Statement from Mike Brown (Zac is back)

[*ochocincos*]

(01-04-2021, 12:40 PM)wildcatnku24 Wrote: I'm anxiously awaiting Anarumo's fate.  And I'm personally split down the middle on what I want to happen.  

On one hand, obviously our defense has struggled.  We get no pressure, and our (backup) secondary pays for it.  If it were all about results with no context, Anarumo leaves immediately.  But on the other hand, he was given some nice tools last offseason that he didn't get to use.  He's been handcuffed seemingly all season for one reason or another.  

The Bengals might give the injury excuse for Anarumo's defense, but I'm not sold on that.
Reader is not a pass rusher. He only had 12 total pressures all last year in HOU. 7 pressures the year before.
Atkins hasn't been the same under Anarumo either. If we basically consider this year as not playing since he was injured but still played very limited snaps, let's look at last year, in which he was mostly healthy. Only 20 total pressures, 4.5 sacks in 2019.
So I think the pass rush would have still been bad even with Reader and fully healthy Atkins.
The LBs were rather decent in pass coverage this year, but they were all terrible against the run.
DBs were about the only saving grace to the defense. But when WJ3 was out, it was noticeable.