Illini88228
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It seems like there's a pretty strong consensus that the lines need rebuilt on both sides of the ball. But after looking over the roster, I think it may very well be that the right players for the primary front seven are already on the roster.
First off, there's a fairly blatant age issue that has become apparent with Brooking that has to lead to at least drastically reduced snaps for the old Georgia boy. And then there's Igor, in short, I don't like Igor. I don't think he does a very good job of anchoring his end of the line, and I find his dances--almost always at the most inappropriate times it seems--to be embarrassing. But, those are the only two outright replacements I see.
In fact, I'd kind of like to see a front seven of:
Ware James Lee Spencer
Ratliff Brent Spears
The fanbase has always been pretty luke-warm on the other 2005 first rounder, but Marcus Spears would have helped last night. The fact that the defensive front seven is softer, especially against the run, this year has become blatantly obvious. The big difference this year is the absence of MS. He was always good for a solid run stuff, and no one has really been able to replicate that success. Some of the other ends seem like they're more shoot-the-gap style defenders which is great when it works, but it's a complete feast or famine, and unfortunately it seems like lately the defensive line's been going home hungry.
As for the new Nose Tackle, this is the biggest ? for my projected new front seven. I personally have something of a man-crush on this guy, but I understand that some will probably be skeptical. He just seems to always be in on the tackle at the line of scrimmage. The most important part of nose tackle's job is to blow up the middle of the offensive line. Ratliff does it by slipping through with quickness, but this kid seems like the type to really bull doze the line.
Ratliff is still a good player, but it seems like he's gotten run over a lot this year, and maybe a shift out to end would help keep him from getting swallowed up by those big interior linemen. I know they have toyed with this in training camp before, and it seems like the time in the middle is really wearing on him this year. So maybe it's time to make the switch. Hopefully, this move would enable him to continue to wreak havoc for a few more years.
As for the outside linebackers, I'm not particularly worried about Ware or Spencer, neither has been quite as good as I had hoped for this season, but that can be said of the whole team. Great players step up in big games, and unfortunately there just aren't going to be any big games this year because of the whole 1-7 thing.
Bradie James has continued to prove that he is underrated. That open field tackle on the screen pass yesterday was a thing of beauty. He's never going to be an all-time great, but he's the kind of consistent blue-collar guy that team's win super bowls with. Besides, for Brooking getting all the hype for being such a leader, Bradie James is the captain.
Lee is, in my opinion, the most promising defensive player Dallas has drafted since Ware, and not just because of his two picks against Peyton. He's simply more athletic than any mlb Dallas has had since Dat Nguyen. In some ways he reminds me of Dat, even though he has much closer to prototypical size. His instincts and nose for the ball are really impressive. I don't see the Barbie comparison at all. Carpenter looked athletic, but his most common position on the pile around the ball carrier was closest observer. Lee is in the pile. People have kind of forgotten it since the whole Indy game thing, but Lee had already forced a turnover going into that game. He had his textbook forced fumble the week before.
These are the kinds of changes the team needs to make. This isn't the 2002 Cowboys, they aren't devoid of talent. Instead of cutting this guy and that guy, what I think they really need is to reorganize and refocus. The scheme is going to be retooled significantly in all likelihood, and it seems to me that righting this ship is going to be more about putting the players they have in a position to succeed than about whole sale changes in personnel.
Holy cow this is really long by my standards, feel free to skim, I wouldn't want to read all this.
First off, there's a fairly blatant age issue that has become apparent with Brooking that has to lead to at least drastically reduced snaps for the old Georgia boy. And then there's Igor, in short, I don't like Igor. I don't think he does a very good job of anchoring his end of the line, and I find his dances--almost always at the most inappropriate times it seems--to be embarrassing. But, those are the only two outright replacements I see.
In fact, I'd kind of like to see a front seven of:
Ware James Lee Spencer
Ratliff Brent Spears
The fanbase has always been pretty luke-warm on the other 2005 first rounder, but Marcus Spears would have helped last night. The fact that the defensive front seven is softer, especially against the run, this year has become blatantly obvious. The big difference this year is the absence of MS. He was always good for a solid run stuff, and no one has really been able to replicate that success. Some of the other ends seem like they're more shoot-the-gap style defenders which is great when it works, but it's a complete feast or famine, and unfortunately it seems like lately the defensive line's been going home hungry.
As for the new Nose Tackle, this is the biggest ? for my projected new front seven. I personally have something of a man-crush on this guy, but I understand that some will probably be skeptical. He just seems to always be in on the tackle at the line of scrimmage. The most important part of nose tackle's job is to blow up the middle of the offensive line. Ratliff does it by slipping through with quickness, but this kid seems like the type to really bull doze the line.
Ratliff is still a good player, but it seems like he's gotten run over a lot this year, and maybe a shift out to end would help keep him from getting swallowed up by those big interior linemen. I know they have toyed with this in training camp before, and it seems like the time in the middle is really wearing on him this year. So maybe it's time to make the switch. Hopefully, this move would enable him to continue to wreak havoc for a few more years.
As for the outside linebackers, I'm not particularly worried about Ware or Spencer, neither has been quite as good as I had hoped for this season, but that can be said of the whole team. Great players step up in big games, and unfortunately there just aren't going to be any big games this year because of the whole 1-7 thing.
Bradie James has continued to prove that he is underrated. That open field tackle on the screen pass yesterday was a thing of beauty. He's never going to be an all-time great, but he's the kind of consistent blue-collar guy that team's win super bowls with. Besides, for Brooking getting all the hype for being such a leader, Bradie James is the captain.
Lee is, in my opinion, the most promising defensive player Dallas has drafted since Ware, and not just because of his two picks against Peyton. He's simply more athletic than any mlb Dallas has had since Dat Nguyen. In some ways he reminds me of Dat, even though he has much closer to prototypical size. His instincts and nose for the ball are really impressive. I don't see the Barbie comparison at all. Carpenter looked athletic, but his most common position on the pile around the ball carrier was closest observer. Lee is in the pile. People have kind of forgotten it since the whole Indy game thing, but Lee had already forced a turnover going into that game. He had his textbook forced fumble the week before.
These are the kinds of changes the team needs to make. This isn't the 2002 Cowboys, they aren't devoid of talent. Instead of cutting this guy and that guy, what I think they really need is to reorganize and refocus. The scheme is going to be retooled significantly in all likelihood, and it seems to me that righting this ship is going to be more about putting the players they have in a position to succeed than about whole sale changes in personnel.
Holy cow this is really long by my standards, feel free to skim, I wouldn't want to read all this.
