I actually agree with him champ. Ellis was inconsistent at best last year and Kimo sucked balls all year long. These guys, along with DRob are supposed to be able to take 1-2 guys apiece between the OL and TEs. Remember, DEs inj the 3-4 are essentially men who are DT's in the 4-3. Ellis and Kimo were being manhandled at points by just one of these guys, leaving 3 OLinemen to DRob. He was only able to take 1 (or 2 later in the season when he improved), which led to at least 1 OL getting to the next level and being able to take Vilma out of the play. Stronger DE play and a better rotation on both sides will allow the line to actually take on the interior of that line and allow Vilma to be free to make takles and plays when necessary, and allow our OLB's to not have to face potential double teams on a pass rush as well.
1) no, not the majority. but a lot of newbies in here just like to repeat what they read. a lot of times its just hearsay. our defense will not magically turn into a top 3 defense just by adding a nose tackle. if it was really that easy every team would have a great defense. like i said, its a lot more complex than that. our linebackers dont really know how to play in the 3-4 defense. one step in the wrong direction and the blockers will pick you up. boom, another 1st down. im happy with the coleman addtion and i hope carriker somehow falls to us but its probably not gonna happen. maybe we can pick up kareem brown in the 3rd or 4th or justin harrell in the 2nd. we could trade up to get him, that would be awesome. 2) pretty much, yeah. im not saying they all suck except for robertson. d-rob is not a terrific 3-4 run stuffer, we know that. but he does all the other things real well. i would like us to pick up a run stuffing nose tackle, a guy who comes in on 3rd and inches to stop the run. who knows, maybe pouha can step up this year.
That's probably exactly what he'll be good for, considering his NFL speed/stamina have probably taken a hit after missing a whole year...but it would be great if he could fill the role of NT on rushing downs.
I agree. I believe that D-Rob and a combination of Moore and Pouha in a NT rotation should have a better year in 2007 than 2006. People tend to oversimplify things and not account for measured improvements just from having another year under the same defensive system. A porous run defense is a collective product of the defense as a whole. It seems like most of the blame for this has fallen on the NT position which I believe to be unfair and premature at this point. What is of mild concern to me is that we may intentionally reach for players who may not represent the best value at our drafting positions just to fulfil these perceived needs. If the D-Line continue to yield the yds./carry that they did last year this season, then perhaps things should change. Until them I think we should look elsewhere. For now I see more glaring needs to fulfill through the draft that can impact the team more immediately this season like more speed and meat on the Linebacking corp (Zak DeOssie perhaps?), more size and youth upfront (Blalock), and strengthening the defensive backfield (Wright and Hughes?). I guess we'll all know come Monday April 30th.
