Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
That's why I keep crapping on the 'team leaders' nonsense.
Man, this defense routinely played down to its opponents. That's a failure of leadership and nothing else. They'd go out there against these lousy O-Lines and instead of simply demonstrating that they're a deeper, better unit, they'd half-ass the game and wait for the offense to pull it out.
The 'leadership' provided by Clark, Hitchens and Mathieu was ass. I'm just not the slightest bit interested in paying for the intangibles of ANYONE that has been on this defense the last several years. It simply hasn't born out.
They have to be able to routinely play to their true talent level. There has to be a reliable, consistent baseline that lets the team know what they're going to get on a day to day basis. This core group simply hasn't provided that so it's time to broom the lot of them.
All 3 of those guys were imports. It's time for a home-grown leadership core on the defense. Bolton and Sneed is a start; they both play with fire and tenacity. Jones really should be but he's not that kind of guy. Thornhill could ascend in the absence of Mathieu. Now you stack the line and find a guy who's willing to take the reigns there as well.
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Hitchens was gone the second Bolton was drafted. He had no chance.
Clark was gone the moment he couldn’t beat third string tackles.
Mathieu was gone the second he threw up his arms on blown coverages. Act like a ****ing leader, douche. You can’t celebrate with Sorensen when he makes a play and then call him out like that game after game.