Biggest Concern - post draft

. . . is the same as prior to the draft -

Inadequate help from the safety position

I’ll never understand why such a defensive minded organization would not make addressing it’s weakest link a bigger priority. One of the main reasons this defense was one of the worst in the league late in games and especially on 3rd down was lack of confidence in our last line of defense. When anyone in initial coverage has to worry that safety help is weak then there is going to be too large a cushion. With more confidence in our safeties we could play tighter coverage . . . right?
So with Fox & Co in charge why would they continue to make the last line of defense such a low priority when it seems to have such a significant negative effect on our overall defensive efficiency? I just don’t get it. Maybe they have come up with some new way of bolstering that weakness that they are super confident about . .. However, it better be a revelation because our divisional rivals have all gotten stronger in areas that can take better advantage of that weakness -


New Orleans added Eric Johnson and an already very accurate Brees should stand an even better chance of picking apart our shaky 3rd down coverage

Tampa Bay added Stevens and with Becht and their lanky wideouts Simms (Garcia or whoever) has a dangerous enough compliment of targets IMO.

Atlanta apparently plans on mixing both Dunn and Norwood into WR packages under Petrino and then there is Crumpler who would continue to be a nuisance for us even with more talent at Safety.


Our divisional rivals (and the rest of the league) will continue to take what the Panthers D gives them . . . great big cushions and gaping holes to throw into.

 

Salley might actually be good. If not, I feel certain we'll sign someone.

 

A slightly more experienced (still limited talent wise) Salley, and possibly Shaun Williams or an even older Vincent is not going to cut it. Minter is a year slower yet they seem dead set at inking him in yet again as the starter at FS. Any of the available free agent old guys would only seem marginally effective and only as SS types. I’m starting to feel like we need to start two FS types who can cover and have enough range to support coverage better. As mentioned before, Salley is just a “run support” type Safety and as of last year was not anywhere close to starter quality.
I know that they (Fox &/or Hurney) mentioned the possibility of a trade but I wonder how likely that is and if they actually have a guy(s) in mind.
It's hard to swallow that they would just settle for Minter/Cooper at FS and Salley/whatever scrub we currently have at SS. Does that seem like an upgrade over last year to anyone?

I’ll never forget Fox’s statement years ago, “If you're not getting better, you're getting worse”
I guess that drive-by cliché got gunned down by his indisputable favorite . . .

"It is what it is"

 

I'm not sweating safety.

 

5-1 against division....juss sayin.

 

I'd take Troy Vincent or Derrick Gibson But like meat I;m hoping salley can kick ass and we won't have to worry. We need a smiley that has a 'it is what it is' sign.

 

I won't lie -- this does bother me. Poor safety play is what cost us a few games last year (and could have easily cost us a few more) and we certainly haven't improved.

Not worried about this. He probably won't play more than 10 games.

actually, we have an exceptional 3rd down defense. Just look it up.

I only see this as a positive for us. Poor blocker, poor hands. Not sure what else you could ask for.

And as kickazz mentioned, we were 5-1 in the South. We are more than capable of competing in this division. The problem is that we were 3-7 elsewhere, including an abysmal 0-4 against the NFC East.


Deke Cooper might be solid enough to start, but I'm not so optimisic about Salley. He's a guy who can play down near the line and make plays in the box, but appears to be a major liability when it comes to covering the deep half or deep third of the field (at least from what we saw in the preseason). I would rather have a veteran who can handle those things and not necessarly a ball-hawking playmaker.

:resignshaunfuckingwilliamsalready:

 

11/13 vs. TB (Mon) After two picks on poorly thrown balls and a third turnover by rookie starter Gradkowski was caused by Chris Draft (no longer with team) . . . a go ahead TD catch by Key (no longer with team) put what was an embarrassingly bad game for us until the 3rd quarter into the W column.

12/24 vs. Atl - the wheels had fallen off for the birds by then and Mora was moronic in that game especially . . . He’s gone, Petrino has upside

12/31 vs. NO - we were playing their backups

9/24 vs. TB - Keyshawn scored twice and had a clutch catch to set up the winning field goal in that weird game where Simms lost a spleen. No more Key for us and no more spleen for Simms but now they have Garcia and more of a threat at TE (where we continue to be vulnerable) in Stevens.

10/01 vs. NO - Key sprung Foster on a 43 yard TD with a big block and that turned out to be huge in a game that ended up going right down to the wire. Colston burned somebody(?) for a LONG TD late but our D played pretty well considering so no knock on this W.



At least a few of those wins had *’s attached . . .

juss sayin

 

I'm sure if you looked at the best teams in the NFL, you would find quite a few wins with *s attacted.

Discard the season finale if you'd like, but the other four games were legit.

 

hope you're right on some of those assumptions and I also think bringing Williams back would be helpful, but I want Minter and Williams to be backups for upgrades . . . I know that’s pie in the sky stuff.)

btw - didn't mean to use the word "especially" before words "on 3rd down" in original post. The word "even" would probably have been better. I just remember crucial conversions being made by opponents late in games on 3rd downs that kept teams we should have beat (&/or beat worse) in the game