PFF NFL Roster Rankings

[Formula 21]

I'm not a Don Johnson fan, but we don't know how many of his players are broke-ass with it being hidden by MM.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Brandon Taylor is who I was talking about.

[Formula 21]

The sad part is that there is confusion over who the underperformer is.

[thelightningwill]

the guy that is most disappointing to me is the guy who is failing to develop our young DLs. No doubt there has been some Turd Polishing needed on guys like Vaughn Martin and Cam Thomas and Geathers, but then we have high draft picks being inconsistent in their play and effort year to year- and that falls on Don Johnson and I don't know why HE escapes the wrath of this board. Look at the difference in what coach D has done with our OL vs. Johnson with our DL all these years now. If we could get a DLine coach as good as our OLine coach we'd be vastly improved up front.

You sure it's the coach? In each of the last two seasons, Legit and Reyes started shitty and improved greatly by the end of the year. Lissemore and Guy played pretty well last year. Not sure how good they were before they became Chargers.

[blueman]

I wouldn't judge any coach by Martin, he's still on the street last I checked. And if Thomas blows up big time in Detroit or wherever, text me.

[Steve]

You sure it's the coach? In each of the last two seasons, Legit and Reyes started shitty and improved greatly by the end of the year. Lissemore and Guy played pretty well last year. Not sure how good they were before they became Chargers.

Both were good enough to end up with us before the season started. Guy was with Indy, and was a backup for them. Lissemore got to play some for Dallas coming off their bench as part of their rotation, but then didn't fit in with the new D.

How many DL do you know that can have that kind of impact? A really good OL coach does have that kind of impact, and it happens often enough that you see it. Guys like Hudson Houck, Tony Wise, Coach D and Jack Henry all had seasons where they dramatically turned a teams fortunes around the OL. I have yet to see a team do quite that well just on DL.

The big problem is that you can only get so far in terms of playmaking with just effort and teamwork among the front 3 or 4. Solid gap control is a necessity, but it won't cause average players to become great pass rushers. You need talented players to do that, and it takes time to develop those players, even if they have the skills. But even if you have the DL that does their job, you still need the LB and secondary to do their jobs too. There are 8 gaps along the offensive front, DL can only plug 3 or 4 of those, so DL have to have help from the LB and secondary or you are going to have trouble.

Plus, it is not like our DL is universally bad. Both of the past 2 seasons, the DL played very well down the stretch. At some point, that sort of inconsistency is an issue, but 2 years, with a lot of other problems and changes seems like it is jumping the gun a bit. You need to give young players the chance to develop.

We played a lot of different stuff, and had to do a lot of scheming the last couple of season. 2 years ago, we were a pretty classic 34 team. Then last year, we started using a lot of 43 fronts with Freeney coming in. Then when he got hurt, we switched back to the regular 34 stuff. Liuget was good out of the gate 2 years ago, but he struggled and then played well last year. Reyes struggled last year early, but then came on late both seasons. If they had done nothing, then I would have a major issue. So long as they start out strong and then are reasonably consistent this season, I have no issue with it. Young players are inconsistent, which is why you generally prefer vets. But you also have to develop your own guys, and if they do, we are over it.

The real issue will be if they don't play well initally. I am not going to blame the DL for all our defensive woes last year, but they did play their part. They have to play better. Higher draft picks coming up at the end of their contracts just have to show more in the end then we have seen. I am willing to give them till those contracts run out , but if they haven't shown some consistency, then I think it is time to move on. Both have too much ability to let them be just average players.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

The inconsistancy early in the season was written about as communication and guys being on different pages at the snap cuasing half the line playing a different asignments. This will fix allot of itself.