Junior Savaii play by play

[SMCowboy]

Below is the play by play for Junior Savaii. He actually played a very good, game, didn't get much pass rush except once, but except for really one play where he was somewhat taken out of the play, he always held the line, and made a couple of very good plays on runs up the middle.

· Held ground against OG, had C initially help OG with block then attempt to scrape off the LB, but unable to get a decent block on Burnett
· Double teamed by first team OL on third drive. Held ground well, did not make the tackle, but kept OG from getting off to LB. 2 yard gain on Lendale White on dive up the gut.
· Starts out over LG, and does stunt with Ware, is blocked well by OT.
· Stood up him man and gave no ground, did not tackle Ringer, but made ringer break his tackle, while he was still attempted to be blocked so that the rest of the team could make the tackle. Savaii made the play just not the tackle.
· Quick pass play, Savaii gets small push, but a quick throw noone gets change to get much pressure.
· Savaii stands ground again, RB has to bounce back outside to area vacated by Hatcher to get any yards.
· Deep pass, Savaii gets no pressure but has two guys blocking him.
· Pass play, Savaii gets a little pressure, once again is blocked by two guys.
· Pass play, Savaii get some push, but not much.
· Holds line and works down line on rush outside.
· Beats his man, and forces Vince Young to rush pass.
· Pass, Savaii attempts pass rush, but doesn’t get any pressure.
· Savaii holds ground, on inside run, but is unable to beat the seal block to get involved in tackle or disrupt play.
· Savaii holds line well, but unable to get to play running off his outside shoulder.
· Savaii is double teamed and driven back a yard maybe two, and OG finally scrapes but late to get to LB.
· Savaii pass rushes, does not get much pressure.
· Savaii pass rushes, does not get any pressure.

 

[21Savage]

I remember him having a tackle for like a one yard loss and also another play where he was gonna make a tackle for another loss but got held by the Center. He's typical NT in that he won't provide you with any pass rush so I pretty much disregard those downs for him. Overall though, he was very very solid against the run last preseason and that's continued this preseason.

Like Grantham said, we expect our backup NT to get about 15-20 snaps a game. That'll pretty much be half of the anticipated run downs. So he's gonna be a big part of what we expect to do.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Savaii as our primary backup NT nakes me nervous.

 

[RCowboyFan]

Savaii as our primary backup NT nakes me nervous.

If he has to start because of Ratliff Injury, then yeah, you have reason to be nervous. But if he is the Backup NT, he is will be sollid against run. I didn't see play by play, but I did notice Savii in the game, and he was more than just sollid. He is a legitimate NT, not great, but I think Above average. He just doesn't have any pass rush moves. He is a pure Run clogging NT. He can probably do the job one or two games without much loss on Run D.

I think he is more like Jason Fergunson (sp?) than Ratliff. Besides, Ratliff might be Best NT in NFL and probably close second to best DT in NFL, right behind Kevin Williams/Richard Seymour.

 

[SMCowboy]

Savaii as our primary backup NT nakes me nervous.

He is playing about as well as you can expect a backup NT to play. We would be hard pressed to find anouther guy that we can bring in to be a backup that will do a better job that what Savaii has done the last two preseason games.

And he did some of his work against the Titans #1 OL, and help up MORE than fine. Actually made some of his best plays against the Titans #1 OL.

 

[TD-33]

If he keeps linemen off our linebackers I'll be happy. He does get a push just not explosive like Rat. He will cost less than Haynesworth too.

 

[Cowboys22]

If Ratliff is lost for any significant time, Spears or Olshansky will move to DT and split much of the time with Savaii. Savaii will still not be a full time player. He would probably play on 1st downs and 2nd/3rd and shorts but the rest of the time one of the DEs will move over and Bowen and/or Hatcher will rotate in.

 

[adbutcher]

Savaii as our primary backup NT nakes me nervous.

Not me. He is improving and I am confident that Wade will utilize him correctly.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

having Siavii beats drafting Ron Brace with our 1st pick, or better yet *gulp* trading up to draft him

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Yeah, I was saying in my game thread that I noticed him in there pretty early, playing with most of the rest of the starters (maybe even all of them). And I don't think Tennessee got a first down on that drive. They tried to run the ball a few times and didn't do much. He did just what you'd hope he'd do in that he clogged up the middle so there wasn't anywhere for the backs to go and let the LBs make tackles. Naturally, you can't expect much pass rush out of him.

 

[tunahelper]

We have needed a reserve NT to plug the run in the middle for a while, so I feel good about the position now.

 

[Bluefin]

Junior Siavii is inexperienced, but I'm very hopeful about developing him into our reserve nose tackle.

He's a completely different player on the nose that Jay Ratliff is, and that may confuse offenses much like we saw defenses struggle adapting to Felix Jones after first contact with Marion Barber early last year.

 

[21Savage]

You better add some more negative plays to this review, otherwise some poster on this board will jump you (with screen shots nonetheless)

 

[Rampage]

he looked pretty good last game and even drove his man back a few times.

 

[dbair1967]

Yep, appeared to be a big improvement from the Oakland game. Definitely saw some glimpses in this game of why Wade seemingly likes him.

For 10-12 snaps a game, he might end up being ok. Also might help some in the short yardage defense.

 

[Biggems]

well if we have any regular season games like we did against Tennessee, Junior won't even make the field. Our defense played less than 20 minutes total, and less than 8 in the entire first half.

however, he played well. i see him getting 10-12 snaps a game at most, as long as Rat remains healthy. I see those snaps coming in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, keeping Rat for the 4th quarter.