we all constantly gripe and whine about our situation at the nose. size is not that big of a factor in this arguement as well. (8lbs seperates the two) its more about technique and learning capacity. wilfolk played in a 4-3 in college, and he seems to be doing a fine job in new england. maybe its the play around him, but this applies to robertson as well. maybe our two ends need moved for upgrades? anyway the blame once again falls directly on our coach and gm, they signed coleman (although he is decent) and could have addressed this need somewhere in the draft. does our staff believe ellis and coleman can play to the potential of seymour, warren, and green? sounds to me our coaching staff and gm lack the eye for talent in this scenario, out of the many that exist on our team. we may end up with only a good team, and thats my biggest fear in the long run. a change from mediocre to more mediocrity cant possibly be the awnser? i'm not satisfied with the two years we have seen from our heads, does anyone see my point? can anyone calm my fears?
I remember in that draft NE wanted DRob, and the Jets scooped him up.. Pats got Warren instead.. Wilfork was on a local boston sports show the other day, and he said that the reason he was able to make that transition from Miami's style of play where he came from was simply to check his ego.. He said it clicked the 3rd week of his second season. He decided to become "coachable".. There is my .02 cents..
calm your fears? well, eric and mike have not drafted on the d line yet. they needed someone at DE, and coleman is pretty good from what i have watched. Harris looks like the real deal, as does revis. schlagel was a huge mistake, but leon, brad smith, eric smith, brick, mangold are all legit we dont know what we have yet with clemens. we have to consider that this is only year 2 of a rebuilding process. last year, we got by a=on a lot of smoke and mirrors, and the drop off in Penny's play this year has us at 1-5 instead of 4-2 we are what are record says, but what makes it so frustrating is that we have been in 5 games (just couldnt finish) last year the squad way over achieved this year we are underachieving and it is mostly due to Chad's mistakes (of course, they lose as a team, but Chad is playing much worse this year than last year. in fact, ive never before seen so many mental lapses by him)
The FO cannot address every need in 2 off seasons. A 3-4 NT may be the most difficult position to fill in the NFL. This FO has done very well in two drafts so far IMO. With the exception of the boar hunter, how can you knock the guys we've grabbed in the past 2 drafts? As for Coleman, he's a big upgrade over vansuckoften and I don't believe there were any other 3-4 DE's available in FA. Have some patience. As for the weight, NFL.com has 15 pounds separating the two, my TV tells me at least 25 but that's just speculation.
A 3-4 NT can play the 4-3. In the 4-3 you still need half way decent NT to take up the guard and center. It's just more critical in the 3-4 since you only have 3 guys on the line.
Hard to get ecited about this. Maybe this week there is equality - next week and the week after - who knows. Hey, who took my sig, anyway???????????????
If Wilfork and Robertson are actually 8 pounds away from each other, I will eat my shoe. Teams lie about measurements for whatever reason.
I was thinking the same thing- Wilfork appears to outweigh Robertson by easily 20 pounds. It's not even close.
Wilfork played at 345 in college and then lost weight prior to the draft to about 336 bc there were concerns about his ability to stay fit since most teams were looking at him as a 4/3 DT. Since his current position is NT the weight is not an issue for him and he is easily playing at 350-360+ range. There is no comparison from a size perspective, Wilfork dwarfs Drob.
wilfork plays next to Seymour, one of the top lineman in football. DRob plays next to Sean Ellis--the Invisible Man
Thanks Bradway.... He moves UP for DROB while the Pats move back, assemble picks and grab Warren and then have Wilfork land in their laps the following year... The Pats have really done a great job mastering and moving around drafts..
I'm not saying that isn't possible, all I'm just saying is that a 3-4 NT can play in the 4-3. As far as D-Rob goes he's had his good moments and bad moments. The problem with D-Rob isn't necessarily his play, but his contract his huge. Are we getting value for what we pay him
Moving up consistently in the draft means you do not trust your scouting department to evaluate players and find talent down the pecking order and it means you do not have the balls to do the only thing that has ever consistently worked in the NFL draft: sit where you are and take the best available player. This is now true for Bradway's administration and Tannenbaum's. There is a reason the Jets have no quality depth and subpar talent starting at several positions.
I tried to get some stats on one of my favorite players to ever hit the field, Jim Burt, NT for the NY Giants and a key part of their 1986 Superbowl run. On the NFL page I was met with the following stats- note the height but especially the weight. Was he really that small and still so disruptive? Are they a little off with the weight? Jim Burt Height: 6-1 Weight: 255 Born: 6/7/1959 Buffalo , NY College: Miami (Fla.) Experience: 11 Seasons
I don't recall how big he was to tell you the truth, however 1986 is a long time ago. Many of the rules that applied then would not still be true today. As an example about 75% of the cornerbacks in the league in 1986 could not make the NFL except as a third-stringer these days. The fast ones would be too small and the big ones too slow.
Those statistics often come from their stats coming into the draft. You don't often get size updates once they get in the league. Either way, all guys were smaller in Burt's day.
You cannot use Joe Klecko as an example to compare any other lineman to. He was one of the most disruptive players I have ever seen regardless of where he was playing on the defensive line. He had a motor that was always running and never took a play off and he almost never came off the field on defense, playing on special teams also in punting and field goal situations. He was also extraordinarily strong even for his size. If D-Rob had Klecko's motor, strength and instinct for where the play was likely to be he'd be a very good to great nose tackle.
