This Defense is not Good.

So we're in agreement the offense has been less than stellar. Yes, more points is likely more wins.

I'm not ever confident this defense can stop an offense to less than a FG. That SF game was a prime example. 3 times in the 3/4th qtr Titans had the lead and the very first pass when for 30+, 40+, and 50+. Each drive, another score for SF including the game winner.

Not arguing that a rested D can play better than a tired D, but this D is not playing good when not exhausted.
For example:

Oakland - opening drive TD
Seattle - back to back TD end 1st/beginning 2nd
Texans 1 - 5 first half drives, 5 scores, - 30 points.
Colts 1 - 5 scores and in FG range again with a great woodyard stop on 4th.
Cincinnati - just after Titans opening drive TD, allow CIN TD.
Pitts - opening drive TD, 6 drives, 6 scores 2/3/4th qtr.
SF - 7/8 drives for points.
Rams - in FG range, loss on downs, TD, missed FG, fumble, TD for first half. 4/5 drives in scoring range but a missed FG and questionable coach call saves thes D

Almost all of this is first half, so none of the "staying on the field too long" argument applies OR the conditioning coach needs fired immediately.

Bottom line is I have zero faith this team will stop any drive in any game yet alone with the game on the line.

 

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/drivestats

Some stats for our defense showing how just average we are.
Defensive Points per drive - 1.96 (19th)
.695 defensive success rate - (19th)
TO per drive .103 (22nd)
Defense TOP per drive - 2:46 (19th)

I'll give them some credit, they are #1 in FG to TD given up ratio. They're also 7th in TD allowed and 6th in TD allowed in the RZ.

They are 10th in forcing 3 and outs but 21st in forcing punts.
Also 25th in points allowed 1st qtr.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opp-1st-quarter-points-per-game

It alle boils down to the term "good".

 

Some of those numbers are pretty good. Heh.

 

We are also 7th in 3rd down percentage. We are pretty classic bend but don't break. Which would be fine if we had a good offense. But teams are free to execute their offensive plan at their leisure because we can't score points and put them in a position where they would need to play catch up.

 

I said we should pick up Harrison. He signed with the Pats.

 

We should look @ free agent S Tre Boston from the Chargers. 4 years in the league, so he is still young, but has experience.

79 tackles
5 INT
8 passes defended.

With him and Byard we could have a top 5 safety combo, and we could get a good CB in the draft.

He might be pricey, but might well be worth it.

 

good enough to hold the Chiefs scoreless in the second half

 

Between Searcy and Cyprien, we've got way too much money invested into useless safeties. To be honest, we've got way too much money invested in a lot of useless defensive players, but we can't afford to pay another safety. We need to use a 2nd or 3rd round pick on a safety, there's some good ones that could land there this year and could increase the skill of the position without increasing the payroll anymore.

 

Think they are above average, but they were exposed last night. There is no shame in that, however, it means we are not superbowl ready. Having a better offense will help. But the only reason we lost last night was that we didn't have enough speed out there.

 

Our defense has easily been picked off all year by any good QB. The problem is, we've barely faced any. I said it at the start of the year, we've got an insanely easy schedule that is going to make our defense look better than it actually is, and when it comes down to facing a team like the Patriots in the off-season we we're going to get smoked. I was right. This team combined with Byards' continued ascendance has made some adjustments from last year to cover some of it's holes, but they weren't huge adjustments. There's still so many other holes left or failed to plug as well. This is certainly not an above average defense.