Case of the missing horseshoe

[Guest]

@JimmyinSD said:
I doubt many of us really truly understand the nuances of what Zimmer is trying to do on most plays.. we get the intent of the way they play certain things,  but the little things are likely missed by most fans.  I have to defer to Geoff when he says that Barr is a big part of what Zim does,  does that give him a free pass or mean he cant have a bad game... nope,  but I have to wonder how much Zim loses if he doesnt have Barrs length and athleticism out there,  how easy that would be to replace,  and how many times do we watch a play and think the it should have been Barrs to make but he was actually where he was supposed to be and it was somebody else that wasnt doing their job?

I also question how much Griffs injury played against Barr.  Griff was handled by 1 man for most of the later part of the season which changed how people were able to play off that side of the line which is where Barr usually played from.

I agree.  Barr is so crucial to the defense, his range and ability take away so much.

But I have a question, you say Barr usually plays from Griff's side?  Are you sure?  What I have noticed (and I pay more attention to Smith on this) is that Smith plays the short side of the field while Barr plays the wider (field side). 

[Guest]

@greediron said:

@JimmyinSD said:
I doubt many of us really truly understand the nuances of what Zimmer is trying to do on most plays.. we get the intent of the way they play certain things,  but the little things are likely missed by most fans.  I have to defer to Geoff when he says that Barr is a big part of what Zim does,  does that give him a free pass or mean he cant have a bad game... nope,  but I have to wonder how much Zim loses if he doesnt have Barrs length and athleticism out there,  how easy that would be to replace,  and how many times do we watch a play and think the it should have been Barrs to make but he was actually where he was supposed to be and it was somebody else that wasnt doing their job?

I also question how much Griffs injury played against Barr.  Griff was handled by 1 man for most of the later part of the season which changed how people were able to play off that side of the line which is where Barr usually played from.

I agree.  Barr is so crucial to the defense, his range and ability take away so much.

But I have a question, you say Barr usually plays from Griff's side?  Are you sure?  What I have noticed (and I pay more attention to Smith on this) is that Smith plays the short side of the field while Barr plays the wider (field side). 

I dont count snaps,  but I usually see him lining up on the right side of the D.

[Guest]

You guys are all much better at the X's and O's of football and your knowledge is appreciated by me. I guess being more of a "see the result of a play" kinda person I just thought I saw tackling issues with, really, the whole team off and on this season, not just Barr. I know we have a very good defense and after suffering through the Frazier years I certainly appreciate what Zim has accomplished with this group. But at times I have felt like this D, with all of its loaded, expensive talent, has had breakdowns in certain phases throughout the season this year. Stats say that they were certainly one of the best. But there were times in the season when the run defense broke down. Then, you have games like the Philly game where tackling was an issue for these guys and pass D was nonexistent. I guess I'm just not buying into what the stats say because I feel like we still have plenty of work to do on that side of the ball...which actually is disappointing to me, because of the financial investment in the D and our head coach being a D guru.
Please don't misunderstand me because I know we have a defense that a lot of teams would love to have. I just have a very hard time with how they can collapse and I don't know if it's the character of the team, a confidence issue, or what. In 2016 we had the same guys and that collapse after 5-0 was ridiculous. I felt like it was revisited against the Eagles and that made me not only concerned but pretty frustrated, too.

[Guest]

.@purplefaithful said:

@JimmyinSD said:
I doubt many of us really truly understand the nuances of what Zimmer is trying to do on most plays.. we get the intent of the way they play certain things,  but the little things are likely missed by most fans.  I have to defer to Geoff when he says that Barr is a big part of what Zim does,  does that give him a free pass or mean he cant have a bad game... nope,  but I have to wonder how much Zim loses if he doesnt have Barrs length and athleticism out there,  how easy that would be to replace,  and how many times do we watch a play and think the it should have been Barrs to make but he was actually where he was supposed to be and it was somebody else that wasnt doing their job?

I also question how much Griffs injury played against Barr.  Griff was handled by 1 man for most of the later part of the season which changed how people were able to play off that side of the line which is where Barr usually played from.

Which gets back to a point another poster made elsewhere, if Griff was 50% or so, why not play him situationally and move BROB in the starting line-up and Danielle over to EG's spot? 

That Plantar Fasciitis was obviously an issue for some time...

Zimmer is still gripping the reigns too tight. He didn't trust Weatherly or Bowers enough to rotate them in with his Starters to keep them fresh. He was too enamored with BRob doing his Roving D-Lineman thing to do the smart thing and have him split snaps with the ineffective Griffin.

And he sure put too much faith in the D-Line to generate pressure while using blitz looks to create confusion without actually blitzing that much. There were also few, if any in-game adjustments from the Defense the last 6 quarters.

The good news is that Mike isn't so stuck in his ways that he can't recognize areas for improvement. Handing over playcalling to his DC will be a good start.

I also fully expect a high Round pick on another DE to add to the rotation. Zimmer used 6-8 guys in Cincinnati.  I have to believe that once he feels like he has enough horses again he'll get back to that practice.

And getting zilch from the 3T hurts his scheme a lot. For a guy who prefers not to blitz as much as people think having no interior push really puts a lot of pressure on his DEs.

A Safety that actually compliments Smith instead of being not as good at the same things would also help. Sendejo really struggled against Ertz, as I predicted. But Smith did too. Time to get a guy who may.not be as stout in the run or as a blitzer but can lock down in coverage and play a true Center Field.

Look for a high pick on the O-Line and then a very Defense focused Draft. Might also be time for another Veteran CB reclamation project too.

[Guest]

That game was more like the case of the missing game plan. Missing O-line. Missing DB's.