HarveyWallbangers
11-22-2007, 12:30 AM
Less is more for 'KGB'
Bob McGinn
Detroit - It isn't often that a professional football player has the chance to go back in life. Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila is one who did.
After almost five full seasons in the role as a starting defensive end for the Green Bay Packers, Gbaja-Biamila is back in his old role of situational pass rusher and playing the best football of his career.
Tampa Bay, with Patrick Chukwurah, is the only other team in the league that has the luxury of saving a pass-rushing defensive end for probable passing downs. Only Chukwurah isn't anywhere close to Gbaja-Biamila, who remains one of the game's premium pass rushers.
From this vantage point, "KGB" hasn't gotten the notice that he has deserved for the Packers' 9-1 start. Some people appear to think he's robbing the bank with the third highest cap salary ($6.577 million) on the roster. Other seems to be saying that he is somehow not worthy because he's no longer starting.
In April 2003, the Packers reacted to the threat of a raid by the Philadelphia Eagles and gave Gbaja-Biamila a seven-year, $37.3 million contract a year before he would have eligible for unrestricted free agency.
That season, coach Mike Sherman ended up playing "KGB" an average of 58.6 snaps per game, or 87% of the defensive snaps. Gbaja-Biamila responded with a career-high 42 1 /2 "pressures" (defined as the combination of sacks, knockdowns and hurries).
The Packers got their money's worth out of Gbaja-Biamila, even though it was misguided. Not only did the regular gig drain the juice from Gbaja-Biamila's legs for the most important snaps late in games, it also created an impediment for defenses that could never quite compensate for having a 245-pound defensive end on the field against the run.
It was easy for Sherman, defensive coordinator Ed Donatell and everyone else in the building just to leave Gbaja-Biamila out there.
"KGB" was in his glory, realizing his dream of earning a starting job. He just never knew what was good for him.
Plus, such players as Jamal Reynolds and Kenny Peterson failed to develop into suitable replacements. And the coaches always argued that Gbaja-Biamila's run defense wasn't that bad.
It became a vicious circle, with Gbaja-Biamila playing his heart out in a losing proposition and the Packers coming to accept mediocrity against the run.
As we know, that all changed in Week 13 last season when San Francisco's Frank Gore barged past "KGB" twice for a total of 78 yards on the first two plays. Cullen Jenkins replaced him at right end in the base defense, and it has been that way ever since.
In the 13 games before San Francisco, Green Bay allowed 115.9 yards rushing per game and 12 touchdowns. In the 13 games since San Francisco, Green Bay has allowed 95.2 and three.
Before the switch last season, "KGB" played 77.6% of the defensive downs. After the switch, he played 48.8%. This season, he is averaging 33.9 snaps, or 52%.
That's a far cry from 2004 (48.3, 76%) and 2005 (50.6, 80.1%). It's also much more in line with 2001, when as a second-year player Gbaja-Biamila averaged 26 snaps, or 39.3%.
Back in October 2001, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were preparing for a game against the Packers, coach Tony Dungy was asked about young Gbaja-Biamila, who was leading the National Football League in sacks three games into the season.
"Every once in a while a guy comes in the league like a Charles Haley," Dungy said. "He could be that guy."
That Sunday, Gbaja-Biamila tore around Dungy's offensive line for three sacks, giving him nine and eventually 14 1 /2 in 18 games.
Joe Johnson was signed to replace broken-down John Thierry at right end for 2002, but in the fifth game he blew out his triceps and was done for the season. Sherman had no alternative but to start Gbaja-Biamila, and he would start until that fateful benching day in San Francisco.
"I thought the idea (not starting) was bad," Gbaja-Biamila said last week. "But God said, 'Kabeer, trust me.'
"I said, 'I can do this, I can do that.'
"'Kabeer, trust me.'"
Today, the Packers' rotation in the defensive line is the envy of the NFL.
The bell cow, left end Aaron Kampman, plays 91%. Jenkins kicks inside on passing downs and has 80.2%. Left tackle Ryan Pickett plays 51.4%. Corey Williams, who splits time at right tackle in the base with Johnny Jolly, joins Jenkins inside on passing downs. He's playing 59.4% whereas Jolly is at 41%.
The coaches don't fret when Gbaja-Biamila plays in base. With Jolly now out indefinitely, that will occur more often because Jenkins will have to play inside some in base.
In his reduced role, Gbaja-Biamila plays every passing down at right end and every down in two-minute or end-of-game situations when a desperate opponent is trying to come from behind.
Watching "KGB" as designated pass rusher is a step back in time. At 30, it's almost as if he has been reborn.
