naptownskinsfan Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaddHatter Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Solid Hire - will be even better when Al Harris follows 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e16bball Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 1 hour ago, MaddHatter said: Solid Hire - will be even better when Al Harris follows We’ve talked a lot about Al Harris, of course, but Aden Durde is even more of a “Quinn guy,” having followed him over from ATL to become his DL coach. Is there any thought in DAL circles that Durde might be poach material as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaddHatter Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 3 minutes ago, e16bball said: We’ve talked a lot about Al Harris, of course, but Aden Durde is even more of a “Quinn guy,” having followed him over from ATL to become his DL coach. Is there any thought in DAL circles that Durde might be poach material as well? I would assume the entire staff is poachable at this point, especially if we're bringing in Zimmer who likely will want his own guys. Durde is another guy we are interviewing today (internally) for the Coordinator position, but not much fanfare for him. I think biggest issue with Durde is his DL hasn't done much to improve since he arrived. Micah and DLaw are who they are and great talents, but you look at the interior and it's been pretty ugly with only really Osa developing. Then you look at the failed development of Mazi and it's even more concerning. Meanwhile you look at our DB's and the work Harris did with Bland and some of our safeties who stepped up despite being lesser talented guys, and there's a reason for the fanfare he has. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e16bball Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 6 minutes ago, MaddHatter said: I would assume the entire staff is poachable at this point, especially if we're bringing in Zimmer who likely will want his own guys. Durde is another guy we are interviewing today (internally) for the Coordinator position, but not much fanfare for him. I think biggest issue with Durde is his DL hasn't done much to improve since he arrived. Micah and DLaw are who they are and great talents, but you look at the interior and it's been pretty ugly with only really Osa developing. Then you look at the failed development of Mazi and it's even more concerning. Meanwhile you look at our DB's and the work Harris did with Bland and some of our safeties who stepped up despite being lesser talented guys, and there's a reason for the fanfare he has. Yeah, Harris is definitely at the top of the list for me, in terms of guys I want to add. What he and Whitt had going on was definitely working well and creating serious impact out of some very unheralded players. I wouldn’t undersell Odigizuwa though, that’s a pretty big win to have a 3rd round pick turn into a top 10ish interior pass-rusher in the league by age 25. Getting 21 sacks over 3 years out of a relative nobody like Dorance Armstrong is a nice bonus as well. I never really liked Mazi…I read somewhere that they had him drop a bunch of weight, is that accurate? Seems deeply counterproductive to draft a player like that and then instantly start undermining his superpower (run defense). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaddHatter Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 4 minutes ago, e16bball said: Yeah, Harris is definitely at the top of the list for me, in terms of guys I want to add. What he and Whitt had going on was definitely working well and creating serious impact out of some very unheralded players. I wouldn’t undersell Odigizuwa though, that’s a pretty big win to have a 3rd round pick turn into a top 10ish interior pass-rusher in the league by age 25. Getting 21 sacks over 3 years out of a relative nobody like Dorance Armstrong is a nice bonus as well. I never really liked Mazi…I read somewhere that they had him drop a bunch of weight, is that accurate? Seems deeply counterproductive to draft a player like that and then instantly start undermining his superpower (run defense). Yeah, getting pressure from the interior was a bright spot for our DL but also was about them taking advantage of constant 1-on-1's while they had to worry about Micah, DLaw, and whatever blitz scheme might be opening up. Number of those interior sacks came from QB's climbing the pocket to avoid our DE's and getting taken down as they got close to the LOS. Others were from the DE's crashing into the side of the guard and letting the DT slip around the outside while the OT's failed to pass off the DE and missed the DT going around them. Osi and Dorance do a good job though, no doubt there. What most people are concerned by is the historically bad Run D that we saw. The Cowboys ranked 22nd in the NFL against the run in 2022, giving up an average of 129.3 yards per game. They gave 2.7 yards before contact per rush, ranking 21st. And Cowboys defensive tackles ranked 28th in interior Run Stop Win Rate (28.5%). In 2023 that didn't improve much with our interior DL being led by Osa against the Run (65.1 Rating) with 22 stops right behind Law's 27. After that you look at Chauncey Golston (49.9) and Johnathan Hankins (52.4) with 10 stops each and you realize how bad our Run D was. In fact, 4 of our 5 highest rated players against the Run were DBs (Lewis, Bland Gilmore and Hooker. ) Our best Run Defense was our Offense - get ahead a couple scores early and force you to abandon it and air it out. When we couldn't do that, you saw what Buffalo did to the tune of 260yds on the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeezy Fanatic Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 I’ll just assume he’ll run an underwhelming defense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaddHatter Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 15 minutes ago, e16bball said: I never really liked Mazi…I read somewhere that they had him drop a bunch of weight, is that accurate? Seems