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Our new look ILB position moving forward.

Rey

Guest
Athletically I think Braman can play MLB....I don't know if he can actually play it simply because I haven't seen it....But that's a good idea...

Personally I'd like for both he and merci to spell Brooks and Barwin some but if he can get on the field at MLB I would like that too...
 

beerlover

Hall of Fame
I mentioned it in the game thread but the third team defense really hit some people in the mouth & Braman was certainly in that mix. We will see how Texans adjust against Baltimore but if it doesn't get any better expect significant changes after Bye week.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
I mentioned it in the game thread but the third team defense really hit some people in the mouth & Braman was certainly in that mix. We will see how Texans adjust against Baltimore but if it doesn't get any better expect significant changes after Bye week.
I think it's been said earlier. Aaron Rodgers was just on Sunday night, in a zone. I don't think Flacco is going to fare as well. I criticized our pass rush, saying we didn't get pressure on Rodgers, but the truth is that he simply played at another level. He got out of trouble several times & made things happen.

My biggest concern, is who is going to cover Jacoby Jones :evil:? I think we did well last year, Jjo on Torry Smith, Kj on Anquan Boldin, & who ever their third receiver was.

But with Jjo & his issues, & McCain being vertically challenged... we really don't have an answer for two speedy WRs. Sure, Jacoby is probably going to help us out a bit, drop a ball here or there, & hopefully Jjo found magic in the bottle this week.

Then there is Pitta & they throw the ball to Leach a bit too.
 

rolyat93

Waterboy
Athletically I think Braman can play MLB....I don't know if he can actually play it simply because I haven't seen it....But that's a good idea...

Personally I'd like for both he and merci to spell Brooks and Barwin some but if he can get on the field at MLB I would like that too...
Maybe if Wade would let go of obsession with Bradie James.:kitten:
 

b0ng

Bad Hombre
I'm not sure if Braman at ILB is going to be a better option than James or Dobbins (or possibly even Ruud, yeeesh). From what I've seen at TC and preseason games they have him working as an OLB which is a fairly different animal in terms of responsibilities and how to play certain angles. I think he's got the physical traits that you would like, but him just plopping down and learning a different position will probably take significant work that you really don't want him doing OJT in games for, if you get what I'm saying.
 

Wolf6151

All Pro
I'm not sure if Braman at ILB is going to be a better option than James or Dobbins (or possibly even Ruud, yeeesh). From what I've seen at TC and preseason games they have him working as an OLB which is a fairly different animal in terms of responsibilities and how to play certain angles. I think he's got the physical traits that you would like, but him just plopping down and learning a different position will probably take significant work that you really don't want him doing OJT in games for, if you get what I'm saying.

I get what your saying, maybe it's an off season move for next year. I'm just thinking it's football not brain surgery especially at ILB where he's not going to cover anyone, that's for Cushing and our Safeties, or set the edge to redirect a RB, etc... He simply needs to play kill the man with the ball and blitz the QB when told to do so.
 

amazing80

Hall of Fame
Reed is the best choice to be moved. Similar size, similar playing style (reckless) and athletic enough to cover. I would move Reed and allow Mercilus to start at OLB


Barwin Smith Cody Watt Mercilus
Reed James
Jackson Manning Quin Joseph

That would be our base



IDk, something similar
Looks like we did this some today and it worked well. We have 2 weeks to get reed comfortable in his new role.
 

Corrosion

Idealist
Staff member
Yep...

I also saw dobbins out there in nickel some instead of bradie james
Remember me sayinga couple weeks ago .... move Reed to Cushings spot and Mercilus in at OLB ?? :corrosion:

I dont think Reed was "instinctive enough" today , he looked unsure at times in the middle .... but he's probably the most capable player on the roster of doing at least some of what Cushing does from the middle. He was pretty solid when asked to drop into coverage and gives a better rush option than James.

They have two weeks to work in some new wrinkles and get the details ironed out.



Dobbins surprised me with his coverage ability today ..... He always seems to be around the ball.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Dobbins surprised me with his coverage ability today ..... He always seems to be around the ball.
Agreed. His open field tackle of Ray Rice was nice. & when he robbed Pitta of that reception, knocking the ball out of his hands.... awesome.
 

drs23

Veteran
Remember me sayinga couple weeks ago .... move Reed to Cushings spot and Mercilus in at OLB ?? :corrosion:

I dont think Reed was "instinctive enough" today , he looked unsure at times in the middle .... but he's probably the most capable player on the roster of doing at least some of what Cushing does from the middle. He was pretty solid when asked to drop into coverage and gives a better rush option than James.

