Gunther

[jspchief]

In a post game interview, it was clear that Gunther is starting to realize the mountain he's faced with climbing.

He talked about how they practiced the plays Carolina ran all week, and practiced the exact short pass play that Denver and Carolina both scored on. But the guys just keep making the same mistakes. He also threw McCleon under the bus...keep your eye out for Bartee in the starting line-up soon. Talked about how poorly our secondary played (#44 being the one bright spot). Also mentioned the shitfull tackling.

It's obvious that our guys in the defensive backfield suck. Barber is non-existent. Mitchell and Beisel both over-commit on every misdirection play. Our safeties are soft, and can't hit or tackle. McCleon is not suited to be a starter at this point.

The tackling is fucking brutal. How hard is it to teach these guys to wrap up? Why do we never lay good hits? Why does our entire secondary stand and watch when we get the QB in trouble? This defense isn't getting better. Until we can cover downfield, all the QB pressure in the world won't save us (as Delhomme demonstrated).

I was wrong. It's not the scheme. It's the players.

[Deberg_1990]

Yep..you are right...Ill bet Gunther feels like choking DV right about now for letting him talk himself into coming back to fix this crappy Defense.

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Yep..you are right...Ill bet Gunther feels like choking DV right about now for letting him talk himself into coming back to fix this crappy Defense.

Who won't let them improve the shitty players?

Was that DV, GROB or Gunther? HMMMM FU Carl.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by jspchief

In a post game interview, it was clear that Gunther is starting to realize the mountain he's faced with climbing.

He talked about how they practiced the plays Carolina ran all week, and practiced the exact short pass play that Denver and Carolina both scored on. But the guys just keep making the same mistakes. He also threw McCleon under the bus...keep your eye out for Bartee in the starting line-up soon. Talked about how poorly our secondary played (#44 being the one bright spot). Also mentioned the shitfull tackling.

It's obvious that our guys in the defensive backfield suck. Barber is non-existent. Mitchell and Beisel both over-commit on every misdirection play. Our safeties are soft, and can't hit or tackle. McCleon is not suited to be a starter at this point.

The tackling is fucking brutal. How hard is it to teach these guys to wrap up? Why do we never lay good hits? Why does our entire secondary stand and watch when we get the QB in trouble? This defense isn't getting better. Until we can cover downfield, all the QB pressure in the world won't save us (as Delhomme demonstrated).

I was wrong. It's not the scheme. It's the players.

Thanks for the info jsp! I was curious of what Gun thought about what the D did today. He needs to start benching players that aren't performing. That is the only way to get their attention IMO.

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Thanks for the info jsp! I was curious of what Gun thought about what the D did today. He needs to start benching players that aren't performing. That is the only way to get their attention IMO.

He didn't name any names, but by reference to certain plays, he basically called certain players out. I'm not sure how I feel about him blasting them in public, but something has to light a fire under these guys asses.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by jspchief

He didn't name any names, but by reference to certain plays, he basically called certain players out. I'm not sure how I feel about him blasting them in public, but something has to light a fire under these guys asses.

I agree but by benching them it sends a message that if you don't perform your sitting. Alot of these guys have bonuses on how many plays they play during the season which may inspire them to play hard or don't get the extra cash.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

I agree but by benching them it sends a message that if you don't perform your sitting. Alot of these guys have bonuses on how many plays they play during the season which may inspire them to play hard or don't get the extra cash.

I really dont think its gonna matter...I think these guys are playing hard and trying their best...they just dont have the talent to match up sorry to say......Not much u can do to fix that.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

I really dont think its gonna matter...I think these guys are playing hard and trying their best...they just dont have the talent to match up sorry to say......Not much u can do to fix that.

Probably not and as I said during the offseason along with replacing Grob they needed to replace the defensive talent as well. All you had to do was to look back at the 2000 Rams when they replaced all of their defensive staff, some which are with the Chiefs now, and they started 7 new defensive starters and they went to the Super Bowl in large part to their new D. This isn't rocket science yet CP and DV seem clueless.

[Rain Man]

I would hope that he wouldn't bench McCleon for one bad game. Who on the bench is better?

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I would hope that he wouldn't bench McCleon for one bad game. Who on the bench is better?

I hate to say it but probably Bartee. IMO McCleon is favoring his shoulder which he injured in the preseason and he just isn't being physical in the run game like Gun expects out of his corners. If he can't tackle he shouldn't play.

[royr17]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I would hope that he wouldn't bench McCleon for one bad game. Who on the bench is better?

William Bartee ...

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I would hope that he wouldn't bench McCleon for one bad game. Who on the bench is better?

McCleon has played like shit in both games. He can't tackle to save his ass, and whatever coverage skills he had last year have disappeared (as evidenced by the Colbert TD). He may still be slightly better than Bartee against the pass, but he's a complete liability against the run.

Personally, I'm ready to see some new faces in the spots that we are sucking at. I didn't see much of Pile, but at least I didn't see him blowing plays.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by jspchief

McCleon has played like shit in both games. He can't tackle to save his ass, and whatever coverage skills he had last year have disappeared (as evidenced by the Colbert TD). He may still be slightly better than Bartee against the pass, but he's a complete liability against the run.

Personally, I'm ready to see some new faces in the spots that we are sucking at. I didn't see much of Pile, but at least I didn't see him blowing plays.

I would agree that McCleon didn't have a good week this week, but I thought he played pretty well last week. And while he got run over on some plays, at least he was in position to make them.

[digi2fish]

don't blame on the D, they scored equally to the O today.

[HolmeZz]

Originally Posted by digi2fish

don't blame on the D, they scored equally to the O today.

That's not a good outlook on it when you take into consideration that our offense took on one of the best D's in the league, while our defense couldn't handle an offense that's below average, even WITH their best receiver and running back. No question our offense hasn't been what it can be though, and they'll need to step it up if this team has any real aspirations of winning a ring this season.

As for this topic, it's clearly the players and not the scheme. I do happen to think GRob's a dumbass and that his scheme wouldn't have worked well even with average-to-above average players, but when you can't make tackles then the scheme matters very little.

I think our inability to tackle is just a side effect of being way too slow on defense. When you can't get to gaps quick enough to slow down blocking schemes, you're leaving yourself vulnerable. I think that's one reason why read-and-react didn't work last year. You're spending too much time reading and not reacting, to put it simply.

I think I saw a few bright spots from our D today though. There were a handful of times that we took down Foster for losses. On their first couple of possessions Foster would run for like 5 on first, and then lose 2 or 3 on second down. That works for me. It just seems like on 3rd down we just have to cross our fingers and hope a receiver drops a pass. Until we can get rid of that type of mindset, I don't have huge expectations for the team this year.

I'm happy with the play of Dalton and Warfield though, to take a positive outlook on the game.