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This defense relies on pressure; without Hali and Houston as bookends, it gets exposed.
Our DE's are not good enough pass rushers. Hali was not healthy in the playoff game, and neither was Houston. They ran out of gas in the second half.
Also, Luck was getting rid of the ball in 2. something seconds. Not much you can do pass rush-wise at that point. So the question becomes-"How the hell is someone open in 2.something seconds?!"
Well...running almost strictly man has some weaknesses; it's vulnerable to 'pick' plays. It's vulnerable to crossing routes. You can end up with mismatches like LB's on Rb's, etc. In our case, a rookie CB and a CB that wasn't playing well the 2nd half of the season with the best CB being injured and a world class terrible FS all combined to making Luck's job just a little bit easier.
I have no problems with playing man, a lot of bump and run. I have no problems not blitzing like mad 2nd half, because he was getting the ball out so fast it wouldn't have mattered-we weren't going to get there in less than 2 seconds. The problem is, we have a couple of glaring weak spots and some depth issues that make it difficult to keep it up for 60 minutes.
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