There's no question that we took a downgrade at the DC position, I dunno if Wade Phillips would have wanted to stick around to be someone else's DC when he was passed over (rightfully so) for the head coaching job, but I'd feel a lot better about our defense if he had.
Did you not see the regression in Wade's defenses by year 3? The defense would likely get better with any new system (regardless of coordinator) simply because teams had Wade's defense figured out... and I really never saw any ability for him to adjust his defense to combat that. At least you have a semblance of game-plan specific defenses now.
I don't care if cushing is getting tackles AFTER a guy gets a 7-12 yard gain. I guess because of Brian, Rashard Jennings didn't run for 300 yards. Yay.
I saw an injury plagued defense that didn't have the personnel to do what they wanted to do. There's no question in my mind that Phillips is a better DC than RAC and the performance of Phillip's defenses speaks for themselves.
When healthy last year, the defense was already showing the same regression that it did throughout the second half of year 2. Year 1 of Wade was the best this defense has ever been... which is his MO when he takes over a new job. The regression of Phillip's defenses speak for themselves... while Crenel's defenses end up anchoring championships usually with lesser talent. Obviously, neither is suited to be a head coach. Wade got more than a fair opportunity here... much like Kubiak, there was not much more that he was likely going to "improve" upon.
The talent was regressing, all we had was Watt when it came to the pass rush, the ninja went from good to serviceable to mostly worthless over the time he was in Houston. When you only have Watt and can't generate a pass rush without blitzing, you put the defense in a hole. That was the case last year but they managed to be pretty awesome until Cushing went down. Once that happened, it was awful.
Injury plagued? It's way too early for that excuse. The defense is bad. We already had this debate. You were so sure our NT and DE spot were strong as well as the LBs outside of Cushing. "One of the best Front 7s" while Relying on a "star" in Clowney even though he hadn't played a game in the NFL and look what happened when he did. This has nothing to do with injuries. The defense is bad outside of Watt and flashes of good in the secondary. One of the worst front 7s in the league. As I have said all off-season, I hope I am wrong.
So, only "significant" waiver claim they got is Damaris Johnson and ??? (... and Jeff Adams and Darryl Morris) <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>NFL advises teams that Jags, Bucs, Raiders currently are tied for top waiver priority. Priority among them will be determined by coin flip.</p>— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) <a href="https://twitter.com/ProFootballTalk/status/514521092950884352">September 23, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>One more notable recent tryout: NT Ryan Pickett tried out for the Texans. Veteran started 16 games for Green Bay in 2013.</p>— Field Yates (@FieldYates) <a href="https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/514525501696667648">September 23, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Texans worked out multiple punters and long snappers -- and former first-round DT Ryan Pickett.</p>— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) <a href="https://twitter.com/ProFootballTalk/status/514526500171706369">September 23, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
well I'll be damn'd...Rick Smith reads my posts... Hope that Pickett can rotate with Powe, and Nix can find a way to freaking make the damn field.
Victor Cruz was wired for sound during last Sunday's game. If you want to watch there will be a segment on NFL Turning Point tomorrow night as well as Sound FX on Friday night.
Unfortunate but that's been the issue with Wade's defenses for some time now which is why he got that "Coach Fixit" tag. But Romeo's track record also hasn't been all that stellar either and I must admit that I am very concerned with what I am seeing from his defense particularly against the run.
