Redo the Defense

[Soul Surfer]

That was an embarrassing second half performance versus Minnesota.

We were manhandled up the middle.

Our outside linebackers could neither contain the run or rush the passer linebackers.

Our inside linebackers look bad in coverage they look bad in run contain.

New starting lineup for our front 7;

Donald-Brockers-Smart
Longacre-Barron-Ogletree-Westbrooks

At least we should be able to stop the run.

 

[Merlin]

Brock needs to stay at 5T. Dude was born to play there. So I presume you mean Smart at NT. And yeah he's probably our best option there overall because he works his @$$ off every snap.

Westbrooks at LE is intriguing. He'd probably win more on the rush than Barwin.

RE is a big problem for us. Longacre gets effort sacks, but we lack the instant pressures the great defenses all have from the blindside. I'd like to see more of Ebukam in there. Just line him up and let him go, he cannot be worse than Quinn.

 

[Soul Surfer]

Brockers at 326 lb. is a pretty good nose tackle too.
Yes, Brockers can move side-to-side better than Smart but at least Smart could also clog up the middle where we were manhandled by Minnesota's o-line.

 

[Soul Surfer]

Brock needs to stay at 5T. Dude was born to play there.

I agree but Brockers is also a great nose tackle and until we have a real one (may be in next year's draft?) we need a real nose guard.

 

[I like Rams]

Isnt one of Smarts biggest flaws stopping the run? Walker usually does better than Smart in that area.

 

[Zodi]

Seems like it was 7-7 until Webster and NRC went down. It's hard for a defense to keep up pace not only when the offense is doing jack shit, but you lose two out of three of your starting corners.

Agreed with the lack of a pass rush tho. But Minnesota is really good in pass pro, and Keenum made a helluva third down play avoiding two sacks.

Sometimes you got to accept that it just wasn't your day.

 

[Soul Surfer]

Sometimes you got to accept that it just wasn't your day.

LIKE HELL!!!

I do not accept that.

We weren't just beaten ......
we were manhandled.....
we were punked up the middle of the field....
they owned the trenches.

We better have a plan of action if we want to see the playoffs.

 

[Soul Surfer]

Keenum made a helluva third down play avoiding two sacks.

How did I have this dreadful feeling that was going to happen?

 

[Soul Surfer]

I do think the biggest reason our defense went to shit was the loss of our corners though.

 

[nighttrain]

Case educated Hatfield, Hatfield received a failing grade though
train

 

[Rams43]

Our O play was the bigger shortcoming.

D held the Vikings to 7 points until the 4th qtr, didn’t they?

The futility of our O permitted a 15 minute TOP advantage to the Vikes. Not reasonable to expect a D to overcome that when fatigued.

Losing Webster and NRC sure didn’t help, either.

But I lay the lion’s share of the blame at the feet of our O. All of them, not just Kupp.

 

[OC--LeftCoast]

Our O play was the bigger shortcoming.

D held the Vikings to 7 points until the 4th qtr, didn’t they?

The futility of our O permitted a 15 minute TOP advantage to the Vikes. Not reasonable to expect a D to overcome that when fatigued.

Losing Webster and NRC sure didn’t help, either.

But I lay the lion’s share of the blame at the feet of our O. All of them, not just Kupp.

Young team thrust into a playoff atmosphere frenzied crowd, yeah the offense failed to execute, but this was an experience that will serve them well down the road

Let’s see if the adjust when the play Seattle up North

 

[…..]

I didn't get to see the game, and because of the loss looking so lopsided in the stat sheet, I have also seen zero highlights. So I dunno what happened, but In the discussions here on ROD I see nothing about the pass rush. We had no sacks. A few hits, but no sacks.

If you ask me, we need our strength to have an impact on each and every game. If our strength has no impact on the games, then it's no longer a strength.

jmo

 

[OC--LeftCoast]

I didn't get to see the game, and because of the loss looking so lopsided in the stat sheet, I have also seen zero highlights. So I dunno what happened, but In the discussions here on ROD I see nothing about the pass rush. We had no sacks. A few hits, but no sacks.

If you ask me, we need our strength to have an impact on each and every game. If our strength has no impact on the games, then it's no longer a strength.

jmo

They did get good pressure but Keenum seemed to to a great job eluding it, that utterly ridiculous circus Romo-Esque Houdini act where he slipped past a sack by Barwin and heaved it blindly (seemingly) for a first down pretty much summed up the day

 

[Ramlock]

They did get good pressure but Keenum seemed to to a great job eluding it, that utterly ridiculous circus Romo-Esque Houdini act where he slipped past a sack by Barwin and heaved it blindly (seemingly) for a first down pretty much summed up the day

Wilson-like "throw up for grabs" play

How do those throws not get picked off....

It's that Russell Wilson rainbow throw that always stuns me...looked just like that

 

[fearsomefour]

Wilson-like "throw up for grabs" play

How do those throws not get picked off....

It's that Russell Wilson rainbow throw that always stuns me...looked just like that

Cause it ain't going up for grabs.
Skill, not luck.

 

[shaunpinney]

Seems like it was 7-7 until Webster and NRC went down. It's hard for a defense to keep up pace not only when the offense is doing jack crap, but you lose two out of three of your starting corners.

Agreed with the lack of a pass rush tho. But Minnesota is really good in pass pro, and Keenum made a helluva third down play avoiding two sacks.

Sometimes you got to accept that it just wasn't your day.

Gave you a thread winner, the cards didn't go in our favour against the Vikings, losing 2 starting CBs is a massive loss to ANY NFL team, we've been lucky up until now tbh - and Keenum exploited their loss, avoiding those 'obvious' sacks was a huge difference maker - as was Kupp dropping the ball on the 1. As soon as that happened I knew it just wasn't our day.

 

[Ramstien]

Wilson-like "throw up for grabs" play

How do those throws not get picked off....

It's that Russell Wilson rainbow throw that always stuns me...looked just like that

I say this same think to my wife every-time we watch that little SOB play. He is just plain lucky on many of these balls he just throws up for grabs. I would not want to play poker against this guy. I hate to admit it, I really like this guy off the field but on the field I truly hate him.

 

[LesBaker]

They did get good pressure but Keenum seemed to to a great job eluding it, that utterly ridiculous circus Romo-Esque Houdini act where he slipped past a sack by Barwin and heaved it blindly (seemingly) for a first down pretty much summed up the day

Cause it ain't going up for grabs.
Skill, not luck.

I dunno about Romo but Wilson throws on the run as well as any QB in the league.

 

[Soul Surfer]

In the pregame show they showed and highlighted in yellow the trajectory of that miracle pass by Keenum after avoiding two Ram Defenders.
It was not some "arching rainbow" as it has been described.
It actually had a nice trajectory.