Jason Hatcher is a damn good dude

[Doomsday101]

Free in a heartbeat.

Hatcher was a beast last season. And was great in 2011. Nobody noticed.

Free was awful and has been excellent this season.







YR

In the 3-4 I felt he did good I would not call it being a beast. It was not bad but it was not as dominate as he is showing right now. This defense allows him to use his skills to their fullest. He is in the back field more often and causing problems for offense. His sack total after 7 games is 6 compared to 4 all of last season. I do understand the numbers are affected by moving out of the 3-4 but does not change I see a more active and vocal Hatcher.

As for Free no doubt the differance is like night and day

 

[Zimmy Lives]

He will be back next year. Book it.

Of course he will. The Giants and Skins have already targeted him as a must-have FA acquisition.

 

[T-RO]

Witten is in his own little bubble and his concerns are for his game. Ware couldn't put his baby daughter in 'tme-out' if he had to.....he doesn't have it in him. Lee........I'm personally still waiting. His play reflects it but I really haven't seen it stand out, IMO. I'm not there day in and day out so this is speculation form a fans POV but there are leaders that are there on game day.

Who on this team holds anyone accountable? I see them celebrate with each other when a play is made but I don't see players getting after each other for a dropped INT, missed tackle, blown coverage. Or a dropped pass, whiff on a blitz. Have you ever seen anyone tell Witten to get his $#!@ together when he drops balls or is offsides.....again? Heaven forbid. Tony will get on some people but isn't consistent, IMO. Kick a lineman in the teeth for taking a huge hit.

Team accountability is typically not meant for public consumption or for you the fan to review. It's done in-house as it should be. As for "Kicking a lineman in the teeth"... OK tough guy.

 

[xwalker]

Hatcher is an interesting player. In his early years here he seemed to have a bit of an attitude.

I can remember his 1st or 2nd year, he made a play and then beat on his chest and screamed something to the effect of "put me in the game" which was a reference to him not being a starter. Then a couple of years ago he made the statement about not having leaders on the team. It seemed that after he made that statement and got the corresponding media/fan feedback, that he looked at himself and decided he would become a leader. I don't think he was the type where leadership comes naturally, but he seems to have made himself into a leader. I guess becoming a free agent at one point that didn't get any other significant offers might have helped with his attitude adjustment also. Becoming a true starter probably helped him as well.

Most of the Wade era players that had a sense of entitlement are gone, but I think Hatcher might be one of the only ones that stayed and completely got away from that mindset.

 

[sacase]

I swear we have some really ignorant fans. People who have no real concept of what leadership is. I mean seriously, who really thinks jumping up in someone's face is leadership? Ware getting cut/traded/not starting next year? What? LOL I swear fans here for not have any respect for the players we have and have some huge sense of entitlement.

 

[jterrell]

If Garrett means what he says they'll bring Hatcher back.

This is the RKoG.

He is the same in the community. Really a guy with his heart and priorities in order.
Family guy who will bleed for the team.

I really hope we bring him back.
He is perfect in this system and a much needed voice.

 

[Zordon]

Hatcher is an interesting player. In his early years here he seemed to have a bit of an attitude.

I can remember his 1st or 2nd year, he made a play and then beat on his chest and screamed something to the effect of "put me in the game" which was a reference to him not being a starter. Then a couple of years ago he made the statement about not having leaders on the team. It seemed that after he made that statement and got the corresponding media/fan feedback, that he looked at himself and decided he would become a leader. I don't think he was the type where leadership comes naturally, but he seems to have made himself into a leader. I guess becoming a free agent at one point that didn't get any other significant offers might have helped with his attitude adjustment also. Becoming a true starter probably helped him as well.

Most of the Wade era players that had a sense of entitlement are gone, but I think Hatcher might be one of the only ones that stayed and completely got away from that mindset.

i don't agree with this at all. the leadership comment needed to be said. that's the thing with hatcher, you never get a PR answer from him, he always speaks from the heart. i appreciate that about him.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

i don't agree with this at all. the leadership comment needed to be said. that's the thing with hatcher, you never get a PR answer from him, he always speaks from the heart. i appreciate that about him.

I agree. The story on Hatch was that he was a naive, wide-eyed country boy who had a lot of responsibilities (I think he was already married and had a child) and just had no clue what it meant to be a professional. He was just happy to be here -- no attitude. He has grown up quite a bit since he became a Cowboy.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

I agree. The story on Hatch was that he was a naive, wide-eyed country boy who had a lot of responsibilities (I think he was already married and had a child) and just had no clue what it meant to be a professional. He was just happy to be here -- no attitude. He has grown up quite a bit since he became a Cowboy.

I heard him a week or two ago on the Fan, and he said when he was younger he was sort of angry at the world and just had a bad attitude about life in general. He said he's simply grown up since then -- he no longer sees life and circumstances as hostile to him. Being a father and feeling the responsibility of being the head of a growing family has a lot to do with it.

