He is saying that the 10.5 sack year Pace had was an 'anomaly' but it got changed to 'anonymity', probably by a crappy word correct reacting to a poor spelling. FYI
But you still haven't acknowledged Pace's role as an edge setter. Until you recognize what that means in a Rex Ryan D,how hard it is to find guys w/ that skill set, & how Pace performs in that role...you aren't gonna be painting an accurate picture of Pace's value to this team. As for the 10.5 sacks. Do you hear anyone on here, in the media or anyone else calling him a fierce pass rusher??No. He most certainly benefited from the play in front of him as well as Rex's scheme. Nonetheless 10.5 sacks is 10.5 sacks.Any way you slice it, it's impressive production.
Agree...and that's why he was brought back...at the Vet Min. Which means 1) He's a vet. 2) He's not a very good vet. 3) No other team wanted him. I like Pace as much as anyone, especially when he opened Eli's head like a can of tuna. But we have a unique D-Line that demands the other teams full attention, which opens the door for our edge rusher. So put a young gun in there and let him go. 20 sacks is very doable in this defense.
Pace was brought back to be a stopgap, the Jets drafted a couple of possible SOLBs but they are raw and just can't start. I have no problem with Pace being back with the team, he developed into a smart player over the years and even though he slows down more every day, Kurt is right, the guy knows the defense, and sets the edge well. I'm just glad that the Jets are basically admitting that he's a stopgap instead of relying on him as the established starter.
I guess you're right. For years we've wanted an edge rusher to make the d-line fearsome...but it turns out the d-line can make the edge rusher fearsome. Can you imagine a John Abraham on the edge with this line? wow.
Excellent link, TonyMac. Truly a must read for fans and resident "know-nothing-know-it-alls" who have an extremely narrow and limited understanding as to the particulars of each player's responsibilities, their various key assignments, the critical roles they play and the impact they ultimately have in the overall dynamic in our defensive system in terms of the big picture. While John Idzik continues to get criticized for “missing” on free agent targets that he didn’t actually miss on as much as he wasn’t willing to be the highest bidder on, many of Idzik’s smart aquistions continue to fly under the radar. ...but the move that seems to be getting overlooked the most was the re-signing of Calvin Pace for two-years and $5 million. Pace’s true value and impact on this Jets defense has been overlooked and misunderstood his entire time here, this is not an uncommon thing amongst linebackers as you’re soon to read, when Pace signed a six-year $42 million contract with the Jets in 2008 misguided fans expected double-digit sacks from him every year. Fans wanted tangible numbers they could point to in the stat sheet to gauge his impact, problem is football doesn’t work like that. Stats are almost meaningless by themselves, there’s too many varibles that no one outside the team can account for and the way defenses are structured tend to help some guys pad their stats while other guys do the dirty work and free up their stat compiling teammates. No need to take a writer’s word for it though because JetsInsider.com caught up with former Jet linebacker Bart Scott who has been staying in shape for his new gig as an anaylst for CBS by working out at TEST Parisi Football Academy in Martinsville, New Jersey. The TEST Parisi Football Academy trains NFL hopefuls as they prepare for the combine/pro day and also helps train current NFL players to stay in shape during the offseason. Scott explained that he doesn’t think people understand just how vital Pace is to what Rex Ryan likes to do on defense, he railed against the idea of using stats to measure a player’s impact and explained, in great detail, that Pace’s responsibilities exceed the grasp of most fans. “Yeah, they (average fans) don’t know, they don’t know. Compare him (Pace) to Adalius Thomas because that’s the position he’s playing, Terrell Suggs was the rush, he got to do what he wanted to. That’s why he could go underneath and nobody cares, people cover for him.” Scott said, “But the SAM doesn’t have that freedom because the SAM is usually responsible for getting a jam on the tight end, then rush. How are you going to get off the ball, you hitting the tight end and the tackle gets a chance to step back and he’s already waiting for you? “They don’t understand, they don’t get it. He has very few opportunities to really rush the passer, Barnes, Coples those guys just go. (Barnes) You can tell he has no responsibility by the first two steps, he comes in like a wild man, but with Calvin it’s always read steps.”
