xwalker
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After reading about his off field recklessness and general knucklehead behavior, I was expecting to see an undisciplined player on the field. My expectation was something similar to Ernie Sims with a little 2013 Bruce Carter thrown in. In other words, a guy that didn’t really play within the scheme, overruns plays or possibly didn’t play with max effort. Basically a dumb or lazy player.
What I found was actually quite different than my expectations.
My first review was week 1 against San Deigo. He played all of the defensive snaps in this game. It was difficult to find fault with his play throughout the game. He did everything really well. He played assignment sound football against both the run and pass. He was good at shedding blocks. His size and long arms make it much easier for him to shed blocks than most LBs going against Olinemen. He played primarily zone coverage. He looked comfortable in coverage and I didn’t really see any gaffs in his play. He is big. The LBs lined up beside him looked like Safeties in comparison from the All-22 view. He is listed at 6-4, 259. My guess is that he might have been playing a little heavier than that.
I pulled up the 2012 stats for McClain. It had him as a starter weeks 1-7 and 10-12.
I wanted to see why he might have been benched, therefore, I pulled up week 7.
In week 7 he was only playing on base downs and was out in the Nickel and sub packages. Again his play was rock solid. There were no signs of lazy or dumb play. He again played assignment sound football.
I wanted to go back and see when he first got pulled from the Nickel.
In week 6 he was again only playing in the base. He was again a solid player. There was not much to complain about.
Week 5 was a bye.
Week 4 was against Payton Manning and the Broncos in Denver. He was still playing all snaps in this game and had yet to get pulled from the Nickel. He looked good in the 1st half of the game but started to look a little sluggish in the final few plays of the 2nd quarter. In the 3rd quarter he appeared to quickly get tired and his play looked flat. In the 2nd half of this game he appeared to be at fault in coverage for a TD early in the 3rd and then again later in the half. This half of this game was were things just went bad for him. My guess is that a 6-4, 260+ LB running around in the thin air of Denver was just too much and he couldn’t handle it. I’m not certain if they really removed him from the Nickel in later games specifically because he had coverage issues but more just to limit his snap count.
I then pulled up week 8. It turns out that he didn’t really lose his starting job, but that they opened in the Nickel defense. In this game there was a point where he got into it a little with an OL and shoved him. Just looking at him standing among the Linemen, he looks like a DE. He is a really big 4-3 LB. They were in Nickel most of this game, therefore he didn’t play a lot. When he did play he was again solid and played assignment sound football.
Summary: McClain is a really big 4-3 LB. He gets off blocks by Olinemen about as well as anybody with his size, strength and long arms. He generally played zone coverage and looked comfortable doing it. When he did play man he looked good doing that also. He looks like a really solid MLB in the base defense that has the talent to be a 3 down LB but at his size will get worn down if used a 3 down player.
Based on what I saw in the game footage, I don’t think his play on the field is the reason that Oakland gave up on him.
What I found was actually quite different than my expectations.
My first review was week 1 against San Deigo. He played all of the defensive snaps in this game. It was difficult to find fault with his play throughout the game. He did everything really well. He played assignment sound football against both the run and pass. He was good at shedding blocks. His size and long arms make it much easier for him to shed blocks than most LBs going against Olinemen. He played primarily zone coverage. He looked comfortable in coverage and I didn’t really see any gaffs in his play. He is big. The LBs lined up beside him looked like Safeties in comparison from the All-22 view. He is listed at 6-4, 259. My guess is that he might have been playing a little heavier than that.
I pulled up the 2012 stats for McClain. It had him as a starter weeks 1-7 and 10-12.
I wanted to see why he might have been benched, therefore, I pulled up week 7.
In week 7 he was only playing on base downs and was out in the Nickel and sub packages. Again his play was rock solid. There were no signs of lazy or dumb play. He again played assignment sound football.
I wanted to go back and see when he first got pulled from the Nickel.
In week 6 he was again only playing in the base. He was again a solid player. There was not much to complain about.
Week 5 was a bye.
Week 4 was against Payton Manning and the Broncos in Denver. He was still playing all snaps in this game and had yet to get pulled from the Nickel. He looked good in the 1st half of the game but started to look a little sluggish in the final few plays of the 2nd quarter. In the 3rd quarter he appeared to quickly get tired and his play looked flat. In the 2nd half of this game he appeared to be at fault in coverage for a TD early in the 3rd and then again later in the half. This half of this game was were things just went bad for him. My guess is that a 6-4, 260+ LB running around in the thin air of Denver was just too much and he couldn’t handle it. I’m not certain if they really removed him from the Nickel in later games specifically because he had coverage issues but more just to limit his snap count.
I then pulled up week 8. It turns out that he didn’t really lose his starting job, but that they opened in the Nickel defense. In this game there was a point where he got into it a little with an OL and shoved him. Just looking at him standing among the Linemen, he looks like a DE. He is a really big 4-3 LB. They were in Nickel most of this game, therefore he didn’t play a lot. When he did play he was again solid and played assignment sound football.
Summary: McClain is a really big 4-3 LB. He gets off blocks by Olinemen about as well as anybody with his size, strength and long arms. He generally played zone coverage and looked comfortable doing it. When he did play man he looked good doing that also. He looks like a really solid MLB in the base defense that has the talent to be a 3 down LB but at his size will get worn down if used a 3 down player.
Based on what I saw in the game footage, I don’t think his play on the field is the reason that Oakland gave up on him.
