The NFL's # 1 Defense Thread

Great game by our defense!

Larry Grant had a Madden cheese type of pass deflection on the Rothlesberger pass. I can't believe he knocked it down, that far down field.

Awesome game. Would have liked to see more pressure up the gut with ILB blitzes, some CB & S blitzes - more zone blitzes esp. when you have a sitting duck back there. What a game for Aldon though...2.5 sacks, 2 TFL's and 7 QB hits!

One thing that is ultra amazing is the fact that from our front 7 alone, despite playing a 3-4 defense, we have a collective 53 tackles for loss and that is w/o Willis for two games now. Wow!

Originally posted by NCommand:
Awesome game. Would have liked to see more pressure up the gut with ILB blitzes, some CB & S blitzes - more zone blitzes esp. when you have a sitting duck back there. What a game for Aldon though...2.5 sacks, 2 TFL's and 7 QB hits!

One thing that is ultra amazing is the fact that from our front 7 alone, despite playing a 3-4 defense, we have a collective 53 tackles for loss and that is w/o Willis for two games now. Wow!

After watching last night's game I've come to the conclusion that the reason they don't see more blitzes is b/c these guys suck at blitzing. Every time they blitzed they never got to big ben. Grant was always stonewalled by the running back, and i seen one safety blitz that was too slow to develop.

But at some point they have to get more out of the starting OLB if they are going to be a base 3-4 team. Brooks and Parys need to turn it up.

But last night's performance was simply amazing. considering that I thought Brooks and Parys both had bad games. Parys couldn't tackle for s**t last night. The whole d line should be saluted b/c they were busting folks asses.

Aldon's hand work is a thing of beauty. and that bull rush dam near makes me want to cry. Those stunts worked beautifully b/c Justin smith occupied 2 blockers. and the secondary did a much better job in the 2nd half in overall coverage on the back in. some of those sacks were due to tight coverage.

Originally posted by lamontb:
After watching last night's game I've come to the conclusion that the reason they don't see more blitzes is b/c these guys suck at blitzing. Every time they blitzed they never got to big ben. Grant was always stonewalled by the running back, and i seen one safety blitz that was too slow to develop.

But at some point they have to get more out of the starting OLB if they are going to be a base 3-4 team. Brooks and Parys need to turn it up.

But last night's performance was simply amazing. considering that I thought Brooks and Parys both had bad games. Parys couldn't tackle for s**t last night. The whole d line should be saluted b/c they were busting folks asses.

Aldon's had work is a thing of beauty. and that bull rush dam near makes me want to cry. Those stunts worked beautifully b/c Justin smith occupied 2 blockers. and the secondary did a much better job in teh 2nd half in overall coverage on the back in. some of those sacks were due to tight coverage.

I was about to write the same thing. Also thought that Bowman struggled as much as he ever has this year and was outplayed by Larry Grant. Still, even with 3 of 4 starting LBs having subpar games we held them under control with ease. Pretty astounding.

-didn't they say defense wins championships?

Originally posted by johnnyredneat:

Originally posted by lamontb:
After watching last night's game I've come to the conclusion that the reason they don't see more blitzes is b/c these guys suck at blitzing. Every time they blitzed they never got to big ben. Grant was always stonewalled by the running back, and i seen one safety blitz that was too slow to develop.

But at some point they have to get more out of the starting OLB if they are going to be a base 3-4 team. Brooks and Parys need to turn it up.

But last night's performance was simply amazing. considering that I thought Brooks and Parys both had bad games. Parys couldn't tackle for s**t last night. The whole d line should be saluted b/c they were busting folks asses.

Aldon's had work is a thing of beauty. and that bull rush dam near makes me want to cry. Those stunts worked beautifully b/c Justin smith occupied 2 blockers. and the secondary did a much better job in teh 2nd half in overall coverage on the back in. some of those sacks were due to tight coverage.

I was about to write the same thing. Also thought that Bowman struggled as much as he ever has this year and was outplayed by Larry Grant. Still, even with 3 of 4 starting LBs having subpar games we held them under control with ease. Pretty astounding.

