Jay Ratliff... A good NT?

[5Stars]

Correct. He's not the same player anymore and it would be a mistake to pencil him in as the starter at NT next year.

I hope no player is penciled in as a starter! I've always hated that about some coaches. Just because a player has played for some years should not automatically make them a starter.

I hope Garrett changes all that.

 

[xwalker]

This really stinks. In trying to go back and find where I got it from, to give you an accurate answer, I can't locate it.

I should have linked the article I found the info in, but I just picked JRat's height and arm length from it to make a point. I'm thinking it was from a Blogging The Boys piece ... I trust their info ... but can't for the life of me seem to find it again. Sorry about that.

Thanks for trying to find the link.

 

[slomoxn]

The Cowboys had the seventh-best run defense in the league last year. You don't do that with a "poorly manned" NT position.

I agree with the run defense part but the pass defense was putrid. One reason was the DT (Ratliff) was never able to push the pocket back which allowed the QB to step up. Ware and Spencer missed on loads of sacks due to the fact that the opposing qb always had a nice cushion to step into and burn Newman for a first down or td. That is the one thing this D needs is a DT that can move the pocket on passing downs. Ratliff just knifes through the blockers and that does not work enough to make a difference.

 

[visionary]

all great 3-4 defenses have a wide body at NT and some even at one of the DE positions

but we are smarter than everyone else and will do it our way, even if it dosent work

go back and watch the second game against the giants where a back up center had his way with the all pro NT jay ratliff then come back and tell me how good he is now

ratliff is good in the beginning of the year and then wears down and is part of the reason for our yearly december swoon

upgrading NT should be priority 1b right after interior of OL

 

[Jenky]

all great 3-4 defenses have a wide body at NT and some even at one of the DE positions

but we are smarter than everyone else and will do it our way, even if it dosent work

go back and watch the second game against the giants where a back up center had his way with the all pro NT jay ratliff then come back and tell me how good he is now

ratliff is good in the beginning of the year and then wears down and is part of the reason for our yearly december swoon

upgrading NT should be priority 1b right after interior of OL

No dude. I want a 287 lb NT to continue going against two 300+ pound linemen for the rest of his career.

**** that guy. Let's make sure his career ends short. See ya Jay. Thanks for playing.

/sarcasm

 

[21Savage]

all great 3-4 defenses have a wide body at NT and some even at one of the DE positions

but we are smarter than everyone else and will do it our way, even if it dosent work

go back and watch the second game against the giants where a back up center had his way with the all pro NT jay ratliff then come back and tell me how good he is now

ratliff is good in the beginning of the year and then wears down and is part of the reason for our yearly december swoon

upgrading NT should be priority 1b right after interior of OL

No, he didn't.

Did you just go by a few plays the commentator commented on?

Actually go back and watch the game yourself before you speak on stuff you know nothing about.

 

[baj1dallas]

No, he didn't.

Did you just go by a few plays the commentator commented on?

Actually go back and watch the game yourself before you speak on stuff you know nothing about.

What's great is that the OP suggests that Shaun Rogers would be an upgrade over Ratliff. I guess how fat you are is more important than production. dumbfest lol.

 

[Joshmil53]

You guys are acting as if Ratliff is 330lbs. He's only ~285, how do you expect him to handle 2 300 lb OLine men the whole entire game and still be dominant? His spot does not belong at NT in a 3-4.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Ahh....the weekly "Ratliff is not a nose tackle" argument.

 

[burmafrd]

it is clear that he wears down. And no one should be surprised at that. We need someone that can give us 15 plays a game especially in the third quarter. Same problem with Ware. Both of them need plays off so that they can be fresher in the 4th.

 

[Clove]

Jay Ratliff IS a good NT, but he doesn't need to be playing it.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Ratliff cannot 2 gap. Hes a one gap DT that lines up on the centers right shoulder most of the time. He can force double teams but you can run off of that especially with how weak our ends are.

Knowing that I can only laugh at those that say Rob Ryan runs a 2 gap scheme when Ratliff is never asked to do so.

Ratliff needs to have his snaps scaled back from 90% to 70% and get some help on the line other than Hatcher. More snaps from Lissemore will help and hopefully Brent bounces back because he was a bit of a disappointment.

Oh and lol at the BTB report saying Poe understand leverage. His issue is that if the OL does not fire off on him rather than moving forward he stands up and runs forward which completely negates his strength. Thats the big knock on him. Obviously that can be coached and Memphis is a small program thats had a coaching carousel the last few years but it is what it is. Poe is not plug and play. He needs work and i do not know enough about Dline coaching to be able to say what it would take to get him ready.

Cox, Decastro or trade down.

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

Correct. He's not the same player anymore and it would be a mistake to pencil him in as the starter at NT next year.

Ratliff is the best NT on the team. But I agree with your post. If th Cowboys draft Poe and he fits the middle better than Ratliff, then Ratliff will have to do what's best for the team and move to DE. I have a feeling though the Cowboys fear he may struggle more at DE because he'll be going up against bigger sized Ts.

 

[Clove]

Ratliff is the best NT on the team. But I agree with your post. If th Cowboys draft Poe and he fits the middle better than Ratliff, then Ratliff will have to do what's best for the team and move to DE. I have a feeling though the Cowboys fear he may struggle more at DE because he'll be going up against bigger sized Ts.

And he will be quicker and blow by most of them too. We need Ratliff to be somewhere where he can make an impact, but more than that, we need to use a fat guy as our road block.

 

[big dog cowboy]

And he will be quicker and blow by most of them too. We need Ratliff to be somewhere where he can make an impact, but more than that, we need to use a fat guy as our road block.

Now that I agree with.

 

[Joshmil53]

And he will be quicker and blow by most of them too. We need Ratliff to be somewhere where he can make an impact, but more than that, we need to use a fat guy as our road block.

Wow...we agree on something.