So what is a success for this defence?

[Lanky Livingston]

Just going off of my own experience of playing free in HS...

Rambo is not necessarily taking the wrong angles - at least initially. Whenever a RB or WR breaks into the secondary, the free needs to keep the player coming at him from making that cut. In other words, you need to continue to force them to the outside and square your hips in that direction. Yes, you give up another eight to ten yards or so, but you don't allow the cut to happen and have the offensive player taking it to the house.

Rambo will learn that lesson and he will be fine. Every free learns it at some point.

There's also some "speed of the game" issues he has to deal with. The SEC is fast, but not NFL fast.

 

[fansince62]

I agree with al and mike on rambo, I can't put my finger on it but he looks bad out there; raw maybe. His mistakes appear to be mental ones, stupid ones at that. That can be good or bad, it depends on whether he is able to be coached to play smarter... maybe he fell to the 6th round because after interviews GM's decided the kid is just stupid... who knows. still early I suppose. bad angles and personal fouls are not a good way to make a team that desperately needs improved safety play...

I want Rambo to succeed. we need him to.

but you caught my sense quite well: right now, it seems like he's behind the power curve on the mental side COMPARED to Amerson. and which role is easier? Rambo's. It should be just the opposite.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Except that not every rookie ever shows mental issues like unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and bad angles. That's the criticism of him right now, through 2 NFL games.

Personally I don't think being a rookie excuses the penalties part, we have plenty of other rookies not doing it. Morgan getting a dumb penalty cost us a game last year; a real game.

Those issues tend to be caused by something mental. Showing them at this level is a problem because one would think they have been told not to do this their whole football career - did they never listen and learn or are they trying to prove something now at the next level and getting carried away, or did they never get caught at the other levels?

I'm someone who thinks playing smart matters a lot, so it's something that bothers me. There are plenty of people that don't agree with that and that's fine. It's 2 preseason games. If he does it in week 3 that's a problem, one that suggests he's going to be doing it all year. We're not talking about complicated rules here, we're talking about not getting into shoving matches and hitting people late...

I can deal with bad angles through a year of being a rookie, though Landry still haunts me...

There are maybe a handful of rookies defenders who did not suffer from mental mistakes their rookie seasons. For every one you name, I can name 10 who struggled their rookie seasons. I'll buy you a 12-pack of your choice the next time I'm in town if you can name a 6th round safety who solved all his problems after one preseason game, and made no mental mistakes.

As far as penalties are concerned - we've had experienced vets cost us many games in the past; I'm STILL mad at Casey Rabach's offsides against San Diego in 2005 that pushed us out of field goal range.

 

[tshile]

I'm not asking for him to fix all of his mistakes... I'm asking him to stop getting 15 yard penalties after the play. Why is that so hard to understand or so much to ask for? Do you really need me to look up personal fouls by rookies last year to understand this is not a common problem for all rookies?

I can deal with the bad angles for a bit while he adjust. By itself it's not a huge deal if you can expect the player to figure it out. It only concerns me when you combine it with the mental lapses causing us 15 yards here and there.

At the end of the day we're over analyzing a preseason game.

 

[tshile]

I want Rambo to succeed. we need him to.

but you caught my sense quite well: right now, it seems like he's behind the power curve on the mental side COMPARED to Amerson. and which role is easier? Rambo's. It should be just the opposite.

I really like amerson

 

[Lanky Livingston]

I'm not asking for him to fix all of his mistakes... I'm asking him to stop getting 15 yard penalties after the play. Why is that so hard to understand or so much to ask for? Do you really need me to look up personal fouls by rookies last year to understand this is not a common problem for all rookies?

I can deal with the bad angles for a bit while he adjust. By itself it's not a huge deal if you can expect the player to figure it out. It only concerns me when you combine it with the mental lapses causing us 15 yards here and there.

At the end of the day we're over analyzing a preseason game.

Well then you are arguing a different comment than my initial position was addressing, and I'm not really sure why. In fact, we agree. Yes, I'd like him to stop committing bonehead penalties. Yes, I can live with bad angles and missed tackles for part of a season or the entire season.

 

[tshile]

Well then you are arguing a different comment than my initial position was addressing, and I'm not really sure why. In fact, we agree. Yes, I'd like him to stop committing bonehead penalties. Yes, I can live with bad angles and missed tackles for part of a season or the entire season.

I think he's making mental mistakes and that's not good; mistakes that he shouldn't be making. Taylor got brought up and my opinion is that it's irrelevant because Rambo doesn't have the physical talent to make up for those mistakes the way Taylor does. The bad angles in and of themselves aren't a huge deal, though it's not good if he's actually going to be a starter. But when you combine them with the boneheaded penalties I think it's a problem; a problem you shouldn't have to deal with. We'll see how he does in game 3. If he has another 15 yard penalty I'm going to hope we have another person to start against the eagles...

Right now he appears to be Fred Davis' biggest rival in the game of intelligence.

 

[Henry]

I think it's the second pre-season game.

Pre-season doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean Cousins is a starting-quality QB. It doesn't mean Pat White's going to make the team. It doesn't mean Leonard Hankerson is going to suddenly start making one-handed grabs all over the place, and it doesn't mean Rambo is going to be a terrible safety.

We should be watching for one thing during the pre-season and one thing only: Injuries.

None of the rest of this matters. People are just warming up. That's all.

 

[Henry]

As far as Haslett goes, if the team stinks and the defense stinks he's gone. If the team is good and the defense is even halfway decent he stays. Wins matter. The rest of this is just us being bored in the offseason.

 

[Rymanofthenorth]

Haslett is terrible, but its really Shannys mistake here that is still bothering me. I look at Rak and see so much wasted potential. Rambo was a 6th rounder, those guys rarely step up huge as rookies if ever. I am hoping he gets it together but I doubt it.

Frankly this defence isnt good enough for us to win a superbowl, so Shanny making that statement is just pandering to the rose glass crowd.

 

[RedskinfaninOC]

I agree on the 10-15 range. I am thinking around 14-15

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Haslett is terrible, but its really Shannys mistake here that is still bothering me. I look at Rak and see so much wasted potential. Rambo was a 6th rounder, those guys rarely step up huge as rookies if ever. I am hoping he gets it together but I doubt it.

Frankly this defence isnt good enough for us to win a superbowl, so Shanny making that statement is just pandering to the rose glass crowd.

Disagree. Recent history suggests you don't need a statistically strong D to win the superbowl, you need an offense that can score a lot and doesn't turn the ball over a lot, and a D that gets after the passer. We have both.