Delaqure wrote:I think you're spot on here. Combine those factors with a poor defensive scheme and you have a recipe for disaster. I also think Frazier and company really struggled in being able to coach up struggling players. Had injuries not so decimated our defense we wouldn't have been so bad for sure. Should we get hit with the injury bug this year again it will be interesting to see how the defense plays and how Zimmer is able to adjust. Although I hope that doesn't happen.
I hope it doesn't happen either.
I think there's a cumulative effect that occurs when you get too many players on the field at once that are lacking in one way or another (talent, experience, speed, athleticism, whatever). When that happens, I don't think there's a scheme that can save a team. If they're overmatched, they're simply going to lose more often than they're going to win.
To put it another way, it's one thing to coach up a struggling player when he can be placed in the context of a defense that isn't full of them. When there's a bunch of them struggling... it adds up and I don't think coaching can overcome that. On top of that, once you run into personnel issues, it starts to create limitations on what you can execute effectively. I don't think Frazier's defensive scheme was inherently poor but it may have been a poor match for the roster he had last season. Then again, I really don't know what scheme would have worked.
Personally, I think what we've seen happen with the defensive personnel this offseason has served to emphasize just where the Vikes were lacking last season. They immediately went out and addressed their need for a stronger inside presence on the line, their need for a better talent at the CB position and the need for more speed and athleticism in the LB corps. Areas they didn't address with significant talent upgrades in the draft or free agency, like MLB and the other safety position, are still left with a degree of uncertainty regarding who will start, even with the season just over a week away. In other words, I think Zimmer recognized and either addressed or is now forced to deal with the same inadequacies on the defensive depth chart that sunk Frazier. That's why we're going to see as many as 8 new starters on that side of the ball and why we're likely to see defense be an area of emphasis again next offseason.
Sorry to be longwinded. That's just my take.
. I'm more surprised about the 2008-2010 range for the defense. That has to be because of our stellar run defense during that period because I can't remember the last time our pass defense was even average. It seems like we've been playing prevent for the past decade.