Quote: @supafreak84 said:
@ Wetlander said:
@ supafreak84 said:
I'm hopeful and it all sounds encouraging, but blitzing comes at a cost and I worry that we don't have the horses on the back end to hold up. I really hope Murphy holds up and us as good as advertised because the rest of that corner group is pretty shaky for one reason or another
I think the biggest benefit from the Flores hiring is that his scheme is bigger than the sum of its parts. I think we'll be better on defense just from the general confusion of disguising coverage and mixing in exotic blitz packages, just like we saw noticable improvement when Zim came in. Sometimes the threat of a blitz can make teams call their offense differently and if we're playing faster than the offense, sometimes that's all you need.
But yes, I don't expect a shut down defense because I think we're still a little weak at some key positions and lack depth at certain spots. But if we can go from 31st to 16-18 on defense... we got a real chance to win the division again and likely cut our one score games in half this season.
I hope you are right. I guess my concern would be we heard a lot of the same talk from Donatell last season about his scheme being unpredictable, showing different looks to confuse the QB, and being able to disguise blitzes and we saw none of that. Flores has never been a DC before, so I guess we will find out along with everybody else. I'm hoping the overall scheme can mask some of our deficiencies because we have a few.
Yep, I'm hopeful but I also have to see it work. I'm done with the fluff.
Yes proof will be in the pudding here in a couple weeks
I think there’s a floor in terms of quality of personnel
that you can’t go below and still field a functional defense. The offense dictates what happens and can
better hide their own weaknesses while they can choose to target weaknesses in
the defense. While many people above are
referencing the turn-around the defense saw from Zimmer’s hire, Zimmer’s defense
sucked the last two years because the talent just wasn’t there to implement any
scheme (lack of pass rush combined with inability to cover is something you can’t
scheme around). I think Flores will be
able to manufacture pressure that would cover for deficiencies in the pass
rushers, but I think he’ll have much greater issues covering for weaknesses in
our secondary. I think the success of
our defense will come down to how good/bad our CBs play, which is hard to
predict because we’re depending heavily on guys with little to no experience.
I don’t think Donatell had sufficient talent for him to be
successful, but I also don’t think he is a very good DC. I think Flores will be much better at getting
the players to play at their maximum potential, but any good QB will pick apart
his defense if there’s too many exploitable CBs on the field.
Quote: @supafreak84 said:
@ Wetlander said:
@ supafreak84 said:
I'm hopeful and it all sounds encouraging, but blitzing comes at a cost and I worry that we don't have the horses on the back end to hold up. I really hope Murphy holds up and us as good as advertised because the rest of that corner group is pretty shaky for one reason or another
I think the biggest benefit from the Flores hiring is that his scheme is bigger than the sum of its parts. I think we'll be better on defense just from the general confusion of disguising coverage and mixing in exotic blitz packages, just like we saw noticable improvement when Zim came in. Sometimes the threat of a blitz can make teams call their offense differently and if we're playing faster than the offense, sometimes that's all you need.
But yes, I don't expect a shut down defense because I think we're still a little weak at some key positions and lack depth at certain spots. But if we can go from 31st to 16-18 on defense... we got a real chance to win the division again and likely cut our one score games in half this season.
I hope you are right. I guess my concern would be we heard a lot of the same talk from Donatell last season about his scheme being unpredictable, showing different looks to confuse the QB, and being able to disguise blitzes and we saw none of that. Flores has never been a DC before, so I guess we will find out along with everybody else. I'm hoping the overall scheme can mask some of our deficiencies because we have a few.
_onatell was unpredictable. Nobody expected the D to just stand there and not have a plan. It was confusing for a bit, but seriously, as teams realized how bad it was, the offenses had a cake walk.
