Now that I think about it this doesn't surprise me that much. Every defense had to give something up and with Donald, Floyd, Miller and even Gaines the long ball often wasn't there so you check down which is usually a high percentage play. Did we cause teams to check down more often? Seem probable. It is also true that if you looked at where the defense was the weakest it was probably in the middle. Jones did start to mid year then he got hurt and Reeder/Young & Rapp are all not exactly world beaters especially in coverage. So seeing the data and knowing team this makes sense to me.
Now will we improve in this area? Seems like a maturing Jones and Wagner are sure upgrades over Reeder/Young while Rapp/Fuller will probably be the same. Not sure the pass rush will be as good without Miller though I think will will bring pressure differently than we did last year. Let's hope we have good enough coverage in the secondary and a good pass rush that forces teams to check down. Even a modest improvement in defending the check down could offer a big improvement in the overall defense by lowering the 3rd down conversion rate.
