Sean McDermott needs to challenge his defensive line to step up their game. They’re deep and talented, but they’ve got to take over down the stretch.
Trent Cole, Juqua Parker, Chris Clemons, Darren Howard, Victor Abiamiri, Jason Babin, Mike Patterson, Brodrick Bunkley, Trevor Laws and etc. must step up their game.
They must first of all take away the running games then pressure the quarterbacks and force turnovers.
I talked earlier about the fact that Donovan McNabb and the team’s passing game will have to carry this football team to the playoffs.
I must add that the team’s defensive line.
The Birds can’t rely on the blitz as much without cornerbacks Joselio Hanson and Ellis Hobbs, as well as Sheldon Brown, who will either missing the upcoming game against the Bears or playing it with a strained hamstring.
They’ve got to be able to get pressure on the quarterback with their front four rushing the passer.
Thankfully they’re healthy on their defensive line. They’ve got plenty of depth to keep the guys fresh, now they must have production.
They’ve got to get penetration into the backfield against the run because the linebackers have been depleted by injuries just like the secondary. If they force the running backs to change direction, it makes the linebackers’ job easy.
The defensive tackles didn’t play well in San Diego. It put pressure on Chris Gocong who hasn’t played the middle linebacker position since high school. Gocong got exposed and so did the team’s rush defense.
That prevented the defense from getting any pressure on Phillip Rivers and it contributed majorly to the loss.
They can’t let that happen again on Sunday.
