(01-14-2024, 02:01 PM)NYC4jags Wrote:

(01-14-2024, 11:27 AM)flgatorsandjags Wrote: The same things was happening with the offense.  Running the wrong routes missing blocking assignments etc.  That would solely be on Press then right?  It's the same thing.

two things:

The implication on defense is that players were freelancing outside of their assignment -
Conversely on offense - guys were making mistakes on routes and communication - while doing so with a hurried QB behind a craptastic OL 

It also could be that Pederson - over the course of the past two seasons - has become disenfranchised with the coverage schemes Caldwell had settled into and is seeking a philosophical change 

It would appear that the brass feels confident that many of the issues on defense had more to do with adequate talent not receiving the best coaching -  while offense likely had more to do with a playbook being woefully limited by a dysfunctional line - the fact that many analytics support the offense's overall good efficiency help as well. 

A defense that fell apart in the latter half of the season in multiple metrics is with minimal injury changes is going to register some changes when they drop games to multiple backup QBs and miss double digit tackles in multiple games. 

Maybe Caldwell and his assistants are just scapegoats, but I think it is more likely Doug has a vision for exactly what he wants to change regarding player gap discipline and coverage schemes.

Yeah, all we can do is speculate the real reason.  Injuries hurt the defense just as much as the offense imo.  Our best lineman got hurt before the season even started, Campbell, Cisco, and Campbell  got hurt and was a big reason the defense fell off at the end of the season, thats 3/4 of our secondary and Campbell was never the same after the injury like Hamilton.  Lloyd also was also injured and missed games after he was playing some of the best ball of his career and then came back with a cast.   Josh Allen did have a career year, Travon had double digit sacks in his 2nd year, Darius Williams had a career year, Foye was great pretty much until the last game of the season, and our 5th round pick was developing which is rare. 

 Im glad Caldwell got fired but the biggest reason for our poor defense was injuries and Baalke doing nothing with the interior on the dline and having nothing behind Walker and Allen.   Last year he had a healthy Smoot and Key and Baalke did nothing but make the defense worse, being we lost both of those.  We had multiple opportunities to fix some of the issues and he did nothing.  Once again like the interior, everyone seen it except him. The biggest issues on defense were the same as the offense, injuries and talent.

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