of plowing him into the qb.

I just hope we use him more strategically.

Fudwamper":1j3cd5w2 said:

I didn't like seeing adams up at the line so much. One play stuck out was a kind of delayed blitz and another when he was sent then stuttered at the back instead of plowing him into the qb.

I just hope we use him more strategically.

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I think we are aren't we?

This is how you want to use a player like Adams, let him run sideline to sideline in and out of the box creating havoc and hitting people and messing with playcalls.

I saw that Sunday. We shouldn't have to rely on him blitzing 10-15 times a game now because our D-line can't get pressure, exposing the defensive backfield to get burned like what happened last year.

Also should help keep him healthier not having to slam into 330 lb O-linemen.

I have to ask, was Flowers out there?????????????

Fire Norton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fudwamper":1w49rdw0 said:

I didn't like seeing adams up at the line so much. One play stuck out was a kind of delayed blitz and another when he was sent then stuttered at the back instead of plowing him into the qb.

I just hope we use him more strategically.

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He was playing deep a lot more than I think we've seen in past seasons... not sure the blitz count but I only remember a handful of designed blitzes from him.

He just barely missed the snap count on the neutral zone infraction call (and it remained 3rd down after that, so I think it was a well-calculated risk), but I agree he could have done more to power through the RB on that blitz from the left, rare moment of indecision from him. It seemed like he was picking his spots more in terms of freelancing - there's a healthy balance there and I think he's trying to find it - you don't want to take away his instincts when it comes to deviating from his assignment during the pre-snap action but you want to limit it to the degree that it does not become predictable.