Is there a stat for “peace of mind” because that’s what you had with Jones. The guy was a brick wall and you never had to worry about him giving up sacks.
I am sure Pete has a plan for how he wants to use his players when the regular season comes around. I also sure he is going to try guys out in different positions to get a feel for what they can do. Personally, I like the idea of having the most talent on the field and wouldn’t be surprised if we see some sort “positionless” scheme at times where you have Riq, MJ, Spoon, Love, Diggs and Adams (I’m really hoping he gets back to his old form).
It's not about having the best player on the field it's about having the best combination of players on the field, may be a lot of value to having both Jackson's and witherspoon's physicality in our backfield at the same time.
Also hopefully great coverage against any strong passing offense we face.
We're ideally building a long term team so it's not all about where witherspoon fits on our team today but how he can help our defense best over the next 5 years.
And if Jackson plays great he'll eventually need to get paid and if spoon is ready to replace him we can trade Jackson for something nice or let him walk and get a comp pick.
I like the idea of Olu starting at centre, but I don’t like the idea of him ‘figuring out’ things in the first 4 games…..which will be critical for the season. If we lose two or three of those, in close games, due to late game pressure up the middle to kill drives…..that’d really make the road to the playoffs difficult with a lot of tough games on tap.
I hope Witherspoon beats out Jackson and starts on the outside. Why? Slot corner isn't really the premium position that OCB is and I don't want the Hawks to have spent their highest draft pick on forever on someone who couldn't force their way into the field at the position that stars play. He could be the best slot corner ever and it would still be a bit of a bummer.
I struggle with the same thing. I suppose if you’re truly trying to get your best players on the field, maybe stuff like that happens, but it still feels off. And, Witherspoon probably won’t be onboard with it beyond his rookie year for $$ reasons. And (I know, too many And’s), why complicate what the rookie has to be good at. Let him get good at one position as quickly as possible.
I think there's something to be said about fans' optimism when potential is involved. Lions'fans have seen Brown in the NFL so as far as they're concerned they know what he is; but Olu was great in college and won awards for being a great center so by the transitive property: great, award winning college center = potentially great, award winning NFL center. The odds of a team's draft picks all becoming average or better starters are essentially nil, yet it appears that as a group people are high on all our draft picks because of their potential, finding reasons how all of them will be good even though history shows otherwise.
I don't think Olu will start this year barring injury because as smart as he is when it comes to the C position I think it will take him time to acclimate to the physicality.
Back in the 60s my first wife (who passed away in 1998) and I went to the dog races in Portland. I had never been to the dog races before and was not, and still not a gambler, but Mary was to a small degree. She wanted me to place a bet on a dog for her and picked a dog whose name she liked, Mini Skirt Lynn. Damned if she didn't win. Subsequent trips, however, were not so successful.
Obviously I’m not a gambler either (given my strategy above), but it can work out well sometimes.
If you can be bothered reading it, I too recently had a similar story where I liked the name of a dog. I was at the races for a mates birthday and there were a lot of people there I did t know. At one stage I struck up a conversation with a a guy that happened to own one of the dogs (not a person there for our party) and he told me his dog’s name (I can’t remember what it was now), but he said it’s likely not to do well as it was it’s first race. I said I’d back it anyway and he just laughed. I told someone else who was with our party, who told someone else, who told someone else. Soon enough, everyone was backing it and, in the words of your President, “well, son of a bitch” (actually I think it was a bitch), it won. Some people made some good money on it and I became the legend of the party. Let’s just say I didn’t pay for anymore drinks that day.
LT protects the 'blind' side of the QB keeping him from getting destroyed from behind....most QB are Right handed although I imagine it matters more for old-school drop back passers than todays more mobile QB's
LT is likely the *easiest* OL position to grade. Their role is pretty straightforward. Block the rusher in front of you, and work with the LG on stunts. On zone blocking plays, block the guy edging to your left or right. On power, destroy the guy in front of you. Now tally the results. Watch the feet for balance and the hands for aggression. Not a lot of trickery to the position.
Guards are tougher. Was he supposed to pull? Was he supposed to stay back or go to the second level? Was he supposed to work with the guard or the tackle? Who was his responsibility?
Centers are even tougher. They’re supposed to set the protection. Did they do it right? They need a split second to set after hiking the ball. Did the NT just get a jump, or did the center have a “tell”? They don’t usually pull, but judging them has similar difficulties as judging guards.
The RT often has TE help, and might be going up against the second best rusher. RT is probably the second easiest to evaluate, but they aren’t alone on the big island as often, and more likely to have an interior role, inside of a TE.
But articles about LTs won’t get the clicks, so we get reports on the ball touchers, controversies, and scandals.
All true, but personally--with no offense meant to the ball touchers, and ignoring the much more useless scandals, etc.--I loved watching Walter play. I'd tape the games back in the day, and one of the highlights of every game tape was just watching him. Was fascinated by that smooth power he had, the seeming effortlessness of it all.
Is there a stat for “peace of mind” because that’s what you had with Jones. The guy was a brick wall and you never had to worry about him giving up sacks.
