Defense Wins Championships....

[HeartofHouston]

Its pretty said that I have to do this disclaimer before I actually post.. but with all the Bush/Young/Ferguson/Trade Down talk.. every thread seems to turn into an all out debate about Bush's questionable durabilty or Young's questionable NFL readiness or whatever.. So this is NOT one of those Young/Bush bashing threads.. its about our defense and your input on it..

Okay now here we go.. Well I'm just a lil nervous about how the Defense is gonna turn out for next season.... I really dont know this Richard Smith guy, to be quite frank i've never even heard of him at all.. All i know about him is that he was a defensive coach on the Dolphins Team Last year..

Dolphins Defense averaged
3.1 Sacks a game
0.8 Interceptions a Game
317 Yards per Game (110 Rushing, 207 Passing)

Now i know pretty much any d-coach would be a upgrade when youre talking about Fangio, but will our defense improve enough to make us competitive amongst some of the good/solid NFL teams..??

I believe that we will be moving mainly to the 4-3 with us switching to a 3-4 in certain situations.. which i think is the best thing you could possibly do.... heck Bellicheck did it and he won 3 or the last 4 superbowls. only thing is its vice versa.

So i have my positive side cause the Dolphins didnt have a BAD defensive year... i mean 3 sacks again but then again they did have Jason Taylor so it makes it that much easier for you.. haha you see what I mean?? split personality type thing on this one..

The major upside is that they allowed that few of yards when only Taylor and Thomas on the defensive side of the ball as the impact players.. Imagine what he could do with Robinson, Earl, Wong, Greenwood (his former player), Peek, Johnson and Smith. or if we draft the right people think of what he could do with.. Mario Williams, Kai Parham, DeMario Minter and etc.. some of the more exceptional talent that would could bring in..

But on the flipside with all the hype about Bush, Young, Ferguson and fixing the Oline would he really get the opprotunity to really have the guys that believs fits into his style of defense?? Well what if Junior Seau retires during the off-season and comes to Houston be our LBs coach??

It sooo many question marks in my head... but then again there are some pluses like for instance.. Taylor is 255 lbs, peek and Babin are around the same weight just a shorter frame then Taylor so.. this guy prolly knows how to work with "smaller" Ends..

So please what do you guys think.. Soothe my mind i'm going crazy over here...:brickwall

 

[cadahnic]

Greenwood never played for Smith btw. But I understand where you are going with this. The weigh I see it our Taylor player is Peek. Smith will teach Peek to focus that madness into something similar to Joey Porter's style. Babin becomes our hard worker DE, and hopefully we pick up Mario Willams in the draft to make sure these guys get to do what they do best get after the passer. As far as Richard Smith goes he is a teacher, he has not really called games before and this is a bit of a cause for worry, but he is overly aggressive in most of his sets. He like to run the 4-3,34 hybrid and throw some different angle stuff at you, he also loves to send the safties. Just his thing I guess must of got it back when he was with the Niners all those years.
Anyway I think he is a great hire for our defense mainly because he is a teacher. He will bring that accountability and toughness we need. He will also improve the worst part of our defense the LBs. Between Smith and Hoke we should be looking forward to a defense predicated on creating pressure and turnovers. They will take some chances and we may give up the big play on occasion, but likely no more 57yrd WR screen TDs.
Now I think Smith will be very vocal during the draft process to improve our main area of need, the D.

 

[Hardcore Texan]

It is going to an anxious time adjusting the D with the new coaching staff.

If we happen to draft A.J. Hawk in some sort of trade scenario wouldn't hurt the D a bit. I still think we need another LB. And I hope Wong bounces back from injury very well also, while on the subject. I agree about Peek and Babin, I think they can be coached up. And Peek shows a lot of intensity, which is highly welcomed. Robaire and Walker are solid IMO. So I will still like to see another talented CB (Griffin anyone?), S, & LB, and one more DL come on to the team during the offseason. That may be shooting to high in one offseason, as I get the hunch offense will be addressed first. I guess I am holding out some distant hope that P Buch can be utilized effectively in our system, I am only hoping, I have no dillusions. Oh and please, please, cut Coleman.

 

[Carr Bombed]

We can't fix all the problems with this team in one offseason. Yes defense wins championships and yes we need help on that side of the ball, but we are 10 times as worse on the other side of the ball.

Other than our very our first 2 drafts we have neglected that side of the ball. We took Carr and Gaffney, then AJ and Joppru (we all know how that turned out) and hit a pot of gold with DD. Even though we took some Olineman we still have the crappiest line in the league. We still don't have a legit #2 receiver, no TE, and a rb who has had nagging injuries of late.

Since then its pretty much been strickly defense, We took Dunta (great pick have nothing bad to say about it), then traded a load of picks that should of been used for depth to a divisional rival to trade back up into the first round to take a tweener linebacker. With those picks we traded to the Titans they were able to pick up some decent players including their everydown TE and much needed depth on defense. In the offseason we over paid for R. Smith (speaking of that we over paid for G. Walker as well, but thats another story)

Next draft we took T. Johnson (havent really had a chance to see what he can do) and then trade two first day picks for P. Buch who has been a disapointment to say the least. We did however draft Vernand M. and J. Mathis (been very pleased with both so far. In the offseason however we overpaid for Greenwood who really didn't make a impact.

All in all we've tried to go heavily on defense throwing first rounders and multiple picks for trade ups and trades.

