How many sacks will Clay have this year ?

[Scott Campbell]

He's number 52 - right?

[Fritz]

I am guessing a nice round 16. Philly and Buffalo have very inadequate pass protection and aren't a good test of how far Matthews can go this year. It will be interesting to see how he fares against Dallas, New England and Atlanta in particular. If he can have success against offenses that can pass protect and that are scheming for him, then it will be time to start thinking of him as an elite, top-5 LB.

Dallas has done a horrible job protecting Romo so far. That one tackle looks like he would be a 4th stringer on our team.

It's all about how we use Matthews, and Dom has said as much. Matthews and Woodson are the types of players that are so good you disguise them, you confuse the other side opf the ball. Matthews came up the left side, came from the right, came formt he left - they really moved him around. Sometime he was in on nickle and faked a blitz and dropped back - where he notably played decent in zone middle coverage.

Woodson is the same way. We move him around a lot. Put him in the slot, put him at safety, zone him in the middle - have him play wolf, blitz off the ege... It's really hard to preplan double teams on a guy who could come from anywhere on the field. It's not like an elite DE like Kampman who you always know he is coming from x side. Matthews is all over so far this season. His play seems to be casuing other LB's to step up too.

Barnett has looked quicker and gotten more pressure up the middel himself, compared to last year.

Guy is scary good. Top 5? Hell, he was already, statistically (I Believe), top 5 last year... and that was what... in 12 games?

Your post made me remember an old article in the JSO, I think. One of the writers - old Cliffy Christl, or someone else? - was bemoaning the "fact" that Thompson was too conservative in his draft and FA choices and did not choose high-upside guys who could become playmakers. He had, according to the writer, too many pedestrian players and not enough blue-chippers. I think the writer even assigned a color to each kind of player (blue for difference-maker, etc). He was right that the team didn't have enough playmakers, but wrong in thinking this was due to TT's proclivities in player acquisition.

But look at the defense now. Woodson, Raji, Mathews, Collins. Playmakers.

I hope the pass rush stays strong. I hated watching just a few years ago when Aaron Kampman a-l-m-o-s-t getting to the QB was the entire pass rush.

[Tony Oday]

32...write that down

[SkinBasket]

He picks up 36 sacks this season, does a special in Sports Illustrated about killing bears with his bare hands and eating them uncooked with the fur still on, then takes Fritz's mom out for a nice night on the town and picks up his 37th sack.

[RashanGary]

How many elite players do we have?

Clay
Chuck
Rodgers (maybe)


Finley
Collins
Jennings


Sitton
Raji
Driver
Barnett
Jenkins
Pickett


I count 2 elite, maybe three if Rodgers turns this year into something special.

[Tony Oday]

How many elite players do we have?

Clay
Chuck
Rodgers (maybe)


Finley
Collins
Jennings


Sitton
Raji
Driver
Barnett
Jenkins
Pickett


I count 2 elite, maybe three if Rodgers turns this year into something special.

You kidding? AR is an ELITE QB in the NFL. Jennings is Elite.

[pbmax]

Matthews is a lot better pass rusher than KGB or Kamp ever were.

Preach it Brother Waldo.

I am still worried about consistent pressure overall (the meat of the schedule is yet to come), but I agree with Waldo that Raji has helped more this year. Pickett at times as well, though that might be in place of Neal. If Neal, Jenkins and Jones get close to healthy, this may no longer be a concern. Except for the other sideline.

16 sacks.

[channtheman]

I don't know if Matthews can continue at his pace. As such I'm tempering my expectations.

45.

[HarveyWallbangers]

How many elite players do we have?

Clay
Chuck
Rodgers (maybe)

Finley
Collins
Jennings

Sitton
Raji
Driver
Barnett
Jenkins
Pickett

I count 2 elite, maybe three if Rodgers turns this year into something special.

Blue Chips - Woodson, Matthews, Rodgers, Collins, Jennings, Finley
Red chips - Sitton, Raji, Driver, Jenkins, Barnett, Pickett

I think Sitton is close to Blue Chip. That's how good I think he is. Raji has that potential. Jenkins is a damn good 3-4 DE. Barnett and Pickett were close. I gave it to them. Clifton used to be up there. A healthy Al Harris goes on the list somewhere.

[RashanGary]

I was more talking MVP and DPOY type elite. I'm talking our 96 team had Favre and White. . . .


Woodson and Matthews are that type of elite player right now. I think Rodgers might be too.


In the probowl sense, yeah, there are more legit elite players, but I'm talking HOF type guys.

[Smidgeon]

Alright...who voted that the Claymaker would get four sacks or fewer in the next fourteen games??

[rbaloha1]

Breaks the record.

[Smidgeon]

Breaks the record.

At the very least, he's got the kind of start necessary to be angling for it.

[Scott Campbell]

For perspective, there are only 2 entire TEAMS in the NFL (besides GB) that have more than 6 sacks heading in to today's games. Detroit with 9 and TN with 8.

[Smidgeon]

For perspective, there are only 2 entire TEAMS in the NFL (besides GB) that have more than 6 sacks heading in to today's games. Detroit with 9 and TN with 8.

I thought Detroit was tied with GB at 10 before this week. Did they have a sack taken away during the middle of the week, or had I read that wrong?