Brooks Reed is 20- 25 lbs heavier than Clay Matthews out of college. He is also strong as an ox, certainly stronger than Matthews. Reed did 30 reps at 225 vs. Mathews' 23. 30 reps was better than a significant fraction of the top DT candidates this year. Different player, and that weight/strength makes a big difference, and it is hard to judge that in video. The same is true of Ryan Kerrigan who looks a bit stiff in videos but is bull strong. I'm sure if they really want him to dance around in space, he can drop 15 lbs and look much more fluid, but as fast as he is, I think that strength will be more useful in grappling with tackles.
If Reed is already penciled in as the Sam, Barwin is most likely the Will and Mario will still be a starting DE. Watt versus's Smith should be an interesting battle if there is a training camp.
Despite being 20-25 lbs heavier, pretty impressive that they pretty much had identical 40 times. From what I've read, it sounds like we'll have Barwin and Reed at OLB which has HUGE potential from a pure pass-rush standpoint, but we're gonna need at least one OLB to cover so hopefully both guys can learn the new position quickly.
Demeco is probably the only guy in that entire front 7 that can cover a tight end. We're going to get eaten alive by dink and dunk teams.
I remember Dallas Clark catching 82 balls against Cush one game. In reality, it was like 14 or 15, but still. Dude couldnt cover the 5-10 yd routes.
Dallas in particular owned him pretty bad. 2009: week 1 - dustin keller 94 yards (most on team) week 2 - alge crumpler 44 yards (2nd most on team) week 4 - zach miller 33 yards (2nd most on team) week 7 - vernon davis 92 yards 3 tds (ouch) week 9 - dallas clark 119 yards (double ouch) week 10 - bo scaife 38 yards (2nd most on team) week 12 - dallas clark 63 yards 9 catches 1 td (2nd most on team) week 13 - miller & lewis combine for 121 yards week 16 - baker & watson combine for 45 yards on 4 catches and that was cushing's "good" year
Interesting to hear about Reed at SOLB. Makes sense, though, since Barwin is very definitely a pure rush specialist. If I have a worry, it's that the right side of the ball could be incredibly soft against the run. Mitchell at nose, with Mario and Barwin. And of course Jackson helping from 8 yards back in the flats. That's going to be a pressure point for either Cushing or Ryans to keep that area of the field clean. And no more SS to pinch hit on the run. I think we may find out early that Watt needs to start opposite Smith...and Mario needs to transition to WOLB if he's going to fit with Phillips. But that's going to be a big issue with Phillip's scheme anyway. When you design your defense to send 4/5 guys forward every down, the amount of green behind you gets really big for the offense. Hopefully they do get a lockdown #1 CB to help out (not optimistic). Cushing's been solid covering TEs, IMO. That said (going back to the topic above), I am concerned about quick slants going behind Barwin, or TE's in motion to run a seam on that side.
My understanding is that that is the book on how to attack any 3-4 team. That is how you attack the Packers and Steelers.
Oy. What Cushing are you guys talking about? 2010: week 1 - dallas clark 80 yards 1 td week 2 - chris cooley 64 yards 1 td week 3 - witten & bennet 82 yards on 10 catches week 4 - zach miller 122 yards 1 td week 5 - kevin boss 40 yards on 4 catches week 7 - jacob tamme (!) 64 yards 1 td week 8 - randy mcmichael 2 tds on 2 catches (that basically won them the game) week 9 - zach miller 79 yards on 4 catches with 1 td week 12 - cook & scaife 50 yards on 5 catches (most on team.. with rusty smith throwing!) week 13 - brent celek 55 yards on 4 catches week 15 - jamel cook 42 yards on 3 catches (2nd on team) week 16 - marcedes lewis 1 td (another backup qb playing) my god, it looks like we were the worst in the league against tight ends last year
Read it in context. We were 18th against the pass that year, so while the overall yards put up on us in the air weren't terrible... considering that the tight end was where an unusually large proportion of the opponent's pass yards came from (we consistently had opposing TEs leading the other teams receiving attack), it is kinda bad.
Not sure how that exactly reflects on Cushing since he didn't play until Week 5 and then moved to MLB in week 6. I agree that coverage may not be Cushing's forte, but those stats aren't exactly indicative IMO.
d'oh, i forgot about roid-gate. but yeah, I've never seen cushing's strength being pass coverage. i want him in the opponent's backfield, if at all possible.
