sorry but the NT position REQUIRES: EXPERIENCE and skills. POUHA mighrt have skills but has no experience!
Its not really even worth talking about him much I expect he will come into camp with the rest of the NT and compete for the job and Mangini will decide who he likes best. If Pouha is not not worth keeping on the team he will get cut.
3 words for you on the interior line... RO - TA - TION. you need a good one, and a true FAT boy in the middle would be fantastic. Always a fresh fat guy in the middle would be fantastic... and I don't see Robertson as true 3-4 NT... granted he played well, at times, this year I don't think he fits here much longer. Ellis
Pouha. Wow. I forgot all about all him actually :lol: He could have developed into a solid NT, but I think it may be too late. I don't expect him back next season.
He was having a decent camp and preseason too before he blew his knee out. I would like to see how he and Pouha are. Although I wouldn't mind keeping Robertson for another year.
Tui and Pouha dont have to be world beaters if they can provide the Jets with some depth, spell DRob, and allow him to slide out to Kimo's spot every once in a while one or both of them would allow for an upgrade of the D line as the season progressed. You are not going to sign superstars at every position and you dont need to for the D to be more successful. These guys are young enough and guys who have been in the system enough to make it at least to camp.
We might see Pouha at end, more then nose tackle. He's tall enough, and more than likely strong enough.
Kimo should not be here next season. He was brought in to help the line transition into the 3-4. He's served his purpose. Robertson should be moved into his spot next year. We need a true NT to play in this defense. That and a shut down corner will make this D solid for years to come. Pouha is depth, at best. There's no way we can hang out hats on a guy who is already older and is coming off a knee problem. For that much, just leave DRob in the middle.
27 years old, 28 at the beginning on next season, 14 regular season games played, 9 total tackles...I can hardly contain my excitement.
Wow I am utterly surprised to see this many people writing off this guy. He is too old? 27 is young and he hasn't been playing football for too long and hasn't had any injury issues up until now. It's too late for him to make the roster? Why because we have the anser already on our squad? Why wouldn't we give him a shot? I mean yeah we can admit he hasn't produced in a real game but who here is in a position to write the guy off? We obviously continue to need help and depth on the defensive line and this is a player who looked promising under the new coaches and because of an injury his chances are over in your books? Yeah he might never be the same but I'd say there is at least an equal chance he will return to his preseason form. Also, I'm pretty sure he is still under contract so why would we cut him without getting a second look at him. I think because of our unexpected success maybe people are too quick to say we don't need to take time to develop players or bring in guys for depth but the fact is we got to where we are by taking advantage of what was given to us. We played a weak schedule, we took advantage of it and won the games we should have and competed as hard as we could have in the other ones. This is another potential advantage we have. This guy could still turn out to at least be a solid depth player at a low cost and you guys are already writing him off? Unbelievable.
It's a shame too. Right now we could be looking at a very promising DL long term LE: Ellis NT: Pouha RE: Robertson As well as I think Robertson played at NT later in the year...I believe his natural spot in this D is at DE...where he has SCARY potential.
Glad at least a few people have ample long term memory to remember what was going on 6 months ago. Pouha was shaping up to be our starter at nose tackle, and the coaches seemed to be in love with him. As for the idea that he was drafted too high in the first place, there was speculation at the time that the Patriots were in line to pick him up if he had fallen much farther. With regards to his age, its certainly a factor, but not until the time for an extension comes, and thats a couple years down the road still. So what if you think he wont be here in a decade, if he managed to give us 3 years of quality starting nose tackling, thatd be fantastic. And look around the league at the great nose tackles weve seen. Ted Washington is still a highly regarded player and hes damn near forty, if not over forty. Sam Adams isnt much younger. Keith Traylor is in that same range and he started for the Dolphins this year. Were not talking about halfbacks here, nose tackles tend to have a pretty long shelf life. The idea that Pouha cant figure into this teams future plans because hes going to be 28 next season is laughable.
Not to mention he hasnt played much in 2 years. So although he may know the proper technique from being in an nfl system for 2+ years...he has endured many of the blocks/hits of the average player his age. He should be very fresh come training camp.
Before he got hurt last year, I saw him in TC. The two biggest problems he had as a rookie were poor stamina and bad technique. He came into camp slimmed down and in great shape. His technique was markedly improved. He had his feet farther apart, and was taking short choppy steps, not the long first step he took as a rookie, which allowed him to taken out fairly easilly. The one player that by far and away got the most congradulatory head slaps in parctice, and the most on field praise from coaches was Pouha. He definitely looked like he was going to be the starting NT. The biggest need on the defense isn't NT. It's a DE opposite Ellis. Anyone see Kimo sucking air against the Pats? He is no longer a good run stopper, and between him and Hamilton they had only one sack all year long. Cripes, even DRob had 2.5. We need a true 3-4 DE that is strong at the point of attack on run defense and can get us 5 or more sacks. Pouha WILL be on this team, and my guess is he'll have a good year.... and be better than Robertson at NT. For people siting his stats.... remember he WAS drafted as a project, and had little playing time his rookie year while he worked on his stamina and technique. I think it's ridiculously short sighted to write Pouha off so quickly.
I can't really say whether our biggest need is NT or DE, but alot of teams ran it up our gut quite easily last year and that needs to be addressed. But it seemed Vilfork was a name that I saw quite a bit on Sunday that made me sick to my stomach. Is Pouha the answer, I don't think the Jets can go into the offseason thinking that because he hasn't been for 2 year now. Will he be in the mix? Of course, anyone that thinks otherwise just doesn't know the value of having depth and competition.
As someone already mentioned, he was having a great TC before being injured. I think that he will not only be back, he will be a significant part of the defensive line rotation. 27 is not that old, especially if the player hasn't been on the field getting banged around. He needs more experience but he will get that this year and we will be very happy to have him around by mid season next year. That being said, we still need to draft/aquire some more beef for the D line. You never have enough good players to rotate and keep everyone fresh for the 4th quarter.
Why would anyone at this moment forget anybody that may contibute to next years effort to win a WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
