Mike Neal

[Pugger]

Just curious, on what do you base that opinion of Sherrod? I don't recall any predraft opinions that he was anything more than a reasonable prospect. Has he done anything since to show that predraft opinions undervalued him?

Wasn't he playing pretty well up until he broke his leg?

[pbmax]

Merling should be playing... he should be playing base downs in a rotation with Pickett and Raji.

It goes back to the 3 man rush thread and arguing about the usage of front seven personnel. Merling isn't a world beater, but he's a fat guy that can eat up blocks, eat up snaps, and take some of the workload off of both Pickett and Raji.

As it is, Capers is using his front seven almost identical to the way he used it last year - and he's going to end up burning Raji out the same as he did last year.

Not only should they keep Merling, they should add Neal, subtract from the roster somewhere else, and get both of those guys into a rotation.

Not holding my breath though... Capers isn't going to change what he's doing; and Pickett and Raji's effectiveness will likely wane as the season wears on - same as last year when we had 6 sacks in the last 7 games.

Merling cannot beat out CJ Wilson in base D. Exactly what does he add to the D line in base? He just eats snaps, he is the Manny Parra of D lineman. His gig is supposed to be a better pass rusher than Wilson. If he gets on the field, it will be on pass downs not base downs and he will have to replace Worthy or Daniels.

On the other hand, you might get your wish for 7 DL with Neal back, when it happens. The consensus candidate to be dropped is Richardson at safety.

[pbmax]

Wasn't he playing pretty well up until he broke his leg?

He struggled in camp at Guard and was beat out by Lang. Patler has compared this unfavorably to Bulaga who nearly beat Colledge out of the Guard spot his rookie year until an injury cost him some time. However, there are a couple of problems with the comparison. Bulaga was a far better prospect at Guard than Sherrod and Colledge and some scouts thought he would be an All-Pro Guard. BB's second best position was RT. Sherrod was always thought to be a Left Tackle only.

Forced by injury early in the season into playing Right Tackle (a spot he spent little time in during camp) he struggled (versus the Redskins I think). he was terrible early but did seem to settle down. First exposure was a poor to mediocre performance. When he was forced to play later in the season at RT versus the Chiefs, he fared much better, though still not lock solid. I seem to recall him pressed into RT after a Bulaga injury the game prior to the Chiefs, don't remember much from that one.

So his rookie campaign was poor, but he showed his promise better later in the season. His larger problem is getting back onto the field and staying healthy. As Patler has advised, counting on him seems premature, but counting him as some kind of bust is an overreaction to three games and one preseason out of position.

[wist43]

Merling cannot beat out CJ Wilson in base D. Exactly what does he add to the D line in base? He just eats snaps, he is the Manny Parra of D lineman. His gig is supposed to be a better pass rusher than Wilson. If he gets on the field, it will be on pass downs not base downs and he will have to replace Worthy or Daniels.

On the other hand, you might get your wish for 7 DL with Neal back, when it happens. The consensus candidate to be dropped is Richardson at safety.

I'm not offering an opinion on the quality of depth - just sayin there needs to be a rotation to keep our front line players fresher throughout the season. If Merling and Wilson aren't good enough to be part of a rotation, then why are they on the team??

As neither of them are world beaters, then eating snaps is at least something. If you don't get them eating up snaps, we'll be right back to where we were late last season, i.e. a burned out Raji, an ineffective pass rush, more 1 and 2 man lines, and 6 sacks in the last 7 seven games.

The media asked MM about Raji's snaps last year, and he blew it off and said Raji "is a young man" and can handle it - well, he wore down. Capers is doing the exact same thing this year.

[denverYooper]

Whatever. I'm driving the CJ Wilson bandwagon.

[rbaloha1]

CJ is playing well. Very stout against the run with surprising pass rush moves.

[OS PA]

Well we cut Merling and activated Neal. Surprise surprise.

[wist43]

Well we cut Merling and activated Neal. Surprise surprise.

Well, now he can take Merling's place on the bench rotation.

[OS PA]

Well, now he can take Merling's place on the bench rotation.

Oh, have we given up on Neal now? I didn't get the "sky is falling" memo.

[mmmdk]

Whatever. I'm driving the CJ Wilson bandwagon.

Keep both hands on the wheel.

[denverYooper]

Keep both hands on the wheel.

One hand on the reins and the other on Sam Colt, my friend .

[pbmax]

Actually with Neal, I think wist might get the rotation he is looking for. However, I am not sure it drops Raji's snaps.

[mraynrand]

Neal before me!!!

[pittstang5]

Neal before Zod

[denverYooper]

Neal before Zod!