Continued: Read steps means the linebacker has to work his way through reads and be responsible for setting the edge, taking on blockers to free up teammates, coverage on tight end/slot receiver and then after all that he can shoot for the rush. It’s very similar to the way a quarterback has to work through his reads, first target, second target, third, still not there, okay it’s check down time and for Pace most of the time his responsibility means rushing the passer is his check down. “Right and we’re going through our read progressions, but people don’t realize that.” Scott said. “The easiest thing to get in this game is numbers, but who are you willing to screw over to get numbers. Now Calvin could get a lot of sacks if he screws over the inside linebacker because what happens is if every time he just shoots up every time, the one time where he gets up the field and it’s a draw or pass and this guy, who is a tackle, has leverage on the inside linebacker and can seal him inside, he’s screwing over the linebacker because now he’s (the linebacker) doing that (and) he’s (the tackle) not even going to block he’s just going to come earhole the inside linebacker.” Scott said, “The fullback would seal Calvin and it would create an alley and the backside linebacker is not going to be able to get over the top because this guy’s going to block the other backer with him. “See what happens now is Calvin does his job, David (Harris) gets over the top, now the backside guy, which was usually me, I got to beat the guard or the center. Because usually I’m the weak side, a lot of times unless it’s a weak side run where I got to go hit the fullback or guard, these guys always have the angle on me. They never really have the angle on the Mike (Harris is the Mike linebacker) because the Mike is lined up over the guard. So he doesn’t have an angle to seal me, he can come up and get me, but David can come here and go here and it’s easy. Meanwhile, I’m here and I’m going here, you always got an angle with me. I always got to come over, hit the guard, try to straighten him up and cross his face. It’s like someone trying to run this way and someone’s like ‘yeah, come one’ because he’s 300 lbs. So, of course this guy (the SAM or WILL) isn’t going to get as many tackles because this guy (the Mike) is going to get to the ball first because there’s nobody to block him.” Which is why Scott thinks it’s so important that the Jets re-signed Pace. Scott says it’s easy to find guys who can be turned loose and just rush the passer or run straight to the ball, but finding players willing to mix it up, do the heavy-lifting/dirty work and take on multiple responsibilities knowing he’ll receive more blame and less glory than he deserves for the sake of the team are much harder to find.
continued: “He has to drop in coverage, they’re responsible to draw blocks and set the edge. Rushing is secondary for them, that’s why they’re named SAM (linebacker) and rush (linebacker). Rush is to rush, SAM is more responsibility, be a spy on the quarterback and their job is to keep everything inside, unless they have sub down, which is basically for them to create a short edge for an outside blitzer.” Scott said, “So the fact that Calvin got 10 sacks is amazing, because when Adalius (Thomas) was having 13 (sacks) and leading the league his were from blitzing. His were from standing up and running blitzes. “So, that position isn’t meant to get a lot of sacks unless he’s blitzing, Calvin doesn’t do a lot of blitzing. Adalius used to line up at safety and blitz, Adalius used to line up in certain positions where he had a free rush, where he could have liberty to go inside or outside. And a lot of these people know that within that system, because so many people have come from that system, they know his job is to contain so they play to that fact. That allows the tackles to sit inside because they know he’s not coming underneath, because he can’t.” Of course it’s still Ryan’s defensive system, but Scott said the system has changed a bit because the strength of the team is the defensive line now and that gives Pace more freedom to just make plays because the defensive line is occupying so much of the offensive line’s attention. “I think last year, because the strength was the d-line, he has more ability and more freedom to rush the passer. Where he can rush and not have any regard for contain, his job was just to get to the rusher, that’s few and far between in that position. People have to understand the system, if you think about the system Tamba Hali and Justin Houston (in Kansa City), they play more of a switch WILL position, where they allow them to blitz and the inside linebackers do a lot of the dropping and Eric Berry drops down.” Scott said, “So, within Rex’s system, the way he interprets it, he uses Calvin, that’s why it was so vital for them to sign him back. Not because of his pass rushing, but they signed him back because he’s the only one who can do the athletic things, draw two blockers and then drop for a three receiver hook or go slash in-between the slot receiver and play the outside, if he runs a press out which allows a guy coming into the box to take the in-cut.”
