We will only go as far as our Defense takes us.

we struggled against the spread offense so far this year. but i do see some improvement.

The D has had flashes, but yet to play sold for a whole game. I have to remind myself sometimes that other teams will move the ball and score some points. The letting teams come close in the fourth quarter needs to stop. Of course kicking a filed goal last week and going up by 17 would have ended the game. That one is on Hue.

So we go to the next weakest key link …. You sight the D then more specifically LBs and DBs.
With the removal of Groves and addition of Curry (a double-fix) we improved a lot and McClain’s game pick-up playing next to a real LB too.
CJ being out hurt us more than I would have thought – DvD is not impressing me in a good way. Once CJ and Chekwa come back CB play will improve. I’m feeling better about our D overall but they still have too many tackles broken through arm tackling / not following through.

The 28th ranked D is needs to get a whole lot better. Glad you posted this, Oz.

The d scheme is getting more complex and these players are learning how to play together in that scheme.

I was petrified of this d over the first month. I am getting more comfortable with it.

So, I will say that the potential is there for this defense to be a playoff winning defense. Although, I am not yet quite sold that it is. At least the hope is there now.

If we plan on winning in the playoffs, defense will carry most of the load. I mean Defense wins championship right? Clearly for us, it will be them to stop the Patriot offense, Steelers deep threat game, ravens running game, or bills offensive attack. Yes it is obvious we can score against these teams, but im not sure we can’t outscore them because our style of play. Raiders manage the game by running the ball (wearing down the defense), QB is no gunslinger, but keeps the ball moving and eventually end up scoring (Hopefully), and during all that time we keep the opposing team off the field while keeping the opposing teams defense on the field. It works very well especially if you execute it well as we do. This leaves all the pressure on the D, they have to be able to answer the call on every possession. Our D’s role is different, we have to try to make the other team one dimensional by stopping the Run or Pass. Sounds hard to do with all the teams in the playoffs i mentioned. Oz is correct though, our D is basically how far we go.

I was expecting the D to regress at times, which they did against Buffalo, and I don’t feel bad over it because I tended to feel where they were at, and they had solid games with the Texans and Browns – I expect the trend to continue. I believe if we were to replay Buffalo the outcome would be different. The D-line is solid. With Curry, we made an important repair at LB (Briggs anyone?). I still think if we are to compete in the playoffs our CBs need to improve. Remember DVD and Chekwa are rookies who have hardly reached their ceilings. To say that they are to stagnate at the current level they are playing is poor analytic vision. They might remain there but I expect more improvement. Both players can shadow the wrs with good precision. Chekwa seems to be able to make plays on the ball better than DVD, but don’t be surprised if DVD starts pulling the trigger soon enough. If these two players continue to progress, particularly before we reach the playoffs, expect us to be competitive.

Defense in the NFL is a lot about confusing the quarterback and keeping him pressured. Our weakness before was playing pure man to man with limited variation and we didn’t blitz very often. Teams knew how to game plan against us. Things have changed since Al passed away, as Corkoran mentioned in his article. Our team has been playing more zone and blitzing more often with lots of success. I remember being wowed by our defense during the Texans game; we shut down Arian Foster of all people!

Rush Defense: Since 2003 we’ve been consistently ranked in the bottom 10, usually in the bottom 5 for rush defense. Our best rank since 2003 was 22nd back in 2004. Going into the Houston game we were ranked in the bottom 5 of the league in rush yards allowed per game and ranked the worst in yards allowed per attempt. But in the last two games, we’ve allowed a measly ~68 yards/game and 2.95 yds/attempt bringing us up to 16th. 2 games is a very small sample size and we’re only 6 games into the season; but I’m confident that we’re going to put up our best rush defense numbers this year since 2002.

Pass Defense: We’re 3rd best in the league at allowing only a 53.5% completion rate to our opponents. Not bad, eh? If you remember the Pats game, we held Brady to 53.3% completion percentage; his lowest of the season. We’re also 10th best in yards allowed per attempt at 6.5ypa. So, then you ask, why are we ranked 28th in passing yards allowed/game? Well my friends, that’s because teams love to pass against us. Our opponents pass on ~66% of their plays against us, a league high of 43.5 attempts per game. I am not sure why that is. Maybe it’s a by-product of Nnamdi leaving and us having rookies in coverage. What do you guys think?