Post-Game 3 Defense Talk (and yes some whining)

[I like Rams]

Our tackling needs to get better and I agree, Rapp shines when he's closer to the LOS, but the Bucs are a nightmare of mismatches. They have elite speed and if they don't have that they have size. So I'll give this game a pass considering they played better than I expected.

 

[den-the-coach]

The Bucs not having Antonio Brown was a major plus, but Rapp struggles in coverage and my hope was Burgess would secure that spot, but Morris really likes Rapp.

 

[tklongball]

A team that scored 31 then 48, we basically held to 17, then they had a TD in Garbage time. I am not complaining. We are 3-0 with our new DC getting used to his chess pieces. Go Rams, That was a Quality win!

 

[tklongball]

The Bucs also had 9 straight games of scoring 30+ Points.

 

[ottoman89]

All I could do was listen on the radio, so a few quick thoughts.

1. Agree completely Williams is losing money. However, when you ask Williams to cover 6'5" 230lb Mike Evans, you're 100% asking for trouble. There's no way Williams and his smaller frame can hold his own. So I won't blame him for that. Also, Morris has the D playing such soft coverage pre-snap it seems that it gives the WRs all the leverage. I feel like that's making him look worse too.

2. Seems like Rapp was behind every intermediate/deeper pass completion. He's obviously a huge liability in coverage. We have to stop having him out there. Can Burgess be that much worse? Our Front 7 are holding there own against the run, can we get another coverage oriented S back there please.

3. Not surprised tackling is an issue so far. With the softer training camps and off season programs limiting contact and tackling, it's not one bit surprising to me that tackling is an issue early. It'll get better.

4. Kenny Young. Man, he's all over. He's been a huge surprise and with more playing time I feel his bonehead mistakes will drift away. He's only going to get better. His speed is dangerous as a LB and he's going to be out next Littleton.

5. Play Calling. Morris certainly makes adjustments but wish he'd do it sooner. We're not often giving up the BIG play but too many 20yd plays it seems. Damn Cover 2 is archaic. The game has evolved passed the basic Cover 2. Also, these damn delayed blintzes are maddening. You're delaying another rusher while then taking a guy out of coverage. Just blitz at the damn snap.

Overall, the Defense has gotten better week after week. And it's not often you play a team like TB with all these weapons. But we do next week, and I think we bend a lot and the Cardinals will rack up a load of yards, but hopefully we don't break.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Yeah we may see Rochell sooner than later. Also Jones would be nice. This was Young's best game so far but he makes annoying mistakes too.

Rapp is far too limited for his draft slot imo. Totally agree that he is not a coverage Safety. Keep him closer to the line. I’m guessing that they aren’t seeing enough from Burgess or Rochell to swap them out. It seems Morris is gradually getting more comfortable with his personnel.

Terell Lewis had a big day.

I'm glad they were not taking the advice of some of the people on this board by cutting him.

I was saying to cut him. The best ability is availability. If he can stay healthy I’ll totally recant my take on Lewis. One game isn’t enough for me to do that.

Defense is making strides (lets hope Hollins injury not too severe) and if all they did was shore up the tackling, it would probably be back to top 10 rankings. Still, one wonders if like others are saying, moving Ramsey around even more these days and making some other players take over the STAR position at times might be putting too much on their plates (of those not named Ramsey).

Perhaps they too will get used to it.

Seems like Burgess isn't back from his injury yet or perhaps they don't trust him enough so I'd like to maybe see a bit more Nick Scott at two high than Rapp out there. Dude just cannot do a whole lot in space. Scott certainly has had a few plays there already this year.

I guess they want to be even less predictable on defense. It’s hard to argue with the results, but it’s not passing the eye test. Williams is losing money, as mentioned and it may not be his fault. It reminds me of Lovie Smith not liking the type of LBer Fletcher was and he brought in a dud. Next year Darius could be balling out for another team.

I will say this for Morris, he is pretty good at making adjustments at halftime, especially this week.

As many have said those delayed blitzes with secondary players in the first half was atrocious.

Seriously, most of the time running the classic cover 2 we give up big plays, when he does his “ adapting” we play tight and aggressive 90% of the time.

I think he’s starting to get the feel with his calls and the players, and nothing helps cement that like a big win. I have high hopes from here on out for the D. I have zero concern with the O.

I hope the trend away from cover two continues as Morris trusts his players more and figures out who can and cannot play certain roles.

The Bucs not having Antonio Brown was a major plus, but Rapp struggles in coverage and my hope was Burgess would secure that spot, but Morris really likes Rapp.

Burgess looked like crap in preseason. Rapp may be the best option, which stinks.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

It could be that not only did Morris want to ease into a more aggressive defense but maybe he feels limited by the play of guys like Rapp and Burgess/Rochell. It already seems obvious that he doesn’t trust the less experienced guys early on.
I agree that I’d like to see Nick Scott get more opportunities in place of Rapp in coverage.

Is Rapp a free agent this winter? It could be the right time to let some others audition for his job. It could also mean that Safety will once again be a likely draft target for Snead. It seems he picks one every year.

 

[fearsomefour]

I think Darius was just outmatched against Mike Evans. Nothing more.

That happens a lot vs Evans....especially when he is allowed to blatantly push off every route.

 

[fearsomefour]

The missed tackling is irritating but it’s league wide.
Did you watch the GB defense last night?
Ugly.

 

[Merlin]

I was saying to cut him. The best ability is availability. If he can stay healthy I’ll totally recant my take on Lewis. One game isn’t enough for me to do that.