Quote: @medaille said:
I think there’s a floor in terms of quality of personnel
that you can’t go below and still field a functional defense. The offense dictates what happens and can
better hide their own weaknesses while they can choose to target weaknesses in
the defense. While many people above are
referencing the turn-around the defense saw from Zimmer’s hire, Zimmer’s defense
sucked the last two years because the talent just wasn’t there to implement any
scheme (lack of pass rush combined with inability to cover is something you can’t
scheme around). I think Flores will be
able to manufacture pressure that would cover for deficiencies in the pass
rushers, but I think he’ll have much greater issues covering for weaknesses in
our secondary. I think the success of
our defense will come down to how good/bad our CBs play, which is hard to
predict because we’re depending heavily on guys with little to no experience.
I don’t think Donatell had sufficient talent for him to be
successful, but I also don’t think he is a very good DC. I think Flores will be much better at getting
the players to play at their maximum potential, but any good QB will pick apart
his defense if there’s too many exploitable CBs on the field.
I actually worry more about our run defense. Our "good" LBs are small. Our D line is not that formidable.
Quote: @greediron said:
@ medaille said:
I think there’s a floor in terms of quality of personnel
that you can’t go below and still field a functional defense. The offense dictates what happens and can
better hide their own weaknesses while they can choose to target weaknesses in
the defense. While many people above are
referencing the turn-around the defense saw from Zimmer’s hire, Zimmer’s defense
sucked the last two years because the talent just wasn’t there to implement any
scheme (lack of pass rush combined with inability to cover is something you can’t
scheme around). I think Flores will be
able to manufacture pressure that would cover for deficiencies in the pass
rushers, but I think he’ll have much greater issues covering for weaknesses in
our secondary. I think the success of
our defense will come down to how good/bad our CBs play, which is hard to
predict because we’re depending heavily on guys with little to no experience.
I don’t think Donatell had sufficient talent for him to be
successful, but I also don’t think he is a very good DC. I think Flores will be much better at getting
the players to play at their maximum potential, but any good QB will pick apart
his defense if there’s too many exploitable CBs on the field.
I actually worry more about our run defense. Our "good" LBs are small. Our D line is not that formidable.
Also my biggest concern. We were not good against the run last year, but we were down right abysmal against the pass so I don't think teams exploited our run defense like they could have. We've swapped Tomlinson for Lowry (downgrade) and have actually gotten smaller at LB if we are talking about Asamoah and Pace as starters, which is the way it seems to be trending. Run defense is a huge concern. You can have the best scheme in the world but it means nothing if you don't have the horses to make it work.
Quote: @greediron said:
@ supafreak84 said:
@ Wetlander said:
@ supafreak84 said:
I'm hopeful and it all sounds encouraging, but blitzing comes at a cost and I worry that we don't have the horses on the back end to hold up. I really hope Murphy holds up and us as good as advertised because the rest of that corner group is pretty shaky for one reason or another
I think the biggest benefit from the Flores hiring is that his scheme is bigger than the sum of its parts. I think we'll be better on defense just from the general confusion of disguising coverage and mixing in exotic blitz packages, just like we saw noticable improvement when Zim came in. Sometimes the threat of a blitz can make teams call their offense differently and if we're playing faster than the offense, sometimes that's all you need.
But yes, I don't expect a shut down defense because I think we're still a little weak at some key positions and lack depth at certain spots. But if we can go from 31st to 16-18 on defense... we got a real chance to win the division again and likely cut our one score games in half this season.
I hope you are right. I guess my concern would be we heard a lot of the same talk from Donatell last season about his scheme being unpredictable, showing different looks to confuse the QB, and being able to disguise blitzes and we saw none of that. Flores has never been a DC before, so I guess we will find out along with everybody else. I'm hoping the overall scheme can mask some of our deficiencies because we have a few.
_onatell was unpredictable. Nobody expected the D to just stand there and not have a plan. It was confusing for a bit, but seriously, as teams realized how bad it was, the offenses had a cake walk.
Kendriks and Smith were left looking confused as to what we were even running many times last year. Even as the season progressed it still wasn’t making sense. You could see it in how they moved presnap.
