Efense!

[Beerman]

Uhh...did you really just say that when we are down 2 starting olinemen, are without our #1 and #2 receivers and the RB who leads the team in carries is knocked out in the first half?

Yea...the O should be in shambles with the injuries they have sustained. The D, while also injury depleted, has underperformed.

[blahblahblah]

Liuget is turning it around, seems to get better every week. Maybe it really was just the injury. Reyes and Thomas are playing bad right now. Didn't expect much from Thomas. expected a lot more from Reyes.

[Bearded14YourPleasure]

Have you met Yubaking?

His posts always say the same thing. Something about being blocked.

[Beerman]

Liuget is turning it around, seems to get better every week. Maybe it really was just the injury. Reyes and Thomas are playing bad right now. Didn't expect much from Thomas. expected a lot more from Reyes.

Yea I thought he had his best game yet. Still looks a bit out of shape.

[Mister Hoarse]

Uhh...did you really just say that when we are down 2 starting olinemen, are without our #1 and #2 receivers and the RB who leads the team in carries is knocked out in the first half?

Yes I did. Because before the O was injury depleted they were loaded compared to our thin D who had as many if not more key injuries. And while the D has Weddle, they never had a Rivers or a Gates.

[Panama]

I think the very premise that launched this thread is flawed: "The personnel on defense stinks, so fire the coach." Does that really make sense to you? Do you think we have talented players and a shit coach (as we did in the glorious Dave Adolph days)? I suppose we could have both shit players and a shit coach, but I don't buy that the same guy who's been doing a pretty solid job for a couple of seasons has suddenly lost it. Sure, there have been some questionable calls, on both sides of the ball, but that's to be expected when you're trying to pull a rabbit out of your ass. The coaches are hamstrung by the overall level of talent. (And for all you offense apologists, the offense has better overall depth than the defense and has Rivers who, unlike Weddle on the other side, can dictate the game to the opponent.)

But to answer the question:

(1) I would move Gilchrist back to nickle back. He's hopeless at safety, but he's not so bad at nickle. He's definitely an upgrade over Patrick and Marshall at nickle.

(2) If Taylor is not ready yet, I would play Addae at safety until Taylor is ready. Perhaps this leaves us thin in the safety rotation, but then I think having a solid rotation at safety is less critical than at DL.

(3) I would continue to gameplan for each opponent. Maybe focus on taking away one thing the other team does well and hope for the best.

(4) Blitz less. I know we need to generate pressure on the QB, but the blitzes have only had limited effect, and more often than not we've been burned.

(4a) Fake the blitz a lot. One of the things I loved about Wade's defenses is that they were always threatening to bring the house, so the offense never knew if someone was coming and who might be the blitzer. More often than not we didn't blitz, but because we often showed blitz the QB would rush his throw to the hot read and the play would be blown up. I'd like to see more of that.

Other than that, really, what can we do with the pieces we have? I don't think Pagano is doing a bad job at all. More importantly, I don't think the organization does, either. Nothing I hear from him or anyone else in the Chargers seems to suggest that his job is in jeopardy.

[richpjr]

Yes I did. Because before the O was injury depleted they were loaded compared to our thin D who had as many if not more key injuries. And while the D has Weddle, they never had a Rivers or a Gates.

I'd call being without 5 starters on offense pretty depleted myself. The difference is Rivers is carrying the offense and nobody on the defense is stepping up.

[Yubaking]

I think the very premise that launched this thread is flawed: "The personnel on defense stinks, so fire the coach." Does that really make sense to you? Do you think we have talented players and a shit coach (as we did in the glorious Dave Adolph days)? I suppose we could have both shit players and a shit coach, but I don't buy that the same guy who's been doing a pretty solid job for a couple of seasons has suddenly lost it. Sure, there have been some questionable calls, on both sides of the ball, but that's to be expected when you're trying to pull a rabbit out of your ass. The coaches are hamstrung by the overall level of talent. (And for all you offense apologists, the offense has better overall depth than the defense and has Rivers who, unlike Weddle on the other side, can dictate the game to the opponent.)

