John Marshall – Oakland Raiders Are you kidding me? I’m not sure you could find me a defense in this league with more talent, yet they continue to underperform. The last 4 weeks cement in my mind that they have a major scheme/coaching issue. 3 of their opponents in the last 4 weeks weren’t exactly offensive juggernauts, yet they still managed to give up 106 points and 1287 yards to the Steelers, Jaguars, and Dolphins combined, teams which CAN be shut down, or at least contained, as many defenses have proven this year. The Raiders defense was supposed to be their strength this season, but it’s actually their offense that is keeping their playoff hopes alive. This falls on Marshall. Frank Bush – Houston Texans Kubiak should have replaced Bush after LAST season and now it may cost them BOTH of their jobs, and for good reason. This is not a defense which is deficient in talent. This team has had a first round pick in each of the last 7 years. They have chosen defense for 6 of those picks. Yet this defense continues to hold the Texans back from making the playoffs. The Texans have a serious scheme/coaching issue on defense and heads should/will roll after this season. Bill Davis – Arizona Cardinals Davis has slowly run this defense into the ground since taking over as D.C. less than 2 years ago. Davis has been given one of the most talented secondaries in the NFL. His front 7 is loaded with playmakers and, yet, they can’t seem to stop anyone at times. And this is not just about a bad offense putting them in some bad spots. They are giving up a lot of yards and struggle stopping teams on key 3rd downs. About once a month, their defense will decide to play to their ability, and they will create a LOT of turnovers and help their team win but Davis is getting very little consistency out of this group. I would call it erratic at best. Gus Bradley – Seattle Seahawks I’m not sure why Carroll kept this guy unless ownership insisted he keep him since they already had him under contract. Gus Bradley did very little last season with a very talented squad and is doing very little again this season with a revamped group, which still has talent. His defenses get torched on a regular basis, having given up 480 yards or more on 5 different occasions this season. The dude apparently did not learn a lot from his mentor, Monte Kiffin, and he will pay the price with his job at the end of this season. The Captain's Free Pass of the Season: Wink Martindale -- Denver Broncos As horrid as the Broncos defense has been this year, I have trouble blaming Wink because he has no talent on his roster and I loved Tic-Tac-Dough.
yeah, i kind of see what you're saying. he would be a possibility. they appear to be loaded with talent and have layed some of the biggest dookies of the season. when they come to play, their defense has actually kept them in most of the ball games they've won. everything in d.c. is so dysfunctional though, that it's hard to tell how much of it is actually scheme/assistant coaching and how much of it is just the dysfunction.
