I feel like Reed is a much better fit for the OLB position than Mario Williams. Don't get me wrong, Mario is a great talent, but it's obvious he is better suited in a 4-3 as a DE, not as a OLB in a 3-4. Going back to Reed, he's posted 4 sacks in 3 games, and maybe as a result of his playing time, our passing Defense has improved greatly. In the 3 games he has started for Mario, Texans allowed an avg of 158~ passing yards per game. Is this a by-product of playing mediocre QBs, like Jacksonville's Gabbert, Tennessee's Hassellbeck, and Browns' Colt McCoy? Or is it simply because Reed has been putting more pressure on the QB?
I think Reed can be the real deal. I think he has potential to be in the upper class of linebackers. He has some things to work on, though. Right now, he seems to solely rely on speed during his pass rush. He needs to work on his hands, and using them to fight off blockers. I'd like to see him develop a spin move, or a nice rip/swim move, but Mario doesn't really have pass rush moves, either. I think Reed also needs to work on his run defense, and he needs to learn how to better anticipate a quarterback who is about to break the pocket, which will lead to more sacks. He missed two or three today because of this. I haven't seen him in pass coverage, and don't really expect to very much. The sky is the limit for him, though. I think he's filled in better than anyone anticipated. As far as passing yardage- equate that to a continually improving defense, coupled with facing below average offenses.
Mario was playing possibly the best football of his already-strong career before he went down, so don't you think this is jumping the gun a bit?
Yes, he's the real deal. No, he isn't better than Mario. Not yet at least. You could clearly see the difference in our pass rush when Mario left in the 4th Q vs the Saints and again when he went out vs the Raiders. People respect him more, and he's not getting sacks for himself, he's taking up blockers to allow Antonio Smith and Co. to get sacks. He's also better against the run. I think part of the dropoff was also Reed getting starters snaps, but Mario was playing at a Pro Bowl level before he went out.
Here's how I feel about Reed. Early in the season, I feel the Texans need to keep Mario at all cost, even if it's letting Foster go. Now, I feel if the Texans can franchise Mario and get a 1st rounder for him, I wouldn't mind seeing him go. While a healthy Mario is All-Pro, his injuries worry me for someone about to be paid a lot of money. Plus the Texans aren't set everywhere. Imagine freeing up Mario's money and get a true 2nd receiver, 2nd corner, or DT with that cash. The overall team may end up being better.
There's no way this franchise ever lets go of Mario, especially if he's playing at an All-Pro level. He's essentially a huge "I told you so" for the Kubiak/Smith regime. Not that I mind. Mario has been a beast when healthy.
The local 'experts' will take Brooks' play of late to bash our heads with how useless Mario is instead of the obvious: Wade phillips placing the defense in the best position to make a play. Having said that,Brooks is awesome. One thing that worried me about Brooks, from the preseason, was that he was getting manhandled on running plays, which happens to even the 'elite olbs'(see how awesome clay is playing this year). Anyways, Brooks is always near the ball. Seems like he has caught up with the speed of the game and is just seeing everything clearly. He won't be hitting the rookie wall til the final quarter of the Superbowl. =) Think about this way, we have Brooks and Watt playing like the top five picks! Pretty amazing picks! By the way, I thought Brooks was going to end colt's nfl career yesterday. I was thinking "Noooooooooooo, I like colt!" Mario, brooks, Barwin, Cushing and Demeco Ouchhhh! I feel like i need a walking book just thinking about it.
The difference between what Reed is doing and what Mario was doing is that Mario was averaging a sack a game WITH double teams and intensified focus on stopping him. Mario was getting plenty of sacks but you also saw a great deal more penetration from guys like Antonio Smith because of the attention paid to Mario. You can see how much less attention is paid to Brooks Reed yesterday by virtue of the fact he had two clean runs at Colt McCoy. Every once in a while (maybe one or two times a season) Mario would get one of those, but certainly not twice in a game. Having said that, I agree with meh. Regardless of how much better Mario might be than Brooks Reed, the pass rush has not fallen off since Mario has been on the sideline. That tells me Mario's skills are something we could probably manage without. And if we could get some significant draft picks for him, then I say go for it.
Why don't we just re-sign Mario and have Reed replace Barwin? Barwin has played okay, but is only on pace for about 6-7 sacks.
The former, not the latter. Also, two of the teams, Titans and Browns, were struggling running the ball, going into the game with the Texans. BTW on one of Reed's sacks yesterday he went unblocked straight to tthe quarterback. Most likely a blown coverage by the Browns's OL, than Reed's innate ability.
completely agree, as much as Barwin has "improved", Reed has more potential and could easily put up Clay Matthews Defensive MVP sack numbers IF he keeps the improvement trend. . . .Barwin has reached his ceiling imho,...Reed has so much ceiling, and we know Mario has too much talent, so this makes the most sense .
Mario had 5 sacks in 4 games, plus 8 min of the Oakland game. Not sure how you can say he was obviously better suited as a DE in a 4-3.
I want to expand on my previous post on how I feel about Mario. It's not a straight Mario vs Reed comparison. But rather what kind of team would the Texans have by keeping Mario vs letting him go. From history, 4-3 Ends get more jack than 3-4 linebackers. So let's look at next offseason. Say Mario's agent finds offers from other teams for $70 mil(making up a number here). But the Texans feel he's only worth $60 mil for this team. We of course have the franchise tag, so we could use it on him. But that just may end up pissing him off and at the same times screw our cap, given that long term contracts tend not to be odious in their first few years. So that leaves a dillemma. We can either "overpay" Mario by giving him the going rate for 4-3 ends, or we can use that money to pay someone else. So it's not a comparison between Reed and Mario. But rather "Reed + possible pick from franchising Mario + Antonio Garay or Brent Grimes or Desean Jackson" vs. "Mario + Jacoby Jones or Shaun Cody or Kareem Jackson". Even the above comparison is still not truly accurate, because Mario's price tag will likely top the FA market, more than the best corner or receiver or tackle. So it's possible the Texans would still have more money left over by choosing someone else over Mario for depth.
This, and the Texans' now #1 defensive ranking have got me thinking. Do we as fans, and media personalities, underrate the importance of linebacker play in the NFL. If you look at the top of the NFL defensive rankings, most of the teams (Houston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, San Francisco) having great defensive performances are doing it on the strength of the linebacker corps. Teams with great pass rushing lines (Miami, Giants, Minnesota) still populate the bottom half of the defensive rankings. Perhaps most interesting is that Detroit, with two of the best young linemen the league has seen in a long time, is 27th against the run (11th overall, but still). Have we had the idea that controlling the line of scrimmage is the most important thing beat into us for so long that we still think it's true, but the game has evolved beyond that? The NFL is a big play league, and linebackers filling gaps are more important for preventing big plays than the controlling the line of scrimmage. Most good offensive coordinators can scheme to avoid the strength of most defensive lines, but if you have good enough linebackers, you can't scheme away from them. Just my random thoughts today.
Gabbert is the worst starting QB in the NFL. Shutting him down is never a problem. What they did to Hasselbeck and the Titans was pretty amazing. Hasselbeck is enjoying a season as good as any he has had, and the Texans absolutely dominated them.
3-4 defense has shown to be the way to go. Gives you more flexibility in blitzing, and today's linebackers are absolutely freak athletes.
