CpuFan
Active Roster
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2003
- Messages
- 1,749
- Reaction score
- 44
Morning, I thought this was like looking into a time warp.
(I copied this from a Giants Forum. Read it and be Thankful.
No matter what you say. I say, thank you Jimmy Johnson for the
defense we have today. Even with it's slip up's frpm time to
time. )
--------------
You want to know why our defense looks like an early '90s AFC defense?
Friday September 26, 2003 9:28 AM
You want to know why our defense is dead last in yards per game allowed (32nd), last in passing yards per game (32nd), and 20th in points per game allowed?
Before anyone makes the same inane remarks I always read on here (e.g. “It’s not the coach’s fault, he doesn’t tackle.â€Â) let me say that I am explicitly NOT putting ALL the blame for the Giants’ poor defensive start on the coaching staff. I am, however, laying blame where blame is do and that is mostly on this coaching staff and somewhat on our defensive players. I am of the opinion that the Giants have a little bit above average defensive player talent (if not more, but let’s face they haven’t proven that they are above average) and below average coaching talent. Now, with that said, here is how I see it.
Three of the most important defensive coaches on this staff have dubious track records as defensive coaches. Johnny Lynn has taken a lot of heat on these boards, and I think that is mostly fair, especially after some of the horrendous losses he helped engineer. However, there are two other coaches on this staff who I think are horrible coaches and almost always go without mention…Tom Olivadotti and Rod Rust.
I will start with Rod Rust, who helped turned the Giants defense in the early ‘90s from a versatile, 50-50 attacking style defense into a “read and react†nightmare that couldn’t stop opposing offenses in key situations. He is our current defensive quality control assistant and you have to think that some of these disturbing defensive tendencies were at least nurtured by Mr. Rust’s defensive philosophy. None of us are in the locker room or the coaching rooms every day, so we can’t know for sure. But, if it smells like a lump of cr*p and looks like a lump of cr*p, then chances are it is a lump of cr*p. I would say that if I were to show you some game footage from the early ‘90s under Rod Rust you would agree with me that the secondary and lb’s played nearly identical to how they play in today’s defense.
The second coach that deserves mention is Tom Olivadotti. The same caveats apply as above with Rust, but the same disturbing tendencies we see in our defense today you should remember seeing in the Miami Dolphins defense of the early ‘90s. Now, Olivadotti did have some successes as the Miami defensive coordinator, but in the end one thing always did his teams in. Olivadotti’s Miami defenses had a propensity to blow the end of games and get caught in loose zone coverage too often, especially late in games. Sound familiar? Now, when he came over to the Giants starting in the 2000 season, his linebacking core, with Jesse Armstead as its leader, definitely had success and I am not taking that away from him. But I would say that was inherited success. Slowly over the next several seasons the linebacking core went from a playmaking, attacking style to a “just try not to give up a big play†style. His teams will look good statistically at times (see I think it was the 1994 Dolphins), but at the end of the day his strategy is faulty during crunch time.
Now, I would suggest that the combination of Rod Rust, Tom Olivadotti, and Johnny Lynn has combined to formed a defensive philosophy that is inapposite to our Giants’ tradition. That is why fans are pis-sed off. We are used to tough minded, smash-mouth defense that shoves the ball back in your face…and that is clearly not this three-headed monster’s gameplan. (And, of course, Jim Fassel has allowed this transformation to happen!) Instead, we have linebackers and defensive backs that are caught flat-footed late in games with the opposing QB and receivers having plenty of time to pick them apart. (Partly the defensive linemen’s fault, for sure. But, you can’t rush four every down and expect to fool anyone.)
In the end, the Giants defense has begun to look like an early ‘90s AFC style defense…that should be no surprise given who our coaches are.
As I said above, this does not mean that I am absolving our players for their play. Certainly Shaun Williams has been a major disappointment these last two seasons and you have to wonder if the move to strong safety was a wise one. There are other problems with our defensive players, but at the end of the day I just don’t think our coaching staff has put them in a position to succeed.
Loose prevent-style defense loses games. Just ask some of those early ‘90s Giants and Dolphins squads.
