bling, as a former defensive player it really surprises me to hear you just chalk up the defensive deficiencies as simple lack of personnel. Now I will give you that the defensive line has been largely ineffective this season. But I would seriously hope that you see how the approach to defense has totally changed under Cassity/Krag as well.
What made guys like Dumervil, Stanley, and Okoye so great was - yes - their individual skills. But it also helped to have a DC whose mentality was to bring a strong QB rush from so many angles that it makes the opponent's head spin. Malik Jackson didn't pick up 9 sacks and 16 TFL by accident. He did it by well-disguised blitzes off the edge. Brandon Sharp didn't hammer Miami's Kyle Wright on a fluke in that game... he came around the left side when the Cane offense wasn't ready for it. I could continue on, but you catch my drift.
This defense is certainly less talented on the front line overall. To expect 44 sacks and 104 TFL would be silly. But to get only 17 sacks and 64 TFL the entire season? That's not just a matter of skill... it's a matter of defensive approach. Whether it's Kragthorpe or Cassity, we do not put the pressure on the opposing offenses like we did under Petrino. We don't bring the rush and force guys like Woodson to make the mistakes they did while Petrino was at the helm. Instead we give every QB days to sit back in the pocket and wait for a man to get open. We don't clog up running lanes, we sit back in an area and try to make tackles before they get in the open field... this is why Lamar Myles (GREAT tackler) has been so successful this year and Malik Jackson (poor tackler) has been a ghost.
The whole approach to all facets of the game is just night and day from what Petrino and his staff used. And quite obviously, this new approach has been a tremendous failure.
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