Agreed. The "crow platter instigation crew" needs to lighten the fuck up with Lewis. Hopefully that time will come (I will gladly eat that particular bird steak) but let's see the guy play a few games first.

 

[Merlin]

All I could do was listen on the radio, so a few quick thoughts.

1. Agree completely Williams is losing money. However, when you ask Williams to cover 6'5" 230lb Mike Evans, you're 100% asking for trouble. There's no way Williams and his smaller frame can hold his own. So I won't blame him for that. Also, Morris has the D playing such soft coverage pre-snap it seems that it gives the WRs all the leverage. I feel like that's making him look worse too.

2. Seems like Rapp was behind every intermediate/deeper pass completion. He's obviously a huge liability in coverage. We have to stop having him out there. Can Burgess be that much worse? Our Front 7 are holding there own against the run, can we get another coverage oriented S back there please.

3. Not surprised tackling is an issue so far. With the softer training camps and off season programs limiting contact and tackling, it's not one bit surprising to me that tackling is an issue early. It'll get better.

4. Kenny Young. Man, he's all over. He's been a huge surprise and with more playing time I feel his bonehead mistakes will drift away. He's only going to get better. His speed is dangerous as a LB and he's going to be out next Littleton.

5. Play Calling. Morris certainly makes adjustments but wish he'd do it sooner. We're not often giving up the BIG play but too many 20yd plays it seems. Damn Cover 2 is archaic. The game has evolved passed the basic Cover 2. Also, these damn delayed blintzes are maddening. You're delaying another rusher while then taking a guy out of coverage. Just blitz at the damn snap.

Overall, the Defense has gotten better week after week. And it's not often you play a team like TB with all these weapons. But we do next week, and I think we bend a lot and the Cardinals will rack up a load of yards, but hopefully we don't break.

Nice post Otto and agreed on all. Re: the Cardinals I don't know if we have the speed up front to keep the QB's little ass in the pocket. Hopefully they do and maybe that game calls for a ton of nickel and dime because if he starts scramble drilling all over the field we're in trouble. Both him and Wilson are going to strain our defense IMO so I hope Morris sorts shit from his scheme tendencies to figuring out what the best safety combo is.

 

[Kupped]

Nice post Otto and agreed on all. Re: the Cardinals I don't know if we have the speed up front to keep the QB's little ass in the pocket. Hopefully they do and maybe that game calls for a ton of nickel and dime because if he starts scramble drilling all over the field we're in trouble. Both him and Wilson are going to strain our defense IMO so I hope Morris sorts shit from his scheme tendencies to figuring out what the best safety combo is.

I think Garrett may see more opportunities against someone like Murray and Wilson.. he's a little more agile than someone like Lewis or Floyd. I'm hoping Hollins' injury is minor.. because his speed and agility are exactly the kind of contain edge you need against those guys.
I also see a ton of dime against both.

 

[Kupped]

Agreed. The "crow platter instigation crew" needs to lighten the fuck up with Lewis. Hopefully that time will come (I will gladly eat that particular bird steak) but let's see the guy play a few games first.

To me, it's doubtful that they can rely on Lewis for as many snaps per game as they had him take yesterday.

I just don't see it.

Good seeing him impact the game.

 

[Merlin]

I think Garrett may see more opportunities against someone like Murray and Wilson.. he's a little more agile than someone like Lewis or Floyd. I'm hoping Hollins' injury is minor.. because his speed and agility are exactly the kind of contain edge you need against those guys.
I also see a ton of dime against both.

I hope so. Garrett's got that ability to get skinny and disrupt shit. I think we'll see more and more of him as we go forward.

 

[RamWoodie]

I think Darius was just outmatched against Mike Evans. Nothing more.

Not to mention the sly push-offs Evans got away with! Evans' arms were so long he was able to stiff arm Darius to keep him from wrapping up on his legs.

As for Rapp...he's never been out there as a pass defender per se. His role is to stop the run and tackle. Everyone knows...or should know he's a mediocre pass defender...but he'll deliver a good hit when he can.

 

[Faceplant]

Rapp is an absolute travesty in coverage. He takes the worst angles since Craig Dahl. He's a box safety... Not sure how Morris doesn't get that.

 

[Angry Ram]

Not to mention the sly push-offs Evans got away with! Evans' arms were so long he was able to stiff arm Darius to keep him from wrapping up on his legs.

As for Rapp...he's never been out there as a pass defender per se. His role is to stop the run and tackle. Everyone knows...or should know he's a mediocre pass defender...but he'll deliver a good hit when he can.

Hey if you can get away with it, I wouldn't be complaining.

 

[Mackeyser]

A team that scored 31 then 48, we basically held to 17, then they had a TD in Garbage time. I am not complaining. We are 3-0 with our new DC getting used to his chess pieces. Go Rams, That was a Quality win!

And in that 48 was 2 Pick 6s, so their offense scored 34. And we held that O that had scored 30+ nine times in a row to essentially 17 points.

As much as this D has to address, they're already playing pretty well.

 

[WestCoastRam]

View: https://twitter.com/PFF_Eric/status/1442499227939229700


I would not have actually thought this as the impression I was getting was that there wasn't as much movement in the secondary as last year.

 

[Merlin]

View: https://twitter.com/PFF_Eric/status/1442499227939229700


I would not have actually thought this as the impression I was getting was that there wasn't as much movement in the secondary as last year.

Agreed. But we don't have All 22 so we're flying blind this year.

My working theory right now is that Morris is just learning the calls. He's learning in real time and fucking it up. That just makes the most sense since he doesn't have a history with this scheme.

I'm guessing McVay and the secondary staff is teaching him.