I don't feel that his evaluation of where Roy is limited to playing is correct. In fact, I feel that the "second level" is where Roy's game gets exposed the most. Because he does not have good change of direction, if he anticipates wrong, he will get beat badly. Because he is still a tremendous athlete, no matter what people say, he can still make the tackle even when he gets beat like that.
Where Roy excels is in that third level. Where he can roam and use his anticipation to his advantage. Why we elected to use him at that second level in passing situations is beyond me - I think it's a poor fit.
You wonder where the big hits went - he wasn't put in a position to make them, truly. I guess we wanted him there because his presence at the second level instantly improves our run support against spread formations. I really believe, and of course it's just speculation, that if we had played Hamlin at strong and Roy at free, you would have seen identical results. Because what Roy does is track the ball well in the air - not cover short routes that require quick hips and excellent anticipation if you even want to have a prayer of stopping them.
If we keep him down there, we'll continue to see good run defense, I have no doubt of that. But if we do that, I think we can forget about the big hits and interceptions returning. There just aren't that many opportunities to make those plays from the position he's playing. So I would really question just how much of Roy Williams Mr. Lombardi has watched, and broken down. Because if you do watch him, I can't see how you could possibly come to the same conclusion as Mr. Lombardi - unless you're operating under the misguided assumption that Wade plays Roy in the nickel LB role to "protect/hide him".
