Where's The Pass Defense Or The Run Game?

[slider]

It's amazing what a couple of splash plays can do to change fans perceptions of a teams performance! I realize this was a vanilla defense with no game planning but outside of the two picks, the Titans only had 2 incompletions in 27 pass attempts.

Mettenberger: 8/11 129yds. 1TD 1INT

Mariotta: 7/8 94yds. 0TD 1INT

Whitehurst: 5/5 39yds. 0TD 0INT

Tanney: 3/3 38yds. 0TD 0INT

Let's remember, this isn't Green Bay, it's Tennessee. Receivers were running free all night long. I know Trufant is out and Alford didn't play much but their tight ends caught 9 passes for 114 yds. against mainly linebacker coverage. Tennesee won almost every stat. The ZBS is going to take awhile to gel because last night they were god awful at run blocking the outside zone. Tennessee had the perfect cryptonite for the ZBS all night long....back side penetration. Falcons tackles and tight ends never stopped it. The league has limited the ability to cut block the back side in this scheme and I'm not sure how much that played into it but the back side DE single handedly destroyed the ZBS run last night. The only thing Shanahan could do to try to slow them down was the naked boot. That back side must get blocked or there will be no running game period.

All that said, I saw a lot of the same individual improvements everyone else did and watching the replay in depth I think Starr, Maponga and Durant will make very big contributions to this defense this year. Team wise, there's a long way to go folks.

Edited August 15, 2015 by slider

[Willy Mo]

You're right. I guess those third and fourth stringers just weren't up to the task.

[slider]

You're right. I guess those third and fourth stringers just weren't up to the task.

They were playing against third and fourth stringers also. As far as the run game is concerned, it was non existent with the 1's in there. It wasn't the RB at fault, there was no coordination on that O'line.

Edited August 15, 2015 by slider

[DurtyBurdz155]

You're right. I guess those third and fourth stringers just weren't up to the task.

Yup. Lets also remember that Tru was out. If we stay healthy, I feel like this Defense will be fine.

[slider]

Yup. Lets also remember that Tru was out. If we stay healthy, I feel like this Defense will be fine.

I'm not saying the defense won't eventually play well, I just didn't see it last night. They hustled well and played fast but not very well.

[Oldskooler]

They were playing against third and fourth stringers also. As far as the run game is concerned, it was non existent with the 1's in there. It wasn't the RB at fault, there was no coordination on that O'line.

QFMFT

[papachaz]

first preseason game, dangit you mean they weren't perfect in every aspect of the game?

I will give you this though, I've said it for the last few years. Preseason is all about seeing what we have at backup, and yeah, our backups for the most part lost to their backups. Something we've seen become a predominant theme the last few years.......I DO however, expect us to actually make improvements when this staff says 'we need to improve on _____________'

[kiwifalcon]

It's amazing what a couple of splash plays can do to change fans perceptions of a teams performance! I realize this was a vanilla defense with no game planning but outside of the two picks, the Titans only had 2 incompletions in 27 pass attempts.

Mettenberger: 8/11 129yds. 1TD 1INT

Mariotta: 7/8 94yds. 0TD 1INT

Whitehurst: 5/5 39yds. 0TD 0INT

Tanney: 3/3 38yds. 0TD 0INT

Let's remember, this isn't Green Bay, it's Tennessee. Receivers were running free all night long. I know Trufant is out and Alford didn't play much but their tight ends caught 9 passes for 114 yds. against mainly linebacker coverage. Tennesee won almost every stat. The ZBS is going to take awhile to gel because last night they were god awful at run blocking the outside zone. Tennessee had the perfect cryptonite for the ZBS all night long....back side penetration. Falcons tackles and tight ends never stopped it. The league has limited the ability to cut block the back side in this scheme and I'm not sure how much that played into it but the back side DE single handedly destroyed the ZBS run last night. The only thing Shanahan could do to try to slow them down was the naked boot. That back side must get blocked or there will be no running game period.

All that said, I saw a lot of the same individual improvements everyone else did and watching the replay in depth I think Starr, Maponga and Durant will make very big contributions to this defense this year. Team wise, there's a long way to go folks.

I see 2 TOers in those stats thats pretty much enough to win the game.

The defense blew Mariota off the park man by the time he hit the road it was 17-0.

**** we even had our best pass defender riding the pine lol.

[Bring It]

Yup. Lets also remember that Tru was out. If we stay healthy, I feel like this Defense will be fine.

