Talent and defense

[CANE4LIFE]

OMG, people are just now realizing we might not have the right bodies??????


Unreal.

At some point I wonder if part of our problem is that we just dont have the right personnel to run the scheme that Golden and Coach D want to run. Maybe we made the move to almost fulltime 3-4 too soon. Chick is NOT a 3-4 DE. Pierre looked a LOT better as a Gap DT in a 4-3 last year. Porter also has not really looked very good as an NT. He hasnt been bad, but its clear that Renfrow has blown past him. We also suffer from lack of quality depth at LB. Denzel is a very good LB, but he's not a Vilma or Dan Morgan type superstar that can carry the whole D on his back. I also think all the size gain over the last year has affected his quickness. He seems to have definitely lost a step. Gaines is a good, but not great LB, and beyond that we have ZIPPO. Kirby hasnt really shown much. Armbrister is a non factor. Cornelius is simply NOT Miami calibur. Figueroa is young, and right now only a situational type player. McCord is also not ready to be a dominating LB, he mostly excels as a situational guy.

Couple that with the absolute TRAINWRECK we have at Safety, and you have a very dysfunctional defense. Our safeties were simply TERRIBLE last night in ALL aspects of the game. Run support, pass pro. AWEFUL. Highsmith was the SINGLE most important player on the field last night for EITHER team. That guy was more responsible for the suceess of EITHER team (unfortunately theirs) than any other player last night save for maybe Winston.

Our DL is average, which is an improvement over last year, but nothing to write home about. Our LB corps on the whole is average. Our Safeties are TERRIBLE. Our CBs are the only real strength of the defense, and we saw last night how teams simply avoid throwing to them and tear up the middle of the field and our soft zone with clueless LBs and Safeties.

If we are going to be a 3-4 team, then we need to recrit the right players for that system. What we have now is a bunch of guys who were meant to play in a different scheme, trying to change at the 11th hour and not being very successful. See Chick. Chick is a classic example of a guy who should have been playing at around 250-255 as a run stopping DE in a 4-3. Now he's been forced to bulk up to become a 3-4 DE or even an interior lineman. He's lost a LOT of speed, and has had NO measurable improvement in strength. So there is another guy who is simply not playing in what he is best suited for. Most of these guys are not. Porter is not. Luther Robinson is not. Pierre is not. AQM and McCord are purely situational at this point, and a HUGE signal to the offense of what we are going to do.

We should have moved over to a 3-4 more slowly when we had the right personnel, instead of forcing it with the wrong personnel.

No dude. Its obvious we dont have the people we need, nor the depth we need. The issue is wether we moved to the 3-4 too prematurely.

 

[CanesAreAble]

No dude. Its obvious we dont have the people we need, nor the depth we need. The issue is wether we moved to the 3-4 too prematurely.

Disagree.

We didn't immediately start running the 3-4, and we're still not a pure 3-4 team.

But it's clear what kind of defense Golden wants based on recruiting. He immediately started recruiting bigger LBs and looking for NTs.

 

[OBLIVION]

That's a supaparagraph

 

[BALDYCHUTES]

The answer is no.

Assuming he did immediately change (he didn't), how else is one supposed to transition?

He showed up and found 4-3 personnel. So he runs a 4-3. And while he is doing that he was sposed to recruit 3-4 types to teach them what? Was he supposed to teach them a 4-3 or the 3-4 he wants to run? The guy only has so many hours in the day, he cannot teach two systems to two different sets of players.

So, he made the change and we took our lumps last year, which was inevitable. This year, despite a lack of talent/depth, we are top 32 with our toughest games (at least on paper) behind us. You drag out such a transition and try get cute and delay, you turn a 3 year rebuilding project into a 5.

If it is to happen inevitably, it should happen immediately. You make the change, set the system, change the culture and plug kids in, and that is what he has done, for the most part.

OMG, people are just now realizing we might not have the right bodies??????


Unreal.

At some point I wonder if part of our problem is that we just dont have the right personnel to run the scheme that Golden and Coach D want to run. Maybe we made the move to almost fulltime 3-4 too soon. Chick is NOT a 3-4 DE. Pierre looked a LOT better as a Gap DT in a 4-3 last year. Porter also has not really looked very good as an NT. He hasnt been bad, but its clear that Renfrow has blown past him. We also suffer from lack of quality depth at LB. Denzel is a very good LB, but he's not a Vilma or Dan Morgan type superstar that can carry the whole D on his back. I also think all the size gain over the last year has affected his quickness. He seems to have definitely lost a step. Gaines is a good, but not great LB, and beyond that we have ZIPPO. Kirby hasnt really shown much. Armbrister is a non factor. Cornelius is simply NOT Miami calibur. Figueroa is young, and right now only a situational type player. McCord is also not ready to be a dominating LB, he mostly excels as a situational guy.

Couple that with the absolute TRAINWRECK we have at Safety, and you have a very dysfunctional defense. Our safeties were simply TERRIBLE last night in ALL aspects of the game. Run support, pass pro. AWEFUL. Highsmith was the SINGLE most important player on the field last night for EITHER team. That guy was more responsible for the suceess of EITHER team (unfortunately theirs) than any other player last night save for maybe Winston.

Our DL is average, which is an improvement over last year, but nothing to write home about. Our LB corps on the whole is average. Our Safeties are TERRIBLE. Our CBs are the only real strength of the defense, and we saw last night how teams simply avoid throwing to them and tear up the middle of the field and our soft zone with clueless LBs and Safeties.

If we are going to be a 3-4 team, then we need to recrit the right players for that system. What we have now is a bunch of guys who were meant to play in a different scheme, trying to change at the 11th hour and not being very successful. See Chick. Chick is a classic example of a guy who should have been playing at around 250-255 as a run stopping DE in a 4-3. Now he's been forced to bulk up to become a 3-4 DE or even an interior lineman. He's lost a LOT of speed, and has had NO measurable improvement in strength. So there is another guy who is simply not playing in what he is best suited for. Most of these guys are not. Porter is not. Luther Robinson is not. Pierre is not. AQM and McCord are purely situational at this point, and a HUGE signal to the offense of what we are going to do.

We should have moved over to a 3-4 more slowly when we had the right personnel, instead of forcing it with the wrong personnel.

No dude. Its obvious we dont have the people we need, nor the depth we need. The issue is wether we moved to the 3-4 too prematurely.