(05-24-2019, 08:15 AM)NH3 Wrote:

(05-22-2019, 10:28 AM)Caldrac Wrote: I still have concerns with this defense personally. It could go 50/50 this year and the defense could end up slipping outside of being a top ten unit. It's historically typical for this franchise. Just when the offense starts to look good on paper the defense that held them up for a few years starts to dwindle. We never seem to hit all three aspects of the game at the right time. 

I have concerns with the potential heartburn of losing Telvin Smith and Malik Jackson this year when you consider that Myles Jack if left inside will have a tough job of keeping two potential rookies in check with their assignments. 

Taven Bryan has to step up big time this year to fill the void alongside Marcell Dareus. Campbell and Ngakoue have to stay healthy for obvious reasons. And if we lose Bouye at any point or Ramsey at any point it's going to shift a lot of pressure onto Wilson and Harrison to overcompensate. All of a sudden you might need more than 24 points to win a football game if these youngins on defense start blowing assignments and finger pointing.

Let's keep it positive by saying that we released our safeties for a reason that reflected their play or the lack of. Taven, when relocated to his natural position has already shown signs of improvement to say the least. Also I expect Ramsey and Bouye to have another stellar year at their positions. Barring injuries our defense will continue to hold it down while the offense picks it up. That's the formula for success.

Time Will Tell.

NH3...

Injuries are definitely a huge concern until we see how solid our depth is this year.  I'm not really worried about Malik being gone.  Good guy.  Rock solid player.  But, how much longer could that last at his position?  We needed to get younger/cheaper somewhere.  He was always expected to be a sacrificial lamb.

I tend to agree with you that the defense will be somewhat different, but still strong enough to hold it down for the team.  I think Foles landed in a pretty good spot here thanks to the defense.  As long as Leonard doesn't stay stuck in a 2018 mentality, and we see improved play with the receivers/TEs, and we can stabilize the line, the offense has the potential to really make some strides.  I think he's good enough to elevate the players around him, and as long as we don't end up in a similar injury situation as we did last year, Dungy's analysis could be prophetic.

(05-28-2019, 03:06 PM)Bullseye Wrote:

(05-24-2019, 08:30 AM)Caldrac Wrote: Usually I am pretty upbeat. There's going to be growing pains on defense this year. It's just the nature of inexperience and fresh faces out on the field. You'll get really good splash plays and then you'll get face palm plays more times than not. And I can honestly live with that. Provided this offense takes the field under Foles' leadership and starts to look somewhat more consistent and dependable.

I'll say it's safe to say there's only going up from here. Fair enough.But there's always some type of trade off.

I was excited about the defense coming into the year, but there are a couple of things that have served to dampen it.

First was the news regarding Telvin Smith.

next was the injury suffered by Josh Allen.  The Jaguars have said it's a bruised knee and nothing, yet Allen will miss the remainder of the OTAs. 

After that, was the news that Telvin's presumed replacement, rookie LB Quincy Williams, was taken off the field today in a golf cart (which may or may not have been serious per Searcy).

Finally, one of the 1010 XL talking heads added perspective this morning, noting that between the two starting safeties (Harrison and Wilson), there are less than ten (10) combined starts.  Considering how important S is to our scheme, it is something of a concern.

I sincerely hope all of these things are all minor in the overall scheme of things football wise.  Hopefully, Smith is well and up for a return next year (if not sooner), Allen and Williams are healthy and will be perfectly healthy by training camp, and Wilson and Harrison (more concerned about Wilson) will fit seamlessly into the defense and provide superlative coverage and tackling in a level of player equal to if not greater than their immediate predecessors.

The Telvin thing is a hit, but at the end of the day, the defense has enough talent to address his missing the season.  

I'm not going to get to worked up over a player riding off in a golf cart.  The heat has been ridiculous the past few days.  Odds are it was heat realated, and Quincy Williams will be fine.  The last time a local radio guy reported an injury like that on air, it turned out to be the player needed to drop a deuce and didn't want to go into the port-o-let.  Talking head speculation was off the charts. The fact that nobody is talking about any potential injuries in the local media is a good sign. Of course, they're all focused on Foles missing the practice for personal reasons. Maybe they really didn't even notice. I guess we'll see when they take the field for the next session.

I'm really not concerned about the Allen injury.  Would you rather see him suffer an injury like we've seen previously with our first rounder that causes him to miss his rookie season?  Or, is it better to bubble wrap the guy for voluntary practices.  Personally, I think the guy needs to bury himself in the playbook, attend all of the meetings, and give his body a break.  These draft picks tend to wear out pretty quickly their rookie year because they never really get a chance to break from football due to the combine, private workouts, and doing the dog and pony show for the draft.  I think the team wants to avoid a minor injury becoming a problem, and I'm perfectly fine with that.  Training camp is adequate time for him to get football ready.

If there was a legitimate concern about the level of play for the starting safeties, the team probably would have pursued one of the free agents that were available to them.  I guess we're going to have to trust their process.  It's certainly something to be a little worried about, but this defense is so talented that I'm sure they'll make it work.

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