First string D looks NFL quality.

2nd thru 4th string......Gwinnett High School.

Zero depth.

[Tuggle'2]

Sigh...

Absolutely zero game planning and once the 3rds get in the play calling basically stops too. Coaches pretty much tell the wide eyed star struck rookies to go out, bust some heads, and stop the offense. It's preseason game one people...

Where did this link come from?

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:38753BB611E7DE1B18A7C62B27143D98495DD2E2&dn=nfl+2015+ps+week1+14+aug+ten+titans+v+atl+falcons+540p+reborn4hd&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.publicbt.com%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337

[slider]

I see 2 TOers in those stats thats pretty much enough to win the game.

The defense blew Mariota off the park man by the time he hit the road it was 17-0.

**** we even had our best pass defender riding the pine lol.

I give you that on the turnovers, that's just how it happened last night against a rookie QB. I was looking for team coordination on defense and O'line. I saw plenty that concerns me at this point. Can you win when the turnovers don't come against an Aaron Rodgers or a Peyton Manning? The team I saw last night would've been decimated against a prolific passing attack.

[FentayeJones]

Pre season stat lines can be very deceiving IMO.

Mariota did not play well at all against the starting defense. He found his rhythm when Quinn called off the dogs and put the 2-3 string in.

Mettenberger is better than the starter on at least 5 teams in in the NFL so there really is no point in getting alarmed that he played well against two players playing their first ever snaps at corner in the NFL (South and Collins).

By the time Whitehurst and Tanny came in, it was mostly low round and UDFAs playing- we were in full evaluation mode by then.

Bottom line – the defensive players who will play the majority of the snaps in the regular season played extremely well.

Edited August 15, 2015 by FentayeJones

[slider]

Sigh...

Absolutely zero game planning and once the 3rds get in the play calling basically stops too. Coaches pretty much tell the wide eyed star struck rookies to go out, bust some heads, and stop the offense. It's preseason game one people...

Where did this link come from?

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:38753BB611E7DE1B18A7C62B27143D98495DD2E2&dn=nfl+2015+ps+week1+14+aug+ten+titans+v+atl+falcons+540p+reborn4hd&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.publicbt.com%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337

Sorry, I originally cut and pasted some stats from that page and it didn't keep the formatting so I removed it. Here's the actual link to the page though.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2015081451/2015/PRE1/titans@falcons#menu=gameinfo|contentId%3A0ap3000000510065&tab=analyze

[kiwifalcon]

I give you that on the turnovers, that's just how it happened last night against a rookie QB. I was looking for team coordination on defense and O'line. I saw plenty that concerns me at this point. Can you win when the turnovers don't come against an Aaron Rodgers or a Peyton Manning? The team I saw last night would've been decimated against a prolific passing attack.

I disagree.

The attacking mindset of this defense especially the 1s is off the planet.Have a look at the D-line its like a tide its not holding playing that peek a boo crap they head north and get in the backfield.

The team I saw last night the 1s is going to look great the more and more time they get.Is there stuff that needs to be tweaked yes there is but there far from getting decimated by anyone.I look at our top line up now and after watching them in the opening series last night it actually put a smile on my face again.

Tell you what get on and enjoy the ride its going to be a good seaon.

[ATLFalcons11]

There's a different approach that you take towards preseason than you do the regular season.

The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th stringers will never play together in the regular season. So when watching preseason then UNIT you're most concerned about is the 1st string.

When it gets beyond that then you are looking at individual performance for the most part.

Because those individuals will be joined with the 1st stringers.

With that being said, I watched the game twice and the first half 3 times. The run game wasn't as bad as it seems, but it can be much better.

Awaiting the return of the starters, Freeman and Coleman to judge fully.

[toadfishtom]

Overreaction

[gHost83]

Did you actually watch the game is the question. Stats don't tell the story accurately...

[Bawse]

[FalconJim]

It's amazing what a couple of splash plays can do to change fans perceptions of a teams performance! I realize this was a vanilla defense with no game planning but outside of the two picks, the Titans only had 2 incompletions in 27 pass attempts.

