first off i would just like to say to all the defensive bashers, wait until the game against tampa and see if they improve. Maybe benching brunell will help give the defense some more confidence in our offense. Right now it seems like they don't have the fire they had the previous two years. Hopefully they can get that back.
Just a few things to note though. More than likely our season is done with. So we should start looking towards next year. Or I guess I should really say last year. We need to find out what went wrong this year and why it changed from the year before. The biggest change I see comes from one side of our defense. Andre Carter, Warrick Holdman, and AA.
Last year our defense was strong because we stopped the run on 1st and 2nd down, and were able to blitz heavily on third down due to our strenght at corner. This year we're getting run on... which means the safeties have to come up for more support, and then we're getting beat deep. And who are all these teams running right at? Carter and Holdman. We all new last year Holdman was horrible in run support. So this year we added a guy in front of him that bull rushes right past the running back. So in order to fix this... something I think we should do all along... is to put back in renaldo wynn. Sure he doesn't get you many sacks, but he can stop the run. I know its a year later.. two years by the start of next season... so its a question if he's still got it anymore. But we need to fix our run defense first and foremost.
Secondly, our defense was strong because we had two very good corners that allowed us to blitz often. This year that's not so much the case. I know shawn springs has been hurt but he doesn't look like the same player. Last year I would have put him in the top three at the cornerback position. This year I certainly wouldn't. And he's not getting any younger either. I think what we should do is save his career and maybe see if he can make it at the FS position. He has pretty good size for the position... although his tackling might not be up to par. This would allow us to shift Sean Taylor to SS fulltime (he plays either position depending on whether vincent or aa is in) And with our #1 draft pick next year (if we still have it) we should definately address the cb spot.
Now to the offense. I really wish I could sit down with joe gibbs and have lunch one day. If I had that chance i'd ask him why he even brought in al saunders. Don't get me wrong, I believe al saunders is a genious on offense and what is going on here is certainly not his fault. I also can't wait to see what he does with a stronger armed jason c at qb.
But I really would like to ask gibbs why he would change a good offense from the year before from a 10-6 team. Sure we struggled bad in the playoff games. But the problem wasn't the scheme, it was the personel. We didn't have anyone to play opposite Moss. I truely think that had we kept the same scheme from last year, and just added our new players on offense, we'd have a better record. Not a great one cause our d has holes, but a better one cause at least the defense would play a little inspired.
This year it seems as though we're not running the ball consistently. Sure we get the rb's enough carries, but it just seems like the flow of the offense isn't centered around the rushing game. That is what made us great last year and carried us to the playoffs. Not the pass plays. Plus this year it seems as though our biggest pieces from last year are not even being used.
ey and Sellers, guys nobody would pay attention to last year ... have got al saunders doing the same to them this year. If we ever needed to use them it would be now. Shoot we have 3 wr's that have a lot of talent. I'm sure cooley could sneak into the flat and just sit there if we ran the 3 deep. I'm just mad that we totally changed a winning way of football. And it starts with joe gibbs. He's a hall of famer, not Al saunders. Nothing against al saunders, he's great as mentioned before. But i have always felt that winning football is played through tough running and mistake free football with a dominating defense. I hate teams that air it out and get into scoring battles. Yea it looks great during the year but it breaks down come playoffs when the weather turns and players get tired. I have always liked gibbs' way of football cause it wins come playoff time. I just wish we'd go back to it.
This season is almost through with... but hopefully we can go back to what we were doing before.
