I was reading the chronic and read that Kubiak said he looked good in that position?!? I then went to look at the boxscore and didn't see anything worth mentioning. Did anyone who watched the game noticed if he looked better? chronicle
Yesterday on Kubiak's show on 610, they talked about this a little bit. Kubiak said he played with his hand off the ground three times and they noticed his was more explosive off the ball and was able to see the play better overall to react quicker. He said they wanted to talk with Mario to get his opinion about it and get his feelings as to why it looked like he was quicker in that position. Sounded like they liked what they saw.
Perhaps playing behind the line gives him a little more time to see which way the oline is going and so he could react accordingly. If this ends up being his permanent position we would have spent the first pick in the draft on an outside linebacker not to mention 2 linebackers with the first 2 picks in the 2006 draft. Hey, if he turns out to be the next lawrence taylor I'm all for it......
Problem is, as I'm sure you know, LB's have to do more than rush the passer. Fulltime LB's at least. I'm for whatever gets him into the backfield quicker.
I think it would be great for a change of pace. The Patriots run a 3-4, but they move players around a lot. You'll see them with as many as 6 players on the line (even in longer yardage situations) and as few as two. In fact, I've seen them go out with no down linemen and seven "linebackers". Mario defends the run well, and is okay at defending the pass (for a lineman). If he get in the backfield better from a few feet off the line, I'm all for it.
Another ploy to draft a DL this year? Put him wherever we can get production from him. He would be a beast at OLB, but I really don't think he has the speed to play in coverage nor the tackling ability to be a full time LB. But hopefully I'm wrong.
I think his tackling ability is good enough for LB play ... my concern would be his speed, but if they really believe he has the speed to handle linebacker duties, then by all means they should try it. What were his 40 yard numbers again? I know he wouldn't be the largest LB in the league -- afaik he's 290 pounds or so, definitely not outside the range of a linebacker.
Well, I can tell you what I noticed. I'm not sure exactly when the play was, but I remember an end-around to Higgins (I think it was Higgins) where he came around to the weak side, and it looked like he had an opening to turn the corner. Mario was playing off the ground on that play, and he was the only player in pursuit, because the safety on that side (C.C. brown maybe?) got caught up in coverage. Mario ended up running Higgins out of bounds because he was able to get to the corner before Higgins, and I jsut remember being completely amazed at his open-field speed. I think the commentators even said something about how imposing Mario must have looked to the runner.
I think Mario has the fundamentals (tackling, speed, form) to be a great linebacker, but my concern would be with the awareness that is needed to be a linebacker. A linebacker has to know everything that's going on around him, including spying the QB and RB in order to put himself in a position to be in the play. Guys that have been doing it for years and years still have trouble with it, let alone someone like Mario who has never played a day of OLB in his life. I'm not saying that he couldn't learn, I'm just saying that it's going to take a hell of a lot of work, and Mario's work ethic has been questioned in the past. That being said, a LB core of Greenwood/Clark - DeMeco Ryans - Mario Williams just made me pee a little. The only bad thing that does is it causes a huge hole at DT.
He ran a 4.66 Forty which is plenty fast for a LB. But it's a different story when you're covering someone and not running in a straight line. At 6-7 290lbs. I'm not sure Mario has the agility/speed to play in coverage. I think he would be the largest LB in the league...I can't think of any that are bigger than 6-7 290.
That would be nasty. It wouldn't cause a hole at DT, we still have Okoye/TJ/Maddox, the other DE spot could be filled w/ Kalu or Orr (who might be a better pass rusher than Mario in actuality).
why dont they just line him up at CB seeing as dunta is out for the season and he wasnt doing much on the DL in the first place. just joshin i agree with the poster who said he'd probably lack agility. even though he has good straight away speed, he cant corner... its hard to stop on a dime and change direction when youre 290...