But to answer the question:

(1) I would move Gilchrist back to nickle back. He's hopeless at safety, but he's not so bad at nickle. He's definitely an upgrade over Patrick and Marshall at nickle.

(2) If Taylor is not ready yet, I would play Addae at safety until Taylor is ready. Perhaps this leaves us thin in the safety rotation, but then I think having a solid rotation at safety is less critical than at DL.

(3) I would continue to gameplan for each opponent. Maybe focus on taking away one thing the other team does well and hope for the best.

(4) Blitz less. I know we need to generate pressure on the QB, but the blitzes have only had limited effect, and more often than not we've been burned.

(4a) Fake the blitz a lot. One of the things I loved about Wade's defenses is that they were always threatening to bring the house, so the offense never knew if someone was coming and who might be the blitzer. More often than not we didn't blitz, but because we often showed blitz the QB would rush his throw to the hot read and the play would be blown up. I'd like to see more of that.

Other than that, really, what can we do with the pieces we have? I don't think Pagano is doing a bad job at all. More importantly, I don't think the organization does, either. Nothing I hear from him or anyone else in the Chargers seems to suggest that his job is in jeopardy.

(1) I agree that Gilchrist should not be at SS. Addae is fine there for now pending the arrival of Taylor. I didn't think Glichrist was all that good at nickel CB either, so that's a coin flip to me. He might be barely better than the other crap we have.

(2) See (1).

(3) I am sure that they do that already.

(4), (4a) I would blitz MORE, a lot more, and would fake blitzes too. We might as well gamble for big plays since we can't make routine stops.

I agree that the defensive personnel is crap and that it is not Pagano's fault. No DC is going to be able to smoke and mirror their way through with this defense, not even Rivera, who came up with "the rotation" at NT and the wandering amoeba defense against Manning in the Sproles game in the playoffs against the Colts, limiting them despite having a bad defense that year.

[Panama]

(1) I agree that Gilchrist should not be at SS. Addae is fine there for now pending the arrival of Taylor. I didn't think Glichrist was all that good at nickel CB either, so that's a coin flip to me. He might be barely better than the other crap we have.

(2) See (1).

(3) I am sure that they do that already.

(4), (4a) I would blitz MORE, a lot more, and would fake blitzes too. We might as well gamble for big plays since we can't make routine stops.

I agree that the defensive personnel is crap and that it is not Pagano's fault. No DC is going to be able to smoke and mirror their way through with this defense, not even Rivera, who came up with "the rotation" at NT and the wandering amoeba defense against Manning in the Sproles game in the playoffs against the Colts, limiting them despite having a bad defense that year.

(1) That's the point. Gilchrist is better at nickle than Patrick or Marshall, IMO. I understand why he was moved to safety, but I think that rather than making us stronger at safety until Taylor arrives, it has actually made us weaker at two positions. If you move Gilchrist back to nickle and put Addae at safety until Taylor is ready, nickle is improved and safety is no worse and possibly better in the sense that it we would have someone who's a more intimidating hitter back there.

(3) Yes, hence my use of the word "continue."

(4) No, it seems that every time we blitz, we give up a big play. The problem isn't that we're not blitzing enough but rather that every time we show blitz we actually blitz. Blitzes are more effective if they are disguised. Wade's defenses show blitz a lot of the time but only actually blitz some of the time. The result is confusion, which leads to big plays. (It's a similar concept to Rivera's muddle -- hard for the QB to make a read when he doesn't know what's coming.) If rather than blitz every time we showed blitz we often dropped back into coverage, we might force quick, errant throws to hot reads that are actually blanketed, and more big plays could result.

So many people think Wade's defense was about blitzing a lot. This is wrong. Wade uses the blitz more effectively than any DC I've seen, but it's because he makes it completely unpredictable. There are so many players dancing up to the line and dropping back pre-snap that the QB never knows who, if anybody, is actually coming. It's this unpredictability, this confusion, that wreaks havoc and leads to the big plays, with bad reads made on quick passes leading to tips and interceptions and missed assignments leading to more sacks.