More On The Defense

Trevard Lindley attacks a Dallas Cowboy, who was likely about to harm innocent people due to his violent, criminalistic nature.

I decided to re-watch some 2010 tape last night.  I watched parts of both Dallas games as well as the Houston game.  I almost popped in the Vikings game, but then realized that I didn’t want to be on the phone with the Suicide Hotline all night long.

I was focused on the defense as I watched the games.  God, what a frustrating experience.  Sean McDermott might turn out to be a brilliant coach if given a bunch of 30-year old, smart players.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t what he had last year.  So many mistakes, both mental and physical.  Jumping offside. Illegal contact.  Missed tackles.  Losing guys in coverage.  And that was just Ernie Sims and Dimitri Patterson.  (rim shot)

I’ve recently watched a Titans game and I’ll be writing out something comparing the two systems.  That will be a longer post or column.  For now I just want to touch on a few things that caught my eye.

* The idea of Mike Patterson in the new system is growing on me.  He is still quick and does have a good motor.  We’ve just got to get him down to 310 or 315.  I wonder if Mike has the motivation to make that happen.  I loved him coming out of USC because he was so disruptive and such a force behind the LOS.  I would love to see him get in shape and play well in the new system.

* I liked what I saw from Darryl Tapp.  I think he’ll fit the new system well, stylistically.  Very good motor.  Versatile.  Should benefit from having more space to work with. Still lacks the burst to be a force off the edge, but can be a good role player at the least.

* Brodrick Bunkley is the real mystery man.  There were a few plays last night where he just shoved blockers around like I would my 11-year old nephew.  There is no questioning the man’s strength and power.  We need Jim Washburn to get Bunk back into attack mode so we can see what he does when firing upfield.  Bunk’s primary job for 3-years was to eat up blocks.  To borrow a phrase from Animal Mother, “Flush out of your headgear, new guy.”  Bunk should embrace the chance to make plays, but that also means flying off the ball snap after snap and giving maximum effort.  He’s never been lazy in my eyes, but effort is now really important.  I can’t wait to see how he responds.  I won’t be shocked if he thrives or falls on his face.

* Trevard Lindley played a lot in both Dallas games.  I didn’t remember him in the first one, but apparently that was his best game of the year, per my own notes.  I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw (amazing what you forget in 6 months).

Lindley was good when pressing.  You can just tell that’s what he’s comfortable with.  He was awkward when playing off at first, but got better as the game went along.

I’m not trying to sell you guys that Lindley was awesome and should be the starter.  I still think he’s a year away from being a guy I’d be comfortable with as a starter.  I guess I remember him looking more lost than he did.  Perception vs reality.  That got me to go back and re-read my notes on him from the game:

LINDLEY — Best game of his young career. Made a good tackle on 3rd down early in the game. Ogletree caught a short pass to Trevard’s side. Lindley broke on the ball. He couldn’t get there, but tackled the receiver immediately to force a punt. Failed to tackle Ogletree on 3rd down late in the half. We forced a quick throw with pressure and Trevard was there to make the play and force a punt. He missed the tackle and Dallas moved the chains. Played a 3rd Qtr WR screen perfectly. Went around the blocker with his receiver. Trevard was there to hit the guy when the ball came, but it was a clean drop. I’m sure the receiver could feel Trevard right there. Had good coverage on WR in the late 3rd and Kitna was forced to throw the ball out of bounds. Ran the route as well as Austin and Dallas was forced to punt. Made a quick tackle of WR after short pass in the mid-4th.

He was good in the second Dallas game as well.  Had 6 solo tackles.  Lindley played some throws really well.  He had a TFL on a WR screen that was thrown his way.  He made a really quick break on a short pass and was poised to break it up, but the throw was off target and incomplete on its own.

Juan Castillo talked about the fact that Lindley needs better footwork.  Lindley has good feet.  He just needs to work on technique so that he can cover better and get a quicker break on the ball.  I actually feel encouraged about him after watching the tape.

* Ernie Sims is a mess as a LB, but he is one of the 10 most physical players in the whole league.  I would have the coaches ask him about playing FB.  He would be a punishing blocker.  There was a play in the first Dallas game when Leonard Davis (approx 370 lbs) pulled to the left on a run.  Ernie unloaded on him and knocked Big Len’s helmet off.  If only Ernie had some instincts…

* It killed me to watch Brandon Graham out there.  I wanted to have some scene from a sci-fi movie where I could jump into the game and tell him to go sit out a play and avoid the ACL injury.  Graham would love playing in the Wide-9.  I really hope he’s one of the guys who makes it all the way back.

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Over at PE.com they have an interview that Chris McPherson did with Greg Cosell about what to expect from the Eagles defense in 2011.  Definitely go check it out.  There is no direct link.  Go to the site (linked above) and then look to the right side.  It should be the 4th item down the list, “Cosell Analyzes Eagles D”.