Defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio staunchly defended his beleaguered defense today.
Asked how he thinks the defense has done this season given some of the outside criticism, he said, "At the end of the day all I can do is judge who we've played. The seven teams that we've played are averaging about 450 yards per game and we're giving up 325 yards a game, 327 yards a game. And those teams are averaging about six yards a play and we're giving up 4.5 yards per play. So does that mean we're satisfied? No. Does that mean we could have done things better? Through seven games that's a pretty good sample size. That's 525 snaps out there right now for us to sample. So I want to make sure our kids understand I'm happy with our performance on what they've done, I'm pleased with them. The coaching staff is pleased with them. Can you point to plays (that were bad)? Yeah. Can you point to games? There's no question. When you play that many snaps it's hard to be perfect. That's what we're shooting for. But at the end of the day all we can go by is judge who we've played and what we've done so far. And we've played a lot of good teams on offense. And the stats would say right now that' we're moving in the right direction."
So he's okay with how things are going on his side of the ball?
"Yeah, again at the end of the day all I can judge is by what we've done so far as far as we're playing close to 80 snaps a game and are giving up under 4.5 yards per play which puts us in the top seven or eight," D'Onoifro said. "That's what we can go by. ... What it means is the guys are cohesive. I think we have leadership and I do think we are deeper (than last year)."
Up front personnel-wise is the depth and talent where it needs to be?
"I think we're really moving in the right direction," D'Onofrio said. "Our young guys are improving. We're playing a lot of young guys, right now. Trent Harris has been playing a lot for us this year, Chad Thomas has played a whole lot the last two games. Anthony Moten has been playing, Courtel Jenkins has been playing, Calvin (Heurtelou) is a junior college player but is a first-year player. Michael Wyche has been playing the last couple of games for us, is a first-year player. We went out and got all those guys so we would have the depth. They're all improving."
D'Onofrio also said he's not a fan of moving the corners up close to the line of scrimmage in one-on-one coverage because it can result in big plays for the opposing offense.
"We certainly don't want gamblers - at the end of the day the worst thing we could do is give up an easy touchdown on defense, right?" D'Onofrio said. "That's the worst thing you can do to your team is give up a simple one when you don't play the defense. We had 18 interceptions last year, were in the top 10. We've got eight so far this year and we should have had another four. So at the end of the day the guys have been in position, we just didn't execute or we'd probably be in the top 10 again. As far as those picks go, those things are going to come when they do play the defense and play the scheme and do those things. Again, a gamble is when you're an underneath defender in zone coverage and somebody's protecting your back, then you go ahead and take your shot because you're not the last line of defense. Those are the things we'll teach our guys. ... we certainly can't have our deep players (that are the last line of defense) not be deep. That's the worst thing that can happen to a defense. I hear Pete Carroll say it, `When you're deep you're deep,' and it's worked good for him. The deep players need to stay deep."
Is it an issue having so many first-year players up front in terms of chemistry and knowing the defense?
"I don't know how much of an issue there's been," D'Onofrio said. "We've played a lot of guys, are through seven games, have played over 500 snaps. We're top 10 in yards per play right now, we're giving up about 4.47 yards per play. So that's all we can really go by. It doesn't guarantee us anything for next week, but we've played 500 plus snaps, have played as many as anybody in the country, have played seven straight games and I'll give the guys some credit."
D'Onofrio also said he was very pleased with how the first team did against Cincinnati in the last game.
"We gave up less than four yards per play and 13 points at that point (before bringing in the backups), which is pretty good," D'Onofrio said. "Had takeaways, multiple opportunities to get takeaways. "