Quote: @AGRforever said:
@ greediron said:
@ supafreak84 said:
@ Wetlander said:
@ supafreak84 said:
I'm hopeful and it all sounds encouraging, but blitzing comes at a cost and I worry that we don't have the horses on the back end to hold up. I really hope Murphy holds up and us as good as advertised because the rest of that corner group is pretty shaky for one reason or another
I think the biggest benefit from the Flores hiring is that his scheme is bigger than the sum of its parts. I think we'll be better on defense just from the general confusion of disguising coverage and mixing in exotic blitz packages, just like we saw noticable improvement when Zim came in. Sometimes the threat of a blitz can make teams call their offense differently and if we're playing faster than the offense, sometimes that's all you need.
But yes, I don't expect a shut down defense because I think we're still a little weak at some key positions and lack depth at certain spots. But if we can go from 31st to 16-18 on defense... we got a real chance to win the division again and likely cut our one score games in half this season.
I hope you are right. I guess my concern would be we heard a lot of the same talk from Donatell last season about his scheme being unpredictable, showing different looks to confuse the QB, and being able to disguise blitzes and we saw none of that. Flores has never been a DC before, so I guess we will find out along with everybody else. I'm hoping the overall scheme can mask some of our deficiencies because we have a few.
_onatell was unpredictable. Nobody expected the D to just stand there and not have a plan. It was confusing for a bit, but seriously, as teams realized how bad it was, the offenses had a cake walk.
Kendriks and Smith were left looking confused as to what we were even running many times last year. Even as the season progressed it still wasn’t making sense. You could see it in how they moved presnap.
What was really shocking was how much they talked about this issue over halfway through the season. They were still talking about getting on the same page and knowing assignments late in the year.
Quote: @HappyViking said:
Zimmer was hired in 2014 and I was excited knowing the defense had to improve using his "exotic" blitzing he'd bring to the team. That was noticed almost immediately when the team defense that was ranked 32nd in 2013 jumped to 11th in Zim's first season.
If we get anywhere near that kind of improvement with the Flores hiring, this team will be fun to watch on the defensive side of the ball - Skol!
Exotic blitzing... I think Zim started to decline when his focus turned to erotic blitzing.
![[Image: c9jhgldc835v.jpg]](https://vikefans.com/vfforums/uploads/editor/qs/c9jhgldc835v.jpg)
Quote: @greediron said:
@ medaille said:
I think there’s a floor in terms of quality of personnel
that you can’t go below and still field a functional defense. The offense dictates what happens and can
better hide their own weaknesses while they can choose to target weaknesses in
the defense. While many people above are
referencing the turn-around the defense saw from Zimmer’s hire, Zimmer’s defense
sucked the last two years because the talent just wasn’t there to implement any
scheme (lack of pass rush combined with inability to cover is something you can’t
scheme around). I think Flores will be
able to manufacture pressure that would cover for deficiencies in the pass
rushers, but I think he’ll have much greater issues covering for weaknesses in
our secondary. I think the success of
our defense will come down to how good/bad our CBs play, which is hard to
predict because we’re depending heavily on guys with little to no experience.
I don’t think Donatell had sufficient talent for him to be
successful, but I also don’t think he is a very good DC. I think Flores will be much better at getting
the players to play at their maximum potential, but any good QB will pick apart
his defense if there’s too many exploitable CBs on the field.
I actually worry more about our run defense. Our "good" LBs are small. Our D line is not that formidable.
It will definitely be more of a penetrating run defense than we're used to. So plenty of 2 yard losses and 20 yard gains.
The key to this will be Khyiris Tonga. I'm not expecting much from Dean Lowry, who is much more of a pass rusher anyway. But Tonga at 6-4, 340 is going to be asked to plug the middle on run downs with Harrison Phillips. PFF graded Tonga surprisingly high last year--top 15 among IDLs. But in order for the run defense to take a step forward, he has to have a breakout year and impress more than just the folks at PFF.
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