Can the Defense take another step forward?

Obviously, Offense is not our problem
Defense is,
The Defense played better last game against the Bummers but still gave up some plays at inopportune times.
If Durant cannot play then this could be an opportunity for the defense to step forward and and hold a still very strong team off the board enough for our offence to come out of Regina with a win.

Honestly, I'm a little worried about the TiCat defense vs Cortez' high powered offense which has scored 114 points in only 3 games. The next highest total is 87 (Calgary). Hamilton is 4th, scoring 79.

The Blue Bombers have scored 72 points, 6th in the league

Durrrant or not, they gotta stop Sheets who's already rushed for 442 yards. Cornish is 2nd, with 304, then Simpson with 206.

Also the TiCat defense is 7th, giving up 89 points, Saskatchewan's is 2nd, giving up 67.

Somebody's gotta touch a runner to tackle him. What's been shocking, to me, is the number of TD runs allowed in three games where the runner wasn't even touched by a lineman, or a linebacker, or a DB, or the safety:

vs. TOR - 2nd QTR - Kackert 57 yds, untouched, and outruns Patrick
vs. EDM - 1st QTR - Charles 69 yds., untouched
vs. EDM - 4th QTR - Reilly escapes what should have been a sack and runs 10 yds, untouched, then goes down and rolls, untouched, into the endzone
vs.WPG - 2nd QTR - Simpson 75 yds, untouched
vs. WPG - 2nd QTR - Goltz 8 yds, untouched

No guarantee, though, that touching leads to a tackle. There was Simpson's 15 yd. TD run in the 4th QTR last Sunday. Knowlton had the line on him and, for some reason, tried to tackle him by the shoulders, rather than the legs, and failed.

Nevertheless, the D certainly showed improvement in Game 3 -- enough so to give hope that another step forward could come.

The defence will improve when we have a safety who can tackle and has enough speed to cover the pass. The Dline will improve when they plug the middle so the linebackers can make the tackle or pressure the quarterback with just 4 men. :smiley:

Pat Lynch(the old guy)

I agree the defense won’t take another step forward until they ditch Patrick. I really like the other four guys In the secondary, and I hope they don’t change any of those four guys. We actually had some coverage sacks the other night. As for the front seven, they will take another step forward when they get some guys back healthy. Right now the defensive line lacks talent, but Torrey Davis should be back soon and we should see Michael Atkinson some time after Labour Day…he could be the guy capable of helping the run defense. We also have Marcellus Bowman who will surely get inserted in to the starting lineup when he gets healthy.

Arnaud Gascon-Nadon is another guy who could give the defense a boost. At the very least, he should be better than Shomari.

I agree with Patlynch we need a safety with speed who can cover the field of play. The added performance of DB's Hobbs and Ray Brown helped in the last game against Winnipeg both are very talented and proved they should be in full time on the roster, that gave the front D line the time needed to rush the QB because the coverage was so good, it was just the rushing and broken play that cost us, we need to improve that for Sask game Sunday and Kory Sheets?

The defense is certainly missing DT Davis # 99 who was a monster late last year. I hope this guy gets healthy soon and the Cats find a safety who is quick and can hit like a ton of bricks. In my opinion, Francis is only window dressing at this point in the season.

I think we will be Ok when Stephen cmes in and repalces Patrick and then Torrey Davis replaces Bulcke and we go back to the old linebacker setup of last year with Bowman in teh middle and Johnson and Markieth in their old spots

then when a running back goes through the middle they ahve to deal with Jamal , Bowman and Davis instead of knowlton , jamal and Bulcke ..big difference in my eyes

Nowood, Davis, Moore, Marshall
Knowlton, Bowman , Johnson
Breaux , Brown
Hobbs , Mccolough
Stephen

!Any word how Bowman is progressing? when he will be ready to go,hopefully off 9-game sooner than later.You get him in there,and that line backing core will be lethal !!.Really think that this defence has loads of potential,2 keys are Bowmans return,and the eventual insertion of Steven at safety.As far as this upcoming game...I'm calling it,right now.....upset special of the week...Cats-30-27,Congi redeems himself with game winning late fieldgoal,defence holds for 2nd straight week,Hank lights it up once more...and suddenly things don't look to bad.
Week 4 east standings
HAM...2-2
WNP...2-2
TOR...1-3
MTL...1-3

I've never played safety (other than flag football) but I'm not so sure Patrick is the problem. He certainly seems to do a good job in pass cover. And on runs, I'm not so sure his job is to be a run stuffer. He may have a gap assignment or cover a half of the line or cheat to the wide side on runs but if he does as he is asked and the run goes away from him and goes long how is that his fault? I guess he gets the blame because he is the only one who runs the back down to the end of the play, and it looks like he's the goat. I would call that "playing to the whistle" and will he still be so bad when he catches a runner after 40 yards but saves a TD after someone else blows an assignment?

The "experts" on this forum wanted to can Rey Williams all last year for basically the same thing. He did what was asked and actually saved quite a few plays by chasing runners down from behind when the play went bad. That was considered "being out of position" and "so bad that he has to tackle from behind instead of heads up." Now look at him.

Making snap judgements on play with imperfect information can make a post seem silly.

The "experts" on this forum wanted to can Rey Williams all last year for basically the same thing. He did what was asked and actually saved quite a few plays by chasing runners down from behind when the play went bad. That was considered "being out of position" and "so bad that he has to tackle from behind instead of heads up." Now look at him.
[b]Making snap judgements on play with imperfect information can make a post seem silly.[/b] [/quote] You mean like insinuating you know for sure what Rey Williams was asked to do and that he always did it and wasnt out of position often. Then despite all of that was still released just to show this forum how were not in fact "experts".

You mean like insinuating you know for sure what Rey Williams was asked to do and that he always did it and wasnt out of position often. Then despite all of that was still released just to show this forum how were not in fact “experts”.
[/quote]
No insinuation, just an informed opinion from information I have and the LOGICAL conclusion from comparing his play this year and last. Rey didn’t just learn how to play football this off-season. Players get released for a lot of reasons. Heck, coaches let players go because they want to bring in and use “their guy.” Sometimes, it’s a SMS issue. So to insinuate (to use your word) that he was released due to the opinions on this forum, or that it was due to his play is asinine. Again, how can you know without perfect information?

He went from the worst defence in the league to being a star and helping in creating the best defence in the league in one off-season. He was the defencive player of the week many times here and already once in Saskatchewan. But he was the problem here??? Terrible logic which led to terrible conclusions and silly posts. And, it appears that it is going to continue with someone this year.