-------------------------
yards do not equal points...
(I copied this from a Giants Forum. Read it and be Thankful.
No matter what you say. I say, thank you Jimmy Johnson for the
defense we have today. Even with it's slip up's frpm time to
time. )
--------------
You want to know why our defense looks like an early '90s AFC defense?
Friday September 26, 2003 9:28 AM
You want to know why our defense is dead last in yards per game allowed (32nd), last in passing yards per game (32nd), and 20th in points per game allowed?
Before anyone makes the same inane remarks I always read on here (e.g. “It’s not the coach’s fault, he doesn’t tackle.â€Â) let me say that I am explicitly NOT putting ALL the blame for the Giants’ poor defensive start on the coaching staff. I am, however, laying blame where blame is do and that is mostly on this coaching staff and somewhat on our defensive players. I am of the opinion that the Giants have a little bit above average defensive player talent (if not more, but let’s face they haven’t proven that they are above average) and below average coaching talent. Now, with that said, here is how I see it.
Three of the most important defensive coaches on this staff have dubious track records as defensive coaches. Johnny Lynn has taken a lot of heat on these boards, and I think that is mostly fair, especially after some of the horrendous losses he helped engineer. However, there are two other coaches on this staff who I think are horrible coaches and almost always go without mention…Tom Olivadotti and Rod Rust.
I will start with Rod Rust, who helped turned the Giants defense in the early ‘90s from a versatile, 50-50 attacking style defense into a “read and react†nightmare that couldn’t stop opposing offenses in key situations. He is our current defensive quality control assistant and you have to think that some of these disturbing defensive tendencies were at least nurtured by Mr. Rust’s defensive philosophy. None of us are in the locker room or the coaching rooms every day, so we can’t know for sure. But, if it smells like a lump of cr*p and looks like a lump of cr*p, then chances are it is a lump of cr*p. I would say that if I were to show you some game footage from the early ‘90s under Rod Rust you would agree with me that the secondary and lb’s played nearly identical to how they play in today’s defense.
The second coach that deserves mention is Tom Olivadotti. The same caveats apply as above with Rust, but the same disturbing tendencies we see in our defense today you should remember seeing in the Miami Dolphins defense of the early ‘90s. Now, Olivadotti did have some successes as the Miami defensive coordinator, but in the end one thing always did his teams in. Olivadotti’s Miami defenses had a propensity to blow the end of games and get caught in loose zone coverage too often, especially late in games. Sound familiar? Now, when he came over to the Giants starting in the 2000 season, his linebacking core, with Jesse Armstead as its leader, definitely had success and I am not taking that away from him. But I would say that was inherited success. Slowly over the next several seasons the linebacking core went from a playmaking, attacking style to a “just try not to give up a big play†style. His teams will look good statistically at times (see I think it was the 1994 Dolphins), but at the end of the day his strategy is faulty during crunch time.
Now, I would suggest that the combination of Rod Rust, Tom Olivadotti, and Johnny Lynn has combined to formed a defensive philosophy that is inapposite to our Giants’ tradition. That is why fans are pis-sed off. We are used to tough minded, smash-mouth defense that shoves the ball back in your face…and that is clearly not this three-headed monster’s gameplan. (And, of course, Jim Fassel has allowed this transformation to happen!) Instead, we have linebackers and defensive backs that are caught flat-footed late in games with the opposing QB and receivers having plenty of time to pick them apart. (Partly the defensive linemen’s fault, for sure. But, you can’t rush four every down and expect to fool anyone.)
In the end, the Giants defense has begun to look like an early ‘90s AFC style defense…that should be no surprise given who our coaches are.
As I said above, this does not mean that I am absolving our players for their play. Certainly Shaun Williams has been a major disappointment these last two seasons and you have to wonder if the move to strong safety was a wise one. There are other problems with our defensive players, but at the end of the day I just don’t think our coaching staff has put them in a position to succeed.
Loose prevent-style defense loses games. Just ask some of those early ‘90s Giants and Dolphins squads.
-------------------------
yards do not equal points...
