Smith, Mario, and Watt will all see plenty of time in rotation. Mario may stand up every now and again as well, allowing Watt and Smith to take the ends.
Yeah, I think they're looking to trade Smith. Would be nice to get a 3/6 or a 4/5 for him. This could turn out to hurt us. Who is the odd man out? I guess Reed until he proves himself, we have an injury or someone is traded. Pugs
And who knows what Barwin will give them coming off the injury. If he regresses, they could easily put Reed in his place.
Why would Reed be the odd man out? As I see it, he an Barwin are penciled in at OLB with Mario at one DE and Smith and Watt rotating at the other. Then we have some flexibility when Mario can stand up and Watt can move over to DT. But those should be the exceptions rather than the rule. I'd expect to see a more set lineup at OLB with more rotation going on at DE. And I wouldn't be so quick to trade Smith, we're not exactly deep at DE as evidenced by how much we were scrambling after Barwin went down last year. I guess Mark Anderson did pretty well filling in but I don't know what his status with the team is.
i do find it funny that we kept hearing that the texans were looking for a Ware like player, meanwhile, maybe mario will be that guy for the texans.
Well I guess it comes down to, then, that you drafted a guy #11 in order to have depth at a pretty strong starting position, and versatility. Smith has voiced his dislikes of the 3-4 and I'm sure he will like it even less if he's be rotated out every other play. You want your #11 pick to get a lot of snaps, but your not going to be subbing out Mario unless he needs a blow. I don't think it's a stretch to say Reed may see less snaps than Mario/Smith/Watt.
Methinks the Texans are going to be one blitz happy team in 2011. Barwin, Reed, Cushing, Watt, Mario, Smith awesome.... Would have preferred a different player over Watt, but looking at the body of work, I am really happy. If the Texans could just sign Asomugah and Weddle.....
But who's going to be taking those snaps at OLB? Barwin is going to be playing the other OLB. Mario? Maybe it's just me, but I don't really want to see Mario at OLB all that often.
From what I understand the strong side OLB in Phillips' 3-4 will rush almost 90% of the time. It's almost like a 4-3, and especially so since everyone on the D-Line is rushing gaps instead of holding them. If it was a 3-4 that required him to drop in coverage 30 or 40% of the time, I would be worried. But if there's one thing we know Mario can do, it's hold the edge against a run play. So I could definitely see him out there on run downs. Unfortunately, because of last season, teams may throw on early downs more often than they run.
This is basically what McClain said tonight. Maybe not a good thing, ha, but no he said(wrote) if everything goes according to plan, Reed and Barwin are the OLBs, DeMeco and Cushing on the inside, Smith and Mario at ends, and Watt and Smith moving inside on 3rd downs if I remember reading correctly.
I guess, and I do remember them trying to stand Mario up at the line as a DE a couple of years ago. I can't remember how well that worked out though.
Vance Joseph DB Coach (on what he’s looking for out of his safeties and his expectations of them) “It’s a split safety defense, so we really want two twins. We want two guys who can tackles. We want two guys who are smart. We want two guys who can cover and have range over top of the zone. Once we find that, that’s the solution. I think, Quin, he can do those things. Being an ex-corner, he’s going to have better cover skills than most safeties. Those traits he does have. We need to find one more.”
So i guess its a for sure thing that Quin will be transitioned to safety? I've heard about it on the radio and everything, but had never seen anyone from the team actually comment about it before.
Well, that narrows it down. Two safeties who are smart, can tackle and cover. So we just need a couple of Ed Reed's or Polamalu's then. Simple enough.
Is there a dropoff in talent in our need positions? I'd be interested to find a WR prospect if there's no safeties in the 4th. Give Kubes something to do to keep himself busy.
With the Texans picking these high motor guys in Watt and Reed it reminds me of what Bob McNair said last year. I remember he said that he wanted more players like Cushing. More players with passion and intensity. McNair mentioned Mario and Okoye as two players without much intensity on the field. I wonder if he influenced Smith and Kubiak into picking players with a high work ethic. Players like Fairley were passed over because of questionable desire. I'm pleased with the draft so far. The remaining picks will probably be used to fill out the special teams. My fingers are crossed the Texans select Cortez Allen. He's a cornerback from The Citadel. He'll be a special teamer but I really believe he can turn into a very good CB.