I am sure Pete has a plan for how he wants to use his players when the regular season comes around. I also sure he is going to try guys out in different positions to get a feel for what they can do. Personally, I like the idea of having the most talent on the field and wouldn’t be surprised if we see some sort “positionless” scheme at times where you have Riq, MJ, Spoon, Love, Diggs and Adams (I’m really hoping he gets back to his old form).
It's not about having the best player on the field it's about having the best combination of players on the field, may be a lot of value to having both Jackson's and witherspoon's physicality in our backfield at the same time.
Also hopefully great coverage against any strong passing offense we face.
We're ideally building a long term team so it's not all about where witherspoon fits on our team today but how he can help our defense best over the next 5 years.
And if Jackson plays great he'll eventually need to get paid and if spoon is ready to replace him we can trade Jackson for something nice or let him walk and get a comp pick.
I like the idea of Olu starting at centre, but I don’t like the idea of him ‘figuring out’ things in the first 4 games…..which will be critical for the season. If we lose two or three of those, in close games, due to late game pressure up the middle to kill drives…..that’d really make the road to the playoffs difficult with a lot of tough games on tap.
I hope Witherspoon beats out Jackson and starts on the outside. Why? Slot corner isn't really the premium position that OCB is and I don't want the Hawks to have spent their highest draft pick on forever on someone who couldn't force their way into the field at the position that stars play. He could be the best slot corner ever and it would still be a bit of a bummer.
Agree but slot players have been killing the Hawks last few years so maybe you need a great player in that position too
I struggle with the same thing. I suppose if you’re truly trying to get your best players on the field, maybe stuff like that happens, but it still feels off. And, Witherspoon probably won’t be onboard with it beyond his rookie year for $$ reasons. And (I know, too many And’s), why complicate what the rookie has to be good at. Let him get good at one position as quickly as possible.
I think there's something to be said about fans' optimism when potential is involved. Lions'fans have seen Brown in the NFL so as far as they're concerned they know what he is; but Olu was great in college and won awards for being a great center so by the transitive property: great, award winning college center = potentially great, award winning NFL center. The odds of a team's draft picks all becoming average or better starters are essentially nil, yet it appears that as a group people are high on all our draft picks because of their potential, finding reasons how all of them will be good even though history shows otherwise.
I don't think Olu will start this year barring injury because as smart as he is when it comes to the C position I think it will take him time to acclimate to the physicality.
I want Bobo to make it just coz I think he’s got her best name.
I use the the same theory when betting on horses.
Back in the 60s my first wife (who passed away in 1998) and I went to the dog races in Portland. I had never been to the dog races before and was not, and still not a gambler, but Mary was to a small degree. She wanted me to place a bet on a dog for her and picked a dog whose name she liked, Mini Skirt Lynn. Damned if she didn't win. Subsequent trips, however, were not so successful.
I’m sorry for your loss Charlie.
Obviously I’m not a gambler either (given my strategy above), but it can work out well sometimes.
If you can be bothered reading it, I too recently had a similar story where I liked the name of a dog. I was at the races for a mates birthday and there were a lot of people there I did t know. At one stage I struck up a conversation with a a guy that happened to own one of the dogs (not a person there for our party) and he told me his dog’s name (I can’t remember what it was now), but he said it’s likely not to do well as it was it’s first race. I said I’d back it anyway and he just laughed. I told someone else who was with our party, who told someone else, who told someone else. Soon enough, everyone was backing it and, in the words of your President, “well, son of a bitch” (actually I think it was a bitch), it won. Some people made some good money on it and I became the legend of the party. Let’s just say I didn’t pay for anymore drinks that day.
I am not anyone’s idea of an expert, but TEs can go either side of the OL. So why the emphasis on LTs and what they must be able to do?
LT protects the 'blind' side of the QB keeping him from getting destroyed from behind....most QB are Right handed although I imagine it matters more for old-school drop back passers than todays more mobile QB's
LT is likely the *easiest* OL position to grade. Their role is pretty straightforward. Block the rusher in front of you, and work with the LG on stunts. On zone blocking plays, block the guy edging to your left or right. On power, destroy the guy in front of you. Now tally the results. Watch the feet for balance and the hands for aggression. Not a lot of trickery to the position.
Guards are tougher. Was he supposed to pull? Was he supposed to stay back or go to the second level? Was he supposed to work with the guard or the tackle? Who was his responsibility?
Centers are even tougher. They’re supposed to set the protection. Did they do it right? They need a split second to set after hiking the ball. Did the NT just get a jump, or did the center have a “tell”? They don’t usually pull, but judging them has similar difficulties as judging guards.
The RT often has TE help, and might be going up against the second best rusher. RT is probably the second easiest to evaluate, but they aren’t alone on the big island as often, and more likely to have an interior role, inside of a TE.
But articles about LTs won’t get the clicks, so we get reports on the ball touchers, controversies, and scandals.
All true, but personally--with no offense meant to the ball touchers, and ignoring the much more useless scandals, etc.--I loved watching Walter play. I'd tape the games back in the day, and one of the highlights of every game tape was just watching him. Was fascinated by that smooth power he had, the seeming effortlessness of it all.