Thought I would dive in to our defense a little this morning as I , along with the rest of you, wait for the game later tonight...So the question is, why is our defense so much better this year?  The answer - the additions of Brooking, Sensabaugh, Olshansky and the emergence of Jenkins.
 
Now while that may seem obvious, very few people dive into "why". It is just the usual "they are all upgrades that made us better", etc. While that is a valid point, again "why?"
 
We will start really quickly and not spend too much time on the run defense. Olshansky simply is one of the strongest players in the NFL who rarely if ever gets moved out of his gap. As a matter of fact, most of the time he completely controls and almost dominates his gap. Couple that with the constant double teams on Ratliff, it has really helped the rest of the unit focus on their gaps and assignments. So everyone can play their matchups the way the scheme is designed.
 
Brookings and Bradie James are masters at shooting the openings and eliminating the angles for the running back. Ware and Spencer provide excellent contain on the outside. Couple that with the fact that our starting secondary consists of all good tacklers and you have a good, solid run defense.
 
So, on 1st and 2nd downs most of the time we come away in positive yard scenarios. Now comes 3rd down and on to the pass defense. So many times over the past few years you would see 3rd down and we would see a wild blitz and simply watch the other team complete a 15-20 yard pass over the middle. What makes this year different?
 
You will have to read the next article in the series :)