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Defense without Pierce/Smoot?


TheTahoeLT

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Pierce didn't go to the Pro Bowl. Washington did.

Consensus on Pierce: Smart and got guys in the right place, small for a MLB, benefitted from playing behind Cornelius Griffin and Joe Salave'a, but got torn up against big backs like Bettis. Loss because of his brains, but some guys on the board treated him as if we had just lost Mike Singletary for some reason.

Consensus on Smoot: Tenacious as a pit-bull, but still gives too much of a cushion. Also undersized, but dinged up easily and couldn't blitz effectively, which is required in this D. To his credit, he'd play hard through injuries. The same mediots saying we'd miss Champ because we'd have to rely on Springs & Smoot are the same ones who say we're in the toilet because of losing Smoot. Strange. Carlos Rogers, once entrenched in the starting role, will easily outdo anything Smoot did here.

The loss of Pierce will be felt more, but not necessarily to the point of hurting us, especially with the return of Matt Bowen and LaVar.

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Pierce didn't go to the Pro Bowl. Washington did.

Consensus on Pierce: Smart and got guys in the right place, small for a MLB, benefitted from playing behind Cornelius Griffin and Joe Salave'a, but got torn up against big backs like Bettis. Loss because of his brains, but some guys on the board treated him as if we had just lost Mike Singletary for some reason.

Consensus on Smoot: Tenacious as a pit-bull, but still gives too much of a cushion. Also undersized, but dinged up easily and couldn't blitz effectively, which is required in this D. To his credit, he'd play hard through injuries. The same mediots saying we'd miss Champ because we'd have to rely on Springs & Smoot are the same ones who say we're in the toilet because of losing Smoot. Strange. Carlos Rogers, once entrenched in the starting role, will easily outdo anything Smoot did here.

The loss of Pierce will be felt more, but not necessarily to the point of hurting us, especially with the return of Matt Bowen and LaVar.

Ahhh... ok. I knew a Washington LB went, wrong one though.

Thanks for the eval.

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I know those are two pretty big losses. I've never been high on Smoot, but Pierce went to the pro-bowl last season if i remember correctly.

As a nieve Bears fan, how will the losses effect the defense?

These loses are WAY over blown. The return of Arrington and Bowen is considerably more significant. This defense fully believes they will be the number one unit in all of pro football in 2005. :2cents:

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These guys are solid players, but certainy not irreplaceable cogs.

Pierce main gift was brains. He knew where to go in the play, but he had trouble against bigger backs and was not good in pass defense.

Smoot had a non-stop motor (to match his non-stop mouth :laugh: ).

He played a little soft at time, but has GREAT cover skills. The problem is that CBs in Williams' 'D' need to do more than that. They have to be great run stuffin tacklers and good blitzers too. Smoot was niether of the last two.

I'll miss these guys, but the defense won't. They'll go on without them.

And Pierce didn't go to the pro bowl. Marcus Washington did. LaVar Arrington has been several times as well.

And they are both still on the team. :D

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Yep, and I bet it smarts for you that we have several former Chicago Bear players and coaches on this defense, and they have helped us turn it into the #1 'D' in the NFC.

Oh well, so it goes.... :)

The only one i'm aware of is Daniels. I'll take every end on our roster over him for our current defensive scheme.

Who else is there?

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Haters in the media like to harp on us letting go of Smoot and Pierce but the real deal is that Gibbs is trying to bring stability to the Skins, a key ingredient that has been sorely missing since he left. Smoot and Pierce both wanted to be paid more than the key players at their positions...Smoot wanted more than S. Springs and Pierce more than Washington. This would have upset the pay structure and hurt team chemestry. In the final decision, Gibbs went to G. Williams and asked him if he needs these guys to run his D and he said no. Lemar Marshall will now get the same chance at MLB that Pierce got last year and so far he has really done well. Corner will be more of a concern because lack of depth at the position and the percieved learning curve for Carlos Rogers. Until then W. Harris will start across from S. Springs and be backed up by Bowen and S. Taylor at Safety. With all the guys on D coming back from injury, these subtractions should not be felt or missed. And with the changes done to the Offense...well you can understand why we here at Extremeskins are a little excited.

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I think letting Pierce go was the right move. I am stunned that no one has derided the Giants for all of the money they threw at him. I wish the Redskins could have kept him, but I definitely think he benefited as much from the system as it did from him.

I think losing Smoot was much riskier and much more significant. I cringe at the notion of Walt Harris starting. I was panicked when the Skins were drafting that they were going to draft a WR and a QB instead of a CB. Thank goodness they did not grab Mike Williams, although the fact that they had to pass on him does make me think that losing Smoot was a mistake.

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