Mettenberger: 8/11 129yds. 1TD 1INT

Mariotta: 7/8 94yds. 0TD 1INT

Whitehurst: 5/5 39yds. 0TD 0INT

Tanney: 3/3 38yds. 0TD 0INT

Let's remember, this isn't Green Bay, it's Tennessee. Receivers were running free all night long. I know Trufant is out and Alford didn't play much but their tight ends caught 9 passes for 114 yds. against mainly linebacker coverage. Tennesee won almost every stat. The ZBS is going to take awhile to gel because last night they were god awful at run blocking the outside zone. Tennessee had the perfect cryptonite for the ZBS all night long....back side penetration. Falcons tackles and tight ends never stopped it. The league has limited the ability to cut block the back side in this scheme and I'm not sure how much that played into it but the back side DE single handedly destroyed the ZBS run last night. The only thing Shanahan could do to try to slow them down was the naked boot. That back side must get blocked or there will be no running game period.

All that said, I saw a lot of the same individual improvements everyone else did and watching the replay in depth I think Starr, Maponga and Durant will make very big contributions to this defense this year. Team wise, there's a long way to go folks.

No doubt, the running game wasn't up to par, with Coleman and Freeman out, and Smith only playing a half --- but, I think we'll be fine once those guys come back.

I thought our pass rush was pretty good early on, with Beasley and Claiborne teaming up to disrupt their backfield quite a few times. Plus we had a few sacks, too. I just want to see more out of Grady Jarrett, and especially Hageman --- he needs to step it up, and show us why we drafted him so high!

[slider]

There's a different approach that you take towards preseason than you do the regular season.

The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th stringers will never play together in the regular season. So when watching preseason then UNIT you're most concerned about is the 1st string.

When it gets beyond that then you are looking at individual performance for the most part.

Because those individuals will be joined with the 1st stringers.

With that being said, I watched the game twice and the first half 3 times. The run game wasn't as bad as it seems, but it can be much better.

Awaiting the return of the starters, Freeman and Coleman to judge fully.

I'm fully aware of all of those things. I like the play of the 1's as far as the effort and intensity is concerned but even on the strip recovery for a TD, look at the open receivers running free in the backfield. It was pitch and catch for the Titans last night. Would've been an easy completion on that Worrilow TD play had the strip not occurred, Good thing it did. Look, I'm not trying to kick anyones dog here. I'm just throwing out some observations that appear to have been overlooked or dismissed by many. I'm just evaluating what occurred not provide excuses for it. I believe this defense will do great things this year eventually, barring injury, I just don't think they played well last night.

[slider]

Did you actually watch the game is the question. Stats don't tell the story accurately...

I watched the game several times. I have a hard time watching the games from a purely fan perspective due to the fact that I've coached the game for 30 years. The preseason is for correcting and improving and I'm confident that this staff will get these guys where they need to be but I feel from most of the comments that most people think that it was a good performance last night so I felt the need to opine.

[Atlfanstckndenver]

I don't know how much people understand that having Trufant in the game with our scheme is going to make an enormous difference as far as freeing up other defenders to help with matchup problems, covering the middle of the field, and overall, making the rest of the defense's job easier. It's the same effect Sherman has on the Seattle defense. This is one of the reasons Atlanta was able to effectively move the ball against Sea in the playoffs a few years ago. We came out and made it clear that we WOULD go to Sherman's side of the field, doing this effectively changed the entire dynamic of how they had to play defense through the game.

With Tru, our defensive game plans are going to be aided by the fact that we can count on a third of the field for the most part being shut down. At a minimum teams will hesitate to use that side.

[delaigle]

I think you maybe underrating Mettenberger a little --He is a very good QB

always has been

[jdawg4876]

oh can I play this game

matt ryan 6/6

tj yates 7/15

sean renfree 6/7

I guess the titans cant stop anybody either lol, its pre season you look at individual performance but if it makes you feel better I agree, their 4th stringers are better than ours, but I want to pt out when marcus made all those great plays he was going against our 2nd team defense not our first.

[slider]

oh can I play this game

matt ryan 6/6

tj yates 7/15

sean renfree 6/7

I guess the titans cant stop anybody either lol, its pre season you look at individual performance but if it makes you feel better I agree, their 4th stringers are better than ours, but I want to pt out when marcus made all those great plays he was going against our 2nd team defense not our first.

I agree with this sentiment as it pertains to how the individual plays within the scheme but a team game has to be evaluated for the team performance. I felt the overall team performance for the defense was disappointing. I can point to the play of the D-line as being way better than last year and the LB play as it relates to the run fits as being way better than last year and I can pick out individuals who stood out but it wasn't a very good team performance on defense in my opinion and I think the coaching staff would agree with that sentiment.