Wickershams week 8 picks

[WhyIsItAlwaysNextYear]

Just an interesting tidbit from Wickershams's week 8 picks on ESPN.

Texans 24, Titans 19: I'm sick of Mario Williams being overlooked: in his past three games, he has 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. One offensive coach I talked to who schemed against Williams says if he were getting some help from his other D-linemen, his sack total would be way up. And for that matter, does anyone realize that Andre Johnson is leading the league in catches and might be the best jump ball receiver around?

[NEROtheZERO]

Interesting perspective on MW. That sort of echos DeMeco's sentiments about Mario as well. If Peek can stay healthy I think we will see even more production out of Mario. I wonder who that offensive coach was.

[GuerillaBlack]

Sounds interesting.

[Double Barrel]

Who is Wickershams, and who is the particular offensive coordinator he's quoting?

I'm not down on Mario, but he's looked like a rookie this year (which is to be expected). He's trying to hustle and beat his blocks, but this is not a technique that is just learned overnight. O-linemen have a way of using leverage to their advantage. Experience pays dividends in that regard.

His two point five sacks are legit on paper, but let's be honest here. He was handed those, and there is nothing wrong with that. But I still want to see Mario one-on-one with a QB and taking him down accordingly.

I think he will develop into a good lineman for us, but I don't see offenses gameplanning around him at this point.

AJ is one of the league's best WRs in the league, IMO.

[NEROtheZERO]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

I think he will develop into a good lineman for us, but I don't see offenses gameplanning around him at this point.

I could be wrong but the double and triple teams he has seen seem to be game planning for Mario Williams. Also, apparently offensive coaches are taking notice: "One offensive coach I talked to who schemed against Williams says if he were getting some help from his other D-linemen, his sack total would be way up.".

He still has room for marked improvement but don't sell him short.

[Double Barrel]

Originally Posted by NEROtheZERO

I could be wrong but the double and triple teams he has seen seem to be game planning for Mario Williams. Also, apparently offensive coaches are taking notice: "One offensive coach I talked to who schemed against Williams says if he were getting some help from his other D-linemen, his sack total would be way up.".

He still has room for marked improvement but don't sell him short.

I'm not selling him short. I think he's got great potential, and have defended him constantly from those that wish to rush judgement after a few games. The position can take a while to learn, much less master.

He's not getting double- and triple-teamed as much as some believe, though. I've been very attentive to his play, especially at home games. I'll often miss the play as I follow Mario around the field with my binoculars. He's still struggling to break free from a single block, and many times he'll finally get loose only to put himself into a position of being blocked by someone else. I guess this could technically be a 'double-team', but often not by design.

That's why I was wondering who the offensive coordinator was that got quoted, so we can go back and study that game. Mario is starting to put the pieces together and pressure the pocket, but by no means has he dominated at his position. Like I said, this isn't dogging him, but just analyzing his play so far.

He'll be doing great things a year from now, so it's fair to objectively analyze what he's about during his rookie year.

[NEROtheZERO]

That's fair DB, but Kubiak himself has said that teams are focusing on Mario.

(on his position not usually dropping into coverage in the zone ) “No, he’s part of some of our zone schemes. You try to do that defensively. People, a lot of teams will turn their protection to a certain player, you know, to try to get help and I think some people will have to take special attention to him in some of the things he can do when he’s zone-dogging and drop him off now you’ve got teams turning toward him and you’re bringing pressure to the other way. So that was something (defensive coordinator) Richard (Smith) did in the game that was effective. It had a lot to do with our sacks.”

Either way, I think we can both agree on the fact that he has much room for improvement.

[Maddict5]

One offensive co-ordinator i talked to said that they continually quadruple-teamed him and was relieved by the fact that the texans had no other good d-linemen to take advantage......

and yes that OC would be Chris Palmer of the Dallas Cowboys

[Double Barrel]

Originally Posted by NEROtheZERO

That's fair DB, but Kubiak himself has said that teams are focusing on Mario.

Either way, I think we can both agree on the fact that he has much room for improvement.

Interesting.... Thanks for the quote!

We should have a to look forward to as Mario matures into his position.

[thunderkyss]

There are a couple of things that I think people are not seeing when the look at Mario. Both good, and bad.

1) Technique. Yes, Mario is weak in technique, but so are most rookies as they come into the league. I can't think of any rookie pass rushers that have come into the league with a long list of moves they had under their belt. Jevon Kearse was a speed guy when he set the rookie sack record, the knock on him, was that if he doesn't learn other techniques, and rely solely on his speed, then he'll be quickly forgotten in this league. For the most part, I think that has been the case.

