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Without a pass rush (ie- hightower, sheard, nink, and long) you can beat the miamis and jets of league. However, you’re going to have a tough time against quality teams. This is exactly what happened last year. And improvement isn’t about numbers alone. It’s about improving against good opponents.
They gave up almost 5 yards a carry on the ground and were 31st in YPC allowed. The run defense was atrocious. As much as we want to point to the decision to bench one of the starting CBs, I think it all pretty much starts there. Those issues were exposed in the SB.I think benching a starting cornerback was a bigger issue than Sheard not playing...
Of course, one can easily claim that Butler would’ve helped with shoring up the run defense with more sure-handed tackling, so there’s that aspect to take into account, but he was back there all year long and they still finished 31st in the league in YPC allowed with 4.7.