Defense played bend but don't break.

[Rypien1191]

Get Gregg Williams back in here next year (yeah, I know.... well at least somebody as good as him) and switch back to 4-3. This 3-4 garbage isn't working. We don't have the right personnel for it and we've got a DC who hasn't run it in years and didn't want to run it here. Odds are he's gone next year too.

[KCClybun]

As much as I love ya, NLC, I gotta disagree here. If they were playing ball control they would've ran the ball a lot more than they did. Instead, Matt Ryan threw the ball over 50 times. And before you say half of those were directed at Tony Gonzales which constitutes ball control, I'd say that about half of the times Ryan passed to him he wasn't his first read.

Furthermore, Ryan took a bunch of shots down the field the first half... But Madeiu finally broke a couple up for once. And Wilson played really well. They didn't test Hall that much though, which isn't surprising to me considering how well he's played. The announcers even commented that the Coaches told them before the game they wanted to attack Wilson since their receivers have the size advantage. They totally did but failed for the most part.

To me, there's little to no indication they were just playing ball control like you insinuate. Our D played well for three quarters and that's that in my mind.

They threw it 50 times because they couldn't run it. Turner only had 67 yards, 13 of which came on his touchdown run. Matty Ice also missed a couple throws he should've made, particularly early.

I watched the game and wondered why the Falcons weren't stepping on the gas and keeping it up tempo. They were content to huddle and take their times.

Maybe I'm just sick of watching this defense play like balls every Sunday. Maybe I'm so annoyed at Jim Haslett I can't see past anything else. But the fact that we're even using the words "bend don't break" with what's supposed to be an aggressive 3-4 defense bugs the high holy **** out of me. Screw bend don't break.

This defense plays vanilla and Jim Haslett calls the defense like he hasn't be running it the previous two years and it's annoying as hell.

---------- Post added October-9th-2012 at 08:28 PM ----------

Get Gregg Williams back in here next year (yeah, I know.... well at least somebody as good as him) and switch back to 4-3. This 3-4 garbage isn't working. We don't have the right personnel for it and we've got a DC who hasn't run it in years and didn't want to run it here. Odds are he's gone next year too.

It's not scheme, it's coaching.

[Rypien1191]

It's not scheme, it's coaching.

Its both. Haslett sucks, but I believe Orakpo and Kerrigan are better suited to be 4-3 ends (Kerrigan has been great regardless), and Cofield/Bowen are better as 4-3 (even rotational/situational) tackles than space eating monsters a la Ngata etc.

[Probos]

The defense played OK. That's about it. We lost the game.

Let's not make it more than it really is,.....seriously.

[DogofWar1]

I'm actually ok with the bend-don't-break style for our defense for the rest of the year.

Is it ideal?

Heck no! But the defense can't attack like we used to anyway, with the loss of Orakpo and Carriker. If we can't attack effectively, moving to a prevent big plays+gap control run defense could pay dividends if the offense can put up points. Consider in the past we'd hold teams to 17-24 points and lose because the offense couldn't do anything. Now the bend but don't break philosophy, might actually benefit us.

Though I hope we seriously upgrade the secondary and come back next year with an attacking group. We're getting lots of turnovers and I'd like to see that continue, but with a solid secondary.

[pjfootballer]

I'm actually ok with the bend-don't-break style for our defense for the rest of the year.

Is it ideal?

Heck no! But the defense can't attack like we used to anyway, with the loss of Orakpo and Carriker. If we can't attack effectively, moving to a prevent big plays+gap control run defense could pay dividends if the offense can put up points. Consider in the past we'd hold teams to 17-24 points and lose because the offense couldn't do anything. Now the bend but don't break philosophy, might actually benefit us.

Though I hope we seriously upgrade the secondary and come back next year with an attacking group. We're getting lots of turnovers and I'd like to see that continue, but with a solid secondary.

