The unsung heroes thread

[Aven8]

Just wanted to give a shout out to these specific players who IMO played very well this season and most importantly stayed healthy.

TFred, what a refreshing season when we didn't have to hear Costa's name metioned once! Guy is going to be a stud for years.

Nick Hayden, wasn't a beast or anything, but a solid rotational player and healthy the entire season after bouncing around. Great pick up IMO.

George Selvie, what a find, and nice 2 yr contract. Lunch pail type guy and Will McClay did a great job finding him.

Barry Church, while he's no Ed Reed, he played extremely well coming off an Achilles injury.

Mackenzie Berd, two words we never wanted to hear this season, then after Waters went down came in and we didn't skip a beat. The guy actually looked kind of beastly in a few games this season.

Ronald Leary, never started a game before this season, and has a bad knee, but played one heck of a season. Reliable and dominant on occasion.

My #1 unsung hero.....

Doug Free, took a pay cut, didn't complain, and had a fantastic year. I cannot even tell you what a turn around it was for him this year. Last year it looked like he was playing on roller skates and now, solid.

Bravo to all these guys. Every team needs them and they all played like professionals and were unsung heroes in my book!

 

[perrykemp]

Good post.

I agree with all of it.

 

[CowboyStar88]

Spot on totally agree also if like to give Kyle Wilber a shout out as well. I think the kid has a bright future at LB

 

[BoysFan4ever]

Definitely agree about Free. He was solid all year. Proved me wrong. Good for him.

 

[xwalker]

Just wanted to give a shout out to these specific players who IMO played very well this season and most importantly stayed healthy.

TFred, what a refreshing season when we didn't have to hear Costa's name metioned once! Guy is going to be a stud for years.

Nick Hayden, wasn't a beast or anything, but a solid rotational player and healthy the entire season after bouncing around. Great pick up IMO.

George Selvie, what a find, and nice 2 yr contract. Lunch pail type guy and Will McClay did a great job finding him.

Barry Church, while he's no Ed Reed, he played extremely well coming off an Achilles injury.

Mackenzie Berd, two words we never wanted to hear this season, then after Waters went down came in and we didn't skip a beat. The guy actually looked kind of beastly in a few games this season.

Ronald Leary, never started a game before this season, and has a bad knee, but played one heck of a season. Reliable and dominant on occasion.

My #1 unsung hero.....

Doug Free, took a pay cut, didn't complain, and had a fantastic year. I cannot even tell you what a turn around it was for him this year. Last year it looked like he was playing on roller skates and now, solid.

Bravo to all these guys. Every team needs them and they all played like professionals and were unsung heroes in my book!

Frank Pollack - Assistant OLine Coach (functioned as the OL coach with Callahan calling the plays)
The OLine really came together and were able to execute the Zone Blocking Scheme that we were expecting last year.

Also, they very cleverly adjusted the scheme to cover up Doug Free's weaknesses. I've posted about it before and it's a long explanation, but they did many things in both pass pro and run blocking to cover up for Free. It made the degree of difficult higher for the 3 interior players Bern, Fred, and Leary in order to compensate for Free. They did coach Free up with some technique changes that also helped, but he has some physical limitations which they masked with the scheme changes.

Scandrick - He stepped up from nickel CB to starter and played well.

Holloman - The defense had one of their better performances the final game and he was the MLB. He had no prior experience at MLB. He was a college safety and practiced only at OLB in training camp and during the season until just 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Kyle Wilber - Adapted to SLB quickly.

 

[CowboyStar88]

Frank Pollack - Assistant OLine Coach (functioned as the OL coach with Callahan calling the plays)
The OLine really came together and were able to execute the Zone Blocking Scheme that we were expecting last year.

Also, they very cleverly adjusted the scheme to cover up Doug Free's weaknesses. I've posted about it before and it's a long explanation, but they did many things in both pass pro and run blocking to cover up for Free. It made the degree of difficult higher for the 3 interior players Bern, Fred, and Leary in order to compensate for Free. They did coach Free up with some technique changes that also helped, but he has some physical limitations which they masked with the scheme changes.

Scandrick - He stepped up from nickel CB to starter and played well.

Holloman - The defense had one of their better performances the final game and he was the MLB. He had no prior experience at MLB. He was a college safety and practiced only at OLB in training camp and during the season until just 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Kyle Wilber - Adapted to SLB quickly.

That's why I'm excited about Kyle

 

[Aven8]

Frank Pollack - Assistant OLine Coach (functioned as the OL coach with Callahan calling the plays)
The OLine really came together and were able to execute the Zone Blocking Scheme that we were expecting last year.

Also, they very cleverly adjusted the scheme to cover up Doug Free's weaknesses. I've posted about it before and it's a long explanation, but they did many things in both pass pro and run blocking to cover up for Free. It made the degree of difficult higher for the 3 interior players Bern, Fred, and Leary in order to compensate for Free. They did coach Free up with some technique changes that also helped, but he has some physical limitations which they masked with the scheme changes.

Scandrick - He stepped up from nickel CB to starter and played well.

Holloman - The defense had one of their better performances the final game and he was the MLB. He had no prior experience at MLB. He was a college safety and practiced only at OLB in training camp and during the season until just 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Kyle Wilber - Adapted to SLB quickly.

I thought about adding Oscan, but he's pretty good every year and paid like it.

Holloman IMO can be a star, but left him off my list because he wasn't healthy.

I'm still not sold on Wilber. Seems too tall to be SLB IMO, but time will tell.

 

[xwalker]

I thought about adding Oscan, but he's pretty good every year and paid like it.

Holloman IMO can be a star, but left him off my list because he wasn't healthy.

I'm still not sold on Wilber. Seems too tall to be SLB IMO, but time will tell.

Wilber is the same height as Brian Urlacher and Seattle's SLB KJ Wright.

 

[texbumthelife]

Wilbur really was lights out once they switched him to LB. I love how he fills the whole violently. Carter and even Lee have a tendency to sit and wait, Wilbur explodes towards the ball carrier through the hole, much like the ball carrier is expected to explode.

I don't get the OScan love. He had one pretty good game. Otherwise he was toasted just as regularly as anyone else.

 

[Vintage]

I thought Hayden sucked.... to be honest.

 

[mahoneybill]

Frank Pollack - Assistant OLine Coach (functioned as the OL coach with Callahan calling the plays)
The OLine really came together and were able to execute the Zone Blocking Scheme that we were expecting last year.

Also, they very cleverly adjusted the scheme to cover up Doug Free's weaknesses. I've posted about it before and it's a long explanation, but they did many things in both pass pro and run blocking to cover up for Free. It made the degree of difficult higher for the 3 interior players Bern, Fred, and Leary in order to compensate for Free. They did coach Free up with some technique changes that also helped, but he has some physical limitations which they masked with the scheme changes.

Scandrick - He stepped up from nickel CB to starter and played well.

Holloman - The defense had one of their better performances the final game and he was the MLB. He had no prior experience at MLB. He was a college safety and practiced only at OLB in training camp and during the season until just 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Kyle Wilber - Adapted to SLB quickly.

Dwayne Harris - Turned into a real return threat