Continued: Scott doesn’t think the Jets need to draft a young outside linebacker to start grooming saying, “Well they don’t have to because they’re pretty much set at that spot. You got Coples, you got him (Pace) and you got Barnes coming back.” When asked if he thinks Pace has another two years left in the tank he said, “Oh yeah, Calvin takes care of his body very well. Calvin eats cauliflower and all that, he’s like a rabbit. You’ll never see Calvin eating anything bad so, two years, the thing about that job is at worst all he has to do is set the edge and stay outside and when his guy blocks down, hit the pulling guard. Those types of jobs you can do forever, because they’ll use Barnes and the other guys to do the athletic stuff because no matter what, no matter how old he gets, he can always be athletic for that position. It’s not like he’s Demarcus Ware trying to drop down in space or something like that so, it’s not that hard of an adjustment because Calvin’s actually a skinny guy. Even though he’s like 250-255, he’s skinny. His weight is high, but that’s because he’s tall. So he’ll always be able to run, like Jason Taylor no matter how old he got he’ll always be able to run.” We’ll have much more from the conversation with Scott in the next couple of days (going to have to draw up some diagrams to be able to really get into all the X’s and O’s of what he talked about), but as a former linebacker who was asked to do the heavy-lifting for the good of his teammates despite it not being good for his numbers he knows not only is that role extremely important and harder to find a fit for, but it’s also a role where the player’s true impact gets lost on the average fan. Pace is 33-years-old, but getting to play behind this defensive line is his fountain-of-youth so, don’t expect his play to suddenly drop off. “But a guy like Calvin because he’s so light and limber he’ll always be able to do stuff like that.” Scott said, “Calvin could play that position forever.”
This is without question Calvin Paces last season in Green and White he is getting up there in age,I highly doubt he will be able to get 10 sacks again this season
Dude is right though , pace's sacks were mainly all coverage sacks, and the fact our d-line demands doubles, pace's production coulda been done by almost any OLB
Did anybody read the article? The Point was not to evaluate Pace, but to get his opinion on the team and from what he has observed in OTAs, things are looking good and this is an improved team.
Can one of you guys explain in plain English what your understanding of "setting the edge" is? Is it anything more than maintaining the outside blocker so that the play stays inside for the interior linemen to gobble up the tackles? Serious question. Thanks.
Your posts are garbage in general. In this instance, it's because you clearly have no clue what Pace's role on this team is. You even admitted it in the post of yours that I quote below after Byz of all people had the kindness in his heart to educate your clueless ass on the situation. More on that in a second, but first let's break down this nonsense of yours. The fact that you bring up fantasy football just shows what a clueless moron you are and I'll even be so nice as to tell you why this time; I play in a very deep IDP league. 14 teams with 2 linebacker starting positions on each team. This means that, in a perfect world, the top 28 linebackers will be starting. Pace scored 73 fantasy points in my league last year. This ranks him as the 69th best linebacker. So yes, he is not going to be on anyone's fantasy team, even after the best 30 guys, there's was a whole 30 more to choose from before considering Pace as a fantasy option. But here's where we separate fantasy from reality; there are not 14 teams in the NFL there are more than double that. There are not only 2 starting linebacker positions per team, there are about double that. So in real life the top 128 or so linebackers would be considered starter caliber. Pace being ranked 69th in production means that he rated out above almost half of the leagues starters in real life. So the answer to your question is actually yes; if my fantasy league was set up like the NFL then I certainly could do much worse than Pace as a LB3 or LB4 talent. This is what he is and that's why he has value. With such a good D-line a good LB3/4 should be statistically rating out as one of the most productive players from the LB3 tier. This is exactly what Pace did. You bitching that he's not an LB1 (like John Abraham) just displays what a simple-minded peon you are. Your behavior is mentally equivalent to buying a truck and then bitching that it doesn't go from 0 to 60 in the same time as a sportscar would. I do watch all the games. My my, that must mean you're calling me a pussy then... Just like your viewpoint on pro football, you seem to live in fantasy more than reality. It's safe for you to call someone a pussy behind the anonymity of your fantasy persona on the internet because there is no threat of violent retaliation; the main deterrent for such behavior in real life. 'Give me internet tough guys for 1000, Alex'. Just curious when was the last time in real life that you called a man a pussy to his face? I'll go with 'what is never', you fake bitch. No need to guess. You and we know he's right and therefore you're wrong. We can dismiss your previous attempts at winning the argument for your case as failures. Like I said, your posts are garbage. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That's it in a nutshell, it's taking the ability to move the pocket or the blocking scheme laterally from the offense, and keeping RBs from bouncing outside for an open field run. Edit: and a lot of times the guy setting the edge didn't have to actually engage the outside blocker, just force them to account for him so they can't participate in a double team which makes the interior defenders more effective.
Because teams have found it more effective to send a constant speed rush at the blind side of the QB, no matter if they're working from an internal clock or not. If you look at the alignment of the ILBs, they tend to be shifted slightly to the LT side of the formation to compensate for the lack of an edge setting player unless the RE is in a technique that can push the other edge back effectively setting it.
