How do you guys feel about the defense right now?

[JMFP]

I realize it's still very early, and I hope I'm wrong, but I see this defense being an utter disaster next season.

 

Thoughts?

[JackStroud]

With Blackburn gone and Osi Gone............it might be tough

 

We'll have to see how the new guys do........Blackburn ran the D without him it might be chaos

[JackStroud]

The main thing is thi team has to bring back the "Bradshaw" attitude...........without the Bradshaw himself

[Herc]

i think the D-line got shored up very very nicely but i'm worried about our corner depth. hopefully ross can still contribute and thomas stays healthy

[Mr. P]

If the d-line can play well, the rest of the unit will appear that much better.

[*SDMF*]

Dont feel good. Thats for sure.

[jranieli]

I am just looking forward to seeing lots of zone defense this year.

[UK-Giantsfan]

Line looks quite good (IMO)....... but a lot depends on whether Tuck has anything left , whether JPP can get back to 2010 form and how they utilise Kiwi ( can we get to the opposing QB regularly ? in the NFC East ...im not sure) .....i must admit we look thin in places ......one or two injuries away from a shambles. Linebacking remains a real concern , although Safety and Corners look ok .

 

( however .....i had this feeling about 2007 season ......and look how it ended up ! )

[BleedinBlue]

An awful lot of our problems last year started on the line, which forced LB's and Safeties to bail them out. I think the line is marginally improved as long as Big John can step right in and be a force and Tuck becomes rejuvenated. I think Linval Joseph and Big John lined up side by side is an improvement, with Rogers, Patterson, and Jenkins in the mix. Really hoping Tuck is back and this DaMonster Moore becomes a big threat.

 

I'm not worried a whole lot over the LB play as some and see corners as being a bigger problem. Webster seems to be in the same boat as Tuck and has lost the fire in his belly or something, or maybe it's just age and injuries taking their toll. I'm not sure Thomas will ever be the same after three acl surgeries and hoping Ross has found the drive he had as a rookie and an improvement with experience. Time will tell.

 

We could definitely use another LB, but with Fewell's defense and his partiality to 3 safety sets, it's not that big an issue to me. And with the pickup of Cooper Taylor, I think we finally found a guy who can cover TE's...especially Witten, who always has huge games against us causing me to throw things around the house and yelling for someone to cover him. As far as the draft goes, there was no game-changing LB available to us that would have beaten out Williams or Paysinger, let alone Rivers, Connors, or Herzlich...and if Kiwi goes back to LB, we have a bit of a glut there. They looked bad last year primarily because of the porous and very inconsistent d-line. No pressure on the QB, and RB's finding big holes right in the middle of the line.

 

I tend to agree with Martellus Bennett that last year was a bit of a fluke because a lot of guys were basking in the afterglow of the Super Bowl instead of having the hunger of years past.

 

This coming season will be an improvement over last year. Philadelphia has made strides to improve and will be a bigger problem to us than Washington (IMO). The Eagles were a QB short of having a Super-Bowl worthy team and gave us a reprieve by throwing big bucks at Vick. We should be able to win the division this year. We'll have a high-powered offense and an improved defense.

[Sephiroth]

With Fewell as our DC, and our overall D rank in decline every year since he's been here, I don't feel very good.

[BleedinBlue]

With Fewell as our DC, and our overall D rank in decline every year since he's been here, I don't feel very good.

We got spoiled with Spags. But I agree...I'm not sure he's the right guy to run our defense. I'd love to be a mouse in the corner of the general manager's office to hear what they are saying about him.

[fishgutmartyr]

The dline was a no-show last year. The team did a lot to improve it. Chase Blackburn is not irreplaceable, and maybe Dan Conner isn't a hall of famer, but should be able to at least maintain status quo; not that it should be the goal, but it is what it is. The drafted safety is practically screaming to be put in that Deon Grant role, and Prince and Holsey are going to be more experienced.

 

We have some bruisers at DT this year, so we should at least be able to stop one aspect of offensive play. So there's hope.

 

We were 31st last year in defense--worst case scenario is we drop to 32nd? Even then, we wind up with a real DC, so that's a win.

[Nas]

With Fewell as our DC, and our overall D rank in decline every year since he's been here, I don't feel very good.

 

This is about the only thing that bothers me about our D when compared to last year...I think losing Osi is great for us... we lost a weak link... addition by subtraction. The LBs situation is the same as it was last year and our DLine improved a good deal... Kohn is in his 2nd year... KJ is slightly better than Canty and we drafted a guy in the 2nd round who won't get pushed back.

[Herc]

i would've liked to have picked up a CB. webster is terrible despite what some people may think, who knows what we get from ross and thomas can't be trusted til he starts playing games. thank god for prince

[Nas]

i would've liked to have picked up a CB. webster is terrible despite what some people may think, who knows what we get from ross and thomas can't be trusted til he starts playing games. thank god for prince

 

I'm not going to hold one bad year from Webster against him... I have high hopes he'll rebound quite nicely this year. We drafted Hosely (sp) last year too. I don't understand why some think we can draft every postion when in fact each team has 7 picks. And since the CB and Safety position are interchangeable, I feel we have more than enough bodies out there...

[Herc]

I'm not going to hold one bad year from Webster against him... I have high hopes he'll rebound quite nicely this year. We drafted Hosely (sp) last year too. I don't understand why some think we can draft every postion when in fact each team has 7 picks. And since the CB and Safety position are interchangeable, I feel we have more than enough bodies out there...

