Just to help out: "Dominate" is a verb as in "he can dominate a game" "Dominant" is an adjective as in "he will be dominant in a game"
"Dominantly" is the adverb as in "He plays dominantly" In my rush my sentence was awkward ("dominant" was modifying "he") and perhaps should have been something more like "he is a dominant force in games"
Woah!!! all of this talk about the new system!!! I didn't realize that it was only supposed to take 1 game to completely learn a brand new system. huh... could have fooled me.
not much to learn when you're in pass rush. get to the QB. tackle him. it's not that he looks confused out there...it's that many expected to see more in terms of raw ability and skill. some moves. some ability to break through an offensive lineman. instead he was stood straight up on plays where they weren't even double-teaming him. that's concerning to me.
sorry, i was referring to the posts on the first page of this thread that were regarding carr. unfortunately, being a defensive end out straight of college is probably the hardest position to learn. i remember from high school that there is alot more than just rushing that goes into being a d-lineman. sure we are all expecting mario to always put a significant amount of pressure on the qb, but in reality that doesnt happen. look at peppers and freeney for example. we are all wanting mario to be in a class with these guys, right? sure they get about 12 sacks per year, but they are best at reading the backfield. what makes these guys so special is the way that they take the fullbacks or other blockers out of the play to allow their linebackers to make the stop. another thing that these guys do is breaking off of their blocker to take down the running back when he is running around the tackles. plus these offensive blocking schemes are alot different and complex than the ones that mario faced while at ncstate. it takes alot of time to adapt to the nfl game from a linemans pov.
i understand. but we're not talking about rocket science here. we approach this like these guys are rhodes scholars or something. raw athletic talent and determination usually win the day on the d-line. the ability to push the offensive lineman out of the way. the ability to "swim" past him. the ability to spin past him. i was hoping to see flashes of that. remember, we were told that taking a d-lineman was more likely to lead to instant impact...a guy who could help us win sooner rather than later. so there is some expectation of payoff on a #1 pick from the defensive line. but let me be clear...i'm not calling him a bust after one game. however, perception will ultimately color reality, here.
i'm with you on that, i was hoping to see something a little bit more too. it just seems like everyone is calling this a bust already. im just glad that somebody sees it my way.
Ok.. I FINALLY got a chance to see a good bit of game film from Philly. Quick points on Mario: -The Texans played him at virtually every line spot. He never was able to get comfortable where he was or size up his opposition. -He recieved a TON of double teams, both initial and delayed, ESPECIALLY when he was on the inside -It looks as if when Mario was kept on the outside the coaches kept him in containment mode, people forget McNabb is top tier scrambler, if Mario flushed him out of the pocket it could have blown up in their faces. It really, really looks like the coaches wanted to keep their fastest DL near the point of attack so they didn't have to waste their LBs watch-dogging McNabb.
That was a good quick & dirty analysis, Donny. I saw lots of the same things. They doubled on Mario quite a bit, which I honestly didn't expect, so I guess Philly gave him lots of respect. But they also burned us once or twice by faking to double with the TE and then sending him out for a pass. He played alright, but he didn't do anything exciting. Nothing spectacular. At least I didn't really see him "take any plays off." Pretty consistent first effort. I'm still waiting to see what makes him a #1 pick, though ...
how can two people watch the same thing and see entirely different things. i saw him getting stood straight up by one guy. not doubleteamed nearly as much as i would have expected, frankly. i'll paraphrase what spencer tillman said the other night on the ABC's version of sportssunday: "One game does not a player make. But Mario Williams played a poor game on Sunday. He had virtually no impact on the game at all."
I'm hoping this sunday we can see some flashes of potential out of Mario. All throughout mini and training camp I've heard the coaches and teammates rave about Mario's ability. Give me a burst off the line, a spin move or something.