Most of our offensive picks have been very solid and with a Offensive coach I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do with the offense and especially in the draft.

To me our drafting hasn't been nearly a problem that our Free Agent acquisitions have been. We are a losing team so as of right now we have to overpay to bring marginal players in. Which is why I think we should remain a low key player in Free Agency until we can become somewhat respecable. I would much rather sit back and watch other teams overpay for the high key free agents and wait for the June 1st cuts or the inexpensive players and strickly use the draft until we turn this ship around, that way we won't be caught overpaying for players.

Concentrate of fixing the offense, since thats what Kubiak is comfortable with, then we can start filling the holes on defense. I have a feeling though that our defense is not nearly as bad as they played last season.

 

[Texans>Colts]

If we want our Defesne 2 b good were gonna need about 3-5 years 2 do it. Mayb add a good Free Agent or 2 and get like all Defensive players in the 1st round

 

[Carr Bombed]

If we want our Defesne 2 b good were gonna need about 3-5 years 2 do it. Mayb add a good Free Agent or 2 and get like all Defensive players in the 1st round

This isn't Madden

 

[CarrIsFine]

"Yes defense wins championships and yes we need help on that side of the ball, but we are 10 times as worse on the other side of the ball"

The defense gave up nearly 27 points per game, last in the league. They gave up more rushing yards per game than any other team. How can the offense possibly be 10 times worse?

Once Kubiak fixes the O-Line and rolls out an offense that is not predictable, the defense is going to be a glaring issue. I think the issues with the offense have kind of masked the defensive problems and this is supported by your quote.

 

[Wharton]

While I am not disputing the statement that defense wins championships, having a strong offense makes playing defense alot easier. In an interview after winning his first Super Bowl, Jimmy Johnson was asked how he turned his defense around so quickly. Jimmy replied (paraphrased) "Our defense is so good because our offense doesn't allow them to be on the field."

Getting a lead early in games and having a solid ground game is the fasted/easiest way to strengthen your defense. Back then, once the Cowboys got a lead, they started handing the ball off to Emmitt Smith more and more. This allowed the Cowboy defense to stay rested, kept the other team's offense off the field, and chewed up the clock.

 

[Carr Bombed]

The defense gave up nearly 27 points per game, last in the league. They gave up more rushing yards per game than any other team. How can the offense possibly be 10 times worse?

Once Kubiak fixes the O-Line and rolls out an offense that is not predictable, the defense is going to be a glaring issue. I think the issues with the offense have kind of masked the defensive problems and this is supported by your quote.

How does a defense that gives up nearly 27 points per game and is last in the league can't possibly be worse than the offense.

This is very easy to answer.

What do the leagues worst defenses have in common, bad offenses. Our offense constantly puts our defense in a bad position. When your constantly giving up sacks and other negative plays, that puts you in third and long, leading to many three and outs, killing your time of possesion, giving your defense poor field position and putting them in a bind.

I'm not saying we have a very good defense, I just don't think they were as bad as they showed last year.

If you look at last year ALOT of games were lost late, thats partially because our defense was worn down late in games. You can't ask your defense to go out and stop the team and then a minute later send them back out there. That not only wears down your defense it discourages them.

To answer the question the true answer is Defense doesn't win championships, BALANCED TEAMS win championships. (Even the pats superbowl victories came on last second drives) If your hurting in one area it will eventually tear down your whole team.

Our offense has been broke since day one, its time we fix it and then we'll see what needs to be done on defense.

Its going to take more than one offseason to turn this around

It doesn't matter what camp your in the offense has to be fixed.

If your in the keep Carr and trade down camp, then he needs more weapons and more stability in the Oline.

If your in the Young camp, he is at the very least going to need a TE and again stability in the Oline.

If your in the keep Carr and draft Bush camp, then Carr and Bush are both going to need a more stable line and a every down TE so we don't tip off to the defense the playcalling or both of them are going to have fits.

 

[AustinJB]

How does a defense that gives up nearly 27 points per game and is last in the league can't possibly be worse than the offense.

This is very easy to answer.

What do the leagues worst defenses have in common, bad offenses. Our offense constantly puts our defense in a bad position. When your constantly giving up sacks and other negative plays, that puts you in third and long, leading to many three and outs, killing your time of possesion, giving your defense poor field position and putting them in a bind.

I'm not saying we have a very good defense, I just don't think they were as bad as they showed last year.

If you look at last year ALOT of games were lost late, thats partially because our defense was worn down late in games. You can't ask your defense to go out and stop the team and then a minute later send them back out there. That not only wears down your defense it discourages them.

To answer the question the true answer is Defense doesn't win championships, BALANCED TEAMS win championships. (Even the pats superbowl victories came on last second drives) If your hurting in one area it will eventually tear down your whole team.

Our offense has been broke since day one, its time we fix it and then we'll see what needs to be done on defense.

Its going to take more than one offseason to turn this around

It doesn't matter what camp your in the offense has to be fixed.

If your in the keep Carr and trade down camp, then he needs more weapons and more stability in the Oline.

If your in the Young camp, he is at the very least going to need a TE and again stability in the Oline.

If your in the keep Carr and draft Bush camp, then Carr and Bush are both going to need a more stable line and a every down TE so we don't tip off to the defense the playcalling or both of them are going to have fits.

Well stated. I agree completely.

 

[HJam72]

So....when are we gonna talk about Bush's questionable durability and Young's questionable NFL readiness?