Quote:No... they are not irrelevant.  They are VERY relevant.  Turnovers are what cost us this game.  It's not as if the Jets offense ran wild on us.  Ivory couldn't run for more than 3 yards, and the Marshall TD was a terrible call, which was also made possible due to a Turnover.

 

The answer, unfortunately, is we simply lack a pass rush.  We knew that going into the draft.  Fowler was supposed to be part of the answer, but injuries happen, and we don't really have anyone else to stand up in that role yet.

 

I hesitate to say it... because the last time I felt this way we ended up with Harvey and Groves... but we're really a Pass Rusher away.

 

Our DB play isn't phenomenal, but with a respectable pass rush they would be serviceable at the very least.  I'd like to see an improvement made at Safety, though.

 

So basically, get back Fowler, add an additional Pass Rush threat, and a decent improvement at Safety and our Defense will look significantly better.  We've got some really good pieces in there... we're just missing the most important ones.

Pretty much, this is what is boils down to; we run a defense that is dependent on having some kind of legitimate pass rush. Unfortunately, we haven't had a legitimate pass rusher here since.... Tony Brackens? Marks had a good number of sacks last season, but many of them came after the game was already out of reach; which as it happened last year was usually no later than the first half.

 

We hope that we'll have a pass rusher in Fowler; time will tell if that's true or if we just scored another Harvey or Groves. 

 

Given that our offense is still so prone to 'Barney Phife syndrome' (aka-shooting themselves in the foot), here we sit at 2-6 at the mid point of the season. 

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