getting Porter off the field more is very important. you can tell last year towards the end of the year and the playoffs he was running on fumes...
dynamic pass rush: Porter, Taylor & Wake look for the coach to tweak the defense allowing all three to play on rushing downs how could you cover them? who would you double team?
Who do you guys have that deserve to be ahead of those listed? Ingram or Durant I don't think are better than anyone on that list.
Getting another passrusher that can take the double-team off Porter every play is equally important. With Taylor and Wake, both should happen.
Keep in mind though, with Sparano Wake has to earn everything, even playing time, I think he will make an impact and the three will have some synergy, but Wake is going to have to impress to get out on the field. To me, we are "good" at OLB, we need a DE who can passrush consistently.
All of that goes for JT just as much as it does Wake. I like what I've seen out of Langford and Merling. My money is on Langford to take the next step this season.
I agree with that. The fact that Langford earned a starting spot (over a guy drafted before him, no less) speaks volumes about his upside. On the other hand, I'm hoping McDaniel will earn significant playing time. I like the thought of a 6'6 and 6'7 DE tandem.....lots of potential for batted down passes. As to the topic. Does Vrabel deserve to be ranked #12 or is that mostly reputation? He did have a down year last year - and it's fair to speculate that it's because he's getting older. After all he still played in 16 games and started 14 of them. Or how about Crowell at #14? He was injured all of last year - didn't even play.
Ahh, but consider, to use JT, we may have to run a 4-3 on passing downs. JP on the left, Merling at LDE, Starks at NT, Akin A at ILB. Who is going to play where on the Right Side of the D? JT makes little sense to play with a hand on the ground, but unless Wake or Roth play RDE on passing downs, who will play there? And assuming JT is playing the right side on a given play, we need a DE who can consistently beat man on man blocking, or better, draw a double team to allow JT to roam free. Does anyone recall JT playing in the "tiger" position, and who played DE when JT was roaming the defense?
Good article, but I saw a few players on that list whom I would put JT above. IMO JT should have made that list somewhere with the simple detail: "HE'S BAAAACK!" (had to throw a little Homerism in here) With JP, JT, Cam Wake and I expect Matt Roth to come into his own this season, we may very well have a pass rush that rivals that of the SB winning Giants 2 years ago. With a solid pass rush our secondary, which should be much improved, will have to cover for 1-2 seconds less on average, making them even better. And the same goes in reverse if our improved DB's can give this pass rush another second or two, OOMPAH! I am really getting pumped about our Defense for this season!
Depends PR, our LB corps could be a strength, depending on what roles DC Pasqualoni carves out for them, we can't put JT,JP,Akin A, Channing C and Roth and Wake all out on the field at once. One of two of those cats are going to have to be able to play DE in our nickel and they have to excel at doing so. If Wake can, we could have, JT,JP,Wake and Akin A on the field at one time.
Jags had a rough season. I bet last year they were getting a lot more (justifiability) love. They still have a ton of talent (I've played in a pickup game with MJD) and a good QB, but they're not one of the hot teams to talk about like they were a year ago.
Well, they cut Vonnie and said Merling was his replacement, but iirc, Merling is a different sort of player from Carter or Holliday. Merling makes more sense being lined up at LDE, our RDE in passrushing situations has yet to emerge, to me Wake might be better at that role then Charlie Anderson was last season. Either way though, the "key" to our Defense is JT's polyvalence and our RDE being able to either draw a double team, or whip man to man blocking quickly.
we arent going to run 4-3 on passing downs. even with JT. JT already mentioned how this defense is different in that aspect from 2 years ago. this is a true 3-4 and hes going to stand up and move around.
