Originally Posted by
steelreserve
What did we learn?
1) You won't get any pressure on the QB if you don't try. Does our pass rush suck that bad? I honestly don't even know. All we've been doing is lining up and saying "here are the four guys who will be rushing, go ahead and block them" and the offense says "OK, no problem, we'll be sure to do that." We haven't even been using any defensive looks that could keep the offense off balance, much less actually rushing aggressively. I can probably count on one hand the number of actual blitzes I've seen this season. Simply dropping a pass-rushing linebacker into coverage and rushing a different linebacker instead (surprise!), so that you still have four guys rushing, does not count as an aggressive rush or a "blitz."
2) Shazier cannot cover the tight end. He may be fast, but for whatever reason he is just not the answer there and never has been. I really think this role demands a safety, or at least a different LB who specializes in it. Thought maybe Feeney was taken to be that guy, but I don't know if we'll see him this season. At any rate, what we are doing is not working, and this has been a thorn in our side for going on a decade now.
3) Our receiving corps is Brown plus a bunch of situational guys. Nobody else can get open, which is a huge problem. Neither Wheaton nor Coates is looking like a real #2 receiver. Coates gives you the occasional big play and then disappears for 95% of the game. Wheaton was a good #3 but has failed in a more prominent role, and yesterday's performance was just horrid. Rogers is an OK slot receiver and nothing more; I hate to say it, but those kinds of receivers are a dime a dozen. The tight ends have some promise, but are a pretty mediocre bunch right now and have obvious exploits. Why haven't we seen DHB on the field? He's shown that he can at least get out there and provide an occasional spark, plus make some of those mid-range plays that nobody else on the team seems capable of making right now.
There's always a bunch of other little niggling stuff about playcalling and stopping the run, but I think those are the big ones, and a lot of our other problems are waterfall effects of them.