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Top 10 Rushing Defense - I'll Bet The Farm (But No Peppers)


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I keep wondering about what aspect of this team I can absolutely count on this season. We made plenty of upgrades, but there are still lots of questions everywhere. The OL will determine if our running backs get to show out as many hope. It will also determine whether Ryan and the new offense transitions to Shanahan's playbook without bumps. Our lack of a FS will give many of us pause in our passing defense, although I'm not too worried about it. I think our front push will make our DBs look much better.

The one area that I'll be most shocked to see struggle will be our run defense. We've got hosses in the middle and really across the line. The strength and athleticism of Soliai, Babs, Hageman, and Jarrett inside makes me think that running inside will be difficult. And Clayborn and Jackson (with Hageman sometimes switching out) will give opposing guards and tackles fits.

I'm geeked about Dan Quinn as our head coach but I know that it takes time to institute a new culture and mesh your players to your philosophy. But I'll lose a lot of faith (and sweat) if we can't at least manage to be a top 10 running defense this season. To be honest, I'm hoping for a top 10 overall defense, but I'm not putting stock in it.

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I don't know man, some teams are better at running over us than others last year. We had some games that were good <100 yards running and others that were 150+ so I really don't know man. It's going to come down to a game to game thing and the matchup any particular week. Injuries etc.

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I keep wondering about what aspect of this team I can absolutely count on this season. We made plenty of upgrades, but there are still lots of questions everywhere. The OL will determine if our running backs get to show out as many hope. It will also determine whether Ryan and the new offense transitions to Shanahan's playbook without bumps. Our lack of a FS will give many of us pause in our passing defense, although I'm not too worried about it. I think our front push will make our DBs look much better.

The one area that I'll be most shocked to see struggle will be our run defense. We've got hosses in the middle and really across the line. The strength and athleticism of Soliai, Babs, Hageman, and Jarrett inside makes me think that running inside will be difficult. And Clayborn and Jackson (with Hageman sometimes switching out) will give opposing guards and tackles fits.

I'm geeked about Dan Quinn as our head coach but I know that it takes time to institute a new culture and mesh your players to your philosophy. But I'll lose a lot of faith (and sweat) if we can't at least manage to be a top 10 running defense this season. To be honest, I'm hoping for a top 10 overall defense, but I'm not putting stock in it.

+1 I like this ... a positive statement. emot-tiphat.gifemot-tiphat.gifemot-munch.gifemot-munch.gif

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I'm with you in that I'd love to see our run defense be a top 10 in the league this season. Our DL is way better in terms of talent, but is it top 10 in talent? Not at all sure of that, but by mid-season we should all have a much better idea of how this DL compares to the rest of the NFL. I think we'll be somewhere around middle of the pack by then and will be steadily improving each week. By the end of the season who knows, maybe we're in the running to end up top 10. Too early to have a really good feel for how this unit will come together, but with Quinn as our HC/DL guru, I have high hopes.

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