Taco is improving

When Moses went out he was playing against a turn style. Then when Wash fell way behind all the D Line had to do was rush the passer. I am still pulling for Taco but the skids were greased in his favor last night.
 
FuzzyLumpkins said:
Much better precision in hand placement. Earlier he would flail around trying to keep his hands active but to little effect. Now he is getting the shoulder and attacking the punch.

Remains stout at the point of attack against the run needs to continue to get better at using his hands to shed and make tackles upfield.

He still needs to get stronger in the arms, chest and core before he takes that next step. We have seen similar transformations with DLaw who is a very similar player.

I think that he will end the season with a 2 or 3 more sacks and end up where many predicted he would. How he progresses depends on how he lifts this offseason. Torque, curl, press, and clean Taco.
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Agree.

DLaw is a great example for Taco to study. They were similar style players in college.

I call them Leverage players. DLaw uses a combination of leverage, hand usage, power, quickness and other techniques to win. This is different than players like Von Miller and D.Ware that even as rookies with minimal technique were going to win some snaps just due to pure speed/athleticism. The Leverage players take longer to develop because they're more reliant on technique.

The positive is that leverage players are bigger/stronger. Speed rushers can sometimes be more all or nothing in that if they"re not getting sacks due to beating OTs with speed they can be ineffective and just pushed past the pocket. A good leverage player can make the pocket smaller even when they're not getting sacks which helps the other pass rushers.

Obviously these bigger players tend to be better run defenders as well.

Obviously super-elite players like Miller and Ware are good at everything. My comments are generalized in regards to looking at players in the draft like TJ Watt vs Taco. If you compare TJ Watt to DLaw he would likely never be as good of a 4-3 DE as DLaw is now because he's a smaller frame player but as a rookie Watt is probably ahead of DLaw as a rookie because Watt can play as more of a speed rusher.
 
Still a horrible draft pick, I have zero faith that he'll get it going.
 
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xwalker said:
Obviously these bigger players tend to be better run defenders as well.
Click to expand...

I see Taco as the starting LDE next year with DLaw at RDE. At that point our DL could be pretty stout -

RDE - DLaw, Tapper, Maybe Datone Jones

1T - Irving, FA/Draft Pick

3T - Collins, Crawford, Lewis Neal

LDE - Taco, Crawford


Our Corners will be much improved next year with Lewis and Awuzie starting.
 
Kaiser said:
I see Taco as the starting LDE next year with DLaw at RDE. At that point our DL could be pretty stout -

RDE - DLaw, Tapper, Maybe Datone Jones

1T - Irving, FA/Draft Pick

3T - Collins, Crawford, Lewis Neal

LDE - Taco, Crawford


Our Corners will be much improved next year with Lewis and Awuzie starting.
Click to expand...
Did you notice Crawford and Irving swapped spots on some snaps with Irving at RDE and Crawford at DT? I think the play where Irving crunched Cousins was one where Irving was at RDE.
 
Kaiser said:
I see Taco as the starting LDE next year with DLaw at RDE. At that point our DL could be pretty stout -

RDE - DLaw, Tapper, Maybe Datone Jones

1T - Irving, FA/Draft Pick

3T - Collins, Crawford, Lewis Neal

LDE - Taco, Crawford


Our Corners will be much improved next year with Lewis and Awuzie starting.
Click to expand...

I like the idea that Taco, Irving Crawford and DLaw can play either end or the 3. Throw in Ash, Price, Collins, and Neal as DT and you have a nice front. Throw in Gregory, a rookie or FA to try and upgrade Mayowa and Smith's ability to blitz or curl from the inside and that is a nasty front.
 
Kaiser said:
I see Taco as the starting LDE next year with DLaw at RDE. At that point our DL could be pretty stout -

RDE - DLaw, Tapper, Maybe Datone Jones

1T - Irving, FA/Draft Pick

3T - Collins, Crawford, Lewis Neal

LDE - Taco, Crawford


Our Corners will be much improved next year with Lewis and Awuzie starting.
Click to expand...

Don’t forget Randy Gregory. That story is not over yet.
 
xwalker said:
Did you notice Crawford and Irving swapped spots on some snaps with Irving at RDE and Crawford at DT? I think the play where Irving crunched Cousins was one where Irving was at RDE.
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i missed the game but noticed that in the highlights.
how often did that happened?
is it usually irving stunting out of that?
 
Taco be doin it out there fellas. Give the youngster a little time before you write him off. They cant all be TJ Watt lol.
 
FuzzyLumpkins said:
Much better precision in hand placement. Earlier he would flail around trying to keep his hands active but to little effect. Now he is getting the shoulder and attacking the punch.

Remains stout at the point of attack against the run needs to continue to get better at using his hands to shed and make tackles upfield.

He still needs to get stronger in the arms, chest and core before he takes that next step. We have seen similar transformations with DLaw who is a very similar player.

I think that he will end the season with a 2 or 3 more sacks and end up where many predicted he would. How he progresses depends on how he lifts this offseason. Torque, curl, press, and clean Taco.
Click to expand...
J-Train is improving too. :D:flagwave:

Both rooks...

Both will contribute greater things in the future.
 
I’ve said from the beginning that I’m good with Taco for this year just based on the fact that he looks like he belongs in terms of strength, speed, quickness, etc...he was the 28th overall pick as a DE, of course he was going to need to improve his rookie year.

Definitely looks better already though. I felt like he was thinking too much before. I saw a lot of stutter stepping and trying to do too much with his hands (as op said) right off the snap. Now he seems to be just getting up field more and trying to fight from there.
The biggest thing with him, and pretty much every other young and tall DE, is going to be balance and pad level. If he can learn to keep his feet under him and use his long arms for more power he’ll be just fine in my opinion
 
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Hawkeye19 said:
Don’t forget Randy Gregory. That story is not over yet.
Click to expand...

In 12 games he looks a lot like what Randy did in 14.

Taco - 12 games, 0 starts, 10 solo tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 pass defended, 1 stuff, 6 hurries.

Randy- 14 games, 0 starts, 15 solo tackles, 1 sack, 0 forced fumble, 0 pass defended, 1 stuff, 8 hurries.
 
CowboysWillRise said:
Taco be doin it out there fellas. Give the youngster a little time before you write him off. They cant all be TJ Watt lol.
Click to expand...

This is what I don’t get..week 1 and week 12 combined Watt had 11 tackles, 3 sacks, and 1 INT. So that means weeks 2-11 he put up 26 tackles, and 2 sacks as pretty much a full time starter at OLB. I’m not saying those #’s determine anything yet, but why are so many people upset about not taking him already? Those same people probably would have been calling Watt a bust in weeks 2-11.
 
He's coming off the bull much quicker now. I like what I am seeing from him.
 
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