Back to the future with the 3-4 defense

[KYPack]

I dimly remember that play. The kid had a few edge rushes that you could see would be really good once he gets experience. He needs to grow and get in an NFL weight room. He has lots of trouble fighting off good drive blocks, like most young DLineman.
He needs a boxing intructor. Hairston was supposed to be such a good end coach, but lots of our kids were weak with their hands.
I agree, Thompson has some great skills that you can't teach. That footspeed of his is golden.

[Waldo]

I dimly remember that play. The kid had a few edge rushes that you could see would be really good once he gets experience. He needs to grow and get in an NFL weight room. He has lots of trouble fighting off good drive blocks, like most young DLineman.
He needs a boxing intructor. Hairston was supposed to be such a good end coach, but lots of our kids were weak with their hands.
I agree, Thompson has some great skills that you can't teach. That footspeed opf his is golden.

The inconsistency of our guys on the DL is really strange. Kamp is a master with his hands, he pretty much is as good as it gets with hand technique. What he misses with pass rusher "moves" (which he has very little of IMO) he makes up with with his stellar hand technique and use of leverage. Cullen is a master of leverage. He has a quick first step, but he knows how to apply his weight and strength for maximum effect. Monty and Hunter almost look like rookies out there their technique is so poor. How is that possible after being on the team for so many years in the company of Cullen and Kamp, under the same coaches.

Same thing with the DT's. Pickett's game is pretty consistent and Harrell plays like a well coached player, but Jolly doesn't look like he's ever been coached in his life, Williams missed the mark on his run stopping technique, Cole has the weight and seems to have good strength, but he is absolutely clueless when it comes to applying his weight and power for effect. Though I don't think Cole has the best balance or feet and is slow as molasses. After a promising looking start, Muir failed to progress at all.

Maybe it is just the players. Maybe we have a bunch of guys that just don't want it that bad or aren't real receptive to coaching. It seems the players that put in the extra effort are well coached.

It is a complete 180 from the opposite line. On the OL the guys might not be the greatest physical prospects, but overall our group has well above average technique almost across the board. The only reason a guy like Wells is even playing in the league is because his technique is so good. Even Moll, inconsistent as he is, has quite good technique. His mental game is sub par and he isn't the greatest physically, but when he isn't screwing up his assignment or getting dominated by superior athletes, solid technique is there. If there is one coaching hangup on the OL it is mental focus and consistency, but it is nearly across the board also, you can see that the coaching is a little weak in that one area, but it is nothing like the DL and its hodgepodge of guys that show good and bad coaching at varying things.

You could see JT's pass rush technique getting better and better, he was so close so many times. He got pretty good at the bullrush upfield/cut underneath rush, he just could never get off it. He just couldn't deliver the punch strong enough at the exact right moment to knock the LT off balance to get by him. A little more work on timing it and an offseason of flipping tires and tossing around medicine balls with Kamp and that one is going to start to work for him. He has the bullrush part of it down, and the length for the punch to be effective, just doing it at the right moment and putting enough oomph into it is all that is lacking. He was also getting pretty close on the outside rush where he bends around the T on the backside.

[KYPack]

I dimly remember that play. The kid had a few edge rushes that you could see would be really good once he gets experience. He needs to grow and get in an NFL weight room. He has lots of trouble fighting off good drive blocks, like most young DLineman.
He needs a boxing intructor. Hairston was supposed to be such a good end coach, but lots of our kids were weak with their hands.
I agree, Thompson has some great skills that you can't teach. That footspeed of his is golden.

The inconsistency of our guys on the DL is really strange. Kamp is a master with his hands, he pretty much is as good as it gets with hand technique. What he misses with pass rusher "moves" (which he has very little of IMO) he makes up with with his stellar hand technique and use of leverage. Cullen is a master of leverage. He has a quick first step, but he knows how to apply his weight and strength for maximum effect. Monty and Hunter almost look like rookies out there their technique is so poor. How is that possible after being on the team for so many years in the company of Cullen and Kamp, under the same coaches.

Same thing with the DT's. Pickett's game is pretty consistent and Harrell plays like a well coached player, but Jolly doesn't look like he's ever been coached in his life, Williams missed the mark on his run stopping technique, Cole has the weight and seems to have good strength, but he is absolutely clueless when it comes to applying his weight and power for effect. Though I don't think Cole has the best balance or feet and is slow as molasses. After a promising looking start, Muir failed to progress at all.

Maybe it is just the players. Maybe we have a bunch of guys that just don't want it that bad or aren't real receptive to coaching. It seems the players that put in the extra effort are well coached.

It is a complete 180 from the opposite line. On the OL the guys might not be the greatest physical prospects, but overall our group has well above average technique almost across the board. The only reason a guy like Wells is even playing in the league is because his technique is so good. Even Moll, inconsistent as he is, has quite good technique. His mental game is sub par and he isn't the greatest physically, but when he isn't screwing up his assignment or getting dominated by superior athletes, solid technique is there. If there is one coaching hangup on the OL it is mental focus and consistency, but it is nearly across the board also, you can see that the coaching is a little weak in that one area, but it is nothing like the DL and its hodgepodge of guys that show good and bad coaching at varying things.

You got it, pal. Agree 100%

Guess you watch the same team I do.

The ends are poor with their hands other than Kamp, who is an All-World hand fighter. I understand Hunter being lost, but Montgomery had been around for years, yet still has rookie technique. Montgomery made a jump in the last few games, maybe the light is coming on. This was his 3rd year, he should be more ready than he showed in '08.

Muir is an excellent case in point. He should have beaten out Cole, but lost out in a close battle. Playing for Indy, he looks like a different guy. His technique has inproved by a huge margin. Our guys have poor technique and develop very slowly. That's weak coaching. Sanders was the old line coach, but our line didn't really progress, it regressed. That's why a bunch of those coaches ain't getting a paycheck here anymore.

[mraynrand]

He needs a boxing intructor. .

Maybe they still have Ahmad Carroll's boxing gloves lying around somewhere....

[mraynrand]

The whole D-line was disappointing, but the thing that bothered me the most was the lack of progress. Everyone seemed to regress, none worse that Jolly.

Still, Kampman is a great technician, both in physical technique and in strategy - in setting linemen up. I've watched him dip his outside shoulder on an inside move on a guy two three times in a row, and then the next time, dip the shoulder exactly the same way and then do an outside move. The O-lineman was struck dumb "Which way did he go?" I don't think Kampman is less an instinctive player and much more a cerebral player, so I guess he will be very good at OLB, but not dominant in the way that guys with that natural instinctive burst - like a Harrison - are.

[rbaloha1]

Thompson is physically gifted. IMO Thompson was thinking too much rather than just playing.

Thompson is an outstanding candidate for an olb position.