and it's not like last year when we had so many injuries and were rotating street jags in and out of the lineup.
This fucking D is healthy.
Sadly, it also is just plain talent - challenged.
Scheming only gets you so far. This team is reminding me of the 1985 team that played a 4-0 defense with four down linemen and seven defensive backs. It was a gimmick but it worked really well until the Bengals just blew it the fuck up.
The Eagles have exposed our defense as one overdependent on substitutions and unable to respond to even simple misdirection when it is used several times. Their OT's completely neutralized our defensive ends to a silly degree.
Granted the Eagles' OT's are very good by comparison to other teams, but it doesn't matter since we still have to play the Eagles again (and maybe a third time, should we be fortunate enough to actually make the playoffs).
The Bears can throw the football. Indy lives on throwing the football. Neither are as effective as Philly running the ball, but they can still destroy this defense.
Unless the offense gets off it's ass and gets back to playing balanced football again. We need to run almost as much as we pass and we need to pass to backs, TE's and WR's-- not just WRs and not just checkdowns. This offense only thrives when Tony Romo spreads the ball around.
Gavin Escobar got 0 catches... again, and it's no coincidence that we lost that game... again.