Originally Posted by Red Dawg:
Hitches now sucks but was good. Fuller now sucks but was good. Bob is the destroyer of good players. He sucks so bad it really is a joke that he's still here
The homepage says if you enjoy reading don't be shy jump in and post, so here's my first post after a few years of following you guys in silence...
Well too many guys on this defense suck but were good, and that's the problem. Then they often go back to being good in other teams. We most certainly have a problem with tackling technique somewhere DOWN in the coaching staff, as such issues definitely have more to do with execution than position, and practice drills and tackling fundamentals have a lot to do with execution.
As much as I believe Bienemy (and not Andy) being the man behind the improvement of this year OL, I do not believe Bob Sutton being DIRECTLY responsible for the horrid tackling of ALL of our D players. The biggest problem of this defense IMHO is with yards allowed after contact and that means tackling fundamentals, which brings me to discuss about Rugby tackling technique in football, as, from what I see, I suspect our D may be down with a bad case of "Rugby Tacklitis" - a bad disease which seems to be spreading among the NFL defenses of today.
It should not be disregarded that rugby is inherently different from football, as allowing 2-3 yards after contact is totally irrelevant in rugby while it makes a BIG difference when you have 3-4 plays to run 10 yds. Some rugby tackles may be effective also in football - such as the straight ones - but most other tackling techniques such as "tackle rolls" are either inefficient or subject to allow yards after contact, and therefore not fit for football, unless somewhat revised. For example ALL rugby tackling techniques are based on "tracking" the NEAR hip of the carrier, and therefore positioning the head of the tackler BEHIND the carrier, which generally results in yard gain after contact. Proper football tackling technique instead requires going for the FAR hip and placement of the head BEFORE the carrier. This has nothing to do with hitting with the crown of the helmet of course, which is not allowed and as far as I know no player was ever trained to tackle that way by any responsible coach.
"Tracking" the carrier is the only chance in rugby (no blocking allowed) and by far the worst in football, at least for linebackers whose best bet is either the OL read ("the line never lies" especially to ILB's and generally to one gap players such as the ILB's in a 3-4 defense) or the "triangle read" (for OLB's, two gappers and faster guys). Finally, tracking the carrier you can hardly attack the line (which is what most ILB's should be supposed to do IMHO), as tracking the carrier is basically "wait and see what happens". Reading the backs may take a long time especially in today's tricky offenses, making the LB's easy targets for blocks (not allowed in Rugby) and prone to be run over by powerful backs upon contact. Which is exactly what happens with our LB's standing on their heels and looking like they don't have an idea where they are and what's going on until eventually someone pops out of the line and runs them over.
Moral of the story, if one particular coach decides to switch to a "rugby tackling technique" he better be aware of WHAT may or may not work, WHERE it may or may not work, and WITH WHOM it may or may not work, and adjust it into some kind of a hybrid, taking into account the players he has, the skill they developed, and the teams/players they are facing. And most important he should be very careful who is taking care of this task within the coaching staff, if you don't want to end up with players who are unsure what to do on the field.
The reason I'm saying this is because I've seen this happen before.
I don't believe Bob Sutton at his age is practicing tackling drills with his players, but for sure he should be supervising and taking action when his best tacklers suddenly and inexplicably turn to jelly (wonder if Gibbs being fired has something to do with this).
Also makes no sense in bringing in hitters such as Ragland and Hitchens with the idea of turning them into thoughtful backfield readers, when all they've ever done, and what they're good at, is basically attack the hole and hit whatever they find in it. What would have happened of say Harry Carson, if some coach at some point would try to turn him into what he never was, and was not developed to be ? Doubt he would have made the hall of fame.
My idea on the subject is ILB's should be fast "OL readers" and big hitters, while still being OK on short pass coverage - such as fast TE or FL/Slots slants and such. We've got two of the best in the league at this (well, they used to be before somebody messed them up....), just let them do what they're good at ! If it ain't broke don't fix it.
A good run defense still makes a lot of sense in today's NFL IMHO, as it makes the offense go all pass and keeps it from running the clock keeping your own offense on the bench - which given our offense would certainly be a BIG plus for us. I understand some may have a different view of the ILB's role nowadays, but then one would expect the players they choose to be different from what we have.
Being an "oldtimer", Bob Sutton is probably having troubles adjusting to the current NFL rules on tackling in general, besides his comment on this year's new rule on QB's tackling on arrowhead pride (quote: "Bob Sutton unsure how to coach pass rushers under new rule"), which immediately came to my mind after the Speaks mishap last sunday. Maybe he is unsure how to coach not only the pass rushers under the current tackling rules.
So my guess is that he may have passed these unpleasant chores over to the wrong guys. I'm not saying he doesn't have his share of fault in this, being the defensive coordinator he's not doing such a great job at "coordinating" his own staff.
Still I doubt having his head roll at this point would improve our defense in the short term. I'd much rather look into the D's coaching staff to find out whose head(s) needs to roll, before Sutton possibly retires at the end of the season. Finding good LB's or DB's coach to straighten these guys' backs the good old hard way (which they may actually enjoy) should be easier than finding a good DC's to start a new system and eventually creating even more confusion at mid season.
I agree on Sutton's playcalling issues at crucial plays (Gronk etc.), however it is a fact no call is ever going to work with poor execution.
Hope you guys don't get too harsh on a noob
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