After watching the McElroy play I'd say he was a serious liability. I thought for sure that Mac was going to suffer a concussion when I saw his head bounce off the ground. Sadly the only way he is going to get better is by playing a lot of snaps in the preseason and hope that we can find some Vet that gets cut from another team to give him another season under his belt before we need to rely on him fulltime.
Vlad is a giant I'm sure he had some huge blocks but he had a half dozen whiffs that can get the qb killed. I was one of Vlads supporters coming into this season and wanted him to start but he is a big liability right now. I feel that some people will defend players for the sake of defending any jet. Vlads play was horrendous. He made second and third stringers look like Lawrence Taylor
Right now is G1 preseason....w/a mix & match line where he played 3 positions and a rookie qb making the wrong reads - have a little perspective before you overestimate the situation
Uhh...about that. It wasn't McElroy's fault Ducasse couldn't block a few guys AND missed a few assignment audibles. DuCasse already is credited with the Turner injury incase u didn't see the game. No one is ready to give up on him yet, but if u think the concerns about his improvements are insane, then you're a homer. After a couple of years sitting on the bench, I'd want the pick to pay great dividends in his 3rd year onwards.
Really? Ducasse couldn't block a few guys? Name them. -He got beat by Watt on an elite swim move that 95% of the NFL'S starting interior linemen would have gotten beat on as well. He went up against Watt several other times on the first 2 drives w/ little to no issue. -He got beat on the edge by a DE who jumped the snap and completely sold out on his gap assignment. If that's a draw or a screen to Vlad's side, the play goes for at least 15 yards maybe more. Yes Ducasse was slow out of his stance on that one. Again chalked up to pre snap hesitation and being overly tentative. But that's only part of the reason for this one. The DE guessed right, got a great jump on the snap and w/ Vlad being slow out of his stance, the QB didn't stand a chance.Give the DE some credit...he guessed right. - His assignment went completely untouched on an obvious passing situation on the last play of the first half. The QB took responsibility for it, stating that the protection was not properly communicated and Vlad did not recieve word of the needed adjustment. Maybe that's just his excuse...but who knows. you give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. You take away those 3 plays..and sure, he looked alittle tentative,slow out of his snap w/ some sloppy technique. But there wasn't anybody he "Couldn't block". In fact, he made some great blocks. Young players are going to make mistakes. Unfortunately O-line pass pro mistakes get magnified based on the nature of the position.
I've seen Ducasse have his moments but overall his play was poor. If Ducasse is the starting RT and he lets guys come off the edge untouched like he did on Monday Sanchez will get absolutely murdered and the season's over. All it takes is 1 miss.. Vlad had a half dozen. I'm all for giving him his 3-4 years to pan out and learn the game/get up to speed but you're out of your mind if you watched his play on MNF and thought, "this guy is shaping up well". Raw talent and project pick aside, Vlad has been a disappointment thus far. I will give him his due but color me negative if I say honestly that he may not pan out as well as people expected. Hopefully he proves me wrong but to date the evidence I have is: lost out starting LG job to Slauson, lost out starting RT job to Hunter, looks terrible in first preseason game against backups. Maybe he just isn't caught up to the speed of the game and that can be remedied but I truly fear the guy just doesn't have the mental capacity to excel.
STOP PICKING ON DUCASSE! The sack where Turner got hurt count because JJ Watt is elite. The sack at RT doesn't count because it was a mental mistake. The five or so other times he gave up QB pressures don't count because they didn't result in sacks so we don't include them in our "film study."
I hate take this away arguments but I do trust Kurt's analysis of O-lineman. Last guy I saw him defend like this was Brick. Now everyone says the hate on him was idiotic, and it was, but there was plenty of it back in the day.
You can't just say, well take away those THREE plays and the guy did well. Not with the OL. He had complete meltdowns on those 3 plays, and they resulted in hard hits to the QB. There were other plays where he got beat as well, they just didn't result in a sack. I think the defenders need to be honest with what they are arguing here. Nobody wants Vlad to be a bust. Nobody is routing against the guy. There are some of us who are concerned with his lack of progression, and expect more from a second year player- regardless of where he was drafted. I think you would agree with that. NDMICK has been arguing with me about this, but our stance is virtually the same. He said he hopes that by Vlads third year, he can "get onto the field without shitting the bed" I feel the same way. I think in another year, he can hopefully be a decent backup. With any luck, our CS will get him there sometime this year. My expectations of him have dropped dramatically over the last year and a half. I don't expect him to ever be a starter at this point, and if he is in two years, than I'll be pleasantly surprised. Do guys need time to develop? Of course. But after this much time, we can all agree we expected Vlad to be further along than he is. It doesn't mean this is as good as he's going to get, or he's going to be cut, but he's not where he should be by now. Ask yourself this: Are you happy with his progression to this point? Are you comfortable with Vlad in a starting role due to injury? Do you expect Vlad to be a good starter at any position in the next two years? Are you happy with where we drafted Vlad, and would you make the same pick again? If you answer yes to more than one of those, I'd be surprised.
Sorry but JJ Watt is not elite. lets not make out the houston's DE as something he is not (he may be in the future but not yet). Vlad sucks and is a danger to the players he plays with. Yes he has potential but his mistakes are huge and when he makes them he does not seem to be able to adjust like others can.
"Take away his three absolutely horrible plays and he was sort of decent enough not to be cut right now!" Heh.
Yup. I don't believe Watt has a completely unstoppable swim move staight out of Mortal Kombat that beats 95% of the guards in the league
I'm done arguing with a group of people that said the same crap about Brick being a bust years ago. I watch O-line more than any other position and I know what I'm talking about. I never claimed Ducasse had a great game or that he should be our starting RT. All I've maintained is that he's not this physically inferior camp fodder like many of you are suggesting. He has a ton of potential and despite ridiculous bias centered around 3 preseason plays and where he was drafted...I stand behind my opinion. If people wanna bitch and moan about where he got drafted...get on Tannenbaum. Those who watched his college film knew he was a project from the get go. He got selected early b/c despite being a project he had an extremely high ceiling.The jets needed to start thinking about O-line depth and the long term. They decided to take a chance on Ducasse's potential with the assumption he would need a year or 2 before he was ready to contend for a starting role. With Woody,Slauson Turner and Hunter all in the fold...they decided they could be patient w/ Ducasse's development knowing full well there would be bumps in the road. Sure there were some optimists who believed he'd contribute from day 1..but that seemed far fetched. His development range was between 0-2 years. Some hoped for immediate contributions while others pinpointed his 2nd year as the time for the light to go on. Unfortunately it's looking like he'll need the full 2 years before he really makes or breaks. Is it disapointing? yes. But it's not a shock or out of the realm of his projections after being drafted. The potential for big things w/ him hasn't gone anywhere.