I agree you two...need to watch the game again more closely though but Parys hasn't been much of anything since the first game; he did force a couple critical fumbles early on. But since then (sounds of crickets). The Steelers did a great job with formations getting Brooks isolated for underneath coverage. The problem was that he never had any over-the-top help; safeties were very late to get over. I hope Seattle doesn't exploit this issue we had last night. Brooks was stellar against the run (7 tackles and 1 TFL - leads team) and there were no runs off-tackle to his side as always. But he does need to turn up the pass rush more esp. now that ALDON is getting doubled more now. I would like to see some more inside stunts with McDonald or having Aldon line up at SAM and Brooks inside at TED and blitz; that's been very effective this year but we rarely do it.

Originally posted by johnnyredneat:

Originally posted by lamontb:
After watching last night's game I've come to the conclusion that the reason they don't see more blitzes is b/c these guys suck at blitzing. Every time they blitzed they never got to big ben. Grant was always stonewalled by the running back, and i seen one safety blitz that was too slow to develop.

But at some point they have to get more out of the starting OLB if they are going to be a base 3-4 team. Brooks and Parys need to turn it up.

But last night's performance was simply amazing. considering that I thought Brooks and Parys both had bad games. Parys couldn't tackle for s**t last night. The whole d line should be saluted b/c they were busting folks asses.

Aldon's had work is a thing of beauty. and that bull rush dam near makes me want to cry. Those stunts worked beautifully b/c Justin smith occupied 2 blockers. and the secondary did a much better job in teh 2nd half in overall coverage on the back in. some of those sacks were due to tight coverage.

I was about to write the same thing. Also thought that Bowman struggled as much as he ever has this year and was outplayed by Larry Grant. Still, even with 3 of 4 starting LBs having subpar games we held them under control with ease. Pretty astounding.

We have just been so used to good tackling that seeing those missed tackles last night were out of character. But this was a good team they were facing. Those inside runs out of the shotgun were just good plays from the Steelers. With Grant playing this well I would hope they could some how mix in some packages where Willis is at OLB rushing the passer. Just his presence there is something the offense would need to adjust too and may cause confusion.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by johnnyredneat:

Originally posted by lamontb:
After watching last night's game I've come to the conclusion that the reason they don't see more blitzes is b/c these guys suck at blitzing. Every time they blitzed they never got to big ben. Grant was always stonewalled by the running back, and i seen one safety blitz that was too slow to develop.

But at some point they have to get more out of the starting OLB if they are going to be a base 3-4 team. Brooks and Parys need to turn it up.

But last night's performance was simply amazing. considering that I thought Brooks and Parys both had bad games. Parys couldn't tackle for s**t last night. The whole d line should be saluted b/c they were busting folks asses.

Aldon's had work is a thing of beauty. and that bull rush dam near makes me want to cry. Those stunts worked beautifully b/c Justin smith occupied 2 blockers. and the secondary did a much better job in teh 2nd half in overall coverage on the back in. some of those sacks were due to tight coverage.

I was about to write the same thing. Also thought that Bowman struggled as much as he ever has this year and was outplayed by Larry Grant. Still, even with 3 of 4 starting LBs having subpar games we held them under control with ease. Pretty astounding.

I agree you two...need to watch the game again more closely though but Parys hasn't been much of anything since the first game; he did force a couple critical fumbles early on. But since then (sounds of crickets). The Steelers did a great job with formations getting Brooks isolated for underneath coverage. The problem was that he never had any over-the-top help; safeties were very late to get over. I hope Seattle doesn't exploit this issue we had last night. Brooks was stellar against the run (7 tackles and 1 TFL - leads team) and there were no runs off-tackle to his side as always. But he does need to turn up the pass rush more esp. now that ALDON is getting doubled more now. I would like to see some more inside stunts with McDonald or having Aldon line up at SAM and Brooks inside at TED and blitz; that's been very effective this year but we rarely do it.

True but i think the Steelers were able to exploit that match up with Brooks b/c the speed they have at WR. The safeties had to be over top to prevent Brown or Wallace going deep. Steelers present tons of match up problems when they go 3 wr sets and have Heath miller running shallow routes.

If you re watch the game I think Parys's play is going to make you sick. Thus why I say it's time to give Aldon some more reps at OLB. Get him some reps of dropping back in coverage and covering a zone, and rushing from a stand up position. I know you are a big Brooks guy but it seems as if he's hit a wall in terms of getting to the quarterback. Imagine is we can drum up some pressure from a guy not named smith on the defense. After this game i expect teams to start doubling Aldon. time for Brooks and Parys to produce. and I'm not talking major numbers but they should be in the 8 to 10 sack range instead of the 3 to 5 range.