 

depth at db is crucial in today's NFL. we have quite a few question marks at some key secondary roles. We don't need to draft at every position but DB was top 3 most important along with OL and DL imo. and it didn't necessarily need to be a draft pick. i don't care how they do it but i am a little nervous about the back end of our defense this year. hopefully the improvements we made in DL will cover that up

[Nas]

depth at db is crucial in today's NFL. we have quite a few question marks at some key secondary roles. We don't need to draft at every position but DB was top 3 most important along with OL and DL imo. and it didn't necessarily need to be a draft pick. i don't care how they do it but i am a little nervous about the back end of our defense this year. hopefully the improvements we made in DL will cover that up

 

Just how many DBs do you think is adequate? 1. Webster 2. Prince. 3. Hosley 4. T2 5. Ross 6. (Bruce? do we still have him) 7. UDAs (see bleedin's post). Then there's June signings etc?

 

I guess I'm afraid your fear is unfounded.

[Herc]

1. terrible last year

2. great

3. good and improving

4. injured last two yeras

5. might be finished

 

that's too much risk for me not to be uncomfortable. ideally i want to be 4 deep with guys i can trust + the aaron ross's/UDFA's of the world. they don't have to be pro-bowlers but i want 4 guys who are at least solid

[Nas]

1. terrible last year

2. great

3. good and improving

4. injured last two yeras

5. might be finished

 

that's too much risk for me not to be uncomfortable. ideally i want to be 4 deep with guys i can trust + the aaron ross's/UDFA's of the world. they don't have to be pro-bowlers but i want 4 guys who are at least solid

 

I understand but the FO feels we had a bigger need at both the OL and DL positions... and also remember we lost Osi & KP. If we assume Web will come back to form this year, then we have 3 solid DBs as is... and we can bolster those spots between now and the start of the season... we did sign some in the URFA.

[Herc]

i would rather just have one 'if' in our top 4 but we have two and that makes me a little uncomfortable.

 

i know we can't fix everything at once--particularly with the cap situation we had this offseason, i am just answering the topic's question about how i feel about the defense. i'm actually really optimistic about our d-line and if they play the way i think they will then this might not even matter

[Allstarjim]

I think this team is going to be pretty good, if the offense can keep our defense on the sidelines. Eli needs to have a much better season than last year, for one. I think Wilson getting significantly more touches is going to really help Eli. And I believe that Randle having an extra season, and the addition of Louis Murphy bolsters the depth of the receiving corps. But what would really make things go is if Adrien Robinson has a coming out party. This offense can be really special if those things can fall into place, and Pugh takes care of the problem at RT.

 

The defense is going to need much more work. Webster needs a big bounce back season as does JPP and Tuck. The potential is there, but I'm much more optimistic about the offense than the defense.

[Herc]

im not worried about our offense at all. last year's performance just shows what nicks means to it

[Nas]

i would rather just have one 'if' in our top 4 but we have two and that makes me a little uncomfortable.

 

i know we can't fix everything at once--particularly with the cap situation we had this offseason, i am just answering the topic's question about how i feel about the defense. i'm actually really optimistic about our d-line and if they play the way i think they will then this might not even matter

 

And there's the rub... our D-Line sucking major balls last season meant our DBs had to shoulder the load... and that explains why it seems they sucked.. when in fact a DB can only cover a WR for so long... sooner or later laws of physics favors the WR. Fixing the DLine is the first step in shoring up our D.

[BleedinBlue]

 

 

Just how many DBs do you think is adequate? 1. Webster 2. Prince. 3. Hosley 4. T2 5. Ross 6. (Bruce? do we still have him) 7. UDAs (see bleedin's post). Then there's June signings etc?

 

I guess I'm afraid your fear is unfounded.

 

We have 28 defensive backs on our current roster:

 

Cornerbacks (11) : Corey Webster, Jayron Hosley, Laron Scott, Trumaine McBride, Antonio Dennard, Prince Amukamara, Terrell Thomas, Aaron Ross, Terrence Frederick, Buddy Jackson, Charles James (UDFA)

 

Safeties (7): Stevie Brown, Ryan Mundy, Cooper Taylor, David Caldwell, Antrel Rolle, Will Hill, Tyler Sash

 

Linebackers (10): Spencer Paysinger, Keith Rivers, Dan Connor, Mark Herzlich, Jake Muasau, Mathias Kiwanuka (if needed), Jacquian Williams, Alonzo Tweedy (UFDA), Etienne Sabino (UFDA), Charles Dieuseul (UDFA)

[gmenroc]

D Line - I think we're going to be okay. I think the youth we've infused with Moore and Hankins, added to JPP and hopefully a revitalized and healthy Tuck...I think it's as much as we could ask for. Success depends on Tuck demanding a double team. If he doesn't, the unit as a whole could fail.

 

LBer - I still think we could stand a veteran to come in. I'd bring back Boley at vet minimum if he doesn't get something somewhere else. I'm pretty uneasy at this point with this group, but it isn't the crux of our defense so we'll likely get away with the subpar players we have...Kiwi excluded.

 

Secondary - Webster got torched last year, T2 has significant injury concern and despite the talk about moving to safety...he won't due to the draft pick and number of players we have at safety. Prince is solid and hopefully Hosely can improve. Not just for the defense, but for the whole team...this is clearly the most concerning unit.

 

As a whole, defensively I think we have improved, but without some improvement from the guys who were here last year, we'll end up in the 8-8 or 9-7 range again.