I guess my point is that we've had capable guys all year, not necessarily the last few weeks - should've made that clearer - and I think our defense has underperformed all year.
I was happy to see Woods draw up some different blitzes last night and perhaps he's kept some stuff close to the vest but overall, I just haven't been impressed with him this year. Just has felt very vanilla like we believe these "undermanned" excuses and just try to play conservative "bend don't break" defense when I think we have some thumpers on that side of the ball.
Perhaps it's because we've seemingly nailed it with our offensive coaches and I am giving him an unfair shake.
We're the #12 defense in the league in yards per play this season.
We're the #20 defense in points allowed
We're the #9 defense in rushing yards allowed
We're the #12 defense in rushing yards allowed per attempt
We're the #22 defense in passing yards allowed
We're the #16 defense in passing yards allowed per attempt.
With all the injuries, I think those are pretty good numbers. But I also think that a vanilla scheme that mixes it up to catch QB's off guards and keep them on their toes is the best way to play defense in the NFL. You can't blitz and bring the house anymore. You get killed by any good QB doing that.
I could also say those numbers are skewed by the garbage time comebacks of Dallas and Tennessee, but meh. Every team has games like that. It'd be dishonest of me to use that argument without adjusting for other teams as well. I could also say the entire argument I've made so far is shit because it doesn't adjust for the strength of the offenses we played against.
I think you're right in that I don't think Woods is as good as Stefanski/AVP/Callahan are on offense. But I think he's competent and can be good. This offseason, Berry focused on giving Stefanski the tools he required on offense to succeed. I expect we'll see a similar focus on the defense next year.