We have been posting on this board for quite some time that it doesn’t make sense to have a complex defensive scheme and continually have one of the youngest rosters in the league. IMO it shouldn’t have taken the expansion of the trend toward hurry up offenses – and IMO that’s mostly on Capers - but better late than never.
I know I have been posting the above highlighted thought for quite some time, but I cannot recall much agreement on that particular point. Your past criticisms of Capers are duly noted, however.
"Amen" to better late than never.
The question is, "what took so long?" While happy to see the improved aggressiveness, with better tackling and pursuit to go with it, and "more speed, less thinking" (yes, thinking does kill speed and aggressiveness), I can't help but be more than a little p*ssed that the defensive genius couldn't see what was happening sooner. He has emerged from the rabbit hole. Happy days.
Expansion of hurry up offenses is clearly not the whole story. Was there some precipitous tipping point in the frequency of hurry up last season that brought about this change for this season? I think not.
In recent seasons we've seen the backfield in communication disarray with guys moving around at the snap even when opponents had huddled up. It was really bad when M.D. Jennings was back there; merely bad when he wasn't. I've only noticed that problem once this season on a goal line TD. D-Linemen realigning at the snap was not an uncommon sight either, again with the opponents having come out of huddles. Simply put, there was way too much thinking going on, particularly for young players, blunting speed and aggressiveness.
And those wordy calls had options! There were guys out there not able to process all of that I can say with high confidence; assignments were getting lost in translation. "Too cute by half" is the way I've been describing it. Others preferred to put primary blame on the talent.
Any acute observer would not take Capers "hurry up" explanation at face value. McCarthy promised "less scheme, more personnel rotations" before 2014. Rotations? Yes. Less scheme? No. Then this offseason McCarthy promised "less scheme, more pre-snap adjustments". Second time's the charm, I guess. Perhaps McCarthy's increased involvement in the defense has tipped the scales of change.
In short, having a complex defense designed to disguise and confuse doesn't get you very far if your own players are confused.
I think it’s interesting we spent so much time talking about Rollins and Gunter, Randall was almost an afterthought. In a thread titled “Who’s Your Sleeper”, I posted: I think quoted Mayock’s pre-draft analysis of him: “Randall can play man-to-man; he has cornerback-level cover skills. You give up some physicality, but his coverage ability is where the NFL is going.” While Randall has made some mistakes – hardly a surprise for a rookie – I think Mayock’s analysis looks good at this point. BTW, I’m still high on Rollins, who has gotten a few snaps lately and Gunter.
I did not like the Randall pick, specifically because he looked like a poor complement to Shields who is a spotty tackler himself. I've been pleasantly surprised with Randall's physicality; he'll never be confused with Sherman but he doesn't have to be that guy if he meets a satisfactory threshold. The early preseason ankle-biting has not been much in evidence.
That said, I do recall commenting late in the preseason that Randall might be the guy week 1. My thinking was Thompson might want to find out early what he has in his 1st. rounder, Whitt's star rating system not withstanding.
His first 2 games teams hardly picked on him. I see that as a good thing. Then Maclin beat him badly twice; fortunately one was a wide open drop on a crosser so that went largely unnoticed. He did give up the long ball last week though his coverage was sound; sometimes you just get beat by a good throw and catch. I did see him give up a lot of separation on a crosser early in the SF game. Shields tends to do the same thing, giving up inside routes. So maybe that's a scheme/coaching thing that should get more scrutiny.
ted abandoned the dline. capers was forced to go light, and raji was left to rot on an island. maybe harrell, worthy, and jolly stay healthy, things are different. now we jave the beef. the 3-4 starts up front!!! 3 guys doing the job of 4! i dont understand the logic of 2 down linemen? perry been a beast as well. peppers is unstopable. mathews is just as dominant. young secondary is great. but we have had great lbs and secondary the last few years. dline was weak though. its only going to get better as guion gets comfortable.
