(12-28-2017, 11:14 AM)Firesky Wrote: Luckily, the issues that arise are correctable barring injury, but the main concerns raised are the below points:

1) Marcel Dareus needs to start. Abry Jones is ok, but hasn't been as stout against the run this season. He's fine rotating in for fresh legs much like Smoot does for Calais, but it's obvious at this point that we need Dareus eating space in the middle for this Defense to play to its potential.

2) Safeties, the shifts and communication need to improve. For as many plays as they make, in the few games we lose the safeties are a BIG reason why IMO. Church has played miles better than Cyprien, but that doesn't excuse him being out of position against the Jets/poor angles on tackles, Getting exposed by the TE in coverage, and the outright blown coverages against the Cardinals. He's the weak link of the secondary but still a solid player, just need to make sure he's in a position to make plays and not get exposed too often.

3) 2nd unit and injuries. This is an issue on both sides of the ball, when someone goes down or is out of the game to catch their breath. The replacement tends to look lost. After Telvin's concussion, the backup WLB (not sure if it was Brown or McCray) allowed a long TD on the very next play.

4) Poz can be clutch in run situations, but he gets exposed in coverage and is the mismatch in the front 7 most teams will look to exploit. He dazzles us with stellar play that makes us forget that he's not as fast as he was when he first came to Duval. I don't want to be forced to recognize how deep that flaw is by allowing a long score in the playoffs to shift momentum and the course of a game.

5) Lack of Depth at key spots. It's clear we're Deep at WR, DL, CB etc. but our OL is very scarce after the starting 5. There is NO backup Safety I'd be comfortable starting in a must win game. And the dropoff from Fournette to Ivory, Grant etc. is significant. We need to address these spots with jars on the shelf this offseason.

6) Lack of impact from TE. Marcedes has been great as a blocker and thus can go unnoticed for chunk gains down the seam or TE screens. But I feel like we've lacked a true playmaker or dependable passing game option since Kyle Brady, Julius Thomas never panned out. And we've never spent more than late round picks to address the position and I think it could be a real X-Factor for this offense and key to Blakes development.

7) We need to get creative come playoff time. I'm not just talking fake punts and ST's trickery. We need to throw looks at opponents they've never seen before. End-Around to Westbrook or Mickens, Fournette and Grant on the field at the same time. "Lightning Package" or another similar innovation on Defense. By forcing teams to respect the idea of something unusual will open up more space for our bread and butter plays.

8) MAN COVERAGE!! We get shredded when we play zone, Ramsey and Bouye are the starting Probowl CB's for a reason, let them line up and just erase opposing wideouts.



tl;dr: Cardinals game was wake up call for Offense, Niners game was Wake up Call for Defense. (Lesser extent the Rams game was a wakeup for ST's) & the 2nd half of the post is bullet points of observations about things that need to be addressed in the short and long term.

1. From what I've seen Dareus has been playing 60% of the snaps. Not sure who is starting or not, but I know with a heavy rotation "starters" matter little. Dareus is in on most packages. Currently most effective runs on us go to the outside whether on sweeps or bounces.

2. The safeties have played well overall. I think Gip and Church each had a bad game a piece. I think we're getting spoiled a bit by how well they all play at times. I doubt there's any team that gets 100% pure consistency. But S is probably a position we could look to draft some younger talent to push these veteran free agents. For now though, they are playing just fine.

3. As per this 2nd unit, injuries, replacement looks lost.... well the one thing you cited is correct, it was McCray who is more of a DE than a LB from what I've seen, and that was a coaching error, as Blair Brown should have been put in the game. Other than that... IDK how many mistakes have been made by immediate replacements to players, considering the majority of our hurts have been WRs and they've played well outside of a few drops early.

4. Poz - I don't think I've seen him manned up in coverage yet. He's been making plays this year and only got caught up in a couple crossing plays when in zone. It's a scheme thing, and I put it on coaching if we find our slowest LB matched up on a TE or WR in coverage.

5. Depth should always be addressed every offseason.

6. Fully agree.... seems like 10 years since we've had a TE that actually makes an impact regularly. Oh... it has... and it was Lewis. The only TE we have that makes an impact at all anymore... and it's sparse.

7. I am confident Hack has been saving a couple things the past couple weeks just for the playoffs. Especially if we end up facing a team we've face previously. (Bolts, tacks)

8. Indeed. Think I saw someone give a particular reason why they've been running more zone (it has to do with the QB) but I agree with you. We have the best DB duo in the league, one of the best overall groups including Colvin and Gip and Church... Man up and rush 4. I would think this would help keep mobile QBs from running (cuz there'd be a guy for the QB) and keep RBs from making too much noise in the pass game out of the backfield

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