Simpleton
DCC 4Life
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2013
- Messages
- 17,564
So we went 12-4 and weren't far off from the Super Bowl in 2014 with a defense that was opportunistic but obviously shielded by our ball control offense. It seems most people who were against the Elliott pick, and even some who were for it, are up in arms over an assortment of maladies that supposedly plague our defense and will keep us from contending. Of course Jalen Ramsey would be the cure to all of this but I digress.
At an rate, let's look at the defense we threw out in 2014:
DL: Starters - Jeremy Mincey/Tyrone Crawford/Nick Hayden/George Selvie
Key Reserves - Anthony Spencer/Henry Melton (DNP in playoffs)/DeMarcus Lawrence/Terrell McClain (DNP in playoffs)
LB: Starters: Rolando McClain/Anthony Hitchens/Bruce Carter
Key Reserves - Kyle Wilber/Cameron Lawrence
DB: Orlando Scandrick/Brandon Carr/JJ Wilcox/Barry Church
Key Reserves - Sterling Moore/Jeff Heath
I left out guys who were injured early in the season and out for the year like Morris Claiborne, Jack Crawford and Justin Durant.
At any rate, look at that group, very uninspiring.
I could easily argue that Cedric Thornton is better than anybody on our DL that season aside from Crawford, who of course is still here. Selvie and Mincey were taken off the scrap heap and started basically all year for us. Our DT rotation was a joke with guys like Ken Bishop playing heavy snaps in the playoffs against Green Bay. Is there any reason to think that a DL consisting of Crawford/Crawford/Thornton/Collins/Tapper/Irving/Mayowa can't give us a similar performance as that group?
And this isn't even factoring in Lawrence or Gregory, if one or both of them comes back and plays a full 12 games our DL is clearly far better now than it was in 2014.
At LB we are basically the same as 2014 although if Lee stays healthy again (big if) we are clearly better. Even if he gets hurt, we made due in the playoffs without McClain who barely played against either Detroit or Green Bay.
In the secondary we are more or less the same although now with Byron Jones who is clearly a huge upgrade as he is arguably our best DB.
So at the end of the day, if anything, our defense is marginally better now than it was in 2014, and potentially vastly better if we have luck with health and one or both of Lawrence/Gregory can stay on the field. You also have to consider that this defense hovered around league-average last year and kept us in a bunch of games while having to deal with an offense that couldn't extend drives for anything.
It's not a good defense, that's for certain, but with health and a return to a 2014 style of offense I think we have enough on defense to contend with the tops teams in the NFC.
At an rate, let's look at the defense we threw out in 2014:
DL: Starters - Jeremy Mincey/Tyrone Crawford/Nick Hayden/George Selvie
Key Reserves - Anthony Spencer/Henry Melton (DNP in playoffs)/DeMarcus Lawrence/Terrell McClain (DNP in playoffs)
LB: Starters: Rolando McClain/Anthony Hitchens/Bruce Carter
Key Reserves - Kyle Wilber/Cameron Lawrence
DB: Orlando Scandrick/Brandon Carr/JJ Wilcox/Barry Church
Key Reserves - Sterling Moore/Jeff Heath
I left out guys who were injured early in the season and out for the year like Morris Claiborne, Jack Crawford and Justin Durant.
At any rate, look at that group, very uninspiring.
I could easily argue that Cedric Thornton is better than anybody on our DL that season aside from Crawford, who of course is still here. Selvie and Mincey were taken off the scrap heap and started basically all year for us. Our DT rotation was a joke with guys like Ken Bishop playing heavy snaps in the playoffs against Green Bay. Is there any reason to think that a DL consisting of Crawford/Crawford/Thornton/Collins/Tapper/Irving/Mayowa can't give us a similar performance as that group?
And this isn't even factoring in Lawrence or Gregory, if one or both of them comes back and plays a full 12 games our DL is clearly far better now than it was in 2014.
At LB we are basically the same as 2014 although if Lee stays healthy again (big if) we are clearly better. Even if he gets hurt, we made due in the playoffs without McClain who barely played against either Detroit or Green Bay.
In the secondary we are more or less the same although now with Byron Jones who is clearly a huge upgrade as he is arguably our best DB.
So at the end of the day, if anything, our defense is marginally better now than it was in 2014, and potentially vastly better if we have luck with health and one or both of Lawrence/Gregory can stay on the field. You also have to consider that this defense hovered around league-average last year and kept us in a bunch of games while having to deal with an offense that couldn't extend drives for anything.
It's not a good defense, that's for certain, but with health and a return to a 2014 style of offense I think we have enough on defense to contend with the tops teams in the NFC.