Our Defense: A Rant

I've been a long time reader of our Rumblings site, but I haven't posted often. I usually prefer to sit back and let everyone else do the debating, and I'll be lazy and just read. Today however I wanted to get something off my chest: A rumbling rant about our Defense....

We all know our D is absolutely atrocious. I've seen it, you've seen it, Gailey and Nix have seen it. The reasons are plentiful; injuries, lack of depth, lack of talent overall in certain areas (Though the rookies and recent draftees are actually playing well), but I think the major issue is George Edwards. I know, it's rather beating a dead horse at this point, but I'm not for getting rid of him just yet. He's got some time to possibly try and turn things around. That being said, I'm wondering what is being said behind closed doors in coaches meetings during the week.

I'll start by trying to defend Edwards a bit. He's had our major starters (Williams, Merriman, McGee) placed on IR and had to adjust whatever scheme he had for the players he had left. I think you'll agree, with all our starters healthy, our D was pretty darn good at points. This point though also shows the lack of depth/talent we have.

A coach or coordinator is supposed to recognize the talent he has, and use that talent by putting players in a position to succeed. I don't think Gailey or Edwards are doing that. You don't put Spencer Johnson in at OLB. He belongs on the line. We have other prospects at OLB, so get them in the game and give them the experience they need to actually be good depth. You can only learn so much sitting on the bench.

I'm going to use a player as an example of talent recognition, and I'm loathe myself to say him. Aaron Maybin. While he was in Buffalo, he was pretty bad. He couldn't ever live up to his draft spot, and we all agreed he was a bust, and sucked pretty bad. But what's this? Rex Ryan picks him up and after watching a few Jets games, Maybin is actually playing real well when he gets on the field. Why? His new coaching staff took his talents, and put him in a position to succeed. That tells me that it's Edwards not using our talent properly, rather than the talent itself, as the main issue with our D.

I know we're not going to hear about Nix and Gailey yelling and throwing the book at Edwards for not being what he needs to be. Where's Wannstadt? Isn't he a defensive guru? Why is he sitting up in the box and watching? What does he think about the D, and can he be the guy we need to change things around? Something needs to be done, and fast.

I'll conclude by saying that our D needs to figure out what it is. We're a 3-4 hybrid, but that's because we don't have the pieces to be a traditional 3-4 or 4-3 anymore, and we're doing what we can while the rebuild is progressing. Hopefully in year three, we'll have the players either through FA or the draft where we can field a proper D, and then use hybrid looks to hide blitzes or coverage.

What do you guys think?