News: The Pros & Cons Of Anthony Hitchens Replacing Rolando McClain In The Cowboys Defense

[CCBoy]

The Pros & Cons Of Anthony Hitchens Replacing Rolando McClain In The Cowboys Defense
http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2016...rolando-mcclain-in-the-dallas-cowboys-defense



With Rolando McClain facing a 10-game suspension the Dallas Cowboys are in a bind. They have invested in moving Sean Lee to the WILL linebacker spot and it seems to have paid off with him being both amazingly productive and having one of his healthiest seasons yet. The last thing Dallas wants to do is move him back to MIKE. But, apart from Lee, they don’t have anyone who has proven they can play the position the way Dallas needs it played.

Now, some of you may fondly remember Anthony Hitchens from 2014. I was impressed enough with him that I argued against bringing McClain back for 2015, as, according to Pro Football Focus Hitchens actually had a better stop rate than McClain. But for 2015, PFF raked Hitchens over the coals, rating him in the bottom quarter of the league against the run. In similar vein, BTBers Joey Ickes and Landon McCool in a recent pod cast argued that Hitchens would merely be run over for lack of sand in his shorts. Did the Atlanta Falcons and Devonte Freeman simply find Hitchens’ weakness and render him useless for the MIKE linebacker spot?

Well, not entirely. A MIKE linebacker has a lot of responsibilities in Rod Marinelli’s defense and the ability to stack and shed is only one of them. Hitchens is still a strong performer in most of those categories, particularly navigating a wash of blockers as you’ll see below. But there is a real weakness when he is asked to take on an offensive lineman or a top notch fullback (Atlanta’s Patrick DiMarco was the highest rated blocking fullback by 12% points over the next ranked contender in PFF’s rankings). I did an in depth examination of Hitchens’ performance during McClain’s four-game suspension last year as well as the Jets game, where Hitchens again filled in at the MIKE spot.

Hitchens did not have any real trouble against the Giants or the Eagles (neither of whom had a fearsome rushing attack last year) as exemplified by the plays here...

 

[Doomsday101]

Pros he is not a pot head and can be depended on. He is solid player who should continue to improve after all this in only his 3rd season in the league.
Con he does not have the physical build I like at the MLB spot.

 

[CCBoy]

Pros he is not a pot head and can be depended on. He is solid player who should continue to improve after all this in only his 3rd season in the league.
Con he does not have the physical build I like at the MLB spot.

He has respectable size, and Mike Singletary was relevant and at a similar size. Mike Curtis was even smaller, but with a huge angry spot when playing.

To this fan, he is very mobile, not fast...and with Thornton and a healthy Crawford, he should be cleaner as well.

 

[gmoney112]

Atlanta was pretty weak, and it all started up front. Hitchens didn't play well but our DL was a getting blown off the ball, Freeman had huge holes to run through before he was even touched.

That game singlehandedly ended Coleman's career in Dallas.

Not really a fair analysis of Anthony.

This is his 3rd year, I think he'll do fine. Is he going to wow anyone? Probably not. But he's an effort player and I think he'll be reasonably assignment sound, and most importantly, reliable. Something Rolando definitely was not.

 

[honyock]

To this fan, he is very mobile, not fast...and with Thornton and a healthy Crawford, he should be cleaner as well.

That's a good point, that the addition of Thornton and a two-armed Crawford could keep things cleaner and make a big difference for Hitchens. We can only hope that it makes it more likely we'll see Hitchens 2014 more often this year.

 

[texbumthelife]

I know it goes against the Marinelli system, but they may have to pinch the line and change gap assignments a little to keep teams off balance.

 

[visionary]

Teams are built up the middle

Having a sub par MLB is a big weakness on a team with a below average DL and bad secondary

 

[conner01]

That's a good point, that the addition of Thornton and a two-armed Crawford could keep things cleaner and make a big difference for Hitchens. We can only hope that it makes it more likely we'll see Hitchens 2014 more often this year.

