So the playoff run didn’t happen? Because given their talent level, these guys showed up when it mattered last year, especially in that Titans game against Henry. He certainly got the most out of that group last year all things considered.

It’s hard to have a group so void of talent and put it on the coach. Gay is the first real talent he’s had to work with, so I’m going to see how he develops before I write off House for not turning chicken shit into chicken salad.

But Hitchens does blow assignments and misses tackles. He blew 2 within the first 6 plays and missed a tackle on the 1st or 2nd play he was out there.

LMAO I know, right? At least Gay is faster and younger.

This. I’ll take December/January Performance over September all day long.

It's interesting to note how much sharper our secondary has looked in terms of making the smart, fundamentl play than our LB corps has.

I absolutely blamed that goofy looking stumble-**** that we had before we brought in House for obvious breakdowns in our LB corps - it's only fair to ask the question w/r/t House.

Maybe he ISN'T the right guy for coaching this particular scheme. Because we damn sure don't seem to see guys improving in it and that's pretty much a coach's only job.

Though you could maybe consider Ragland a feather in his cap. Reggie really did a nice job of making himself useful in a specific role last season when he appeared to be on his way out. That's doing a nice job of salvaging a distressed asset.

Just gotta hope that we see the same kind of forward momentum this year, I guess. If we don't...yeah, maybe that gig has to be put under review so to speak.

I just think it's fair to look at the relative performances of the secondary vs. linebacker corps.

Though to your point, Thornhill and Mathieu is a lot of assets to have thrown into the position group in terms of draft capital and cap space. Then again, Gay was also a 2nd rounder and Hitchens wasn't cheap.

Breeland is very much like Wilson and Niemann has a similar pedigree to Ward.

It just looks to me like we're getting more out of our cap/picks in the secondary than we are in the LB corps. May just be that the talent is worse; maybe we don't scout LBs as well. It could also be that the secondary coaches are just doing a better job with their guys than House and his people.

Don't live in the past.

If every coach evaluated on the benefit of a doubt, that would be a surefire way to get axed. You can't reasonably re-shape a position group overnight, but the sheer evidence of poor fundamental execution is more than concerning.

Threat Level Midnight: the Hitchens problem is getting worse.
 

How are you sure Hitchens is out there blowing assignments without knowing their responsibilities? I’m not arguing that he doesn’t, by the way. Every player in the league misses assignments.

I’m saying Hitchens usually appears to be in pretty decent position. Most times he just isn’t physical enough when engaging blockers and ball carriers. He showed at the end of last season that he is capable of being an above average MLB for us. If Spags can get him to clean up the tackling, he’ll instantly improve from disaster level to serviceable.

Putting Gay in there would run the risk of truly ****ing things up for the defense. They’ve seen the guy in practice. They know better than us. If he’s not out there yet then there’s probably a good reason for it.

You can’t just throw the kid in there because he’s fast. That’s some Madden shit.

So ignore the postseason run in favor of the first 2 weeks of the season with no preseason? Got it.

What a stupid ****ing take. Almost as bad as you calling Gay a possible bust after week ****ing 1.

Negative

The one thing a player who's struggling absolutely CANNOT do is interfere with OTHER guys ability to do their jobs.

If Hitchens is at least generally positionally sound but isn't finishing plays, well at the very least he's not making other guys scramble out of their assigned roles to cover his ****-ups. At least he's allowing them to stay in a position to clean up his shortcomings.

The defense really came together last year when they started trusting that the other guy would at least be where he was supposed to be and they started staying in their lanes better. At that point they could flow to the football and cover for the inevitable execution failures that arise here and there.

And again, it's also fair to point out that Spags himself says that LB is one of the hardest roles to play in his defenses. Maybe the learning curve for a guy like Gay is just much steeper than Thornhill - sure seems that way listening to Spags.

I don't think there's an easy answer here - but I also don't think we can completely give House a pass if the LB corps continues on its present course.

Actually said that because he's fast enough to salvage the play when he inevitably ****s up. Hitchens just plods along.

And that’s fair.

This, this, and more this.