We Have a Top 10 Defense

If we cant sack Dalton then RIP pass rush for the entire year. I believe Bungholes are one of the worst olines in the league. If we cant get too Dalton were doomed, not neccesarily a loss but it will just expose us how bad our pass rush has been this year

 

I've been saying it for two years now. Dick LeBeau deserves more credit than he gets. I wouldn't call us a good defense, but we are a solid one despite fielding a below-average defensive roster. That's thanks to coaching.

 

I agree the defense is looking much better the last few weeks (and hasn't been helped by our offense) but we have only played against shoddy offenses - Colts, Dolphins, Cleveland and Baltimore.

We don't have a good enough pass rush for me to feel confident against a solid QB. Glad to see us improving and make a few plays however. Byard, Jackson and Ryan are making good progress in the secondary. Woodyard has been unreal and i'll be the first to admit I was down on him coming into this year. He's completely proved me wrong.

I think we are 3 players short of being a solid, consistent unit at all 3 levels:
Elite D-line pass rusher, solid linebacker who can cover a TE and a solid secondary addition, most probably nickel corner

 

I cant find the stat to support this but aren't we one of the leading teams in QB pressures? But they just aren't leading to sacks i.e. the pressure/sack ratio is well down on last year and v other teams this year.

Pressures have a big impact on games, forcing the QB to leave the pocket, throw on the run, make bad decisions etc.

Its not all about sacks.

 

These numbers are inflated a bit due to the last 4 teams we’ve played. Miami (31st in offense), Indy (25th), Cleveland (27th), and Baltimore (30th).

Cincy ranks dead last offensively.

 

Thanks for posting the sources like you are writing a research paper


I'm not taking any of the blame off the OC, but we have played some very stout defenses. We barely beat the browns, but the steelers barely beat them too and have the best offense in the afc. Ravens defense is insane too. Let's not forget we have been plagued by injuries the entire year. We would be sitting 6-2 if we didn't get screwed by the refs vs the dolphins, and we played our best in the second half of the season last year (packers, broncos, chiefs). I think it will click more now that we are healthy, and I only see us losing to the steelers.

 

We do pretty well at QB pressure/hurries... just don't have sack numbers. Which is odd, but the pressure has been there.

 

I think that can be related to 2 things.

1) we’ve faced a decent amount of mobile QB’s to this point. Wilson, Brissett, Kizer, Watson, and maybe even Bortles.

2) We haven’t had pressure up the middle (unless we blitz LB’s) and that allows the Qb’s to just step up in the pocket.

That’s how you could get to Brady and Manning back in the day. Pressure from up the middle. Can’t step up, and they aren’t quick enough to go left or right.

 

True, but I wouldn’t use scoring as an argument because we’ve given up so many points already.

Our offense destroyed Seattle and Jax in the 2nd half but we did nothing up until that point.

The playcalling has been atrocious this year. And the formations aren’t helping opening anything up. Way too many 22 and 21 formations.

Marcus looked pretty average until week 5 last year and played at an MVP pace until week 12. So maybe he’ll hit another hot streak the last half of the season.

Even the great QB’s in this league have periods where they look average during the season.