Midterm Report Card: Defense

Oh boy... This is gonna be tough. The defense was broken much worse than the offense in 2008, and it's been a big point of interest for Gene. Still though, our offense (which I think grades out pretty well) has been outscored by 60+ points in only 8 games. I'll try and shine this turd up as well as I can, but in the end I have to be honest and I have to be objective. Let's get to it.

Defensive Lineman: B+   This maybe should be an A, but run stuffing has to be a part of the job too, and we haven't shown the kind of dominance you would want to give an A grade. Aaron Kampman was an incredible pickup by Gene Smith. I had a feeling it would work out, because AK74's camp was saying early in the summer that "This isn't your usual 12-18 month recovery ACL tear." That turned out to be right. He is a beast. He works his butt off and he has truly become the star of our defense. He plays well in the run game and we've even dropped him off into zone once or twice. The one knock is that his total sack numbers aren't great, but he's been inches away more than a few times, and QB's keep running away from him and into... our future stars at the DT position. Yes stars. Both of em. Tyson Alualu has been a solid pass rusher (even without anyone to spell him) and he made some great plays in the run game last week. He was worth the 10th pick. Terrance Knighton has been playing a pro bowl type season. His  ability to draw and sometimes beat double teams really helps this team, especially Alualu. He's tough to move, but he can sure get around, and that's where he got his three sacks from. Then there's the Derrick Harvey question: what's he good for? Personally I think he's done. Larry Hart and Austen Lane have both shown good value for being mid round picks. Lane is likely in line for the start next week and I'm ok with that. If Harvey's not making plays, get somebody in there who will. With Alualu doing it Island Style and Knighton looking more and more like an Elephant on Roller Skates, I think we are about to see a Vikings-esque D-line in the coming years.

 

Linebackers: C-    Not a great group. I've been disappointed by Kirk Morrison, who I was hopeful would be a great player for us, but he's certainly no Mike Peterson. Daryl Smith should get an A though, he's been a force when he's in the game so far this season. He's a tackling machine with some speed and a very good pass rusher also. Days when he's been out our D has really suffered. Morrison has shown himself to be a bit slow, and he's struggled in coverage. He's a matchup guy for the other team, and I was expecting a 100 tackle player. I guess they can't all be winners. Justin Durant is a suitable player, but nothing all that special. He hasn't really stood out to me in any big way over the course of this season. We're pretty lacking in depth. Russell Allen is lacking on the physical side, and Cutrera would do better in a 3-4 because of his pass rush skills. This is an area that we should address this offseason as well.

 

Cornerback: C    Not bad for one of the bottom three pass defenses in the league. This would easily be a D if I was judging solely on performance, but I don't think games where Derek Cox was out can be fully used to judge this group. David Jones is not a starter, nor should he ever be again. He got crushed like packing peanuts in a trash compactor week after week when he was in. He's got decent quickness, and he's flashed it at points, but the Jags like Scott Starks, so Jones will be made into a "Dime or ICE only" player. We get a C in my book because I think both Cox and Rashean Mathis are average corners. People have been making excuses for Rashean for years now, and quite frankly so was I. But this year, I'm done with it. He's not the player he used to be. He's not the same kind of hitter in the run game, and he still has this nasty habit of getting burnt 5-10 times a year, which without any safety help doesn't look good at all. Cox has a future. He looks like he could become what Rashean used to be, but he's not there yet, and it'd be hard to make a case that either of our corners is anything better than average the way the numbers look right now. I'm of the opinion that if the safety spot figures itself out, a replacement will be found at corner pretty early on in the draft. A 30 year-old demanding a new contract while playing average ball does not a happy Gene Smith make.

 

Safety: F    Ahhh, it burns my eyes! That's how bad our safety play has been this year. The only real pluses are Gene's ability to turn nothing (Reggie Nelson, Anthony Smith, Sean Considine) into a temporary (meaning bad) starter in David Jones and a couple of draft picks. We supposedly got our Safety situation in order a few weeks ago once we decided to settle on Don Carey and Courtney Greene. Greene can tackle well, and on paper these two look the part, but we didn't do any better slowing down the Cowboys than any other team this season. Both guys have been caught out of position multiple times, and we've given up a 10 minute highlight reel for the other teams passing game week after week. Too many deep balls guys. That's the number one thing, and when it's your job to give help over the top, you've gotta be there, and you've gotta make the tackle. I don't wanna see anything like that Miles Austin TD ever again. That was just gross. We've used Gerald Alexander this season, but here's the thing: he's out there and nobody else seems to want him. That's telling enough for me. It could turn out that Greene and Carey work out for us in the long run. If so, that would be great. If we don't see it this year, however, some lucky safety is coming off the board early and packing his bags for the Sunshine State. I'm hopeful our current guys do work out fairly well, because I'd much rather use that early pick on a corner (it's a more premium position).

 

Coaching D   It's not like I blame the coaches or anything, but you gotta go down with your team. Also, with the way Cox played last week, I gotta question why he was on the bench for so long. Something just doesn't add up here. Of course, Jack's done the best he can with only marginal talent in the secondary and Linebacking corp, and it's been good enough to get us to 4-4. As fans we are very grateful, but at the same time, this is not what we want to see here. We like our teams big, tough, and in your face, and we've looked scared and confused too often, especially in the secondary.

 

OVERALL:  D     The numbers do lie, but there's a bigtime deficiency in pass defense that will continue to plague this team until something can be done about it. That time will likely be the offseason, and probably not the first round either. Whaddaya gonna do? I'm a fan, so I'm sticking it out. Better days are on their way. Our D-line is fully fixed, and I think Cox has potential. Daryl Smith is a great pro and this could very well get better in the second half of the season... They couldn't really get too much worse.