Let's keep everything in context: Of course his ability to defend the run matters. But when evaluating him 15 plays into this, is it really the best way to gauge an opinion of his effectiveness given that, coach, player-speak exaggerations aside, his primary role IS to get upfield (not lateral)? Sure; Deion Sanders never tackled a soul - would that be a fair way to evaluate his performance as a CB? Mario Williams' primary objective is to rush the QB. How he pursues a RB laterally is... I mean, it's borderline irrelevant. It matters; sure. We hope it's something he can do. But it's such a small piece of this puzzle. Ryans and Cushing's ability to pursue laterally is FAR more important. I’m sorry; perhaps I'm getting way ahead of myself. But if, 15 plays into a complicated position switch, we're already expressing "real concern" over his ability to pursue RBs laterally and predicting he won’t be here next year... can you not see why I’m dreading the next 19 weeks and trying to nip it the bud, at least for now, when it really is WAY too early to really draw any definitive conclusions?
He also said that Cody has "perfect technique" and will "never make a technique mistake." So yes, I guess I do think it possible that Smith is blowing smoke, or might be prone to exaggeration. Anyway, I've somehow been painted into this anti-Mario position. That is unfortunate. I like Mario Williams and I do not have a hardline opinion that he is going to fail as an OLB. I hope he is a beast as an OLB. I apologize for making a prediction. I didn't mean it to offend so many people. I take it back. I now have no opinion on how any player will perform. I will wait until a set date (hopefully someone starts a new thread) before making predictions.
Rewatched the game focusing directly on Mario. Almost all of the Jets pass plays when Mario was in were quick three step drops or less (Sanchez likes taking two or even one step, stuffle his feet and throw is asap). Not near enough time for nearly anyone to get to the QB. Actually, the times they did more than 3 step drops, we got pressure up the middle and sacked Sanchez. Almost all of the Jets run plays were away from Mario. The one time they did run to what looked like would be at Mario's gap, Mario jumped outside, sealing off the edge, and Greene bounced it inside between the center and gaurd. He tried to pursue from behind, but there isn't a single LB in the NFL that could have caught Greene from behind from where Mario was. On both 3rd and longs, Mario dropped to a 3pt. stance and we looked like a traditional 4-3. Mario got good jumps both times. First time he did a stunt to the inside and shot right past 2 lineman and a RB, and would have most likely had the sack but this was the play where Adibi was completely untouched. Second time Mario got a great jump to the outside and would have had a beat on Sanchez, but they ran a draw up the middle. Like Kubiak said I don't think we can take much from the 14 or so plays Mario was in there for. I think it would be fair to say for now Mario gets an incomplete.
I usually wait until the (inevitable) 5-7 point of the season.* Seriously, the Ric vs justtxyank thing is getting kind of weird. Almost seems like a 20-page argument over the semantics of the word "concern." *This was a joke. I am in no way making an official prediction for the upcoming season.
Ric, the emphasized part here may be what's bringing the most vitriol your direction, and providing you the most frustration. People will be people; no one will ever change that.
More fact than victim. I’ve readily admitted I bring it on myself. Still waiting for you to cop to your role in it, though. Trying to educate you? That’s how you read my post? But there’s no inherent bias, right?… Let me ask you a question: Other than, “I agree” – what would have been a proper, acceptable response to your post? Am I wrong? Was it unwarranted? Fair point. But there’s more sensitivity/baggage, etc., surrounding Mario Williams so he’s likely to draw far more attention. (For the record, I very rarely offer much of any commentary during the preseason because it’s such a crapshoot. I did think Watt looked promising – but it is early.) Then why are you a self-admitted ass towards me? Oh, relax – it was a joke.
But here's the thing, the post game tone and majority of comments read: The defense looks so much better Watt looked really good Mario looked really bad But you immediately zoom in on the Mario stuff, stir it up, leading to more chatter about it....which turns the entire conversation negative (all while throwing Mitchell into the fire, which no one else did). Why don't we just run with: "Let's hope the Mario situation gets better, but man doesn't this defense look so much more exciting" Yes, it has weak spots, but it is a far cry from the disaster that was put on the field a year ago. I'm thrilled at the idea that we might be generating TO opportunities for the first time in forever. Go Texans! You too, #90! I'm still wearing your jersey!