Sporting News, Brian Baldinger slow Twitch article on Mario Super Mario? Not without a quick twitch Posted: September 15, 2006 When the Texans made defensive end Mario Williams the No. 1 pick of the 2006 draft, they said, in essence, this was a guy who would dominate as a pass rusher. He'd make offenses change their protection schemes. He'd demand double-teams. Not gonna happen. At 6-7, 291, Williams has amazing size for an end. He's smart, and he's hungry. He wants to live up to his draft status. But he'll have a hard time doing so because he isn't a fast-twitch guy. Muscle fibers are different. Some are slow twitch, sort of like they're built for a marathon. Others are fast twitch. They have a suddenness to them, like a cobra striking. All the good pass-rushing ends -- Dwight Freeney, Jason Taylor, Michael Strahan, John Abraham and a few others -- are fast-twitch guys. You either have it or you don't, and Williams doesn't. An example from Houston's season-opening loss to Philadelphia: Donovan McNabb faked a handoff going right, then turned and flipped the ball to Brian Westbrook going left. Williams, the right end, wasn't even blocked. He went with the fake, then turned to chase Westbrook. In that situation, Williams has to put his foot in the ground and change direction instantly to make the play. But he didn't have the muscle fiber to do that. Westbrook ran for 17 yards. Without that quick twitch, Williams will have a hard time making offensive linemen miss him. He invites contact. He may someday have the strength and savvy to deal with contact to some degree, but the ends who dominate are the ones who avoid contact by flashing past blockers before they can react. Don't hold your breath waiting for Williams to do that. In fact, the Texans are moving Williams inside to tackle on obvious passing downs and bringing in a couple of fast-twitch guys -- Jason Babin and Antwan Peek -- to rush from the outside. Teams don't move elite pass rushers to tackle. What does that tell you? The Texans switched from a 3-4 to a 4-3 this year and are rebuilding their defense around Williams. That's what you do with a player taken first overall in the draft. But I don't see him having the impact they envision. He wasn't noticeable in his NFL debut, and he won't be noticeable most Sundays. Brian Baldinger, an offensive lineman for 12 NFL seasons, can be heard on Sporting News Radio and seen on FOX Sports. Listen online at radio.sportingnews.com.
has this guy done a muscle fiber examination, or is he just basing this medical opinion on that one play?
It's 4:38 p.m. and Mario just took a dump... In other news, he is expected to be a non-factor in Sunday's game against the Colts...
ESPN article, Would Texans Take Bush Now Would Texans take Bush now? Pasquarelli By Len Pasquarelli ESPN.com Archive One week into a season, and just one game into any player's career, is a little early in the process to be authoring a work of revisionist history. INSIDE TIP SHEET Jim Haslett is off to an impressive start in St. Louis as the Rams new defensive coordinator. Len Pasquarelli addresses this and more Inside Tip Sheet. • Inside Tip Sheet But, c'mon, don't you think that if the Houston Texans were exercising the top overall selection in the draft now, instead of on April 29, tailback Reggie Bush would have been the choice? We're not talking about hindsight, just the present view, OK? And currently the Houston brass is looking through a prism that does not include starting tailback Domanick Davis, shelved for the season by a knee injury. With 70 rushing yards in last week's season-opening loss to the Eagles, the Texans were forced to start sixth-rounder Wali Lundy and to scramble for veteran backups. Bush must have looked pretty good from afar to a Texans brain trust that remains pretty sensitive when questioned about the first pick. In his debut for New Orleans, the elusive Bush totaled 141 all-purpose yards. Defensive end Mario Williams, the player selected ahead of Bush, had two solo tackles and one assist and, according to the coaching staff, had some problems with assignment and alignment in the opener. So, for a change, let's have a little fun here. Let's reconstruct what the top 10 selections in the first round might look like were the teams making them now, with today's conditions, instead of on April 29. The only ground rule is that choices must be made from among the top 15 players chosen in the first round: 1. Houston: Even five months after the fact, it is difficult to fathom that the Texans opted for Williams over Bush with the top selection. For all the rationalization the Houston brass has done, and for all the whispers that emanated from a management team about the inability to strike a contract agreement with Bush and agent Joel Segal, the Texans know in their hearts that was a contrived excuse. If the Texans made the call truly based on position, as former general manager Charley Casserly insisted last weekend in his new role as a CBS studio analyst, so be it. Whether we buy the logic or not doesn't matter. But if the pick were made today, not on April 29, the guess is that the "signability" myth would be out the window and Bush would be the Texans' starting tailback. 