They have two weeks to work in some new wrinkles and get the details ironed out.



Dobbins surprised me with his coverage ability today ..... He always seems to be around the ball.
He surprised me as well for the same reason. Dude just has a nose for the ball and looked pretty good in space. Once he gets his hands on ya, ya ain't gettin' away. He looked damn solid.
 

SAMURAITEXAN

All Pro
Remember me sayinga couple weeks ago .... move Reed to Cushings spot and Mercilus in at OLB ?? :corrosion:

I dont think Reed was "instinctive enough" today , he looked unsure at times in the middle .... but he's probably the most capable player on the roster of doing at least some of what Cushing does from the middle. He was pretty solid when asked to drop into coverage and gives a better rush option than James.

They have two weeks to work in some new wrinkles and get the details ironed out.



Dobbins surprised me with his coverage ability today ..... He always seems to be around the ball.
Good call Corrosion!!! Seems like Reed can handle it and he only gets better with more experience.
 

powda

The bridge between stupid and useless is short.
It certainly is something though when you can be prideful for never having "drunk the kool-aide" and always being skeptical.

Go you.
How's that super bowl ring working out? That's right, we didnt get it. Cushing got hurt, predictably our defensive performance declined. What was difficult to foresee here?
 

powda

The bridge between stupid and useless is short.
Does anyone still feel the need to chastise the skeptical when they're right? Nobody's trying to sh*t on a homers parade...just brining an element of reality to the table. Super bowls are an anomaly and shouldn't be expected even with a good team...so much can go wrong...things have to go wrong unless fate is on your side. Revisiting old threads like this amount to accountability. Do you feel like a dumbass now for being critical of people whom had a realistic approach?
 

Texanmike02

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
This is a good point. Additionally, we can only have one ILB on the field in our nickel and dime packages, so whoever is the #2 ILB is not an everydown player.

The only issue for me here is that ILB has consistently been one of the easiest positions to draft. Very few 1st round ILBs turn out to be busts. DTs, on the other hand, are second only to QBs in bust potential. The Texans have not been good at drafting interior lineman.
Best player available
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
How's that super bowl ring working out? That's right, we didnt get it. Cushing got hurt, predictably our defensive performance declined. What was difficult to foresee here?
It wasn't that just that Cushing got hurt. It was also that our replacements got hurt. No one is going to win a Super Bowl when you can't start the same ILBs two weeks running. We may have started the same two ILBs two weeks running maybe three times since Cushing got hurt & that's abnormal. That's hard to do & be successful at the same time.

Bradie James is slow to disect & react to the run. That's fine, if Daryl Sharpton is next to him. But if it's Sharpton next to him for one week, Dobbins the next, back to Sharpton, then Ruud the next, then it's Dobbins & Sharpton, Dobbins & Ruud..... you can't watch tape, scheme for your weaknesses, then correct those weaknesses when you're throwing a different player with different weaknesses out there the next week.

It was abnormal to have so many injuries at that position & not something you can plan & scheme to overcome. Then when you add it the injury to Cody, Brooks, & the ineffectiveness of Connor Barwin, you're in a no win situation & you've got to do the best that you can.

We never got stable at that position, hard to recover when you're taking blow after blow, week after week.
 

powda

The bridge between stupid and useless is short.
It was abnormal to have so many injuries at that position & not something you can plan & scheme to overcome. Then when you add it the injury to Cody, Brooks, & the ineffectiveness of Connor Barwin, you're in a no win situation & you've got to do the best that you can.
I agree wholeheartedly, and yet identifying the problem and saying it here midseason means your "not a fan" according to some. I was told just that in this thread for saying there's trouble up ahead. Funny how quiet those people are now.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
I agree wholeheartedly, and yet identifying the problem and saying it here midseason means your "not a fan" according to some. I was told just that in this thread for saying there's trouble up ahead. Funny how quiet those people are now.
Seriously, if it ended with Cushing's injury, it wouldn't have gotten as bad as it did.

I don't know if we'd have won the Super Bowl (chances, not) but we wouldn't have looked as bad.

It's not that Cushing got hurt, at that time, the posters saying, "let's see how it play out" were right.

But his replacement (Dobbins) got hurt. The guy next to him (James) got hurt. The guy who replaced Cushing's replacement (Sharpton) got hurt. We had to sign a guy off the street (Ruud) & he played quite a few snaps. We had to sign a second guy off the street (Alexander) who became part of our awesome STs....

I'm sorry they questioned your "fandom" but you can't come back & say, "I was right" when the back up's back up got hurt.
 
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