I was watching a program on the 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers last night on the NFL Network. Obviously a great team, but what struck me the most was the furious presence of MLB Jack Lambert. Listening to all these HOF Steeler defenders -- monsters in the their own right --discussing Lambert's demeanor and the agitation that he played with, once again made me realize that... ...WHAT THE JETS ARE REALLY LACKING IS A PHYSICALLY INTIMIDATING, VOCAL LEADER WHO WILL HOLD HIS TEAMMATES ACCOUNTABLE WHEN THEY SCREW UP. Now that I think about it, I saw virtually the same story the night before when the 77 Cowboys talked about how Randy White not only intimidated the opposition, he scared the #$@ out of his own teammates. This is Mangini's most important "get", and it doesn't matter whether it comes in the form of a pass-rushing DE, a run-stuffing DT, or a super-defending D-back.
There is a guy in the NFL like that now: Brian Urlacher I think he is one of the best leaders on the football field in this era.
Granted, these type of players are generally HOFers and they don't grow on trees, but we won't get to the promised land until we land one.
We haven't had those types of players since Bryan Cox and Keyshawn Johnson. As I have mentioned before, most good teams have that one intimidating player on both sides of the ball that just "scares" opposing teams.....
What are you basing that on? We're talking about an in-your-face intimidator. There is nothing Rhodes does in the way he carries himself or speaks with other players (audio recordings heard in the past) that would lead me to think so. We're talking about a real tough SOB- the kind of guy who will just trash talk and instill fear in opposing teams- we don't have that yet.
Are U serious picking the guy who only makes tackles 5 or more yds DF? I wonder if after this past season the CS/FO may not try to move him due to his unproductive play
Improve the weak soft dline and Vilma will improve, I guarantee that. And as for the vocal leader, that is overrated, we need a guy that can lead by example, with the physical intimidation, etc.
How can U guarantee that? R U being hired for the CS? Did U consider that just maybe a non swiss cheese line in front of him will make no difference to JV performance? Did U research his production when we played the 4-3 if U did you would find his production was no different then in the 3-4
It is blatantly obvious that a dline that isn't manhandled and pushed 3 yards deep, which ours was constantly against the better teams will make a huge difference in linebacker play, and if you don't think so tell me one good linebacker from a team with a pathetic dline. As for his play in the past, we have never really had the strength of the dline other than his rookie year where he was the defensive rookie of the year.
Rodney Harrison is that guy on the Patriots, and also to some extent Teddy Bruschi and even Seau before he got hurt.
Closest thing we have to that is Barton but he often makes some mistakes that need to be held accountable so he is only part of that puzzle piece, maybe Vilma will get there but he seems to be more the lead by example type, he needs to be spending more time with Ray Lewis
To me that is a made up excuse by JV fans. His record speaks for itself & so far it is a not very impressive. I will go when on his draft day Coker was on Miami radio & said we erred big time in not taking Wilfork over JV cause JV was not strong enough or big enough to be successful in the NFL.
Miller tries to talk up a storm while playing CB. Unfortunately, he gets penalized for running his mouth too much and sucks as a CB. So it's not him either.
2004 in 14 games started, he had 77 solo tackles, 31 assisted tackles, 3 ints, 2 sacks and a TD, and in the playoffs 16 solo tackles, 14 assisted tackles, and a sack During that year our Dline had Abraham mostly, Ellis who had one of his best years, Ferguson and Robertson 2005 he had 128 solo tackles, 45 assisted tackles, but the impact plays went down with just 0.5 sacks and a int We lost Ferguson, Ellis and Robertson had terrible years, and Abraham was basically the only player worth a damn, while our offense was hideous 2006 we switch to a completely different defensive system had Kimo who was ancient and bad and overall our dline play was bad all year to the point that we were forced to have to blitz every single down to get anywhere The only year where his dline wasn't pathetic was 2004, the dline allows the linebackers to make plays, that is why I can guarantee that when our dline is finally fixed, Vilma will be a force again.