2. New Orleans: The Saints couldn't believe their good fortune the night before the draft, when word broke that the Texans were taking Williams, allowing Bush to fall into their laps. But if Bush was off the board, the guess is that the Saints would grab the man they intended to take all along, linebacker A.J. Hawk. Yeah, he was the choice over Williams until Bush slipped out of the top slot. The former Ohio State star, who subsequently went in the No. 5 slot to Green Bay, has struggled more than people anticipated, but scouts still feel Hawk will be a multiple Pro Bowl performer. And think about this: The Saints have either signed as free agents or traded for nine veteran linebackers since the end of the 2005 season. 3. Tennessee: The Titans grabbed Vince Young and common sense indicates that, even if they were given a do-over, the results would be the same. The former University of Texas star was the top-rated quarterback on the Tennessee draft board and, with the staff disenchanted with presumptive caretaker Billy Volek and forced to sign Kerry Collins off the street, Young would still be the youngster around whom the Titans would want to build for the future. 4. New York Jets: Were this story written a week ago, the choice here would have been one of the top quarterbacks in the draft, either Jay Cutler or Matt Leinart. But it's being written today, with the memory of Chad Pennington's stellar opening-game performance still fresh in everyone's minds. Sure, Pennington has to demonstrate that he can repeat that kind of outing on a regular basis. But he threw the ball with authority and accuracy last week, and displayed better arm strength than anticipated, so perhaps he still is the Jets' quarterback for the future as well as the present. If that is indeed the case, then the selection of offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the pass protector New York chose in April, stands as a solid one. 5. Green Bay: The Packers selected Hawk on April 29 and, if he was still available, probably would do so again. But with Hawk having gone second, to New Orleans, in the revisionist draft, the Packers have to refocus on a different first-rounder. And the pick would be safety Michael Huff, who went to Oakland in the real draft. Huff would provide a physical presence in the middle of the secondary, a young hitter to team with second-year safety Nick Collins. 6. San Francisco: Niners coach Mike Nolan desperately needs a pass-rusher and, with Williams still on this board, it would be difficult to pass him. Williams might not be a good fit for Nolan's 3-4 front, and it remains to be seen if he is the pass-rush force everyone projects him to be, but San Francisco might at least have a chance to pressure the pocket with him in the lineup. 7. Oakland: Given the way Cutler played in preseason, and the abysmal performance by Aaron Brooks in the Raiders' opening-game loss last week, the former Vanderbilt quarterback, who was chosen by Denver with the 11th choice, has to look pretty good. Cutler has the kind of big arm Raiders owner Al Davis covets and, while it's hard to put too much stock in preseason results, it appears he is more ready to play quickly than most scouts had anticipated. 8. Buffalo: The Bills were criticized for reaching for Donte Whitner and, while that assessment might be true, the Ohio State safety has played well. The No. 8 slot might have been a little high for Whitner, but he is all football player. With the loss of veteran Troy Vincent (hamstring) for the season, the Bills probably wouldreach again for Whitner if they were making the choice today. 9. Detroit: The Lions loved weakside linebacker Ernie Sims five months ago. They'd probably love him just as much today. The former Florida State star is a very active defender and, with nine tackles in the opener, he seems like a guy who could contend for defensive rookie of the year honors. 10. Arizona: With incumbent starter Kurt Warner 35 years old, no one can argue with the decision to take Matt Leinart, certainly the player around whom the franchise will build for the future. But the Cardinals have needed a tight end for years. And with Vernon Davis still on the board, it's impossible to pass him. The athletically gifted Davis would provide Warner a superb inside target to team with standout young wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. Arizona, by the way, did land a potentially solid tight end in the third round of real draft, snagging Leonard Pope of Georgia.
Yeah, whatever. MARIO SUXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!1111 Just kidding. I was just a little shocked to see a rational post in this thread, so I may have overreacted. Well, it didn't take long, but I have officially lodged my first complaint with the new coaching staff. I heard McClain on the radio saying he asked Mario straight up what position he wants to play. He said left DE. So..... QUIT MOVING THE GUY AROUND and just play him at left DE!! It's hard enough for a rookie to learn one position, how 'bout we don't try and force 4 on him at once? Just put him at left DE and leave him alone. I really don't get all this moving him around stuff. That's something you do with a Pro Bowl 5 year veteran, not a raw rookie. FREE MARIO WILLIAMS!!
