First of all: I'm not much of a Ducasse fan, so I'm not implying he should be proclaimed the messiah of the OL. That said Hunter is clearly not getting the job done and we have to see what this guy can do. Heck, if Rex doesn't want to start him at least have him take Mulligan's place as a 6th OL. Now Pool, this is a guy I'm a fan of. I don't give 2 shits if he doesn't know the system as well as Smith or if he isn't as smart. Leonhard is the smart guy with obvious physical limitations back there. I know he's coming off a knee sprain but will he ever take Smith's place as the starter? I hope this happens sooner than later. While we are at it I hope Nelson heals from the illness that has kept him inactive and takes Mulligan's place as soon as possible. Even Baker could be tried out in Mulligan's position... there's no way they'd do worse. To sum it up: Hunter, Smith & Mulligan are clearly not getting the job done... how much time will it take for Rex to take his loyal head out of his ass and starts looking at the other options we have on our roster? If I had to guess I'd say as soon as we reach the 6th loss... PS (Start of Mulligan rant) Is Rex really telling us Ducasse, Schlauderaff & Baker are all worse blockers than Mulligan? There is NO one on the street better than him at blocking!? I find that impossible to believe. I think Westy must have gone Penn State on his ass and they're trying to cover it up. (End of Mulligan rant)
Pool would have been playing a lot the last 2 weeks as he had been if he was healthy. I can't imagine Vlad is anywhere near close to playing.
Ducasse has been playing as the 6th OL/3rd TE spot. I don't understand all the man love for Pool, what has he done in 2 years he to indicate he doesn't suck? Pool has been nothing short of a major dissapointment here in NY. Smith is hot trash, and the hilarious part is Pool is about 30-70% split with Smith. Yet Pool isn't even noticed on the field, and has made 0 impact plays this year. Hell the only impactful play I can remember was the INT he had off Cro's helmet week 2 against Brady last year. The reality here is that Pool just isn't very good, and is not any better in coverage than Smith, and is no where near as good in run support as Smith is. We need a major upgrade at safety this offseason, smith just isnt going to cut it against elite passing offenses. I still don't understand signing Nelson. He has been inactive since the day we signed him with an 'illness' if he was going to be out so long, why not wait to sign the guy? He is the one I think is most likely to see the field should he ever get over his 'illness' In short, Ducasse is getting on the field, nelson is apparently sick as a dog, and Brodney Pool has been an utter failure since his arrival in NY.
yet he couldnt do anything right before that, and has failed to do anything since. I would also like to point out Eric Smith's best games as a safety came after Jimmy got hurt. Yet he isnt being revered like pool is. Hell I want to believe that pool is better than Smith, because Smith is terrible. Yet if he can't get more time, and he cant make any positive impact plays for us when he does get his chances, how can we argue he is any better than the garbage in front of him? Especially since he hasn't shown to be anything special at any point in his career?
The man love for Pool is " at least he can cover "----he IMO is way better than that liability we have back there called Eric Smith. Ducasse should not even be on the practice squad----if not for his draft status he probably would have been cut----I do not see an answer on the line behind Hunter,,,Ducasse would be worse than Hunter. Shame on Tanny for not addressing this earlier and just HOPING that Ducasse would come around!
He has failed to do anything since because since then Smith has been proclaimed THE starter and Pool the back-up. Also because he injured his knee... Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Pool is Polamalu... but he isn't worse than Smith! To be honest it's not so much Smith I'm pissed with but the Smith-Leonhard duo. They're both very smart safeties with physical limitations... you can afford one on the field but not two at the same time. And of the two I believe Leonhard is the better player...
I think you are overstating the 'starter' term. Rex hasnt ever just played a guy because he was the 'starter' he has given the other guys opportunities to shine. Rhodes is a perfect example of that. If Pool was as good/better than Smith, he would be on the field more. As I pointed out, he probably gets in on 30% of snaps right now, yet he hasnt made a single positively impactful play for us this year. Hell he might have as many blown run support assignments as tackles. If memory serves, he got torched on both of Mcfadden's long runs in the raiders game, as well as was on the field most of the drive Green-Ellis carved us up to seal the first NE game. Pool hasnt been very good this year, and thats why he isnt seeing the field, not some 'conspiracy' that Rex is in love with Eric Smith. ou want to blame the injured knee? thats fine, I'll just point out that when he was healthy he didnt do anthing for us then either
I don't see why we shouldn't start Vlad right now. We already know what we have with Hunter, and it isn't good. If Vlad is ever going to develop, he has to get in there at some point, other than in practice.
I also don't understand the love for Pool. The CS knows who he is, and they play Smith over him. I have no reason to think the CS is wrong here.
For shits n' giggles, I checked out the 2010 draft results to see who we passed over in favor of Ducasse Notables (all starters btw, and positions we could use): Ed Dickson - TE Morgan Burnett - S Eric Decker - WR Navarro Bowman - LB Jimmy Graham - TE Project players should only be drafted if the team has significant depth. We're not the Green Bay Packers.
Eh, the Packers are not even what your making them out to be here. They have a ton of holes on defense and an offense that is good enough to cover for it. We ,on the other hand, have holes on both sides of the ball. Wtihout on unit capable of dominating a game we are losing the close ones we used to eek out. Ducasse was a monster of a project that was absoloutly hurt bad by the lack of a full offseason. The kid should have been spending all offseason refining his skills and instead was without a coaching staff to guide him. Sadly now if he does not step up soon he may never get his chance with us becasue we need a solid body at RT and soon.
I would cut off a foot to have Jimmy Graham on this team. Him and DK would be a nasty 2 TE set. Bowman would be fantastic too but no need for MLB with Harris/Scott.
I disagree. Graham and keller would be a bit of a mess. Both of them lack the ability to get any push in run blocking. We need someone the compliments what kelelr brings, not a second pass catching TE. The reason the Gronk and Hernandez work so well as a set is becasue Gronk is a monster of a blocker to go with his pass catching skills. Hernandez is more like Keller, a big WR.
