Can this defense be "dominating"?

All I know is we face an incredibly difficult set of opponents in the first half of the season, minus game 1 in CHI. It will take some time for a large number of new, young players to gel on defense, and we have a lot of them. 

 

Thankfully, our team speed on D has increased at both ILB and in our secondary. Those were huge needs that have been addressed over the past two drafts. By week 10 or 11 we may see signs of being dominant. By year's end, I think we will be, as long as we can stay healthy. 

 

I think Clay Matthews is far more effective inside, and I hope we see him there a lot. 

 

Bunch of insane ball hawks in our secondary. I cannot wait to see that. 

I'm not sure Clay was truly more effective inside, or if Hawk and Co. was simply so bad that the transition looks more amazing because of it.  Clay's backups brought more to the total defense than Hawk did as a starter (reinforces that Hawk should have been gone long before the move was made)  

 

With an effective middle linebacker, I think one of the subsequent effects is a more effective Clay on the edge.  

 

Now, I don't mind moving him around either, Clay seems to be one of those guys (when healthy) that impacts the game regardless of scheme or position.  

Clay can play a joker like Woodson did but we can not afford to have playing significant snaps there again, especially late in the season.  Unless you want him gassed and off the field at crunch time in the NFCC game again.

I get mixed feelings about Clay inside or outside. I like him inside because he can actually run to the ball and Dom can work some inside blitzes or drop him off the line. Many times on the outside I feel like Clay goes against those huge left tackles and he just gets stuffed and it neutralizes his speed.

 

OTOH, on the outside he can cover outside and run down and shut down the wide speed guys. If he gets a left tackle not as good with his feet or the speed rush, he can put a lot of pressure on the QB. And he doesn't get pounded on.

 

Maybe Dom should move him in or out depending on the other team's tackle/guard.  Wishy-washy, I know, but I feel like it's six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other.  

I'm in the same boat Fandame.

You bail, I'll row!  

Fandame, the idea is super solid. Better yet, we finally have the personnel to pull it off. So many of our returning 2nd and 3rd year players are bigger, better, more confident. Especially Bradford, Palmer, Hubbard and Elliott.  After seeing a bunch of OTAs over the years, those 4, along with Matthews, Adams, Richard Rodgers and Guion, Clinton-Dix and Richardson looked to be the most physically impressive from their offseason development, last year to this year. 

 

Matthews has noticeably bulked up. Practiced full-time with the ILB group, but did switch outside on occasion during drills. 

 

Training Camp is 13 days away. 

Clay got the bulk of his sacks outside.  The difference playing in the middle was he was actually defending the space and hitting guys at the line.  Numbers weren't fancy but the defense was.  I think you use both Peppers and Matthews in revolving roles because they are superstars and can handle the rotation.  The other guys, you're building continuity at one spot.

 

Personally, I would love to see Peppers in a pass down defending someone like Jimmy Graham in the middle.  Could make for some high adventure.

I think where Clay plays depends most on the difference in space he can cover on the inside versus the guy that would otherwise play inside.

 

With Hawk and Jones playing, the short inside was a sieve.  It felt like teams could dump short passes over the middle quite effectively.  That space needs to be better played.

 

But, if the next guy up can cover that space fairly well, then it seems to me his pass rushing skills are better off being used. (OLB).

This is the most glorious OTA image of the 2015 off-season. Period. The sheer beauty of this photo would make Ansel Adams weep. 

 

 

I know I'm crying...

Just look at him getting the defense lined up.  

exact same thought I had. Want to weep? Go look at him playing those last five minutes against the Seahawks after CMIII had to leave. Yikes.

He's telling everybody where he's going so they'll get out of his way.

Hawk knew exactly where he had to be; he just couldn't get there.

Another surreal facet to that horrific game.  Obviously, someone with that many years of experience and with his inability to cover a lot of space, he damn well better not make mental mistakes.

 

So what does he do, but make a mental mistake with the highest of severity levels.

 

Un-frikking-real

addition by subtraction in action

I don't know why I love this so much. Probably because it means he's really gone.

 

Glad Stones!!!

 

If Clue #1 was, "I've been stealing crazy wads of cash in GB for the past three years" I think a lot of Philly fans would have figured it out pretty fast. 

Hawk is still an All-Pro on the golf course:
http://bleacherreport.com/arti...rity-golf-tournament

http://grantland.com/features/...ns-2014-nfl-preview/

 

"If the Texans would have had their way in 2011, Watt wouldn’t be in Houston. The plan with the 11th pick was to take an outside linebacker, someone who would ease the transition to Wade Phillips’s 3-4 defense. But when the linebacker options were off the board ( Von Miller, Aldon Smith), Phillips offered up a contingency plan:

 If a quality defensive lineman was around, they could move former no. 1 overall pick Mario Williams to outside linebacker. There were two choices, with the room split nearly down the middle. Eventually, they landed on Watt. "

 

Watt wasn't yet Watt on draft day 2011 - I wonder what the Texans would have taken for a draft day trade ? ( long ways up from 32 to 11)

 

Now that would make for a dominating defense: Peppers, Watt, Matthews & Co

 

And maybe D' Ware will tire of Denver and we will be able to get him as well. 

As I recall, a certain Volunteers fan on here was strongly of the opinion that Watt was a poor fit for the 3-4.

They replayed this again today. The guy would have been wide open if they faked a FG. 

Please find where I said he was a poor fit for the 34. If I recall I said playing a 5-tech where he was a grinder who just took on double teams would be a waste of his talent. I said he was Julius Peppers talented and would be the best fit as a 43 DE. At this point I don't think you can say he fits best anywhere because he has played all over the DL and has been elite at all of those positions.

Please find where you said he was about to be a Super Star of epic proportions

And when you get done with that, your next task is to get El Ka Bong hammered