The 49ers don't need to blitz. They are getting enough pressure. They blitz just enough to keep the opposition on their toes. Remember, when you blitz you have 1 or two less men in coverage. They can be important in clogging the lanes and causing the QB to hold onto the ball and as you saw against Pittsburgh, there were several other times that we could have gotten at least two more interceptions if the defensive back was a little more alert. Take away that one or two for a blitz and you have less people flooding the field for those tip balls or if a defender or two misses a tackle. Which allows for the homerun.

Let's not get to excited, but Ben was hurt, he is normally when healthy hard to bring down and elusive for a big guy. Still when someone is a lame duck you have to take advantage and the niners did.

Originally posted by lamontb:
We have just been so used to good tackling that seeing those missed tackles last night were out of character. But this was a good team they were facing. Those inside runs out of the shotgun were just good plays from the Steelers. With Grant playing this well I would hope they could some how mix in some packages where Willis is at OLB rushing the passer. Just his presence there is something the offense would need to adjust too and may cause confusion.


True but i think the Steelers were able to exploit that match up with Brooks b/c the speed they have at WR. The safeties had to be over top to prevent Brown or Wallace going deep. Steelers present tons of match up problems when they go 3 wr sets and have Heath miller running shallow routes.

If you re watch the game I think Parys's play is going to make you sick. Thus why I say it's time to give Aldon some more reps at OLB. Get him some reps of dropping back in coverage and covering a zone, and rushing from a stand up position. I know you are a big Brooks guy but it seems as if he's hit a wall in terms of getting to the quarterback. Imagine is we can drum up some pressure from a guy not named smith on the defense. After this game i expect teams to start doubling Aldon. time for Brooks and Parys to produce. and I'm not talking major numbers but they should be in the 8 to 10 sack range instead of the 3 to 5 range.

Yeah, that exotic look of moving all four LB's around more was what I was expecting with this group; more zone blitz-like. But I can understand VF sticking with success and maybe building on it more in year 2 and 3. Right now, the only exotic look we're showing is with Aldon Smith where we rush him inside and out and move him around from SAM and WILL and along the DL. The rest of the defense is still playing straight up so guys such as Brooks, J.Smith and McDonald have sort of hit a wall with this long season. So I agree with you esp. re: Brooks. That's why I'd like to see VF move him and Bowman/Willis/Grant around more or play off each other more using the DL for inside stunts, etc. But you're right...now with all this added attention Smith will be getting, the SAM should be able to beat more 1x1's and finish a great year strong.

Good points re: the Steelers; they are a smart team and did a good job scheming and creating mismatches. Big Ben couldn't even move but still had 330 yards in the air.

LOL...I'll make sure t have my puke bucket next to me!

Props to Justin Smith in his post game interviews. He handled them really well...great team captain. At the end of one they even put him on the spot they were naming all the Smiths on the team and he quickly added "Reggie Smith" I know it is a minor thing, but if Reggie Smith were watching it may not have been minor to him.

You show me a bunch of great captains and I will show you a great team. BTW I am not even sure who the official captains are, I am just speaking in practical terms

Originally posted by danimal:

Props to Justin Smith in his post game interviews. He handled them really well...great team captain. At the end of one they even put him on the spot they were naming all the Smiths on the team and he quickly added "Reggie Smith" I know it is a minor thing, but if Reggie Smith were watching it may not have been minor to him.

You show me a bunch of great captains and I will show you a great team. BTW I am not even sure who the official captains are, I am just speaking in practical terms

I caught that too. He didn't even hesitate to bring up Reggie.

A little too many missed tackles last night for me. That can't continued into the playoff.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
A little too many missed tackles last night for me. That can't continued into the playoff.

Wright commented on Comcast that this has been a growing problem lately...going for the hit instead of wrapping up. Seems like the attention Goldson is getting for big hits is making every DB want to be a hitter rather than a tackler. Also mentioned it could be the league crackdown on illegal hits inhibiting tacklers--though ithe two notions seem contradictory..