Falcons: Simply put...

[The Don™]

(10-03-2011 03:20 PM)Radical Wrote:  What you're seeing is the result of having a young defense, with new players, in a mostly zone type scheme, with no off-season to work with.

Zone schemes work, they do, and anyone who says they don't are talking out their ass. The crux though is that they require cohesiveness and harmony from the coverage unit. One player needs to know when to let someone go and the other guy needs to know when to pick a guy up. It's very clear to me right now that not everyone is where they need to be. This is why the Patriots have given up more passing yards than anyone in the league, because they run a very complex zone scheme that requires smart and instinctive football players.

Looking at the higher ranked pass defense teams, most of them are either man coverage type defenses(Jets, Bengals) or they're defenses are loaded with experienced players(Steelers, Ravens).

Well, it's not exactly working as evidenced by Tavaris Jackson having a career day on us.....We make bad QBs look good too many times..BVG and Smith have been trying to make their scheme work for four years now...Either their zone schemes aren't great and/or our players aren't very smart and instinctive...Our struggles have mainly come from the pass defense..Our run defense has improved so I will give them that...But sometimes, its more effective to simplify the defense, especially for a young defense, and a defense that hasn't been good in the passing department...Just let them go out there and play w/o instilling so many complex schemes and having them think more than rather just playing out there