Through 10 games, he has 30 "pressures," and on this pace he'll finish with 48, more than his high of 42 1 /2 in 18 games in '03. On a "pressure" per snap basis, he is averaging one pressure every 11.3 snaps, even better than his best of one for every 13.77 snaps in '01.
Not much has changed about Gbaja-Biamila's game. He never gets hurt, never gets tired and never draws attention to himself.
Gbaja-Biamila basically is what he is, a straight-line outside rusher with excellent speed and rare ability to turn his feet and swing his hips toward the quarterback. No one, however, has ever accused "KGB" of being a superior athlete.
"We kid him a lot about that, too," co-defensive line coach Robert Nunn said. "I wouldn't say the word 'stiff,' but we give him a hard time. But he can rush the passer."
Only once in Gbaja-Biamila's career has he slashed inside immediately for a sack. His first real bull rush for a sack came in Week 4 when he caught Minnesota's 335-pound Bryant McKinnie overplaying him outside.
"I've become more of a technician," he said. "Before I relied just on my speed, speed, speed. Now I'll knock your hands down. Use more power. I was probably one-dimensional."
The average time of Gbaja-Biamila's sacks this season is 3.01 seconds from snap to grasp. His longest was 3.7 seconds. Two could be considered garbage sacks set up by others, but eight of the nine came on four-man rushes.
All came against left tackles; the extended and foolish experimentation with "KGB" on the left side, where he never felt in sync, has ended.
The secret to the Packers' defense is the success of four-man rushes. People like Al Harris and Jarrett Bush are able to hold up in man-to-man coverage because the ball has to be thrown earlier than most places.
Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders has rushed five or more on merely 19% of passes, down from full-season totals of 24.5% in 2006 and then 30.9% in '05 under Jim Bates. It's the least amount of blitzing the Packers have done in more than a decade.
As Sanders blitzes less and less, opponents still must keep in more than five blockers to block four rushers, all of whom (with the exception of Pickett) can win one-on-one. Kampman is getting more double-teams than Gbaja-Biamila, but part of that is due to the fact that the right tackles opposing him haven't been nearly as good as the left tackles opposing "KGB."
Last week, Kampman finally faced a terrific right tackle in Jordan Gross. So Carolina let Gross go one-on-one with Kampman and double-teamed Gbaja-Biamila on 61% of passes, a far cry from the 21.3% doubling rate he encountered in the first nine games.
Through 10 games, "KGB" has been doubled 27.3%. That's about par since 2001, when he was hotter than hot and ran into 38.1% doubling.
We now know that Gbaja-Biamila isn't as good as Charles Haley. As a complete defensive end, he isn't as good as a lot of people. As a pass rusher, however, "KGB" has stood the test of time with 72 1 /2 sacks in 112 games.
The NFL didn't record individual sacks as an official statistic in 1982, but as early as the mid-1970s the Packers and other teams were keeping them. From then to now, the club's top sack-per-game percentages (sacks per game) belong to Tim Harris (.733), Reggie White (.721), Gbaja-Biamila (.647), Tony Bennett (.643), Ezra Johnson (.574), Bryce Paup (.508) and Kampman (.463).
White, with 198 sacks in 232 games for three teams, had a career mark of .854. All-time leader Bruce Smith finished .717. Haley wound up .682.
Keeping Gbaja-Biamila's .647 in mind, let's examine 12 active players. In order, there's Shawne Merriman (.878), John Abraham (.709), Simeon Rice (.704), Dwight Freeney (.682), DeMarcus Ware (.679), Jared Allen (.673), Jason Taylor (.669), Michael Strahan (.669), Julius Peppers (.651), Leonard Little (.625), Terrell Suggs (.595) and Osi Umenyiora (.553).
Back in 2003, Gbaja-Biamila's contract, which contained an $11 million signing bonus, sent shock waves through the state. As usually is the case, the money resulted in much higher expectations among teammates, reporters and fans, and when "KGB" was miscast as a starter some called him a disappointment.
Today, 4 1/2 years later, Gbaja-Biamila's average salary per year of $5.329 million ranks 21st among NFL defensive ends.
Some still might quibble with it, huffing and puffing that it's simply too much to pay a substitute. Those people know little or nothing about football.
Not all of Gbaja-Biamila's eight sacks in the fourth quarter this season have been critical, but his late sack in Kansas City after which the Chiefs collapsed was worth its weight in gold for a team bent on the Super Bowl.
Ted Thompson was correct in resisting any impulse to ask Gbaja-Biamila for a cut from his $5 million base salary this season. Barring the unforeseen, the general manager will pay "KGB" bases of $6.15 million in 2008 and $7.3 million in '09, thanking his lucky stars that he still has him to terrorize quarterbacks.
