How Good Can The Defense Be This Year?
 

I think we jump up towards the middle of the pack defensively.

Pass rush is still a concern. However, the beauty of the Wilson pick is that it can afford us to blitz 5 or 6 assuming Vontae and Wilson can shut down #1 and #2 with Butler playing the slot.

In other words we can generate pressure with the blitz while now having a decreased risk of getting burned on the backend. Oh yeahh.....we'll have Hooker playing center field back there too.

Mingo is a wildcard. Not expecting much from him except being a decent starter on STs. Now, if we can some how tap into his freak talent and he can take advantage of our long disruptive front with guys like Langford and Anderson.....could we possibly get 5-8 sacks from him? *Thinks of Pagano* Well, maybe not.

It can't be worse than it has been, but I also expect it to take some time for the young kids to develop. Probably an up and down year with some really good games and some where mistakes get made.

Mingo is a bum. He will do nothing.

Middle of the pack seems doable. Maybe even a bit hopeful since we are still lacking in pass rush and monchichi didn't really seem good at generating a rush

They can definitely be top 25.

Slightly better but still bottom half.

It won't be good until we can build a young core on defense thru the draft. FA fills needs but rarely provides upper echelon play, unless you sign super stars, who never become available.

To build a truly good defense, you have to do it thru the draft.

I don't know how good the D will be but I am certain it will be better.
The important thing to me is that between free agency and the draft I'm
starting to get a clear vision of what Ballard is trying to do. You have that
toilet clogger Hankins up front stuffing the run. You have two aggressive
press corners in Davis and Wilson. You have a centerfielder -Hooker to
clean up their mistakes, as well as opposing quarterbacks mistakes. You have
some linebackers-Sheard and Simon with pass rushing ability. The picture isn't
nearly painted yet but you have a definite sense of where it's headed. I never
got that feeling with Grigson, that there was some over arching plan.
So I feel very good about this. Having said that, expect me to hop the
Ballard bandwagon at the first hint of trouble.;):D

Good enough to not like Matt Stafford go the length of the field with under a minute left, or to not let Brock Osweiler turn in to Tom Brady.

Which, last year, makes the difference between playoffs or home.

It depends on what metric we're looking at. I expect them to give up plenty of yards and points, but it may be okay if they make a big jump in turnovers.

I watch football as entertainment. Watching an old, slow defense that has no realistic chance of improvement is not entertaining. The thing I enjoyed most last year was the second half development of the offensive line. I look forward to the development of the defense. It will be interesting and, at least in my case, involve a lot of cursing at the TV. I'm not convinced we have the linebackers to succeed, think the line has huge question marks (Langford and Anderson must return to pre injury status-I doubt both of them do, hopefully one) and while I love what Ballard has done for the secondary, it is going to take time for them to learn to play together. But it's going to be interesting and I hope fun (if we improve thru ought the year). I agree that we finally seem to have a plan. Looking forward to the season.

My biggest worry is that all this is predicated on coaching. Worries the hell out of me. Hope I'm wrong

Not all of it. As Pagano referenced with regard to Hooker, "See ball, get ball." Yes, there will be growing pains, but I guarantee there will be more jump out of your seat, holy shit-type plays made, particularly in the secondary.

Younger and faster with LB corps as well as secondary with a true space eater at NT in Hankins gets this group at least into the 15 - 20 ranking. There are unknowns such as Mingo and the continued health imporvement of Langford/Anderson that could contribute to an even better ranking.

If we are talking YPG regarding how good the defense can be this year that could get skewed if Luck is healthy and the offense gels with an O-line that continues to show the improvement it did last year in the second half of the season. This defense won't be a lockdown 60 minute defense IF teams are playing catch up.

I think it can be a top 15 defense. That's all I am expecting.

The LBer corp I still have no idea about.

Pass rush is still very iffy.

Its a whole new group that has not played together before.

The DL outside Hankis, still don't know how good they will be

And while the draft greatly improved the secondary, its still two rookies that are going to be starting at key positions. They are going to make mistakes.

And the coaching........if the team would play both halves and not just the second half, it would help.

Its not going to be a top 5 or 10 units, but I do expect it to be better. If they can be just an average D, I will be happy.

I've always thought with a top offense, if you have a D that can limit teams to 20 points a game or les, you are doing great. The top Ds are usually around 15 a game and I don't think 20 a game is too much to ask. Its reasonable but not great.

Plus it will give the pass rush more time to get to the QB. You shouldn't have guys wide open from the start of the play with Wilson and DAvis both on the field, hopefully.

More time and more pass rushers alone should help. But you still need guys that can get to the QB, and I really have no idea of any of the currently players can do that

Early 20's? Depends how they gel. In two years I see our secondary as a strength. Expect another corner next year. And some LBs. We will need another dline and a good young lb or two. Really it will take another draft. But getting Hooker was a great building block and weapon for the D. Now to shore up the front 7 some more.

Just looking at a single Ballard draft I can see the difference in approach and evaluation.

Grigson would have tried to out smart everyone and drafted a bunch of ppl no one heard of.

WHo knows, we still have late cuts to add. Rosters are still super fluid.

I say that at the start of the season things will be rough, a lot of growing pains, and gelling going to happen, but by mid-season I think we may be top 20ish.

I don't care about giving up yards to a point, but what has been so exasperating is the complete lack of turnovers. There has never been the feeling that the defence can be counted on to get the ball back. Now with Hooker playing the centre field and potentially Geathers delivering some bone jarring hits some turnovers might occur.

The LB corps is the major unknown. I don't have a ton of faith there, I think slightly improved from last year, but we don't really have any difference makers there. I think that will be Ballard's focus in the next draft.

One of many things I'd like to see from our D next year is a BIG improvement on third down.

How often the past few years have we given up third and longs? And many of them were on screen plays, which we were never expecting. But that's coaching and we've still got the same scrubs........

If the free agent additions, Anderson & Langford getting healthy etc. allow the defense to be effective against the run I expect some real improvement by November/December when the young guys in the secondary start to gel. Not top half of the league for the season but maybe top half by the time the playoffs roll around.

My biggest complaint about the defense the last few years is they didn'the have anything to hang their hat on. Stopping the run would be a great start.......

Top 15 but if Hooker and Wilson are short studies Top 10 can happen

Crazy talk. Middle of the pack this year. Maybe break top 15 next year with another solid draft and better pass rush and a year under the new players belts.

And maybe a new coach

The ranking of the defense could also be much improved if the offense actually produces as it is expected to. There were games last year where the offense stank almost as much as the defense, such as the first half of the Jags game in London. If we can get the time of possession more in our favour then the defense will be more rested and production will be that much better for it.

I have to agree.

If anything in 2016, I think that it was the offense that was less likely to live up to its potential game-in and game-out that the defense. The defense did, by and large, what it was supposed to (talent level stunk so the performance level stunk).

However, the offense was hoped to be outstanding and it was at times....but it also lagged greatly at times and that hurt us a whole lot more than the defense lagging.

Anyway, I have a good feeling about the offensive line an Aiken and think that our offense will be much more consistent at reaching their potential this season over last. No facts to back that up, just a feeling.

Cheers,

I know it is getting ahead of things, we have to see how good Wilson is as a corner in the NFL.

But what are the chances in the next year if he works out he ends up at #1 corner and Davis moves to #2?

I think that'll depend on if Davis can stay healthy. If he can't he might not even get an offer from the Colts. He is a great player at his best, but we have not consistently gotten his best.