08-22-2019, 07:50 AM
(08-21-2019, 05:40 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Man I jumped on the defense should be great last year anchored by our great DL.
I so hope I was just a year off, but I do like the addition of Wynn, Lawson back from injury and bigger and Willis progressing. We were best when we had a 8 man DL to rotate the 1st 3 quarters so Geno and Dunlap were fresh in quarter #4 and the other team's OL was not fresh.
I did the same thing...a lot of us did. And Hubbard turned out to be a real find. Austin turned out to be a real dud. After a couple weeks of adjusting to the new "scheme" after his departure, the defense did ok. They averaged about 20 points a game, and that would be solid. They did that without Lawson, Glasgow, and others.
What has me most excited about this year's defense is the possibility of a bit more aggressiveness. More blitzing. We haven't seen it yet in the preseason (maybe tonight? Since I think Lawson will play?) but one thing that I have always been frustrated with was our lack of an answer to maximum protection packages. Tell me if this sounds familiar:
Bengals rush four, play patty-cake, six blockers hold them down easily, QB pats ball, patty-cake continues, QB pats ball, secondary getting tired, QB checks down to a RB or TE for an easy 10 yards.
Well, Anarumo has been working on a 5-man defensive front line with 2 LBs:
Dunlap-Atkins-Billings-Hubbard-Lawson
I want to see that line. I want to see what it can do to create pressure and, hopefully, create turnovers.