A Defense in Development: Tackling Efficiency

[Icege]

After an impressive pass rush last year at the expense of a historically bad run defense, losing the franchise's best MLB of all time to retirement, letting their #1 CB walk in free agency, and a mass exodus of the defensive line group us fans knew that Phil Snow's defense was not going to be up to standards this season, let alone in week one. There is a lot of youth on that side of the ball that is going to need time to be coached up on the scheme and being pros. While we are going to desire those elusive W's, perhaps even more important is looking at how these young guys are producing.

Was looking through some statistics during my lunch break and while it's only two games worth of data, there are some interesting/disturbing trends in regards to the team's tackling efficiency. The below table on the left shows combined total, solo, and assisted tackles while the table on the right shows combined total, missed, and the percentage of attempts that were missed tackles.

Player	Comb	Solo	Ast		Player	Comb	MTkl	MTkl%
Jeremy Chinn	15	9	6		Juston Burris	3	4	57.10%
Shaq Thompson	15	6	9		Yetur Gross-Matos	1	1	50.00%
Tahir Whitehead	12	8	4		Donte Jackson	3	2	40.00%
Tre Boston	10	7	3		Jeremy Chinn	15	5	25.00%
Rasul Douglas	8	8	0		Derrick Brown	3	1	25.00%
Brian Burns	8	7	1		Efe Obada	3	1	25.00%
Troy Pride Jr	8	4	4		Bravvion Roy	3	1	25.00%
Stephen Weatherly	5	2	3		Rasul Douglas	8	2	20.00%
Corn Elder	4	2	2		Tre Boston	10	2	16.70%
Kawann Short	4	2	2		Tahir Whitehead	12	2	14.30%
Derrick Brown	3	2	1		Shaq Thompson	15	1	6.30%
Juston Burris	3	2	1
Adarius Taylor	3	1	2
Bravvion Roy	3	1	2
Donte Jackson	3	1	2
Efe Obada	3	1	2
Marquis Haynes	2	1	1
Julian Stanford	2	0	2
Woodrow Hamilton	1	1	0
Yetur Gross-Matos	1	0	1
Zach Kerr	1	0	1

While we know Jeremy Chinn has been all over the place making his presence known, it was interesting to see that he had the highest missed total tackles at 5. With all of the whining and belly-aching over Shaq, I expected him to be up there as well since him and Chinn tie for combined tackles but Shaq's only missed 1 to Chinn's 5. Still, when the kid is leading the team in solo tackles while tied for the combined tackles lead as a positionless rookie I think we can let him make a couple of mistakes to start a season where his preparation was heavily affected by COVID-19. Tahir Whitehead, when he has been able to get to the play, has been fairly sure handed in bringing ball carriers down. His pass coverage leaves a ton to be desired, but it looks like he's at least wrapping up.

The DL doesn't concern me as much as those missed tackles are usually vs. more agile RBs while having a 300lbs offensive linemen or two (or three) knocking them around. However, Brian Burns having as many tackles as he does shows just how the dude's motor never stops running. KK, despite missing a game, is in the middle of the pack for tackles and didn't miss one in week one. Woodrow Hamilton has impressed in limited snaps while Bravvion Roy and Efe Obada quietly do their jobs as back-ups. Stephen Weatherly has been doing a great job setting the edge and forcing things to the inside. Derrick Brown has been impressive and is more than big enough for the NFL. Yetur Gross-Matos and Zach Kerr have been underwhelming thus far, but there's a lot of season left for them to get it going. I'll find something nice to say about Marquis Haynes' play eventually, whenever it translates from training camps to actual games.

Donte Jackson didn't surprise me much as we know he takes as minimal contact as possible. Tre's numbers though surprised me, as I expected them to look much worse. I guess he gets away with bad game film by having okay stats? Troy Pride Jr being tied for 4th most tackles after only starting game one shows how much opposing offenses are keying in on him as a potential soft spot. Fingers crossed there that he's able to grow and rise to the challenge. Everywhere I look, all I find are reasons to start Rasul Douglas in the National Football League. He's a confident tackler, competitive, and he's tied for the team lead in pass deflections along with Derrick Brown. 

Juston Burris though... lawd have mercy. He's playing every snap on defense and he's regularly in as well as on special teams plays. For him to have missed more tackles than he's made as the team's starting strong safety makes me feel less than warm and fuzzy inside.

[LinvilleGorge]

3 minutes ago, Icege said:

 Juston Burris though... lawd have mercy. He's playing every snap on defender and he's regularly in as well as on special teams plays. For him to have missed more tackles than he's made as the team's starting strong safety makes me feel less than warm and fuzzy inside.

Watching him get stiff armed flat onto his face while the RB jogged untouched into the endzone on Sunday was rough. It really stood out amongst our lowlights.

[stbugs]

3 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Watching him get stiff armed flat onto his face while the RB jogged untouched into the endzone on Sunday was rough. It really stood out amongst our lowlights.

No poo. Made me chuckle since we gave him a nice deal for a backup. Marty tends to do that.

He went down so fast it wasn’t even funny and it was Ronald Jones, not exactly a top tier RB.

[4Corners]

Our defensive coordinator fuging blows mountain goat. “Snow” is the perfect last name for him. 

[kungfoodude]

3 hours ago, stbugs said:

No poo. Made me chuckle since we gave him a nice deal for a backup. Marty tends to do that.

He went down so fast it wasn’t even funny and it was Ronald Jones, not exactly a top tier RB.

I was glad to see it was Burris. When I saw it live, I thought it was Chinn and I assumed his career was over. 

[stbugs]

4 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

I was glad to see it was Burris. When I saw it live, I thought it was Chinn and I assumed his career was over. 

Yeah, that’s one of those soul sucking stiff arms. I don’t think Ronald Jones is some sort of bad ass, I think it was more of a terrible attempt to tackle (proven by his awfulness there) where he walked right into the stiff arm. Like an NBA player who lifts his competitor up to posterize himself.

[LinvilleGorge]

9 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

I was glad to see it was Burris. When I saw it live, I thought it was Chinn and I assumed his career was over. 

LOL! Honestly, me too.

[kungfoodude]

5 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

LOL! Honestly, me too.

I re-winded it live to make sure. I was for sure thinking that was the end for him. 

[Eazy-E]

Phil snow sucks and Jeremy Chinn clearly isn’t a linebacker and should be full time safety.

[4Corners]

2 hours ago, Eazy-E said:

Phil snow sucks and Jeremy Chinn clearly isn’t a linebacker and should be full time safety.

I think he is only seeing looks at LB because our LB Corp is the worst in the league. Need any help they can get. 

[Icege]

41 minutes ago, 4Corners said:

I think he is only seeing looks at LB because our LB Corp is the worst in the league. Need any help they can get. 

Big Nickel is the new base 4-3 :3

[Eazy-E]

2 hours ago, 4Corners said:

I think he is only seeing looks at LB because our LB Corp is the worst in the league. Need any help they can get. 

That is a really poo way to develop young players and it shows on the field. The defense looks fuging lost.

[Jon Snow]

8 hours ago, Eazy-E said:

That is a really poo way to develop young players and it shows on the field. The defense looks fuging lost.

I mean to be fare you have to do the best you can with what you have to work with.   Snow doesn't have much to go to battle with at the moment and they are the most handicapped team in the league as far as continuity.  With no preseason to truly evaluate the roster before the bullets start flying I would say it's gone about as good as a reasonable person should expect.