Bob McGinn
Detroit - It isn't often that a professional football player has the chance to go back in life. Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila is one who did.
After almost five full seasons in the role as a starting defensive end for the Green Bay Packers, Gbaja-Biamila is back in his old role of situational pass rusher and playing the best football of his career.
Tampa Bay, with Patrick Chukwurah, is the only other team in the league that has the luxury of saving a pass-rushing defensive end for probable passing downs. Only Chukwurah isn't anywhere close to Gbaja-Biamila, who remains one of the game's premium pass rushers.
From this vantage point, "KGB" hasn't gotten the notice that he has deserved for the Packers' 9-1 start. Some people appear to think he's robbing the bank with the third highest cap salary ($6.577 million) on the roster. Other seems to be saying that he is somehow not worthy because he's no longer starting.
In April 2003, the Packers reacted to the threat of a raid by the Philadelphia Eagles and gave Gbaja-Biamila a seven-year, $37.3 million contract a year before he would have eligible for unrestricted free agency.
That season, coach Mike Sherman ended up playing "KGB" an average of 58.6 snaps per game, or 87% of the defensive snaps. Gbaja-Biamila responded with a career-high 42 1 /2 "pressures" (defined as the combination of sacks, knockdowns and hurries).
The Packers got their money's worth out of Gbaja-Biamila, even though it was misguided. Not only did the regular gig drain the juice from Gbaja-Biamila's legs for the most important snaps late in games, it also created an impediment for defenses that could never quite compensate for having a 245-pound defensive end on the field against the run.
It was easy for Sherman, defensive coordinator Ed Donatell and everyone else in the building just to leave Gbaja-Biamila out there.
"KGB" was in his glory, realizing his dream of earning a starting job. He just never knew what was good for him.
Plus, such players as Jamal Reynolds and Kenny Peterson failed to develop into suitable replacements. And the coaches always argued that Gbaja-Biamila's run defense wasn't that bad.
It became a vicious circle, with Gbaja-Biamila playing his heart out in a losing proposition and the Packers coming to accept mediocrity against the run.
As we know, that all changed in Week 13 last season when San Francisco's Frank Gore barged past "KGB" twice for a total of 78 yards on the first two plays. Cullen Jenkins replaced him at right end in the base defense, and it has been that way ever since.
In the 13 games before San Francisco, Green Bay allowed 115.9 yards rushing per game and 12 touchdowns. In the 13 games since San Francisco, Green Bay has allowed 95.2 and three.
Before the switch last season, "KGB" played 77.6% of the defensive downs. After the switch, he played 48.8%. This season, he is averaging 33.9 snaps, or 52%.
That's a far cry from 2004 (48.3, 76%) and 2005 (50.6, 80.1%). It's also much more in line with 2001, when as a second-year player Gbaja-Biamila averaged 26 snaps, or 39.3%.
Back in October 2001, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were preparing for a game against the Packers, coach Tony Dungy was asked about young Gbaja-Biamila, who was leading the National Football League in sacks three games into the season.
"Every once in a while a guy comes in the league like a Charles Haley," Dungy said. "He could be that guy."
That Sunday, Gbaja-Biamila tore around Dungy's offensive line for three sacks, giving him nine and eventually 14 1 /2 in 18 games.
Joe Johnson was signed to replace broken-down John Thierry at right end for 2002, but in the fifth game he blew out his triceps and was done for the season. Sherman had no alternative but to start Gbaja-Biamila, and he would start until that fateful benching day in San Francisco.
"I thought the idea (not starting) was bad," Gbaja-Biamila said last week. "But God said, 'Kabeer, trust me.'
"I said, 'I can do this, I can do that.'
"'Kabeer, trust me.'"
Today, the Packers' rotation in the defensive line is the envy of the NFL.
The bell cow, left end Aaron Kampman, plays 91%. Jenkins kicks inside on passing downs and has 80.2%. Left tackle Ryan Pickett plays 51.4%. Corey Williams, who splits time at right tackle in the base with Johnny Jolly, joins Jenkins inside on passing downs. He's playing 59.4% whereas Jolly is at 41%.
The coaches don't fret when Gbaja-Biamila plays in base. With Jolly now out indefinitely, that will occur more often because Jenkins will have to play inside some in base.
In his reduced role, Gbaja-Biamila plays every passing down at right end and every down in two-minute or end-of-game situations when a desperate opponent is trying to come from behind.
Watching "KGB" as designated pass rusher is a step back in time. At 30, it's almost as if he has been reborn.