Deion was so good in coverage, he got a pass for his shyness for contact (though it did follow him and he did hear criticism for it) Mario registered no sacks, and it's iffy to say he was outstanding getting to the passer. He needs to be outstanding rushing the QB if we're going to brush under the rug how easily he was chip blocked in running downs. People expressed a concern for what they saw. Mario had a clean box score. The Jets successfully and easily knocked him out of every run his direction. Maybe Mitchell wasn't perfect, but he did register a sack and 4 tackles. And it is early. Let's keep watching, especially game 3 when Mario should play a full half or 3 quarters. But it's okay to be concerned with what we saw. Hopefully Mario either gets better at his additional responsibilities or he becomes such a sack & hurry beast that we're fine with any struggles.
lets approach this mario thing from a different perspective: does the design of wade's defense generate enough pressure on the QB to make mario expendable? knowing mario is the named commodity on the defense who would generate the best return, do you roll the dice in hopes of shoring up other parts of the defense (i.e. secondary). I give you a hypothetical Mario for Asante Samuel deal being mutually beneficial...
I'd do that...CB in a 3-4 is much more important than a rushing OLB, specially with the OLBs the texans have on the roster. A secondary of Joseph and Asante along with Manning and Quin...lol, that'd be our strongest unit on the team.
OK, Wade's defense does work. He will without a doubt improve the level of defensive play on this team - but as I pointed out before - when your team ranks at the very bottom on defense, you have nowhere to go but up. But I have to agree with Ric on all of this Mario hand wringing. It's still early and there is a chance that the perverbial light bulb will go off in his head and he'll "get it". But he has to want to make this change and based on the look I saw in his eyes on Monday night, that's far from a certainty. Folks here are expecting too much from Wade aka FixIt. Even in the best of times this was going to be a dicey situation anyway. They are making a complete 180 on the defensive side to a scheme that does not properly fit with their personnel. Bear in mind that they played the 3-4 under Capers, dropped that and went to a 4-3 under the next two DCs and have been drafting players to fit that scheme for years. Now, in the time frame of a single off season (and an abbreviated one at that) they are going back to the 3-4 once more and doing so with a bunch of players who were: not drafted for this new defense, who have little to no experience with it and who are being asked to play in a different way from what they are used to playing. Expect this confusion to continue into the season. Now if it's week 8 and Mario and the rest still look lost, then it will be time to push the panic button and for clueless Bob to lock himself up into his panic room at Reliant.
well, it's not like they were entrenched in a style of play and garnering any level of success whatsoever. as such, I think the scheme thing is WAY overplayed. scheme change won't make them worse than they were last year, I'll tell you. shoot, you can cut their right legs off and they wouldn't be much worse than last year. if at all.
funny someone mentioned carr, i remember another coach getting a job because of something he said he could do with carr. anyway, i know its two different situations
Wait… by being positive (or, at the very least, not negative)… *I* turned the conversation negative? That’s a new one. Suggesting it’s early and to not get too worked up about anything in the first preseason game was specifically designed to cull negativity, emjohn. Never mind that justtxyank was the first to fire off a snarky, sarcastic response, which we know was soaked in his admitted heightened dislike of my “predictable” posts – it was all me and my positive negativity? That’s rich, considering….. There’s been copious amounts of evidence throughout this thread to completely dismiss most of the concerns about Mario’s performance Monday night. Per TigerBait’s breakdown (thanks, BTW!), he confirmed that not only did the Jets run away from Mario almost exclusively (“Almost all of the Jets run plays were away from Mario.”) but when they did run his way, he did exactly what he was supposed to do (“The one time they did run to what looked like would be at Mario's gap, Mario jumped outside, sealing off the edge, and Greene bounced it inside between the center and gaurd.”). As for rushing the passer (again, per TigerBait), as an OLB, the Jets scheme seemed designed specifically to negate Mario (“Almost all of the Jets pass plays when Mario was in were quick three step drops or less... Not near enough time for nearly anyone to get to the QB.”) Additionally, TigerBait confirms Mario was actually effective rushing the QB as a down lineman (further confirmed by another poster (sorry, forget your name) who also re-watched the game): “On both 3rd and longs, Mario dropped to a 3pt. stance and we looked like a traditional 4-3. Mario got good jumps both times. First time he did a stunt to the inside and shot right past 2 lineman and a RB, and would have most likely had the sack but this was the play where Adibi was completely untouched. Second time Mario got a great jump to the outside and would have had a beat on Sanchez, but they ran a draw up the middle.” Taking all of that into consideration - keeping in mind that *I* zoomed in on Mario, stirred it up and turned the conversation negative - here’s how you think we should sum up Monday’s performance: Sounds about right.........
This is where a truncated offseason really makes doing anything with Mario nearly impossible - I don't think even they know what they have yet. So it's really two questions: Would you trade DeMarcus Ware for Asante Samuel? (No.) Would you trade... average-ish OLB for Asante Samuel? (Yes.) Plus, I think we all can agree that while Mario may never be Ware, he's not going to be Vernon Ghoulsten, either. He'll probably at least be.... OK. So what's the drop-off from OK? Can Brooks Reed be OK? Nading? Heck, we don't even know about Barwin (who I would trade for Samuel, btw). Interesting question, though...
