Mario looked pretty dominant out there ... he had to be doubled most of the second half. Numerous quarterback hurries, on at least one possession he hit the quarterback's hand as he was throwing forcing an INT, he was pretty much a one man wrecking crew out there...and probably a major reason for Demeco's big day. Too bad most of it didn't show on the statline, but our defense and special teams were the reason we won yesterday. Mario, Demeco and Jerome Mathis were three key ingredients to that.
good to hear. my friend who is reggie bush's fairweather lover had to point out mario had 2 tackles and no sacks.
I think a lot of the problem that people here have with evaluating Mario is that we're watching/examining/looking for/analyzing him nearly every play on defense... just like you would an offensive player who gets the ball. If you watched some of the all-time greats on every single play... they wouldn't look all that impressive either. Its a different mode of evaluation when looking at defensive line guys... something that most fans of houston teams have never really done before. Mario may not have had a sack yesterday... but I saw one play which could have been the most "disruptive" I've seen him all year (the one where he gets enough penetration to push his blocker into Aaron Brooks as he was trying to hand it off, and that resulted in the RB going nowhere). I've watched Julius Peppers tonight on every play (like I watch Mario)... and I'm seeing a lot of similiarities. He's being double teamed (no sacks), but is still disrupting some runs, applying some pressure, and he definitely has his opponents sucking wind. If he is evaluated based on the box score, you say "he didn't do squat", but you cannot judge d-line players by stats only.
He looks pretty good out there, but lets not get ahead of himself. He got some pressure and disrupted a couple of plays vs. the worst offense ever. He's got 4.5 sacks people and most of them were where he just touched up the QB. You can't measure his success based on stats, blah, blah, blah. He is the #1 pick in the draft, you need more than 4.5 sacks and disrupting a few plays and getting double teamed out of the #1 pick in the draft. When you looks at what we coud have had, Mario has really had little impact. Reggie Bush with 4tds in 1 game, that is impact. VY with 21 and 14 pt comebacks against the Giants and Colts, that is impact. That is what you need to get out of #1 overall picks, not some double teams and some pressures. Julius Peppers rookie yr and he got plenty of sacks, and he was just as raw, heck be played basketball at North Carolina. Mario has been dissapointing so far, IMO. He doesn't try to go right after the QB like the best DEs do, it seems like he just engages his man and tries to battle him, not go after the QB.
I may have posted this on another thread but here are some "numbers" on the OAK game. - He drew 2 holding penalites at the point of attack - 4 QB pressures, one which led to INT - out of 22 rushing attempts by OAK, 3 rushes went to his side.....resulting in FOUR yards That is pretty darn good.
Who's getting ahead of themselves? No one is saying he has been amazing and has clearly been worthy of the #1 pick. But I think its safe to say that he has improved a whole lot since the first couple games and has shown that he will be a player in this league. Stats do matter, but it isn't everything. When we played the Jets, Mario blew by D'Brick to basically collapse the OL and pressure Pennington, Maddox came in and got the sack. What shows up in the stat box for Mario? Nothing. Disrupting plays and commanding double teams does a lot more than you think it does. If having 1 good game is considered impact, then you could consider Mario's 1.5 sacks + game winning tip ball versus Miami to be impact. So? Bo Jackson played baseball along with football at Auburn, that didn't mean Bo was raw though. If anything, it shows how good of an athlete Peppers was in college. Peppers did get plenty of sacks his rookie year, the guy has proven to be one of the (if not the most) premier defensive player in the NFL. But a quick stat check will show that Mario only has 2 less tackles than Peppers had his rookie year, not too bad IMO.
The people who are saying Mario is 'dominating' and making a huge impact are doing more hyping than anything else. Just like the people who say he is a bust and nonexistant are overexaggerating. Mario is fine. There are good signs that he will be a very good player in this league. But like many have said; at this point, to me, he hasn't looked like someone I would have taken with the first overall pick. Who knows, though; in time, it could all work out really, really well.
Mario looks good, but NOT WORTH a number 1 pick. Who is having a bigger impact the guy taken number 1, or the guy taken in the 2nd round? DD
You can argue that the guy taken in the 2nd round is having a bigger impact than any player in the 1st round.