So it has nothing to do with who his coach was or anything like that. It's just the natural maturation process that some go through later than others.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

I do not doubt, that is part of his deal, but you do not give the kinda money he is looking for to a player his age, it will be Ratliff 2.0. He is looking for Henry Melton(before his injury) money.

wasnt melton tagged?

 

[Seven]

Team accountability is typically not meant for public consumption or for you the fan to review. It's done in-house as it should be. As for "Kicking a lineman in the teeth"... OK tough guy.

Par for the course you'd take kick him in the teeth literally. And I said my opinion was from a fans perspective.
Read......tough guy.

 

[Idgit]

If Garrett means what he says they'll bring Hatcher back.

This is the RKoG.

He is the same in the community. Really a guy with his heart and priorities in order.
Family guy who will bleed for the team.

I really hope we bring him back.
He is perfect in this system and a much needed voice.

I agree completely. Except, I will say this. The same was true about Jay Ratliff, as far as we knew, a few seasons back. I recall you and I both were not in favor of that Ratliff extension the minute it happened. That situation was different, because we extended an older player who had just peaked before we needed too.

But Hatcher's probably a year or so behind where Rat was at that point in his own career arc. Definitely a hugely impactful player. Definitely someone worth extending. Definitely a good RKG kind of guy for the locker room at this point. But he's going to want to get paid. I do think being in Marinelli's defense will be a plus for him, and it gives us right of first refusal. I'm afraid he's going to be another casualty like Robinson was, which sucked, but it was definitely right decision not to pay a huge FA premium when you're bidding against the entire market. Now, the 3 tech DT position is a lot more important than WR3, but it's still going to be a tough call on extending him at a high enough price. And I do think the price is going to be high. We might be looking at trying to squeeze him in with a franchise tag, if that's even possible given our cap condition. If not, it's rolling the dice on Crawford, drafting, and signing a value VFA to replace him and Spencer.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

In the 3-4 I felt he did good I would not call it being a beast. It was not bad but it was not as dominate as he is showing right now. This defense allows him to use his skills to their fullest. He is in the back field more often and causing problems for offense. His sack total after 7 games is 6 compared to 4 all of last season. I do understand the numbers are affected by moving out of the 3-4 but does not change I see a more active and vocal Hatcher.

As for Free no doubt the differance is like night and day

He was in the backfield in the 3-4 all day last season as well. He was incredible, but few noticed. FWIW, Pro Football Focus ranked him extremely high last year. That's why I kept thinking that if Ratliff was healthy we would have zero issue with our DT's in the 4-3. And I had no problem with Hatcher moving to the 3 tech, I just wondered about Hayden in the 1-tech.





YR

 

[Yakuza Rich]

i was going to say i'm surprised so many are just now noticing hatcher's great play. its been going on for a couple of seasons now.

Thank you, sir.





YR

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I like Hatcher. He seems like a really good guy and last year, and even more so this year, he's played his butt off.

I think he will be back next year simply because they're just not going to want to lose everything they've got on that D-Line between the fact that Rat is now gone and Spencer will be gone. Crawford has yet to prove that he can stay healthy.

I think Hatch winds up back here next year.

 

[CashMan]

wasnt melton tagged?

He was. What I was trying to say, Melton at his age is what Hatcher probably thinks is what he should get. If Hatcher was 27yrs old and looking for a big deal, I wouldn't be against it. But him being 31, I am not for anything for than a 2-3yr deal.

 

[Doomsday101]

He was in the backfield in the 3-4 all day last season as well. He was incredible, but few noticed. FWIW, Pro Football Focus ranked him extremely high last year. That's why I kept thinking that if Ratliff was healthy we would have zero issue with our DT's in the 4-3. And I had no problem with Hatcher moving to the 3 tech, I just wondered about Hayden in the 1-tech.





YR

I'm not saying he was bad what I am saying it is showing up in terms of actually sacks and tackles this season he had 27 tackles and 4 sacks last season. In only 7 weeks he has 21 tackles and 6 sacks and while it is not all about stats those number jump off the board and is a big improvement

 

[xwalker]

i don't agree with this at all. the leadership comment needed to be said. that's the thing with hatcher, you never get a PR answer from him, he always speaks from the heart. i appreciate that about him.

I don't know what you disagree with. I did't say there was anything wrong with his comment. He said it and then started making himself into a leader.

 

[coult44]

R

Ratliff, next question?

Ratttt is one of the most over rated players in Cowboys history!!! I know some of y'all liked him, but what did he really ever do for us???

 

[CashMan]

So it's impossible to think maybe, just maybe playing in a different scheme might also have something to do with it? Hatch doesn't strike me as a loafer.

I will say this, one more time. IT'S THE SCHEME. The Tampa-2 preaches turnovers and sacks.