Quote: @prairieghost said:
@ greediron said:
@ prairieghost said:
Such great content, Tom.  I agree with you about the run D. You know, in the preseason and at the beginning of the regular season it wasn't up to snuff. Then things started tightening up really well, and then again yesterday we saw things get lax again. The Freeman/Coleman combo is very good though, and they have a good run blocking O-line. No excuses, just reasons, I guess. I hope things tighten back up next week against the Panthers. A running QB like Newton and a sneaky pass catching runner like McCaffrey is another tough draw.
CJ Ham and David Morgan are so much more valuable than I ever thought they would be. Ham is just a bruiser, and he gets those tough, slamming yards. His pass catch and spin move yesterday were awesome! I hope Morgan doesn't have a lingering issue like Remmers with regard to his concussion.
We are so very lucky with the depth that we have on this team but we need to keep the football gods in our corner right now. The injury bug killed us last year.
Again, thanks Tom! I echo what everyone else is saying. This is some GREAT stuff!
Not sure how the run D was lax? We shut down a high powered offense. I think our scheme was perfect, well Atlanta figured out passing on 1st down was the best way to move the football, but Zimmer adjusted and we shut that down as well. Maybe our scheme wasn't as worried about the run game as we were with the pass. They aren't bruisers like Gurley, so they weren't going to wear us down.
It was a good scheme, heavily emphasized on shutting down their air attack which I understand. No TDs for Matt Ryan and very low yards for Julio. I know we can't shut everyone down at all times. Freeman had 74 yards and Coleman had 22. But I agree with Tom, there are times when the run D fails, and there have been times during the course of the season when those gashes have sustained drives at very crucial points in games. There have been times when we've almost seen a Williams Wall kind of run D as well and I'm hoping we can just be more consistent in that regard. All that aside, it was another road win against another quality opponent and I'll take them however we get them. I just remember the Patriots coming into our house and negating the williams brothers. We were a one dimensional defense and could be exploited. This D isn't that way. They have a plan and seem to execute it to near perfection.
Please keep these threads coming. What a treat to hear about the team with this first hand quality. I get VerKlempt reading Toms stuff!
great write-up. thanks guys
Quote: @greediron said:
@ prairieghost said:
@ greediron said:
@ prairieghost said:
Such great content, Tom. I agree with you about the run D. You know, in the preseason and at the beginning of the regular season it wasn't up to snuff. Then things started tightening up really well, and then again yesterday we saw things get lax again. The Freeman/Coleman combo is very good though, and they have a good run blocking O-line. No excuses, just reasons, I guess. I hope things tighten back up next week against the Panthers. A running QB like Newton and a sneaky pass catching runner like McCaffrey is another tough draw.
CJ Ham and David Morgan are so much more valuable than I ever thought they would be. Ham is just a bruiser, and he gets those tough, slamming yards. His pass catch and spin move yesterday were awesome! I hope Morgan doesn't have a lingering issue like Remmers with regard to his concussion.
We are so very lucky with the depth that we have on this team but we need to keep the football gods in our corner right now. The injury bug killed us last year.
Again, thanks Tom! I echo what everyone else is saying. This is some GREAT stuff!
Not sure how the run D was lax? We shut down a high powered offense. I think our scheme was perfect, well Atlanta figured out passing on 1st down was the best way to move the football, but Zimmer adjusted and we shut that down as well. Maybe our scheme wasn't as worried about the run game as we were with the pass. They aren't bruisers like Gurley, so they weren't going to wear us down.
It was a good scheme, heavily emphasized on shutting down their air attack which I understand. No TDs for Matt Ryan and very low yards for Julio. I know we can't shut everyone down at all times. Freeman had 74 yards and Coleman had 22. But I agree with Tom, there are times when the run D fails, and there have been times during the course of the season when those gashes have sustained drives at very crucial points in games. There have been times when we've almost seen a Williams Wall kind of run D as well and I'm hoping we can just be more consistent in that regard. All that aside, it was another road win against another quality opponent and I'll take them however we get them. I just remember the Patriots coming into our house and negating the williams brothers. We were a one dimensional defense and could be exploited. This D isn't that way. They have a plan and seem to execute it to near perfection.
What's so impressive about the defense is that they can beat offenses in different ways and keep showing off new wrinkles. Some games they run a lot of exotic blitzes and beat up the opposing QB and some games, like Atlanta, they rely on a 4-man rush and good execution to shut down the offense. I also like how they've figured out something with spying QBs the past couple games and are taking away plays where QBs would gash them for easy yards. Carolina will be a tough test. Would need to look back how they dominated Carolina last year, but with McCaffery, I think that would limit the amount of exotic blitzes they run.
As for the run D, I agree that it has been inconsistent this year. They can't stop everything, but still frustrating when backs are picking up big chunks of yards. Some of it is discipline and tackling, but I also think they could upgrade at UT in terms of run defense. We aren't bad there, but I'm seeing where a UT that could get quick pressure up the middle and/or be stout against the run would add an element that is missing from the defense.
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