One thing I haven't seen much discussion or analysis of is...

[Wys Guy]

Defensive sacks.

What happened this season? Our front-4 didn't change at all and our LBing corps didn't either other than for Fletcher given that Spikes really didn't do much thru most of last season. Fletcher wasn't any big sackmaster.

Yet, we logged only 26 sacks, 29th in the league, down from 40 last year and tied for 8th.

It's not like we had the NFL "Who's Who" list of powerhouse offenses or anything. After NE twice, Dallas, and maybe the Giants or Detroit, we really didn't play any great passing teams or teams with daunting QBs.

This defense, at least according to those heading it up, is predicated on "disruption."

Frankly, about the only "disruption" that I noticed was in my Sunday afternoons on days when I decided to pay attention to this sorry team.

Inexcusable in my book!

But I suppose to some we're "headed in the right direction."

[realdealryan]

Wasn't there a BB.com article early in the season about how we're concentrating less on getting upfield and rushing the passer and more on stopping the run?

Also, Schobel was in coverage during several games this year. The one that was fresh in my mind was the Eagles game, where, on at least two occasions, he dropped back into coverage of Brian Westbrook.

DUMB, I think. Or maybe without it, we would be worse.

[Nighthawk]

Wasn't there a BB.com article early in the season about how we're concentrating less on getting upfield and rushing the passer and more on stopping the run?

Also, Schobel was in coverage during several games this year. The one that was fresh in my mind was the Eagles game, where, on at least two occasions, he dropped back into coverage of Brian Westbrook.

DUMB, I think. Or maybe without it, we would be worse.

Yeah, that really worked!

[Wys Guy]

Wasn't there a BB.com article early in the season about how we're concentrating less on getting upfield and rushing the passer and more on stopping the run?

Also, Schobel was in coverage during several games this year. The one that was fresh in my mind was the Eagles game, where, on at least two occasions, he dropped back into coverage of Brian Westbrook.

DUMB, I think. Or maybe without it, we would be worse.

Probably, which makes sense as clearly this team emphasized stopping the run this season. But what does that say when we ranked 25th in rushing yards allowed, 28th in yards-per-carry, and 25th in rushing TDs allowed all while focusing on stopping the run.

Not much, eh.

Either way, the coaching staff and Levy have continued to suggest that this defense is built around "disruption." Well, it's foolish to even suggest that this team is remotely meeting that goal.

They sure make it look good with DEs and DTs dropping into coverage in an odd variant of a zone blitzing scheme with anyone and everyone blitzing at times, but once again it's merely style over substance.

I would suggest that if we just had good linemen and a solid F7 then perhaps we wouldn't have to attempt to rely on schemes based on odd alignments and constantly trying to surprise our counterparts while falling short anyway.

Of course we don't have leadership that believes in that, fundamental football, so we're not going to get it. They know better than the collective wisdom of the annals of NFL football.

[realdealryan]

Yeah, that really worked!

Exactly my point. A defense that is supposed to take away the big play doesn't really take it away if a quarterback has ALL. DAY. LONG. to make a decision.

[Wys Guy]

Exactly my point. A defense that is supposed to take away the big play doesn't really take it away if a quarterback has ALL. DAY. LONG. to make a decision.

What's ..., well..., let's just say interesting, is that while watching the better offensive teams play us it was clear that they really didn't care about all of our players "flying all over the place" on D.

They simply lined up, ran their plays, outexecuted our guys, and ran the ball straight up the gut and passed very well.

That goofy crap may work against teams like Miami, the Jets, and Baltimore with no offensive weapons, but it doesn't work against even the mediocre offenses in the league. Clearly it's nothing to predicate a championship D on for sure.

[justasportsfan]

haha! Wys is DESPERATELY scraping for stats that feeds into his negativity. :snicker:

Hey buddy! I was right, you were wrong!!! :snicker:

[Dr. Lecter]

I really think part of the problem was the injuries in the defensive backfield.

Simpson, Leonard, Wilson, McGee, Thomas and Webster all spent all or part of the season injured. Plus, the Bills lost Clements.

I am speculating that there was less emphasis on blitzing and pass rushing and more on protecting the DBs.

[colin]

wys,

aside form torturing the language like it stole from you, you just can't see the forest for the trees.

we got few sacks because we barely blitzed. we barely blitzed because we couldn't cover. we couldn't cover because we had scrubs from off the street trying to learn the D in one week as guys kept going down.

we replaced tko, london, clements, and ko with

ellison, dipizza, greer, a wr and a midget.

you can't lose that much talent and replace them with such scrubs and not fall apart.

throw in some decent guys on our front seven and you'll see some more blitzes and a whole lot more sacks.

[Mahdi]

Defensive sacks.

What happened this season? Our front-4 didn't change at all and our LBing corps didn't either other than for Fletcher given that Spikes really didn't do much thru most of last season. Fletcher wasn't any big sackmaster.

Yet, we logged only 26 sacks, 29th in the league, down from 40 last year and tied for 8th.

It's not like we had the NFL "Who's Who" list of powerhouse offenses or anything. After NE twice, Dallas, and maybe the Giants or Detroit, we really didn't play any great passing teams or teams with daunting QBs.

This defense, at least according to those heading it up, is predicated on "disruption."

Frankly, about the only "disruption" that I noticed was in my Sunday afternoons on days when I decided to pay attention to this sorry team.

Inexcusable in my book!

But I suppose to some we're "headed in the right direction."
This is all true.... I think its a combination of several things....

1) Schobel losing all that weight--- that pretty much dictated that he was going to rush to the outside on almost every snap since he would not have enough power to bull-rush. It made him predictable.

2) Teams took notice of Schobel due to his 14.5 sack season and pro-bowl and have been roling their protections towards him.

3) Not enough pressure from DTs. Tripplett has become more of a stop gap then a solution. McCargo has been a force against the run but doesnt get enough snaps and isnt used much on 3rd down. (Usually Tripps and Hargrove). If your DTs cant get upfield on 3rd down then all a QB has to do is step up to avoid the outside rush.

4) Not enough pressure from the LDE spot which only produced 4.5 sacks. Kelsay didnt play well enough, Denney was injured all year.

[Buffatexas]

Frankly, about the only "disruption" that I noticed was in my Sunday afternoons on days when I decided to pay attention to this sorry team.

Inexcusable in my book!

But I suppose to some we're "headed in the right direction."

You want to know what really sucks, if the fact that most of your posts start out with a legit beef, strong evidence to back up that beef, and then you have to mess it up with your closer.

if it is such a "disruption" for you to watch this team, please "head in the right direction" and find another one to "root" for.

[jamze132]

Take this to the bank. The main reason we couldn't sack the QB this year was because Kelsay's partner, Denney, was injured all year. Last year, when they rotated out, those two consistently maintained some level of pressure on the QB from the left side which forced opposing offenses to not just focus on Schobel like they did this year. Schobel didn't have the opportunities to get into the QBs face like last year because opposing teams would simply slide protection his way, knowing that Kelsay is a bum by himself.

That is the main reason why we couldn't sack the QB this year.

But let me add that I think Both Kelsay and Denney suck by themselves. But when they can rotate out and stay fresh, they do a good job as a "team" in getting to the QB.

We can't afford to go out and spend a #1 pick on a DE so hopefully Denney will be fully recovered from his foot injury and we hopefully repeat what was done in 06'.