I was going to say this. They tried to play bend but don't break, but when you're on the field for 37 minutes, you'll eventually break, They did. We can't play aggressive missing Caricker and Orakpo. I'd even throw in Meriweather even though he hasn't played. He a more aggressive SS then Reed or Gomes.

[DogofWar1]

I was going to say this. They tried to play bend but don't break, but when you're on the field for 37 minutes, you'll eventually break, They did. We can't play aggressive missing Caricker and Orakpo. I'd even throw in Meriweather even though he hasn't played. He a more aggressive SS then Reed or Gomes.

And the biggest problem was that we held the ball for less than 3 minutes in the 4th quarter. We had 4 drives, the first was the quick strike to Moss, taking 53 seconds, the next was a punt taking 1:21, and the last two combined were INTs totaling 36 seconds. The defense was on the field 12 minutes in the 4th, and you just can't expect them to hold up in those conditions.

Getting RGIII back should help with time of possession, and we need to learn how to play with a lead too, running hard and eating up the clock. From here on out I feel like Morris should be getting ~23 carries, but we should also utilize Grant and, if he's healthy, Royster. We should still be rushing 30+ times a game, but we don't want to lean too heavily on Morris, if something happens to him we're truly sunk.

[pjfootballer]

And the biggest problem was that we held the ball for less than 3 minutes in the 4th quarter. We had 4 drives, the first was the quick strike to Moss, taking 53 seconds, the next was a punt taking 1:21, and the last two combined were INTs totaling 36 seconds. The defense was on the field 12 minutes in the 4th, and you just can't expect them to hold up in those conditions.

Getting RGIII back should help with time of possession, and we need to learn how to play with a lead too, running hard and eating up the clock. From here on out I feel like Morris should be getting ~23 carries, but we should also utilize Grant and, if he's healthy, Royster. We should still be rushing 30+ times a game, but we don't want to lean too heavily on Morris, if something happens to him we're truly sunk.

Well, with the Rams and Tampa, I thought we went into too much Riggo drill up 21-6 in both games. I say keep firing the ball down the field until they stop it or the game is out of reach, like 35-6. Then you run it. We get up by 2 scores and we get too conservative.

[DogofWar1]

Well, with the Rams and Tampa, I thought we went into too much Riggo drill up 21-6 in both games. I say keep firing the ball down the field until they stop it or the game is out of reach, like 35-6. Then you run it. We get up by 2 scores and we get too conservative.

That's true, and I don't want us to just sort of run without heed of whether we're getting first downs or not, but we need to also control the clock, and I don't think we can do that effectively with only 21 or so rushes a game. Our rush numbers were usually supplemented by Griffin rushing around 10 times a game, but we moved away from that in the Falcons game, but didn't replace Griffin's rushes with anyone else's.

It's going to be a learning process, for sure, but I think sprinkling in carries by Grant and Royster throughout the game could help by keeping Morris fresh, which should allow us to rush him 8-10 times in the 4th, and not end up on the wrong end of T.O.P.

[MartinC]

I'm actually ok with the bend-don't-break style for our defense for the rest of the year.

Is it ideal?

Heck no! But the defense can't attack like we used to anyway, with the loss of Orakpo and Carriker. If we can't attack effectively, moving to a prevent big plays+gap control run defense could pay dividends if the offense can put up points. Consider in the past we'd hold teams to 17-24 points and lose because the offense couldn't do anything. Now the bend but don't break philosophy, might actually benefit us.

Though I hope we seriously upgrade the secondary and come back next year with an attacking group. We're getting lots of turnovers and I'd like to see that continue, but with a solid secondary.

The thing with playing bend dont break is to do it successfully over the long term you need a very good rush from your base 4 or maybe 5 rushers. With Rak out we lack that - even though Kerrigan is very good he is not an out and out rusher plus without Rak teams can slide their protections towards Kerrigan. I think the defense did OK versus the Falcons but week in week out I think we have to be more agressive to be successful defensively.