dalemurphy
Hall of Fame
I was one that wasn't very high on RC's defenses due to historically being the bend but not break style. I think TK's right, saying we got away from it towards the 2nd half of the season. We became more of an attacking D
I was kinda pissed at the way we played defense the first several games. It seemed like a switch flipped and we became more aggressive. We blitzed the Ravens darn near 50% and rattled the heck out of Flacco.
I enjoyed watching the D play toward the end of the season.
"Bend but don't break" is an unfair description of Crennels defense. His defenses are seldom among the worst in yards allowed. Disparaging his defense for always being good in the red zone is misguided. He has always been selectively aggressive. The defense's design is not simply to wait for/hope for a mistake... Instead, it is predicated on creating opportunities for the defense to make a play through disguise and opportunistically breaking tendency... The fact that RC isn't pigheaded about attacking every play is something I am grateful for.