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San Francisco GiantsI could care less what YOU think.Originally Posted by bipster
I care what those in charge of newspapers and other places think.
You know, people who actually "get it."
Yawn.
I could care less what YOU think.
I care what those in charge of newspapers and other places think.
You know, people who actually "get it."
Yawn.
The Simpson family gathers around, as Homer places Bart's passed test on the fridge.)
Homer: We're proud of you, boy.
Bart: Thanks, Dad. But part of this D-minus belongs to God.
Interesting point you bring up here. I guess using this philosophy, you would then also have to say that someone like Tony Dungy has no clue about coaching defense. I'm not quite sure how you can totally discredit any previous coaching job. I'm sure you know that since 1992 Lewis has coached in Pittsburgh, and Baltimore, and Washington. All along the way, he was part of top 10 defensive teams. He built his defensive reputation and was endorsed by your Mr Cowher and Mr Billick as being one of the top defensive minds in football during that time. Now, when it comes to me trying to decide if he can coach defensively......should I believe well respected football individuals that are intimately involved with the game on a day to day basis, or someone that likely never saw the football field since PeeWee days. I certainly respect your opinion, I just choose to disagree with your statement.
Takeaways involve some luck quite often.
Look at the defense in general. They almost always get dismantled by teams with good offenses (ie most playoff teams).
I'm enamored with the Steelers because they have a good history and because they won the Super Bowl last year, while the Bengals made it for the first (and maybe the last?) time under Lewis and lost in the first round to that very Steelers team.
And when you see how much better the Ravens defense was in Baltimore under Lewis than it consistently is now, you have to think that Brian Billick was the genius behind that defense.
He has another impressive looking defense this year, in fact.
The Simpson family gathers around, as Homer places Bart's passed test on the fridge.)
Homer: We're proud of you, boy.
Bart: Thanks, Dad. But part of this D-minus belongs to God.
Wow, with kindergartner statements like this. I'm sure you'll be quite successful writing for a local town newspaper (population 2,000)
I look at facts.
The defense has been poor under Lewis since he took over and shows very few signs of getting better.
It is the same thing over and over and over. They just aren't very good and one of their better players (Justin Smith) will be gone next year.
Those other coaches probably endorsed Lewis because they like him personally.
Do you really think Cowher would NOT endorse him? It's not like he would want to face a guy he was convinced would beat him every year.
Him endorsing him doesn't show very much at all.
The Simpson family gathers around, as Homer places Bart's passed test on the fridge.)
Homer: We're proud of you, boy.
Bart: Thanks, Dad. But part of this D-minus belongs to God.
No more comments will be made from me to you.
Just block me.
Your are wasting the time of both of us.
The Simpson family gathers around, as Homer places Bart's passed test on the fridge.)
Homer: We're proud of you, boy.
Bart: Thanks, Dad. But part of this D-minus belongs to God.
Takeaways can also be created by the coaches doing their job in calling the right plays and having people in the right places.
Ummm, most teams get dismantled by good offenses, that's why they are good.
So you are saying that the defense in Baltimore was better when Lewis was coaching, although it is still quite good now????? Thanks for acknowledging the fact that maybe Lewis can coach defense
Baltimore already had a pretty good defense before Brian Billick took over. Art Modell hired Billick based on his performance as an offensive coordinator in Minnesota in hopes he would catch the Ravens offense up to their defense.
Nah, I'm not going to block you...I'm a little more grown up than that. It's just too bad that you can dish out criticism all over the place, but yet when you get a little back that you start the child-like tantrems of I'm taking my ball and going home.
For the record, In my discussions I am making perfectly valid points
It is almost laughable that I keep wasting my time talking to you, but OK.
"Takeaways" are Lewis' solution to his inability to coach a defense that can prevent points from being scored in any other fashion. What's scary is that the team had SO many takeaways last year (against a much easier schedule) and yet they STILL gave up TONS of points games. Imagine if they hadn't had those takeaways? The terrible defense would have become one of the worst ever pretty easily. It was already very bad.
