re: Is anyone else scared of how bad we could be on D again?

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While I know lofton is a solid player (and maybe maybe cam jordan this season)

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You must be one of the assholes that argued with me about how good Jordan was last season.

ANYONE who thinks Jordan didn't have an outstanding season is one of those stupid people who think ONLY sacks make you a good DE. And he had 8 from the run defending DE spot. And he was by far our best defender against the run.

I'll go through each spot with you, but first I want to share with you our problems with Spags and why he was shite canned.

Last season Spags made two HUGE mistakes on the DLine. First he played Eliis far too much and he played Hicks and Bunkley far too little. Second was because he run defense was so unsound and we were getting gashed, Galette and Wilson barely saw the field.

Then there was the whole square peg in a round whole issue of playing almost strictly a zone scheme that none of our DBs outside of maybe IAQ was suited for.

And then there was all the injuries to the OLBs(sound familiar?) forcing guys like Shanle and Herring to start far too many games. Once Vilma and Hawthorne were healthy we looked 100x better there.

Spags' unwillingness to adapt his scheme in any way to better suit his players caused a huge rift and he lost them.

Bye bye captain frick face.

DE: Last year we had Jordan and Smith as the primary guys. This year Smith is gone and we have a legit 2 deep rotation with Jordan, Hicks, Foster, and Walker. 3 out of 4 of them were ranked in the top 5 of all 3-4 DEs by PFF.

NT: Bunkley is actually starting like he should have last year and has been solid. Spags played Tom Johnson far too much and he may not even make the 53 this year. And it looks like we got a 3rd round steal with Jenkins who I am very much enjoying eating my crow on.

ILB: We have a legit 2 deep rotation here also with Lofton, Vilma, Hawthorne finally being healthy, and Humber showing he is a play maker. Vilma's health is the only questionable issue and then we have 3 other guys who can start anyway.

OLB: Here is where there are questions due to injuries to all 4 of our top guys(two of which are lost for the year and two of which we should get back for week 1) and a former starter who has played well in preseason, just not with us. Richardson finally showed up last night, but the hope is Galette's and Wilson's natural talents can equal on the field success and that Haralson will pick up where he left off with the 9ers.

CB: Greer is still our best corner and still one of the most underrated players in the league. The only reason he has looked even remotely "bad" is he has been banged up 2 out of the last 3 seasons but he is fully healthy again. The rest of our corners are question marks, especially since the big signing of Lewis, who has looked good in practice but has looked average at best in the games, hasn't given us a legit number 2 yet. The hope is either him or Robinson step up but at the moment we may struggle here.

Safety: Harper has looked miles better going back to doing what he does best and Vaccaro is definitely a huge plus. Jenkins still seems to be a weak link and given our question marks at corner has me slightly concerned about everyone not named Harper, Vaccaro, or Greer.

So overall only 2 guys are playing the same positions as last year(Jenkins and Greer). With the scheme change everyone in the front 7 has new responsibilities(you can argue Lofton is still playing Mike but it's a little different in a 3-4).

Bunkley, Hicks(or Foster), Galette, Haralson(or Wilson), Hawthorne, Lewis, and Vaccaro are all now going to be playing HUGE parts when last year they weren't here or barely played. 3 of the guys that were starters were great players(Greer, Lofton, and Jordan). Harper is looking much better no longer playing zone.

The only starter from last year that looks like a liability is Jenkins and we have Vaccaro if he doesn't step it up.

In short, whole new scheme, new alignments, new philosophies, and a bunch of new faces and/or assignments. Only one bad piece remaining from last year.