I would even question that. Can he be a good run-stopper? He can. But there are times where he looks lost. There were times last night that had me wondering if Channing Crowder is even employed by Stephen Ross. His gap responsibility looked off, esp. on that late TD run by Jones (I think it was him). I will have to re-watch the game just to make sure, though. Anyone with a TE going over the middle puts our team in a liable situation. I was really surprised Miami re-signed Crowder. As much as I love his antics, he does not really play a good game. I tried to watch his play on audibles, and it did not seem like he had a friggin clue. He is not cerebral 'backer I thought he was. He can be physical at times. That's about it. I would have rather had Patrick Willis with the ninth overall pick instead of Ginn a couple of years ago......ehh, whatever.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the first play from scrimmage was a deliberate attempt by Rex Ryan to smash Crowder. Didn't they put some reserve o-lineman in as the lead-blocking fullback, specifically to crush Crowder? What a lowlife jerk. I think I heard Tirico mention that. We shoulda had them go 3 and out that series. Had that happened, Rex woulda allowed his bravado get in the way of success.
I think their 3rd down Wildcat attempt was also a pathetic effort to mock us as well. When that didn't work, they went with the fake punt. Classy. If Rex Ryan coaches with that arrogance (like not taking the 2 timeouts because he "knew we wouldn't score") he will never be a successful HC.
Look who he learned from, his dad Buddy Ryan. Whatever the exact opposite of class is, that is Buddy Ryan.
That's why I did not elaborate. I was a student at Ole Miss when Willis was there. I had the feeling he would be a good NFL player, but did not realize he would be as dominant as he is. Not many people knew about him until he won the Butkus, then the combine run, and then the workout run where he ran a 4.39 then a 4.38 to show it was not a fluke. I always wondered how Willis would have played if he learned under the tutelage of a Zach Thomas (and how that would have affected our team). No doubt he is learning from one of the all-time greats in Singletary. Am I pining over it? A little. But I was not going to paint a picture. Just a little frustration and rhetoric because we would not be talking about Channing's incapacities (IMO) if Willis was drafted. I knew 5 years ago that Miami needed to draft a stud MLB/ILB. They tried in Channing. I think the Channing experiment should have ended this past off-season.