I'm saying that I think the defense in Baltimore was good when Lewis was there not because of him but because Billick. The fact that their defense is still good now and the Bengals' shows NO signs of getting better makes me think the strong defense in Baltimore had more to do with Billick than anything and still does.
And I know all about why Billick was hired. The fact is, their franchise has been built around defense and they continue to get it done.
The Simpson family gathers around, as Homer places Bart's passed test on the fridge.)
Homer: We're proud of you, boy.
Bart: Thanks, Dad. But part of this D-minus belongs to God.
Well the fact that the Begals defensive rating in PPG allowed is 11th in the NFL certainly makes their overall defense look above average doesn't it? In my opinion the reason that the team is not looking as good is because Carson and the offense isn't playing quite as well as they did last year (down nearly 5 ppg). I can certainly understand that they might be, giving the fact that Carson got hurt and is still probably not 100%, not to mention the fact that they are playing a little tougher schedule than last year.
The schedule actually brings me to my next point, as you have already pointed out, the schedule was much easier last year. The Bengals actually gave up more points per game last year to the so called much easier schedule. They are allowing 3.6 point less per game against a much tougher schedule. Another sign that the defense is showing progress.
I think the defense is showing "progress" only because of some of the offenses they've faced: Chiefs? Browns? Those two offenses aren't very good. When they face even decent offenses, they don't do very well.
It just seems as though guys like Belichick are able to keep thier teams more consistent in all areas every year.
Look at what Lovie Smith has done for the Bears very quickly. I think he has been much more impressive than Lewis as a coach. I just don't see us even close to becoming the dominant factors some of those teams are.
I fear the Bengals' defense could get worse and worse with some of the teams coming up on the schedule.
And I frankly think they have been lucky to have not allowed more PPG than they have so far. They have caught a lot of breaks, IMO, just based on observation.
The Simpson family gathers around, as Homer places Bart's passed test on the fridge.)
Homer: We're proud of you, boy.
Bart: Thanks, Dad. But part of this D-minus belongs to God.
Valid points about the Browns, Chiefs and Lovie Smith. You probably should throw in Tampa Bay in that offense equation too. Let's take a little deeper look into Kansas City. While I too would say that Kansas City's offense is average on the whole, it is markedly different when they play at home. This season, for example, the Chiefs are 3-1 at home....their lone loss came to the Bengals. In their three wins at home they scored 41 (SF), 30 (SD), and 35 (Sea). Now granted, the 49ers are one of the worst defenses but SD is rated #1 YPG allowed and #4 PPG allowed, while Seattle is comparable stats wise to Cincinnati. Cincinnati only gave up 10 points to KC in their win......maybe, it was because it was the 1st game of the season.....but it has to count for something IMO. You could go even further in looking at Carolina. They were ranked 9th offensively last year. Since getting Steve Smith back after the 2nd game of the season they have been 4-1. In their 4 wins they have scored 22.5 points. Their 4 wins were over (Balt, NO, TB, Clev) never scoring less than 20 or more than 26. Pretty consistent no matter what team they faced. In their loss to Cincinnati they managed only 14 points. Another, pretty decent sign IMO
Yeah, Tampa should be on that list too.
The Chiefs are full of spaz though. It's hard to find anything clear about them.
The Simpson family gathers around, as Homer places Bart's passed test on the fridge.)
Homer: We're proud of you, boy.
Bart: Thanks, Dad. But part of this D-minus belongs to God.
Yeah, and the Steelers apparently are full of spaz too because they got beat by arguably the worst team in the league. Yeah, Cowher is such a genius.
Oh, and it doesn't hurt to have the likes of Ray Lewis, Chris McAllister, and Ed Reed playing for your defense either. I could coach those guys into a defensive juggernaut.
rf28
Raiders WERE the worst team in football before two games ago, now we are not Thank you very much.I think the Cards, Lions, Miami among others have shown to have less than the Raiders who at least can stop someone
HollywoodLeo: You and Kingdom always annoy me
"Oh, don't mind me, I'm rebuilding now" then you win at least 80 games
RIP S3SL Minnesota Twins.
RIP HSL Anaheim Angels
Rebuilding the Dodger Blues
Renewed Start back in the land of 10,000 lakes
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