Defense Appreciation Thread

[MacReady]

Just remember the perception of Clark after his first year before anybody judges Gary's first year.  The perception of Clark was that he would be a nose tackle and nothing more, and only an okay one at that.  This perception followed him even after his second season in which he had 4.5 sacks.

[coachbuns]

37 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

Just remember the perception of Clark after his first year before anybody judges Gary's first year.  The perception of Clark was that he would be a nose tackle and nothing more, and only an okay one at that.  This perception followed him even after his second season in which he had 4.5 sacks.

Have no expectations from Gary this year whatsoever.  Thus far, our defensive line is good/stout enough for him to sub in occasionally and learn the game.  Willing to give him couple years to adjust and learn.  However, being picked so high by the Packers when many questioned it will be interesting to watch.  The jury is watching and waiting.

[{Family Ghost}]

45 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

Just remember the perception of Clark after his first year before anybody judges Gary's first year.  The perception of Clark was that he would be a nose tackle and nothing more, and only an okay one at that.  This perception followed him even after his second season in which he had 4.5 sacks.

A lot of it with Gary is going to come down to his will to improve and our coaches ability to get him to the next level.  It seems that given his pedigree he should be much further along than he currently is.

[Kenrik]

14 minutes ago, coachbuns said:

Have no expectations from Gary this year whatsoever.  Thus far, our defensive line is good/stout enough for him to sub in occasionally and learn the game.  Willing to give him couple years to adjust and learn.  However, being picked so high by the Packers when many questioned it will be interesting to watch.  The jury is watching and waiting.

I feel the exact same. Let Gary get some playing time and adjust to the NFL. Have shoulder surgery over the off-season and work him more into the game-plan next year. This is Fackrell's contract year.

[Kepler]

Defense is worse without Mike Daniels

[Gopackgonerd]

28 minutes ago, Kepler said:

Defense is worse without Mike Daniels

Technically we are better without him so far 

[AlexGreen#20]

56 minutes ago, Kepler said:

Defense is worse without Mike Daniels

Haven't really looked at it to closely but I suspect it's not the 3/5T that are the reason this thing is looking so tight. Not after giving up 200 on the ground

[Kepler]

1 minute ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

Haven't really looked at it to closely but I suspect it's not the 3/5T that are the reason this thing is looking so tight. Not after giving up 200 on the ground

70+ yards on one play. Daniels stops that play everytime.

[Gopackgonerd]

27 minutes ago, Kepler said:

70+ yards on one play. Daniels stops that play everytime.

Clark wasnt even on the field on that play 

[Arthur Penske]

 

 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Arthur Penske

[boratt]

3 hours ago, Outpost31 said:

Just remember the perception of Clark after his first year before anybody judges Gary's first year.  The perception of Clark was that he would be a nose tackle and nothing more, and only an okay one at that.  This perception followed him even after his second season in which he had 4.5 sacks.

So true. That was so bizarre. He was 20 years old and people were talking like he was maxed out. 

[Kepler]

1 hour ago, Gopackgonerd said:

Clark wasnt even on the field on that play 

If Daniels was still here would have never happened.

[MrBobGray]

1 hour ago, Kepler said:

70+ yards on one play. Daniels stops that play everytime.

Eh, Daniels got washed out of his gap more than once last year.  He was a good player but he was not a good fit in a two gap scheme like Pettine's and it was likely that play happens the same regardless.  Kenny Clark not being on the field was a lot bigger factor.

Plus, that play was just a lot of little things going wrong at the same time.  Lancaster saw the gap the run was going to and overcommitted early, letting the center get into his side and drive him out of the play.  Adams should have been there to squeeze it but for reasons I have yet to figure out he inexplicably tries to spin back away from the play.  I assume he felt the pressure from his side and thought they were driving him out of the play (similar to Lancaster) because he couldn't see Cook yet.  He wins initially and if he had just kept going it's probably no gain when Cook cuts back against Lancaster.  Both of them are trying to fill the gap Fadol Brown should be filling, but he goes with a hard inside move and guesses very wrong.  Or he and Lancaster are running the world's slowest stunt, it's hard to tell and if they really called a NT/DE stunt with Lancaster/Brown then I'd like to petition Pettine to go ahead and dump that one out of the playbook.  Martinez takes too long to read the play so the RG gets into his body and he's done.  Then Savage misses a tough tackle.  Tough break, but just a lot of small individual things that went the wrong way this time. 

[Kepler]

1 minute ago, MrBobGray said:

Eh, Daniels got washed out of his gap more than once last year.  He was a good player but he was not a good fit in a two gap scheme like Pettine's and it was likely that play happens the same regardless.  Kenny Clark not being on the field was a lot bigger factor.

Plus, that play was just a lot of little things going wrong at the same time.  Lancaster saw the gap the run was going to and overcommitted early, letting the center get into his side and drive him out of the play.  Adams should have been there to squeeze it but for reasons I have yet to figure out he inexplicably tries to spin back away from the play.  I assume he felt the pressure from his side and thought they were driving him out of the play (similar to Lancaster) because he couldn't see Cook yet.  He wins initially and if he had just kept going it's probably no gain when Cook cuts back against Lancaster.  Both of them are trying to fill the gap Fadol Brown should be filling, but he goes with a hard inside move and guesses very wrong.  Or he and Lancaster are running the world's slowest stunt, it's hard to tell and if they really called a NT/DE stunt with Lancaster/Brown then I'd like to petition Pettine to go ahead and dump that one out of the playbook.  Martinez takes too long to read the play so the RG gets into his body and he's done.  Then Savage misses a tough tackle.  Tough break, but just a lot of small individual things that went the wrong way this time. 

But losing Daniels made the defense worse

[OneTwoSixFive]

I'm not convinced by this revisionistic perception of Clark in his rookie year. My own perception was that he was decent for a rookie, making a good sized jump at the end of that first year.

I don't remember claims that he was maxed out at the end of his rookie year, and I always believed he would continue to improve from that point. I do remember some talk about him being a run stopper without much pass rush, but some posters are notorious for rushing to judgement on a player.

Now in his 4th year, few if any are better NTs. I have no idea what his annual salary will be when a deal is made, somewhere north of $15m pa I'm sure, but how far above that is the question. $18m, $20m, $22m,  I really don't know.