Are we just gonna ignore the job Romeo Crennel is doing?

At home the defense is good. On the road the defense is quite putrid even while playing some not so good offenses (Brissett, Siemian, and Bradford)

 

RAC has always been a bend don't break defense and stats prove that. The issue right now is his D doesn't travel which is very rare and probably more about the entire team not travelling than anything else.

 

At full strength, 7 of the 11 starters were first round picks and one was a 2nd round pick. This defense is supposed to be good.

 

They benefitted a lot more off turnovers last year... which can be fluke-ish, but certainly does help to the overall effectiveness of a defense.

They haven't forced as many this year... which may actually be a positive sign as they've still been able to make stops without it. Additionally, they've still yet to face some high turnover prone QB's like Bortles (x2), Rivers, and Dalton.... which may lend itself to some course correction in the turnover department.

I'm actually more impressed with the non first round/non-highly paid guys like Bouye/Simon as opposed to Joseph/Cushing (who clearly have their best days well behind them).

Its also still hilarious to see the amount of criticism this defense gets at times... and yet very few people point out who they're missing.

 

I really don't trust that style of defense, but when it works, it works. The problem is that on the road so far they've bent and broken.

 

I agree, kudos to O'Brien for knowing how to select a good DC.

 

I think that he is doing a pretty good job considering that he is missing the best defensive player in the NFL and the secondary has been a triage unit.

 

I don't think this is a fair way to look at it at all.

The defense played really well in NE. Brissett burned them on one play they should have prepared for, but other than that they did great. You can't ask your defense to hold up on short fields (fumbled kickoffs) nor can you ask them to hold up when the offense does nothing.

Going into the 4th quarter it was 20-0, which is not good, but 10 of those points came off 20 yard fields thanks to special teams turnovers.

Prior to Blount's 41 yard touchdown, they had held him under 4 yards a carry.

This defense hasn't played like the Texans over the last decade where all you had to do was throw deep and you could light them up. They play well, but it's unreasonable to ask them to watch the offense sputter along for four quarters and pitch perfect games.

 

I wonder where we rank on explosive play %? I think we rank highly but I'm not sure.

 

RC is a great DC but a terrible head coach. Some people are better served as coordinators and Romeo is one of those people's

 

Yup, just like Wade here and in Denver.

If anybody from this current staff is going to get the head coaching job, its Vrabel.

 

it seems like we give up very few big plays on defense

 

Exactly but he should be given credit for developing Clowney, Covington, Bouye, Merciless, McKinney, Kevin Johnson. Too bad for the s safety position, Dillon and Drummund looked good before injuries took them.

 

More for Covington and Bouye but the other guys were highly regarded and very talented coming into the league. He's doing a good job, absolutely. But you expect that. Speaking of safety, how sweet would it be to get Peppers in the draft.

 

There were people who thought we might be better with JJ going down because JJ freelances too much. I wasn't one of those but I will admit it seems we are playing a more disciplined defense at times. That said I still think we miss JJ in those moments where "we gotta have it" situations come up.

 

I was trying not to contemplate that but Peppers on this secondary with Kevin Johnson, and Bouye and we might have a no fly zone defense. But draft is based on position, hopefully he "falls" to us

 

We miss JJ on every run play