deeply counterproductive to draft a player like that and then instantly start undermining his superpower (run defense). Mazi was a great Run Stopping DT who carried his weight well at 328lbs and was quite athletic for his size. He was able to handle doubles and split them and shed blocks easily in 1-on-1 situations. His bull rush and ability to collapse the pocket was a downside but had ability to improve with better explosion off the snap. He was constantly late to get off the snap and didn't have that elite first step or initial quickness. I think the biggest knock on him was the gun charge he had but he was a physical freak with a 33" vert, 6.95-sec 3-cone and 550lb close grip bench press at 328lbs. I mean the guy's weight room stories were Larry Allen-esq. But then if you look at how he was utilized, it becomes quite baffling. While there are rumors of the 40lb weight drop being asked of him, nobody has claimed responsibility and the Michael Gehlkens (DMN), Jon Machotas (The Athletic) and Todd Archers (ESPN) of the world have yet to even report on it. According to Shan, RJ and Bobby (local podcast), they had him lose 40lbs in the middle of the season (source at 8:40mark) because of his inability to get off the ball quickly and wanted him to be more explosive and get more penetration, and if you look at his usage and utilization, it appears the Cowboys were trying to turn him form a NT to a 3T as he rarely saw time in the 2I-0 and spent most of the season at the 3-4 straight up with the G or even outside the Guard. All that being said, I think DL is one of those areas that underperformed and falls on Durde but at the end of the day, stopping the run is not what Quinn is really focused on. He's going to get aggressive and come after you with penetration and pressure with some of the smaller DL fronts you'll see in the NFL. He needs a high-flying offense opposite of him b/c his D isn't made to grind it out in the trenches or stop long drives (see Packers 1sts series in the playoffs when we were still fresh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e16bball Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 43 minutes ago, MaddHatter said: Mazi was a great Run Stopping DT who carried his weight well at 328lbs and was quite athletic for his size. He was able to handle doubles and split them and shed blocks easily in 1-on-1 situations. His bull rush and ability to collapse the pocket was a downside but had ability to improve with better explosion off the snap. He was constantly late to get off the snap and didn't have that elite first step or initial quickness. I think the biggest knock on him was the gun charge he had but he was a physical freak with a 33" vert, 6.95-sec 3-cone and 550lb close grip bench press at 328lbs. I mean the guy's weight room stories were Larry Allen-esq. Yeah, I did like Mazi as a NT, just have felt that position is going by the wayside in the modern NFL. Incredible strength. The weirdest thing about them trying to change him is that there really should be a place in a defense like Quinn’s for a guy like that. You’re playing Cover 3, you’re trying to match underneath, you’re in a lot of nickel/dime personnel groups, you’ve always got one undersized EDGE type on the field. You can’t roll with a pure nose as one of your early-down pieces, just as your one concession to stopping the run? Seems like there should be a way to utilize a player like that. I do seem to recall from SEA that they frequently would have a much heavier end to play on the strong side. I remember Michael Bennett in that role for a good while, and wasn’t Red Bryant’s big *** playing some end for them also? Maybe that’s the stylistic exchange they would (ideally) make, have essentially 3 UT types out there rather than the more traditional NT, UT, SDE types? With Allen and Payne both being pretty well-rounded DTs, perhaps we are better set up than a lot of rosters to be able to attack gaps on the interior without giving up TOO much in the run game. We’re already desperate for the Irvin/Beasley/Parsons type that he always has, so I'm just trying to get a sense of what other player types were going to be seeking over the next couple offseasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtle28 Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Seems like a great hire. I really love what’s they’ve done. I wasn’t really excited about Quinn but the more I hear him & hear others talk about him like Kyle Shanahan, I’m becoming sold. Quinn knows what he’s doing in building a defense and Whitt is a solid hire. Also he and Quinn have a great relationship. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARTMONK HOF Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 The Commanders are requesting to interview Giants assistant special teams coach Mike Adams for their Defensive backs job, per @art_stapleton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT14 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 16 minutes ago, ARTMONK HOF said: The Commanders are requesting to interview Giants assistant special teams coach Mike Adams for their Defensive backs job, per @art_stapleton. We also had requested an interview from the Raiders DB coach, so Al Harris isn't coming here I'd gander. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT14 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 On 2/7/2024 at 9:59 AM, MikeT14 said: We also had requested an interview from the Raiders DB coach, so Al Harris isn't coming here I'd gander. Update to this. We requested permission for Harris, but were denied. We are interviewing Sharrif Floyd (asst DL coach) and Pete Ohnegian (DQC/DA) from their staff. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT14 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSkinGM Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 17 minutes ago, MikeT14 said: This roster won't be coaching shy that's for certain ! More Chiefs than Indians .. HTTR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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