What is the major reason behind the decline of the defense?

[hightempo]

honestly. and i dont care if i get bashed for this, this defense was really not all that great to begin with.

our weaknesses have been exposed this year because 3 of our first 4 games have been against top offenses. also, even last year, although the numbers looked good, how many times did we need just one final stop to win, or even just a stop after we gained momentum, and our defense let us down?

this defense also never forced turnovers, which is a thing big defenses do. this is just not such a good d. its better than it is playing now, but all in all, its an average defense, not elite by any means.

agreed. plain and simple this defense has only one playmaker - cameron wake. and thats it. one guy. when your entire defense has only one player that can make a play to get you off the field, you arent very good. our defense might not have given up a ton of yards last year, but other teams didnt need to gain a ton of yards to beat us because our offense was so anemic, and sparano is too chicken **** to put pressure on the opposing team instead he loves field goals.

our defense didnt create any turnovers, and couldnt get off the field on third down too often. we simply were never very good, and clearly some players thought just a little too highly of themselves. how about u stop running your mouth davis and instead concentrate on catching some balls??

#1 there are several holes on defense. the biggest one is we generate absolutely no pressure up the middle or opposite cameron wake regardless of who is in the game. we have no pass rush, plain and simple, not enough athletes, not enough playmakers.

#2 the lack of pass rush even exposes to a larger degree the fact we have a hole the size of the grand canyon at FS

#3 you need at least 3 DBs that can cover if not 4, we went into the season with only 2

#4 kevin burnett is an undersized LB, and he hasnt found his home on defense here yet.

#5 yeremiah bell is at this point only an in the box defender, and he just doesnt make big plays.

this is just a poor defense. plain and simple. it has holes. first and foremost tho we need to get back to jimmy johnsons mantra of playmakers, we need to bring in guys that have a nose for the ball. guys that MAKE PLAYS in college. if they dont make plays in college they arent going to do it in the NFL. DBs that rack up interceptions. dlineman and linebackers that make plays behind the line of scrimmage and force fumbles. its as simple as that.

 

[thefranchisedef]

vontae davis's injury is why we are lacking.. we have gone against the top offenses in the league.. with vontae in the game, we were down by a touchdown against the pats. with vontae in the game we were down by 3 against the texans.. you cant throw against vontae and sean smith in the redzone because they will pick you off.. the thing that hurts us is that reshad jones is supposed to be a playmaker at free safety but hes not good.. he's the guy you have playing center field not at free safety... Hes the reason why we gave up a 99 yard touchdown to wes welker and why andre johnson scored on an easy touchdown.. those two players are the difference.. we need vontae "playmaking" davis... The same guy that picked off brady 3 times in one season..

 

[Phanatical]

It's a combination of things. Losing VD, bad safety play, keeping old worn out overrated Jason Taylor in so much, Burnett not playing as well or providing the leadership that Crowder did, facing top tier offenses in our first few games, being somewhat overrated to begin with, etc. etc. It's all of the above.

 

[GRYPHONK]

Our veterans Wake, Davis(when he was in there), Smith, Bell Dansby.... The guys who are supposed to be the leaders, none of them are stepping up on 3rd downs.

How many times has there been a 3rd and long and offenses torched us?

This defense has been solid but can't get off the field.

The veterans and guys we look to to make big plays simply aren't and just making excuses. The reason Taylor is out of position is because bad practices? Sure whatever. Bad practices also are causing Davis to miss a tackle and get blocked to the ground only to stay there and watch the play from the ground to watch the play finish. Wake can't step up in any critical situation.

That's the problem, our playmakers are watching the games, not playing them

 

[hightempo]

Our veterans Wake, Davis(when he was in there), Smith, Bell Dansby.... The guys who are supposed to be the leaders, none of them are stepping up on 3rd downs.

How many times has there been a 3rd and long and offenses torched us?

This defense has been solid but can't get off the field.

The veterans and guys we look to to make big plays simply aren't and just making excuses. The reason Taylor is out of position is because bad practices? Sure whatever. Bad practices also are causing Davis to miss a tackle and get blocked to the ground only to stay there and watch the play from the ground to watch the play finish. Wake can't step up in any critical situation.

That's the problem, our playmakers are watching the games, not playing them

our playmakers arent watching the games, we simply dont have any playmakers outside of wake! unless of course u were referring to sam madision, pat surtain, t buck, z thomas etc etc etc cause those are the only playmakers weve had on defense for awhile, and im sure they arent watching the games because its gotten to ugly to even bother!

 

[dlcmdrx]

Parcells philosphy. football is a bout passing the ball.

Parcells preffered marcus spears over demarcus ware.

 

[The Cregonator]

The defense is built fine if you want to stop a power running game, the problem is somewhere along the way we moved out of the 90's ground and pound and into and air attack style of league. Miami has 7 DT's that play the D Line and only Cam Wake that can get any kind of consistany pass rush. They have no speed that can pressure the QB and the LB's are big and slow compared to RB's WR and even TE's now. They also have the best Cb tandem errrrrrrr, Cb's that can't stay healthy, and three safties that can't cover, or even stay in their zone.



Last year's #'s were smoke and mirrors and as much as I didn't like Crowder he was the emotional leader on the defense, there is not ONE player on that D that get's in your face and pumps you up, ZERO leadership out there.

You are 100% right about Crowder. He was the backbone of our defense last year!

 

[Valandui]

I agree with hoops, Dansby looks like he's not 100%. Also, teams only have to neutralize Wake and Soliai and the rest of the defense seems to fall apart. Opposing OL seems to be allowed to sit on Wake all day and he's the only one getting any pressure. Definitely a sad state of affairs.

 

[WeVie]

I agree with most everyone else. I just don't think our defense was that good last year because when it counted, the opposing team almost always managed to march down the field and get the points they needed.

 

[WeVie]

The defense is built fine if you want to stop a power running game, the problem is somewhere along the way we moved out of the 90's ground and pound and into and air attack style of league. Miami has 7 DT's that play the D Line and only Cam Wake that can get any kind of consistany pass rush. They have no speed that can pressure the QB and the LB's are big and slow compared to RB's WR and even TE's now. They also have the best Cb tandem errrrrrrr, Cb's that can't stay healthy, and three safties that can't cover, or even stay in their zone.

Last year's #'s were smoke and mirrors and as much as I didn't like Crowder he was the emotional leader on the defense, there is not ONE player on that D that get's in your face and pumps you up, ZERO leadership out there.

I think this is one thing that is often overlooked especially on the defensive side of the ball it the emotional part of it. If they are fired up, I think it could make them play somewhat better.