Before the squad arrived in Oxnard, there were questions about this defensive line and how it would respond going from a 3-4 to the 4-3 alignment, including the different responsibilities and assignments with coaches that have a great history in running it successfully. The last thing that this group needed was to have several key players missing when the camp started, and that happened to be the case. This defense took a huge hit when Jay Ratliff strained his hamstring in the conditioning test, Tyrone Crawford suffered his season ending Achilles injury and then Anthony Spencer developed knee soreness that needed to be cleaned out. With all these injuries, this group has managed to hold things together because DeMarcus Ware has been outstanding. Jason Hatcher has been active at the nose tackle and Ben Bass has moved over from the under tackle to the left end which has allowed Kyle Wilber to shift back to the right side which is a better fit for him. While the depth of this group has been tested early, we have seen players like Bass, Cameron Sheffield, Monte Taylor and new addition George Selvie get work on the outside. At tackle, Sean Lissemore has been steady working with the first defense but the nice addition to the group has been Nick Hayden. From what I have seen live and on tape, he has given them some nice work against the run, but he has also been good getting push on the pass. For a guy with some size inside, his technique is really good. All these injuries have created opportunity and some players are taking advantage of that.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 20:24:51 +0000
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