Houston's defense is really stretched tonight with both JJ Watt and and Whitney Mercilus out, but it's hard to see anything about the Chiefs to complain about right now.
They're just so incredibly balanced and unpredictable with a defense that causes turnovers. It's a great blend when you have one of the best offensive coaches at the helm. And it's even more amazing that after Maclin was let go this offseason, their offense is producing at such a great rate with a group of no-name receivers. They all work extremely well together to get one of them open and are complimented nicely by the douchey but very good Travis Kelce. They're also very deep at most positions. The next man-up rule seems to work very well when your team drafts as well as they do. They barely even used Dee Ford his first year and he's turned out to be a stud of a pass rusher. They also have Justin Houston who is in the Von Miller class of game changing defensive players. Even when he's not getting sacks he's forcing teams to game plan against him while also creating pressure to force earlier throws off the edge. It'd be cool to see Andy Reid get back to the big game.
Tyreek Hill shaken up on that runback. I know he's a good returner but I really don't like the idea of using him on returns like they do. You're playing with fire as he's their only legitimate weapon at wide receiver. Use De'Anthony Thomas, don't they still have him?
Ridiculous punt return for a TD for Tyreek Hill. He just plain outran everybody going from one side of the field to the other.
I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, but DeMarcus Lawrence had another sack today and 8.5 on the season. Melvin Ingram has been killing it as well, two more sacks today for 7.5 on the season. They both have somewhat of a chance at the sack record due to their fast starts. 14.5 more for Lawrence to break the record, 15.5 for Ingram. 11 games left, need a couple two sack games and to average one a game the rest of the way. Lawrence is going to get paaaaid. Strahans record was 22.5 in 2001 including that gimme sack from Favre - Jared Allen had 8.5 through 5 games in 2011. He finished with 22. - Justin Houston only had 6 through 5 games. Also finished with 22 in 2014. - Mark Gastineau was on fire starting the season with 9 sacks through 5 games in 1984. - Reggie White had 7 through 5 games in 1987. He finished with 21 in only 12 games. Unbelieveable.
I wonder if JJ Watt can return to his All-Pro form. He's now not made it to the bye week two seasons in a row. He's truly a remarkable player and defensive players who take care of themselves and have freakish ability like Watt can often play well into their 30's. But this is further proof of what this league can do to the body. I don't think you'll find a harder worker or a more conditioned player than Watt and he's already struggling to maintain his health. It's sad that we may never see him break records like he certainly can. His four year stretch of 20.5 sacks, 10.5 sacks, 20.5 sacks and 17.5 sacks was an incredible feat. Toss 41 passes knocked down, 15 fumbles and 3 DPOY awards/4 first team All-Pro selections over that stretch and it's truly one of the best stretches ever by a defensive player. He's a Hall of Famer in my book if he were to retire today.
idk, ..he's in that TD category where I'm like...it hasn't been long enough. Which makes one ask, what if the player absolutely DOMINATED... then you have to consider it. But if the player was towards the top and had a short career...hmmm I dunno.
I think he's easily a Hall of Famer. With the way that the size and speed of players has increased I predict that there will be very few defensive front 7 players who are going to have long careers going forward - their bodies simply can't take it. Watt was by far the best defensive lineman in football, and arguably one of the best ever, for those four years, and I think he crosses the bar for sure. He's definitely a Gale Sayers-type player in my mind if he can't come back.
He's had a much more illustrious career than TD has had with the 3x DPOY and 4 time All-Pro. He'll also likely have more solid seasons it's just doubtful he'll have the type of seasons he had.
5 years then missed 24 games in the past 2 years... So that's 5 years of statistics to mull over...(Davis had 4 Solid years) Agreed, Nice stats, but if he never gets to those #'s again then I don't see it happening.
I doubt he'll be putting up sack numbers like that again. But I certainly wouldn't put it past him putting up a couple more 10 or so sack seasons. He would benefit a lot from a scheme switch. The 4-3 is a lot easier on the knees and upper body because you aren't standing your ground on first and second down against two bodies pushing back with all that force of two 300+ pounders. Doubt they'd make the change just for him since the defense is setup in the 3-4 at the moment with he, Mercilus and Clowney. If he loses a lot of speed maybe they use him as a 3T in the 4-3 with the other two as bookends? Even more amazing what he's done as a 3-4 end, although they obviously do put him on the edge a good amount of time in obvious pass rushing situations.
