Dale, you're a funny man. You compared woodley to mario,yet you fail to mention harrison had 100 tckls and 16 sacks and troy p was also a def player of the year. The most sacks a guy oppsosite mario had was 5. The steeler have averaged like 50 sacks per yr vs the texans who were in the 30s. We're not even going to talk about the bakend coverage that allows pass rushers to get to the qb or lbs squeezing windows. You know why mario imo deserves more than woodley or harrison? He deserves more because of his flexibility. If ziggy hood or cam hayward goes down,neither woodley or harrison can play the 5 technique. If smith or watt goes down or if the texans lost a couple of lbs, mario can play the 5 technique or allow wade to morph into a 4-3. How many players in the league can do that? Its convenient how you left off tamba hali and his 35m guarnteed or woodley 27m in first 2 yrs. You also left off barwin playing out his rookie deal,getting franchised for 10m in one year and probably costing at least what hali got. I know you have you reasons and I disagree big time. No team let's a 27 yr old pass rusher walk out the door. No one. Not the steeler,pats,eagles, no team. It doesn't happen. It doesn't happen for a reason. If he gets on the open market watch the offer he gets. That will tell you a lot about his value accross the league.
So, your proof that Mario isn't overvalued and overpriced is that he's going to make a ton of money? Umm, okay.
Another funny argument: the $15 million man needs more talent around him to produce at the level of guys making half of that... Talking about chasing your tail. If you pay Mario his "market value", it will be very difficult to keep talent around him.
By the way, who were the monsters of the midway that Barwin played with last season to get his 11.5 sacks? He did most of his damage after Mario was gone. Coincidence? No. Once Barwin moved into Mario's position (a spot designed to accumulate sacks), he excelled. Did the players around him have something to do with that? Absolutely! That's been my point all along. This is a very good defense without Mario. Let's not foolishly spend over 10% of the entire cap on one non-essential player and create problems for ourselves heading into 2013.
By the way, how many sacks did Mario have this year while surrounded by all that talent? Oh, yeah: 5. That's one sack for every $3.5 million. I know he was injured. That's my point!
Again, I don't want Barwin to play out his rookie deal. I want him signed now.
Barwin, by the way, could play end in a 4-3 defense. Woodley could as well. Mario can do less from OLB than Barwin or Woodley. They are much better dropping in coverage.
I have no idea what your point regarding Hali was. I argued that the great organizations avoid shelling out huge dollars to non-essential players like Mario. Are you saying that K.C. is a great organization?
"Deserves" is a funny word. I don't care what Mario "deserves". All I'm concerned with, and all the Texans should concern themselves with, is what will allow the Texans' organization to excel for as long as possible. Someone else can reward Mario for his physique and potential. The Texans have given him over $50 million. I'm not too hung up on making sure we compensate him beyond that.
Scooter: really? Do you actually believe what you've said? Compare how the Texans defense did in each game vs. the average of the opponent it faced.
for instance:
Mario's games:
Indy
Miami
N.O.
Pittsburgh.
Out of those 4 games, the Texans gave up more than the league average to New Orleans and Miami and about the league average to Indy. That trend does not continue once the team gets into October. Almost every week, the Texans defense gives up many fewer yards and points than the league average against that opponent.
...i guess that's sound logic.
