ESPN article and ranking. Bad defense

Lazy work. We didn’t make any big splash defensive free agent signings, which is all national sports writers ever seem to pay attention to. But the Devil is in the details:

Interior Dline: this group was bottom of the barrel last year, and injured as well. We had several guys starting games who didn’t make this year’s roster. We signed three DL, two of whom will be new starters and upgrades, and we spent a first round pick on another.

OLB: this group takes a hit with the injury to BJO, but we did draft a potential steal in X.

ILB: Our main starter is healthy and we added another starter upgrade beside him

CB: We have a healthy rookie we drafted last year who could have been a 1st rounder had he not been injured in Garrett Williams, we drafted Melton in the early 2nd, and we grabbed a new starter in FA.

S: as mentioned already strong and we added a new Budda type safety in the draft.

The defense is better at starter. It’s not deep though, and it’s young. Lots of work to do but I see six new starters that are upgrades out of 11.

It wasn’t turnovers, it was an awful Dline, awful OLB, and awful CB play. Those rankings show we could not stop the run or pass and couldn’t get to the opposing QB. The Dline and Oline need to work together to force the QB into making bad decisions and throw the ball early without going through progressions. They also need to contain the run. The CB coverage needs to give the pass rushers time to get to the QB. Each small upgrade in position group improves the other groups. We didn’t do anything huge to address a single position, but if we upgraded 6 of 11 defensive starters and 4 of 5 position groups like I feel we did, the total improvement could be pretty decent.

A comment about the Card defense in 2024: I was a bit tempted to start its own thread and with this one on the board this is a good place for my comment.

Leverage.

I love the game of football and leverage on many levels is the key. The leverage I want to highlight is on defensive coverage.

One of the best college defenses I have witnessed is that of NDSU although a FCS team they are a lion killer when playing FBS teams. Last week they lost to Colorado...the Buffalos beat the Bison. The Bison are great at outside leverage with the outside CBs and keep a safety high to avoid or limit the big play. Every opponent earns every yard, but it starts with leverage.

The outside CBs always force the outside WR to the inside where they have help and do not allow the CB to be beaten on the outside. The CB often lines up on the outside shoulder of the WR and the inside shoulder is upfield...they show what they are doing and challenge the offense to break their structure.

Most defenses attempt to funnel offenses to the middle but get that structure beat by better offenses. Also, a need to understand the front of a play, the backside, and how to use proper leverage in funneling plays to help in the defense.

Many may have watched enough college ball to understand how bad USC's defense has been recently. No surprise, they hired NDSU's HC to be their LBs coach and his defensive understanding is being seen by the performance of the USC defense to start the year. They held LSU to 20 points and secured a victory, over a tough SEC team. It wasn't the quality of the athletes as much as the quality, understanding, and use of proper leverage.

Rallis and JG are good at teaching proper leverage and this ability will also lead to an improved defense in 2024. The Cards are very young on defense outside the safety position. Watch how the Card CBs line up on the outside WRs...see if you can pick up on the Cards funneling of the outside WRs to the middle or are they giving up sideline routes?

Thanks. That interview is already posted on YT for fan viewing. I enjoy JG's optimism, energy, intelligence, and creativity. He wants a fast, violent, and smart defense. I think he's got what he wanted.

The ESPN analyst basically copied comments made the prior two years during team turmoil. His forecast for the 2024 Defense is lazy math. 26.05882352941176 points average per game across a 17-game season? That's an improvement over his last forecast, 26.60000000000000.

The nice part of this article are the player and Rallis videos.

Rallis spent his off-season getting to know the first eight opponents. He wanted know, know the play callers and his opponents. The coaches continue to ask the players...do you know, know your position. The emphasis on deep understanding for each individual on the team will help the Cards play better and faster.

A couple positive take away's from Roy Lopez: He loves FB, his father is a coach and his family loves FB and the Card coaching staff and how they coach have inspired him to be a coach eventually, he appreciates the coaches love of FB as well as how they coach.

There is a building understanding of the quality of the FO and staff, also the players on board and why they enjoy the current state of the franchise. They are hungry dawgs who are ready to shock the league. When you get insight on the many levels of improvements and player buy in the evidence of the process is on track to have success looks bright.

The wins are not there yet, but the paving of the road to success is in full effect. There are going to be more growing pains and it is hard to project actual wins and losses, but personally I see all the right changes being made...even more than I would expect.

Thanks EZ...