I always liked the Fritz Shurmur defensive philosophy. Bend but don't break. I remember him saying once that the objective of the defense isn't to dominate the game, just make sure the other team doesn't score more points than the Packers do.
Yes. 5 different defenders lost Brown. The zone failed. Missing Campbell hurt. And other than Kenny King we still need that run stuffer up front. Burks has not done much this season. But overall I saw a defense that was not attacking, not aggressive, and trying not to get injured. In a meaningless game that can be forgotten. Do it again and heads explode. Notice a very unique statistic. Maybe good but maybe not so good. Packers had NO accepted penalties in the game. Now that would be great in most contests. But usually when there are no calls it means the team is not hitting, not playing aggressive, and playing like it is just a scrimmage.
Well he did use a lot of 3 man rushes I hated. The worst was on the Owen's Caught it Catch. He chose not to go with pressure. But Fritz had some super front fours that dominated the LOS and got to the QB a lot. Do his back 7 could do their thing.
I think that comfort comes with playing time and throwing interceptions all the while learning the game.
None of us are experts, but we do have his history to compare.
With all due respect, the problems Love faces does deal with time on the field. Preseason work has been so limited.
While that’s true, I think it could be also argued that Barry did the same with less.
Amen. We could’ve rushed players back, but I like our prudent approach of holding players out that were not vital. It’s very possible that we have Billy Turner, Randall Cobb, Josh Meyers, David Bakhtiari, J’aire Alexander and Za’darius Smith suited up in 2 weeks. That’s a massive haul of talent resources, regardless of some being limited or not full speed!
I don't like that philosophy at all. staying on the field for long drives is not good whereas if you don't let their offense get in sink...that's a good thing and you have a strong D.
Your objective, as a coach, is to have long drives for your team, to reduce the time on the field for your defense. The objective of bend but don't break isn't giving the opposition more field time, but forcing them to make mistakes because you don't give them the big play. They need to work for every yard. It's constant pressure, but you don't risk your advantage.
Yes, I understand the reasoning and I don't like it. Teams that play bend but don't break imho do so because they are unable to play tough enough to stop the first downs. But by definition, it means give up the first downs which translates into long drives for them. Playing for turnovers through some kind of mistake is kind of ridiculous. Turnovers happen more often for a D that plays tough and tight. Again imho. Our D looked much better 6 or so games ago when they were swarming to the ball.
When our regular defenders get healthy they can step it up. Until then, too many weak links on the field that need to be protected.
Alexander> Stokes.
Pretty accurate. I would still say we should look at the strength of schedule this season as opposed to last. I believe this one was hands down tougher. In addition compare our offensive numbers this year vs. last. The best defense is a good offense. Did our offense put up more points last year? Did our offense stay on the field more last year?