Through 10 games, he has 30 "pressures," and on this pace he'll finish with 48, more than his high of 42 1 /2 in 18 games in '03. On a "pressure" per snap basis, he is averaging one pressure every 11.3 snaps, even better than his best of one for every 13.77 snaps in '01.
Not much has changed about Gbaja-Biamila's game. He never gets hurt, never gets tired and never draws attention to himself.
Gbaja-Biamila basically is what he is, a straight-line outside rusher with excellent speed and rare ability to turn his feet and swing his hips toward the quarterback. No one, however, has ever accused "KGB" of being a superior athlete.
"We kid him a lot about that, too," co-defensive line coach Robert Nunn said. "I wouldn't say the word 'stiff,' but we give him a hard time. But he can rush the passer."
Only once in Gbaja-Biamila's career has he slashed inside immediately for a sack. His first real bull rush for a sack came in Week 4 when he caught Minnesota's 335-pound Bryant McKinnie overplaying him outside.
"I've become more of a technician," he said. "Before I relied just on my speed, speed, speed. Now I'll knock your hands down. Use more power. I was probably one-dimensional."
The average time of Gbaja-Biamila's sacks this season is 3.01 seconds from snap to grasp. His longest was 3.7 seconds. Two could be considered garbage sacks set up by others, but eight of the nine came on four-man rushes.
All came against left tackles; the extended and foolish experimentation with "KGB" on the left side, where he never felt in sync, has ended.
The secret to the Packers' defense is the success of four-man rushes. People like Al Harris and Jarrett Bush are able to hold up in man-to-man coverage because the ball has to be thrown earlier than most places.
Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders has rushed five or more on merely 19% of passes, down from full-season totals of 24.5% in 2006 and then 30.9% in '05 under Jim Bates. It's the least amount of blitzing the Packers have done in more than a decade.
As Sanders blitzes less and less, opponents still must keep in more than five blockers to block four rushers, all of whom (with the exception of Pickett) can win one-on-one. Kampman is getting more double-teams than Gbaja-Biamila, but part of that is due to the fact that the right tackles opposing him haven't been nearly as good as the left tackles opposing "KGB."
Last week, Kampman finally faced a terrific right tackle in Jordan Gross. So Carolina let Gross go one-on-one with Kampman and double-teamed Gbaja-Biamila on 61% of passes, a far cry from the 21.3% doubling rate he encountered in the first nine games.
Through 10 games, "KGB" has been doubled 27.3%. That's about par since 2001, when he was hotter than hot and ran into 38.1% doubling.
We now know that Gbaja-Biamila isn't as good as Charles Haley. As a complete defensive end, he isn't as good as a lot of people. As a pass rusher, however, "KGB" has stood the test of time with 72 1 /2 sacks in 112 games.
The NFL didn't record individual sacks as an official statistic in 1982, but as early as the mid-1970s the Packers and other teams were keeping them. From then to now, the club's top sack-per-game percentages (sacks per game) belong to Tim Harris (.733), Reggie White (.721), Gbaja-Biamila (.647), Tony Bennett (.643), Ezra Johnson (.574), Bryce Paup (.508) and Kampman (.463).
White, with 198 sacks in 232 games for three teams, had a career mark of .854. All-time leader Bruce Smith finished .717. Haley wound up .682.
Keeping Gbaja-Biamila's .647 in mind, let's examine 12 active players. In order, there's Shawne Merriman (.878), John Abraham (.709), Simeon Rice (.704), Dwight Freeney (.682), DeMarcus Ware (.679), Jared Allen (.673), Jason Taylor (.669), Michael Strahan (.669), Julius Peppers (.651), Leonard Little (.625), Terrell Suggs (.595) and Osi Umenyiora (.553).
Back in 2003, Gbaja-Biamila's contract, which contained an $11 million signing bonus, sent shock waves through the state. As usually is the case, the money resulted in much higher expectations among teammates, reporters and fans, and when "KGB" was miscast as a starter some called him a disappointment.
Today, 4 1/2 years later, Gbaja-Biamila's average salary per year of $5.329 million ranks 21st among NFL defensive ends.
Some still might quibble with it, huffing and puffing that it's simply too much to pay a substitute. Those people know little or nothing about football.
Not all of Gbaja-Biamila's eight sacks in the fourth quarter this season have been critical, but his late sack in Kansas City after which the Chiefs collapsed was worth its weight in gold for a team bent on the Super Bowl.
Ted Thompson was correct in resisting any impulse to ask Gbaja-Biamila for a cut from his $5 million base salary this season. Barring the unforeseen, the general manager will pay "KGB" bases of $6.15 million in 2008 and $7.3 million in '09, thanking his lucky stars that he still has him to terrorize quarterbacks.