The defense was at it's best several years back when they had 8 good players on the defensive line that could rotate in and go 100% and then rotate out. Then we lost some guys in free agency and lost that.

Well the depth is back and guys like Willis and Lawson should improve the pass rush greatly.

We should be able to wear offensive lines down through the course of a game which is exciting!

I see people wanting to waive MJ...but he has played A LOT of snaps the past couple years thus reducing his effectiveness. He will be a big beneficiary of having Willis to spell him.

Thoughts?

(08-28-2017, 09:59 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The defense was at it's best several years back when they had 8 good players on the defensive line that could rotate in and go 100% and then rotate out. Then we lost some guys in free agency and lost that.

Well the depth is back and guys like Willis and Lawson should improve the pass rush greatly.

We should be able to wear offensive lines down through the course of a game which is exciting!

I see people wanting to waive MJ...but he has played A LOT of snaps the past couple years thus reducing his effectiveness. He will be a big beneficiary of having Willis to spell him.

Thoughts?

I agree 100%, our DL held leads in the 4th quarter because they were fresh and the OL for the other team was not. Now if we can just get 4th quarter leads.  

I thought MJ has looked his best this preseason when he's rushing from the inside.

(08-28-2017, 10:15 AM)Yojimbo Wrote: I thought MJ has looked his best this preseason when he's rushing from the inside.

Agreed. He's a big guy and quick for his size. For a DE...it's been pointed out how the smaller guys generally get the most sacks...but from inside he's extremely quick for a DT.

(08-28-2017, 10:19 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Agreed. He's a big guy and quick for his size. For a DE...it's been pointed out how the smaller guys generally get the most sacks...but from inside he's extremely quick for a DT.

I'd be fine with MJ used as nickel DT.

The formations PG was using was awesome. The Gillbery/Smith twist was actually in a 34 defense lol.

I can state how happy I am we have depth on the d-line again.

It's going to help a lot imo. Maybe we can start swarming QBs like we used to when we had Rodgers and Brady running for their lives all over PBS a few years ago.

(08-28-2017, 11:21 AM)Synric Wrote: The formations PG was using was awesome. The Gillbery/Smith twist was actually in a 34 defense lol.

We can go 3-4 now that we have Lawson. We never really had guys out there that could pass rush before from the OLB spot.

The funny thing is that Marvin Lewis wanted Manny Lawson years ago during the draft to switch to a 3-4. It was really Carl Lawson who enabled this.

(08-28-2017, 09:59 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The defense was at it's best several years back when they had 8 good players on the defensive line that could rotate in and go 100% and then rotate out. Then we lost some guys in free agency and lost that.

Well the depth is back and guys like Willis and Lawson should improve the pass rush greatly.

We should be able to wear offensive lines down through the course of a game which is exciting!

I see people wanting to waive MJ...but he has played A LOT of snaps the past couple years thus reducing his effectiveness. He will be a big beneficiary of having Willis to spell him.

Thoughts?

Agreed. I watched MJ dropping in coverage last year and a few times already this year in preseason. He's not a cover guy! I like the fact they slid him inside. He was more effective there yesterday and even got a sack and some pressure.

(08-28-2017, 09:59 AM),THE PISTONS Wrote: The defense was at it's best several years back when they had 8 good players on the defensive line that could rotate in and go 100% and then rotate out. Then we lost some guys in free agency and lost that.

Well the depth is back and guys like Willis and Lawson should improve the pass rush greatly.

We should be able to wear offensive lines down through the course of a game which is exciting!

I see people wanting to waive MJ...but he has played A LOT of snaps the past couple years thus reducing his effectiveness. He will be a big beneficiary of having Willis to spell him.

Thoughts?

We did draft guys to replace those departing players, only we whiffed on too many of them. Still and Hunt never developed, Thompson missed a lot of games with injuries and Clarke has taken years to develop and is in the final year of his rookie deal. It is good to see that the team decided to make some decent moves.

(08-28-2017, 01:43 PM)sandwedge Wrote: Agreed. I watched MJ dropping in coverage last year and a few times already this year in preseason. He's not a cover guy! I like the fact they slid him inside. He was more effective there yesterday and even got a sack and some pressure.

It's always comical when the Bengals run the zone schemes where they drop a big lineman into coverage. IF they had smaller ends it might work better...but not some 280 lb guy!

(08-28-2017, 02:00 PM)BengalChris Wrote: We did draft guys to replace those departing players, only we whiffed on too many of them. Still and Hunt never developed, Thompson missed a lot of games with injuries and Clarke has taken years to develop and is in the final year of his rookie deal. It is good to see that the team decided to make some decent moves.

I remember Still was projected to be a 1st Round pick. That sure flopped.

I never liked the Hunt pick. I thought he was too old to justify a 2nd Round pick.

Thompson was decent here.

Am I the only one that saw that Gilberry actually got the sack that Smith got credit for?

(08-28-2017, 09:59 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The defense was at it's best several years back when they had 8 good players on the defensive line that could rotate in and go 100% and then rotate out. Then we lost some guys in free agency and lost that.

Well the depth is back and guys like Willis and Lawson should improve the pass rush greatly.

We should be able to wear offensive lines down through the course of a game which is exciting!

I see people wanting to waive MJ...but he has played A LOT of snaps the past couple years thus reducing his effectiveness. He will be a big beneficiary of having Willis to spell him.

Thoughts?

Nice post, this could be better than that record year even. Willis, Lawson, Chris Smith and Dunlap are better pass rushers
than we had back then in that rotation in my opinion. We had Dunlap of course and Geno but they should be even better
as these guys improve. Watch out when Billings comes around as well.

Billings has been disappointing so far but he is essentially a rookie and coming off injury, he will get much better.

Also, i was one that was talking some shit on MJ but he played much better last game and in a rotation he could still be
decent as you say with less snaps not wearing him down.

(08-28-2017, 05:15 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Am I the only one that saw that Gilberry actually got the sack that Smith got credit for?

Nope, i saw the same thing, Gilberry was there first.

But CS would of gotten him if Wally didn't. Nice stunt.

(08-28-2017, 05:15 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Am I the only one that saw that Gilberry actually got the sack that Smith got credit for?

Yea I thought 95 got the sack, but then heard them say Chris Smith.
Double-checked the jersey numbers to ensure Gilberry was still 95.