Pre-season defenses (1 Viewer)

[Lord Lucan]

I know we mostly see vanilla stuff from defenses in pre-season, but sometimes the efforts of the front seven, in particular, can give you some idea of which defenses have gone forwards (or backwards) since the previous year. I seem to remember, for instance, Chicago proving impossible to run on in pre-season a couple of years ago prior to a breakthrough season for their D.

It's tough to tell from the box scores and I have only been able to see a couple of pre-season games (see my avatar), so anyone care to shed light on which first-string Ds have looked good so far?

 

[Anthony Borbely]

The Lions pass defense has been terrible from the start, and I think they have the worst set of CB's in the league by far.

 

[VICK-tory]

from draft sharks >

http://draftsharks.fanengine.com/content.php/news/list

Broncos defense leaking?

The Denver Post reports the 1st-string Broncos defense allowed 41 points through 4 preseason quarters of work. As a whole, the defense has allowed 22 third-down conversions in 45 attempts. The season-ending injury to DE Ebenezer Ekuban might be a bigger issue than we thought. We dropped their ranking 5 spots from #5 to #11...

Posted on Aug 27, 2007 - 12:38 PM

 

[pfine1165]

The Redskins defense has looked incredible...they've been flying around the ball and look like they back to their form 2 years ago.

 

[bocksheesh]

Minnesota Vikings DEF has looked very good.

 

[PatytonsGhost]

This is coming from watching the Jags D vs the Pack so FWIW I saw Lots of pressure on Farve up front, huge hits on receivers and a focus on stripping the ball. Jags D looked quick and ready

 

[dgreen]

The Redskins defense has looked incredible...they've been flying around the ball and look like they back to their form 2 years ago.

Agreed. They are a much faster D now. They aren't missing nearly as many tackles as last year. Still not getting sacks and turnovers, though.

 

[dparker713]

The Giants defense has actually looked pretty good on the whole, even without strahan

 

[LawFitz]

Raiders D has looked really good so far. Sands is a mountain. If he holds up against the run, this defense will be elite. The rest of the DLine is stacked with studly pass rushers. The back seven is talented, deep and FAST. Donovan Darius and BJ Ward add an element of intimidation from the safety position, which they lacked last year.

The wolverine nickel, in which Michael Huff moves to nickel back/rover and Darius comes in at SS will be a nice weapon for Rob Ryan.

But as important as the improvement to the actual defense is the progression by the offense. They look at least competent and that will add a lot to the team defensive stats.

The ability to stop the run (Sands/Warren(?)) and decent offensive play will be the keys needed to improve this defense from good to great. So far against the other 1st teams, both these facets have held up strong.

 

[Jagerbomber]

For such a trendy pre-season pick the Cowboys D hasn't looked all that great to me. They haven't looked bad but definitely nothing special, that I can see.

I still drafted the Broncos as my #1 because I really didn't get a shot at any of the elite DST units but I'm definitely concerned.

 

[merchant]

I think the Cowboys secondary hasn't shown much to feel great about, but also haven't hurt themselves. They've looked pretty strong on the line and with their blitzes though, more so than most of the 1st strings I've seen this preseason.

I also made my choice last week that I was going to draft skill positions and hold off until really late and target the Vikings D, as they've seemingly backed up enough of their potential so far. I drafted them late in the draft yesterday and am hoping they can keep it up and be exciting with some TOs.

 

[PatsFanCT]

Minnesota Vikings DEF has looked very good.

Ditto. This is the D I am looking to get this year. I'll pass on Chicago and Baltimore and take Minnesota a round or two later.

 

[simey]

This is coming from watching the Jags D vs the Pack so FWIW I saw Lots of pressure on Farve up front, huge hits on receivers and a focus on stripping the ball. Jags D looked quick and ready

I thought the Packers D looked good in this game.

 

[LawFitz]

This is coming from watching the Jags D vs the Pack so FWIW I saw Lots of pressure on Farve up front, huge hits on receivers and a focus on stripping the ball. Jags D looked quick and ready

I thought the Packers D looked good in this game.

Agreed. Nick Barnett looked like an animal in that game. Pack D looks much better than it has in a long time.

 

[One]

THE RAAAAIIIIDEEEAAAASSS!

 

[Crash and Walk Away]

Any inside information on the Dolphins Def? Given their overall SOS, with the only downside being their playoff match-ups, they seem worth considering.

 

[Mystery Achiever]

Any inside information on the Dolphins Def? Given their overall SOS, with the only downside being their playoff match-ups, they seem worth considering.

Not inside info, but the Porter situation looks good:Aug 27 Armando Salguero, of the Miami Herald, reports Miami Dolphins LB Joey Porter (knee) participated in practice Monday, Aug. 27. Recommendation: Porter said his goal remains to play in the Dolphins' Sept. 9 regular-season opener at WashingtonI'm in three leagues this year and in each was able to draft Dolphins or Denver backed up by Green Bay or Minn (they've been harder to get late enough for me)

 

[djcolts]

Colts D has looked significantly better than last (regular) season's defense. I expect a much better run D (I think a half/yard per carry improvement is very likely), but more passing yards will be given up because it won't be as easy to run on the Colts.

 

[Evilgrin 72]

Steelers have looked terrific. To wit, here are their drive results vs. opponents' 1st team offenses :

15 possesions, 10 points.

1 TD drive

1 FG drive (short drive off a turnover)

13 punts (6 3-and-outs)

 

[Crash and Walk Away]

Any inside information on the Dolphins Def? Given their overall SOS, with the only downside being their playoff match-ups, they seem worth considering.

Not inside info, but the Porter situation looks good:Aug 27 Armando Salguero, of the Miami Herald, reports Miami Dolphins LB Joey Porter (knee) participated in practice Monday, Aug. 27. Recommendation: Porter said his goal remains to play in the Dolphins' Sept. 9 regular-season opener at WashingtonI'm in three leagues this year and in each was able to draft Dolphins or Denver backed up by Green Bay or Minn (they've been harder to get late enough for me)

I was thinking about backing them up with Cincy, given their match-ups with Miami's tough weeks (2,7,9,15, 16) and their ADP availability.

 

[reg]

Minnesota Vikings DEF has looked very good.

I disagree, the pass D looks the same as last year. That might change, but at this point the run D looks stout, pass D = sieve again.

 

[Gr00vus]

The Chargers' secondary has looked pretty poor. Lots of blown coverage and plenty of just plain getting beat even when they've maintained coverage.

 

[Lord Lucan]

This is all good stuff, keep it coming.