That's the real key. The dline has to keep oline guys off the lb's and in that area we should be better

 

[Derinyar]

Hitchens will flat out be worse then McClain at his best. There should be zero doubt about that. Hitchens will probably be consistently better then McClain when he was at his worst. Over all he will probably be worse then McClain was. If we can afford to play Thornton a good deal on probable running downs then I think Hitchens can probably work. If we get into the situation where that isn't happening a lot I sorta expect Hitchens to get washed because he hasn't shown stack and shed ability at any point so far.

Try to keep player comps to something in the last 10-15 years. The game has changed a lot since the early 90s.

 

[visionary]

Let's put it this way

There are 31 other nfl teams
Not one of them would want to go into the season with hitchens as their starting MLB

Let that sink in

 

[big dog cowboy]

with Thornton and a healthy Crawford

That alone makes Hitch (or anyone) a better player at MLB.

 

[Nightman]

Let's put it this way

There are 31 other nfl teams
Not one of them would want to go into the season with hitchens as their starting MLB

Let that sink in

I don't think that is true at all....Hitch has done some of his best work at the MIKE...Ro was just a little better but he was also a top 10 pick at one time

 

[Doomsay]

Next man up, because that's all we got?

 

[jazzcat22]

In the Atlanta game, if I remember right. Didn't Lee go out of the game early in the 3rd quarter for a possible concussion. Then that is when the D went to crap and Atlanta started coming back. So it is unfair to put all of that on Hitchens.

I too, go with a better DL up the middle will allow Hitchens to do his job better. It is not as bad as some will lead us to believe or want to admit.
Those who want to find the negatives will always find the negatives in some way. Some warranted and many not. But that's the way it is.

 

[Stash]

In the Atlanta game, if I remember right. Didn't Lee go out of the game early in the 3rd quarter for a possible concussion. Then that is when the D went to crap and Atlanta started coming back. So it is unfair to put all of that on Hitchens.

I too, go with a better DL up the middle will allow Hitchens to do his job better. It is not as bad as some will lead us to believe or want to admit.
Those who want to find the negatives will always find the negatives in some way. Some warranted and many not. But that's the way it is.

And the reverse is true as well.

Some will try to find positives even if they're not there.

And I think the reality lies somewhere in between.

 

[texbumthelife]

Hitchens will flat out be worse then McClain at his best. There should be zero doubt about that. Hitchens will probably be consistently better then McClain when he was at his worst. Over all he will probably be worse then McClain was. If we can afford to play Thornton a good deal on probable running downs then I think Hitchens can probably work. If we get into the situation where that isn't happening a lot I sorta expect Hitchens to get washed because he hasn't shown stack and shed ability at any point so far.

Try to keep player comps to something in the last 10-15 years. The game has changed a lot since the early 90s.

McClain is/was so inconsistent I truly believe that if Hitchens can stay healthy, over the long haul there wouldn't/won't be much drop off.

 

[cowboyblue22]

this team signed McClain as there first free agent so I think they were depending on him to be there if they though hitchens was a pro bowl linebacker or was a replacement for Ro then do they draft smith who wont play this year

 

[Idgit]

I was leery of what McClain was going to give us this year in the first place. Hitchens is a good player, and we're lucky to have him. Where this hurts, though, is we're down a MIKE before the season even starts. If Hitch misses time, now we're scrambling. And all because McClain likes to smoke. Stupid.

 

[Nightman]

I was leery of what McClain was going to give us this year in the first place. Hitchens is a good player, and we're lucky to have him. Where this hurts, though, is we're down a MIKE before the season even starts. If Hitch misses time, now we're scrambling. And all because McClain likes to smoke. Stupid.

That is why a guy like Tulloch makes sense to bring to camp....cheap veteran insurance if the young guys can't step up

 

[JohnsKey19]

Solid at best. Mobile yet tends to run around blocks which can kill a run D. We need Thorton to be as good and consistent as advertised so we're not expecting too much from Hitchens.