I rounded on these for simplicity
They have a healthy Davenport and AQM.
Yet McNiel was the DE 40% of snaps!?!?!?
I get the philosophy of “get the 11 best guys on the field”
HOWEVER. If putting a 300lb DT at Edge is your best option. Yall messed up
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McNeil at 40% of DE snaps is an absolute joke.
I get wanting to do something different, but…it didn’t work last week. Don’t do it this week.
Not a fan of taking a guy who is a force in his natural position and putting him in a position that isn’t his natural position. It’s literally what Matt Patricia did when he was here!
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Davenport must be on a pitch count or something. Still Alim at DE for that many snaps…
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What even MORE crazy….. IMO… is that Alim played 95% of the snaps overall.
There is no way he can provide any kind of consistent rush when he is playing every snap… especially when 40% of them are at DE.
They need to rotate more players in to get fresh players on the field.
11 Likes
Its weird for a team that praises building trenches first our trenches kinda suck.
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Even more concerning is Jacobs averaged 4.8 yards per carry. If we are going with a heavy set on the dline we better at least play good run defense. The Vikes ran well on us too. Division rivals running the ball on us is a troubling trend.
We used to have an elite run defense. It’s the same players and we are healthy up front. So really no excuses. Olines are handling us up front recently. It’s not just Hutch. Alim and Reader are making big money. So are Jack, Anzalone and Barnes. But we have been playing a bit soft recently. Winning in the trenches is vital to our success.
Oh and we aren’t creating turnovers. The defense has me concerned even more than our oline right now
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We’re good as is
and also
but we need Alim to play DE for 40% of the snaps
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Trying to fix a broken pass rush is hurting our runstopping ability. I hope Dan and Shep open their eyes.
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It shouldn’t suck when you have a top 20 IDL and a top 5 exterior DL. An interior of McNeill/Reader/Williams/Lopez is very good. The problem is our pass rush stinks. Which I have a hard time believing it’s due to personnel…
Its absolutely personal issue,
If Davenport and AQM are so absolute garbage that you have to slide Mcneil out there. Its 1000% a personnel issue.
Shows lack of top end talent and quality depth.
Things us “angry fans” have been pounding the table about for 2+ years but. Ya know. “Were Good”
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I say it’s absolutely not a personnel issue. But I know that makes me wrong around here…
playing McNeill at DE is an asinine coaching mistake. A edge rush rotation of Davenport/AQM should be adequate opposite Hutch/alongside our IDL.
But yeah this defense needed to add a all-pro edge rusher to be good…smh
a defense with Hutch/Kerby/Branch/Alim/Jack with complimentary players of AA, Reader, Reed, Tyliek, Robertson has personnel issues? Then so does every other team in the league.
Someone saying this team lacks depth is crazy IMO. This defense before the season started had 25 defensive players that play on every NFL roster. It’s not DC or BHs fault the entire secondary has suffered injuries. Would I have like to have added an edge rusher? Of course, who wouldn’t have. But you can’t fill every single hole on defense with above average talent on defense. And there’s an argument to be made that we are above average at 9/11 positions on defense. With 3-4 of those being top 5-10.
it’s not a personnel issue…
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I agree with everything in your post but the O-Line is still my 1st concern. Having 3 DTs and not stopping the run is bad. I know Harper has played as well as can be expected but damn we miss Kerby. So many high arcing passes just thrown up for grabs and Harper is just a step late getting there. Kerby just has a nose for a ball in the air.
3 Likes
Amen brother. Kerby’s interceptions have completely flipped momentum in so many games for us the past few years. In Lambeau his pick 6 pretty much won that game last year for example. Branch also not creating turnovers like he used to.
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One thing I disagree with here…how are we not stopping the run? Before the GB game, our run defense has been very good. The problem is the offense can’t keep our defense off the field. The eagles and giants both ran the ball 40 times. They gave up 270 yards rushing on 80 attempts (3.4ypc). That run defense is elite. Offense needs to sustain drives and keep the defense off the field.
this teams entire problems are on that offensive line and quarterback.
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JD9 - I respect your viewpoints. When I say personnel issue at edge, we shouldn’t be playing Hutch 100% of the time. It reduces his effectiveness. We absolutely need more help on the edge because if not, who are we running out there when Hutch should be getting a breather so he’s more effective when he is in there. If, If, If Davenport was reliable, I’d shut my mouth about edge but he’s not. In no game or scenario does playing Hutch that amount of snaps make any sense. It’s ■■■■■■■ insanity.
Edited to add that I still agree a good DC would be getting far more out of this defense than Shep has.
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Shep is looking lost as a coordinator lately. McNeil at DE. Man to man every single snap. Zero creativity. Playing Barnes off ball. Playing 3 LBs so much when they’re not the best in coverage. Just so many things that make no sense.
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Who do the Browns have to spell Garrett? Who do the Raiders have to spell Crosby? Bengals Hendrickson? We have a ton of expensive talent all over the roster. How exactly are we behind anyone else in the league personnel wise?
I’m not trying to be hyper critical of anyone’s takes. It’s just crazy to me that we have complaints about team personnel in any way. I know people loved the Tyliek Williams pick. But I bet the same guys who loved it also complain about not added an edge rusher. We take a edge rusher in the draft instead of interior guy the complaints would then be we didn’t do enough on the interior 
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Sounds like the Matt Patricia defense…yikes
I think the snap counts on defense all comes back to our O-Line issues. When we sustain drives it limits the amount of snaps available for the defense. Our team was designed to control the time of possession like we did against the Ravens. Now it seems its 3 and out or just hope Gibbs breaks one.
I respect that. I think where I’m at is I’m disappointed they resigned Davenport (wish they would have gone a different direction there). He’s a known high injury risk and sure enough, it happened again this year. I personally wish they’d sacrifice a bit on their ‘crush the can’ philosophy and get another guy that can get after the QB (doesn’t have to be a tier 1 level talent). Guess that all ties back to coaching and philosophy because they must have to sign off on personnel decisions - I don’t know how a professional coach can think playing Hutch 100% of the snaps or putting Alim at DE for 40% of the snaps is a good idea. Maybe Davenport was on a pitch count (understandable), but AQM less than McNeil is stupidity. I’d love to know their thought process - is it because they aren’t happy with who they have at Edge? Or truly believe that McNeil is better at Edge than inside? I’m just baffled on so many levels.