Gameday

[JoeRedskin]

Yeah, I think it is pretty tough to judge Barry TOO harshly. As one commentator said, our defensive back-field was being held together with spit, scotch tape, and chicken wire.

I do believe that, as a unit, the defense needs to be faster and needs faster athletes - or athletes who play faster anyway. Speed kills and there really isn't much of it on our D.

Into the offseason, it looks like safety is still a top priority. Goldson and Compton are solid, smart players. However, we need someone on the inside - at all levels - that can range and attack. We just don't have that. I think the big plays against us were largely b/c of this lack of speed. If we didn't play perfectly, there was no one with the make-up speed to limit the harm of a blown coverage or blown assignment.

Given the talent level on our defense, I think Barry got about as much out of them as could be reasonably expected.

Still need a fearsome edge defender (maybe Smith grows into that), someone in the middle who can range sideline to sideline, and someone over the top to keep the lid on the offense. Few teams have all these guys, but we really don't have any of them. Right now, there is just no one on our D that scares anyone.