Another myth on t6his board is people blindly blaming the NT for any run defense woes in the 3-4. Watch the tape my of friend. At the beginning of the year, yes D rob was a big part of the problem...but about 5 games in, he vastly improved and was arguably our best player in the front 7.
Since we are talking about myths we should also talk about the myth of tackels being a measure of greatness. Not unless you break down the number into how many were for a loss of yardage, no gain, or short yardage vs catching a guy that just got by you. Two years ago when Vilma had 151 tackes or whatever it was it made me think of how bad our line was that he had to make them. Not how good he was in accomplishing that.
Did I mention any stats? Watch the tape on D'rob. Count how many times he got pushed backwards, gave up ground, and failed to occupy blockers. Than count how many times he pushed the poa backwards and occupied his gap. THEN you can talk about stats after all of that.
When our defense was clicking in the 4-3, a good percentage of his tackles were behind the line, because he was so aggressive in pursuit. Vilma is excellent when his supporting cast is effective, no he isn't the world-beater many people envision him to be, but when you honestly look around the league, 'world-beaters' in that sense of the word are rather hard to find. I remember analysts talking about Derrick Brooks like he was a world-beater, but the moment that Tampa D-line line started to decline he disappeared.
Excellent point, and you can say the same thing about many of the positions on the team. Some fans want players who are within the top-5 of their respective positions, which is fine. The problem is that some people want it at every position, which is impossible.
http://www.gastongazette.com/sections/sports/panthers/?id=1495 is it possible they might cut jenkins?
really? is that a fact? I sure hope the Jets aren't planning the team around such an absolute position. it isn't a matter of either or in the long run. if the Jets are going to win a Super Bowl with this team in the next few years, it is going to be because they are able to run the ball just as significantly as they are able to stop it, not pin all of their hopes on one positon on the field.