Same with Darren Howard when he set the Saints rookie single season sack record. He wasn't a technique guy, he was all power, but his power/speed allowed him the versatility to play either side of the line, and the DT position. He got the most of his sacks, playing on a stout defensive line, but also because he could come at an OL from different positions, and they kept the OL confused.

So I think we should throw this "technique" argument out the window. If he were a pass rushing sack machine, we'd know it by now.

& he's not.

But I'm fine with that. CoachK said from the get go that we were drafting Mario more for what he will be. & I've no doubt in my mind that he will be fierce in the future.

He said Mario will make an imediate impact to our defense much the way Reggie would our offense. Again, I believe that to be true as well. But our Offense is loaded with talent in comparison to our defense, so Reggie's presence would boost the performance of AJ, Eric, Owen, Walter, Carr...

Defensively, the play of Mario has got to boost the performance of Babin, TJ, CC, & Buchannon......... well, we found out that those guys aren't as good as we hoped they would be.

Now I think our defense has been playing great our last three games. If it weren't for that second half against the Cowboys, I'd say outstanding. & alot of that is because of what Mario is doing.

If you saw the Cowboys assign Crayton, Witten, & Flozelle to block Mario out of JJ's running lane, and then see Mario move that pile of Cowboy crap into the lane they were supposed to keep him out of. Not only did JJ have to alter his running lane, but re-alter it as Mario forced him to stretch the play to Lewis Sanders waiting near the sideline, and CCBrown had time to come down from his position and stop JJ for no gain..........

I can't understand how you don't believe coaches are gameplanning for Mario.

[bigbrewster2000]

Originally Posted by [[Gary Kubiak]]

Mario needs to be pushed like Kubes pushing Carr, yet Carr is a 4 year vet and Mario is a rook.

We need to see some sparks from mario.

What are you talking about? Kubes IS pushing Mario. He has directly said how he wants more from him and he expects more. That seems like pushing to me.

[TK_Gamer]

It was said by Kubiak, smith, and several others, Mario's influence in a game will not neccesarily be sacks. what he will do, and he's been improving on this every game, is create chaos, cause mismatches, hurry throws, change running routes. he has done all these things and will IMHO only get better and better. now with all this chaos, if our sorry secondary could just capitalize and get some picks, or another lineman or LB could take advantage of the pressure and chaos and get the sack on the newly created weak side, we would be doing alot better. they have shown glimpses of this in the last 3 games and it will only get better.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by TK_Gamer

It was said by Kubiak, smith, and several others, Mario's influence in a game will not neccesarily be sacks. what he will do, and he's been improving on this every game, is create chaos, cause mismatches, hurry throws, change running routes. he has done all these things and will IMHO only get better and better. now with all this chaos, if our sorry secondary could just capitalize and get some picks, or another lineman or LB could take advantage of the pressure and chaos and get the sack on the newly created weak side, we would be doing alot better. they have shown glimpses of this in the last 3 games and it will only get better.

Exactly..... we need to forget sacks by Mario....... that's the media talking, and pushing for sacks. We need to look at the whole team.

Culpepper & Bledsoe were in the same position as Brunnell, waiting for a defense to allow them to get their game started, and we didn't allow that to happen. After our game, Culpepper got benched, Romo got more snaps in practice, and Leftwich got benched.

forget the second half of the Cowboy game, our defense was put in a bad situation, and really couldn't have been expected to do any better than they did. It would have been nice, but to expect them to do better at that time in their young careers.... is odd.

Miami, we only allowed 15 points. first half, we allowed the highscoring Cowboys only 3 points, Jax shut them out the first half, & the 4th Qtr, only allowing 7 points in the 3rd.

we are without a doubt getting better, without a doubt playing good football.

[joedinkle]

Originally Posted by WhyIsItAlwaysNextYear

Just an interesting tidbit from Wickershams's week 8 picks on ESPN.

Texans 24, Titans 19: I'm sick of Mario Williams being overlooked: in his past three games, he has 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. One offensive coach I talked to who schemed against Williams says if he were getting some help from his other D-linemen, his sack total would be way up. And for that matter, does anyone realize that Andre Johnson is leading the league in catches and might be the best jump ball receiver around?

link?

[Texan1]

Originally Posted by WhyIsItAlwaysNextYear

Just an interesting tidbit from Wickershams's week 8 picks on ESPN.

Texans 24, Titans 19: I'm sick of Mario Williams being overlooked: in his past three games, he has 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. One offensive coach I talked to who schemed against Williams says if he were getting some help from his other D-linemen, his sack total would be way up. And for that matter, does anyone realize that Andre Johnson is leading the league in catches and might be the best jump ball receiver around?

Interesting perspective. Can't say I agree or believe an O coordinator said that - but interesting.

I wouldn;t be touting the sack total and the FR was nice but - he needs to get some pressure on the QB today - even when the QB hasn't already fallen down.