wth happened to our pass defense? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

wth happened to our pass defense?

isaacjunk

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A year ago our pass D was a force to be reckoned with. On paper we upgraded our personnel mostly...Holland at FS and Needham settling in as a good 3rd corner, JP starting to breakout on the line. I honestly don't know enough football to figure out what has changed for the worse...anyone have any specific insight? All I've noticed is that

- rub routes against man are killing us
- we play zone kinda soft, get nickel and dimed on those schemes
- even our top db's get burnt regularly on crossers
- oghbah/JP provide pressure but haven't been getting there quite quick enough to regularly change the outcome of the play
 
So here is the thing about a defense that relies on turnovers but gives up a lot of yards by design:

Results will vary. You might get 3 turnovers one game, one in another, none the next, so on. However, in all those games you're giving up yards every drive, and when you face great offenses those drives are going to be touchdowns.

Add to that, you can't force the offense to turn it over. You can do everything perfect and a smart QB will just eat it for a sack or throw the ball away if possible.

Now add on to all of that we seem to play more or less the same defense every week.
 
When one side of the ball is broken, you can't expect the other side to keep their side of the bargain.
 
A couple of the plays I saw, X and Byron had good position on the WRs but the ball was perfectly placed. Not much you can do about that. I had hoped with Davis back the run D would have been better.
 
When I have time to watch, I see less blitzing with man to man behind it like we ran a ton of last year.
 
We can’t stop the run and can’t get pressure on the QB without blitzing. You’re not going to read a lot of success stories from defenses like that.

Last year we confused some teams with exotic blitz packages. It was smoke and mirrors. It was basically a season of defensive Wildcat—was never going to last.
 
No pass rush, Ogbah has been the invisible man this season and Phillips is still learning to play in the NFL. The LB’s have no cover skills and the secondary is affected by the lack of a pass rush because the opposing QB has all day to find an open receiver. Also it’s been reported that Howard and Jones have injuries and the safety position has not been as effective as last season without McCain.
 
Uninspired and not aggressive due to the offense. It is that simple. Also, Brady Carr and Allen are playing at a high level. Brady played great yesterday you cant defend the perfect pass.
Defense is not off as much as we think.
 
Injury
Pass Rush
SCHEME

WE SHOULD BE RUNNING A STRONG ROTATION OF DL. THEY ARE ON YHE FIELD FOR MOST OF THE GAME.
 
If we're just talking about that tampa game, there's not much you can do when that offense is clicking. They have 3 elite receivers, an elite offensive line and an elite qb. Unless you're just an elite defense which we're not (we're a solid d but nowhere near elite), only way you stop that is if they stop themselves.
 
If we're just talking about that tampa game, there's not much you can do when that offense is clicking. They have 3 elite receivers, an elite offensive line and an elite qb. Unless you're just an elite defense which we're not (we're a solid d but nowhere near elite), only way you stop that is if they stop themselves.
Exactly!
 
-Less long slow drives by the offense than last year. Less offensive effectiveness overall.

- Teams figuring out our ameaboid blitzes, and we’re just using them less.

- We miss McCain, especially his mental and emotional leadership. I hate that I was right about this off season.

- Lost Lawson and KVN as pass rushers. AVG hasn’t stepped up, and Phillips took a bit of time to get going.

- We’ve faced some really good offenses.

- Howard and Jones might be a bit hobbled.

- Turnovers, 3rd down defense, and red zone defense tends to regress to the mean. It doesn’t always, but the tendency is there.

It’s seldom just one thing, especially on defense.
 
2020
9th 7.0% sack rate
17th 9.2% hurry rate

2021
26th 4.5% sack rate
32nd 3.0% hurry rate
A LOT less blitzes this year. I'm sure there's been some, but I don't recall seeing any cover zero blitzes in the games that I've watched. Not sure why we've gotten away from blitzing more. We have the same dbs as last year for the most part.
 
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