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Wow. I hope you didn't think I was overstating the fact in that headline. PFF has a breakdown of their tackling efficiency stat, and the news isn't pretty for Frank Bush's unit: Akeem Ayers, Will Witherspoon and Zach Brown all fell comfortably at the bottom end of the qualifying LBs. Akeem Ayers, who currently leads the team in total tackles, graded out as the worst among the group with a brutal 10 missed tackles on just 54 combined tackles.
It's not like our tackling issues went unnoticed for the first half of the season, but overall the linebackers have been doing better about wrapping up. It's also worth noting that McCarthy is the heart and soul of that unit, and he's nowhere to be seen on either end of the pole. While it's maddening to see so many of our guys tanking on such a key area of the game, it's not a complete picture of their job performance: I mean they always have their stellar pass coverage to fall back on... oh, yeah.
Still, I shudder to think where Michael Griffin would grade out in the safety rankings for this stat.