To answer the original question of the thread, I think Mario looks pretty good so far. If you want to compare the amount of impact plays Mario has vs. Reggie and Vince then he is going to lose every time. I'm a defense guy and have watched Mario progress through the season. First couple of games he was lost, he adjusted to the speed of the game and the coaches stopped moving him around and let him do his thing. As a result he has made the pass rush better. The Texans are missing their two starting DTs (T. Johnson and Payne) and there are practice squad guys in their place. Despite what you say about 4.5 sacks and a couple of tackles isn't good enough from the 1st overall pick in the draft, Mario is doing the best with what he has. The guy is playing with plantar fasciitis and still bursting off the line. He is drawing double teams and making the opposing offensive line account for him (lets call him a decoy since thats what everyone says for Reggie). I don't know if you remeber last season but there was almost no pass rush last season, the defense couldn't put pressure on the opposing QB to save their lives. Having just watched the Panthers and Eagles game I saw Julius Peppers get no sacks but he was disruptive and applied pressure on Garcia which caused him to make errent throws. The Panthers didn't capitalize on them but Peppers applied pressure and was disruptive to the OL. Now since he registered no sacks in the game are you going to tell me that he sucks and didn't make an impact? Fighting in the trenches and being a lineman is a thankless job in football, its not a sexy position because you don't carry the ball and score. Mario and DeMeco have made his mark on the DL and hopefully we can some DTs, LBs and DBs to make this defense even more formidable.
No, I think a Defensive lineman is an important piece, but not at the number 1 pick, when you have 2 game changing players like Young and Bush.... By the way, how did the Panthers do tonight? Did they win? Did Julius Peppers and their defense shut down a Donavan less Philly team? DD
So a QB and RB are #1 pick worthy? Tell that to Tom Brady and Terrell Davis. You can find great players anywhere in the draft (look at Colston). I don't understand how we can be eight months removed from the draft and everyone is still b****ing about not draft Vince Young. Mario is a fine player and helping everyone in the defense, this team now has a pass rush, something they were sorely lacking before.
And, did they win that Superbowl? How did they do against Tom Brady? Look, I like Peppers, but I would not take him number 1...when you can get talented players like Jevan Kearse in the mid to late first round....why would you EVER waste the NUMBER one pick on a defensive lineman? I mean really? DD
That is basically all Mario has done. You don't use the #1 overall pick to get disruption on a few plays and cause some errant throws, luckily Peppers racks up 15 sacks a yr, and there was really no one else in the draft when he went #2. He was sandwiched between David Carr and Joey Harrington. Ugh. If Peppers would have been in the draft last yr with Vince and Reggie, there is no way I'd take Peppers #1 like we did with Mario. In fact there is not 1 defensive player in football I would take #1 over a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or Tomlinson or Carson Palmer. These guys make huge impacts ALL GAME LONG. A #1 pick should be a major impact player. Not disruptive on a few plays during the game. The bottom line is that Mario will never live up to being a #1 pick, it was a stupid pick, everybody knew it when they did it, and it was a mistake. There is not one other team in our situation last yr that would have taken Mario over Vince or Reggie.
Oh, I agree, you can certainly find gems in the draft at all positions, but I believe that it is harder to judge defensive lineman prior to the draft than any other position. And, IMHO, it makes taking a defensive lineman a MASSIVE risk, even more than a QB that can run and has a quirky throwing motion. Great D-Lineman are good to have, but I believe that the leaders of the team generally come from the QB position on offense and the LB position on defense. I WOULD take a stud Linebacker at number 1, but not a DE, or DL, unless the guy dominated at the collegate level consistently, which Mario did not do. DD
Damn right. How could people not see this?? Tom Bradys and Terrell Davis are anomalys, they are not the norm. You can't count on finding guys like that. You don't go into a draft syaing, well lets get our franchise QB in the 6th round. Those guys are found money. I would have to be completely wasted or under torture to take f'n Mario Williams over Vince Young or Reggie Bush. It couldn't be any more obvious.
