From today's NY Times... "Wilfork is the relative newcomer, a third-year player who at 6 feet 2 inches and 325 pounds is a bulldozer of a nose tackle. When linebacker Tedy Bruschi was asked if he could put into words what Wilfork meant to the defense, he replied simply: 'No, I can’t. That’s the best answer I can give you.'” You wanna play defense like NE, you gotta have personnel like NE, and that 3-4 starts with a massive NT. IMO, if the Jets fail to secure the requisite side of beef to stack in front of Vilma, nothing else they do this off-season will matter. If we'd of won this game, Ladainian would've drilled the point home next week. Let's hope the Jets get Bruschi's point.
Tangini will take care of this. It's hard to remember this was their first draft and season together. They have a much better idea as to requirements to challenge NE and I'm sure they'll make the most of the DP's we have. No more old, washed up, KC guys inbound certainly!!!!
Don't forget we have a still unknown in Pouha. I'm not saying he's definitely the answer but we have some flexibility.
If he works out then we will gladly take the extra depth....we just can't rely on him to heavily after getting hurt though.
I don't know the technicalities that might make this unfeasable (i.e. his contract and cap number and all that crap), but I'm starting to think that trading D-Rob might be a good option. Am I on Mars?
I agree with every word. During the Herm years I stupidly fell into the idea that a role-player doing an adequate job at a position could be disguised or compensated for, and in some cases it is true, but when you are using that type of approach for the lynchpin of the defense, the whole unit suffers. DRob did a better than adequate job the second half of the season, but we need a true NT if our defense will ever be expected to be dominant. Ever. Good enough is no longer good enough. But I agree with Cman, Mangini/Tannenbaum are not Herm/Bradway. I think they know these things already.
It's going to be very hard to find a player that fits this role. They just don't grow up on trees. Pouha and that other guy are not the answer. a 2 gp nose tackle has to be someone short under 6'3", well over 325, extremely wide and quick. Jamal Williams, Casey Hampton and Wilfork are really freaks of nature. You can't just go out and sign a fat guy and expect it to work. Robertson did a nice job this year but he's much better off at end in this defense. But we know now that he is very coachable and when healthy is really a difficult player to block.
I definately don't want to see Robertson go but, if we draft a NT ande slide hime to end who loses playing time?
kimo van oelhoeffen sucks, eh. just forget about dewayne robertson. he's had more than enough chances to prove he's isn't a fat piece of crapola.
Drob showed that he could be a valuable piece of the defensive puzzle with his performance in the 2nd half of the year
It would be interesting to see Robertson playing as a 3-4 end alongside a massive NT. Which we clearly need. Kimo definitely needs to be replaced, someone who can get some sacks and cause some disruption in the backfield. QBs had way too much time to throw on us, even when we blitzed.
Unfortunately massive NT's w/ the strength and endrance to play every down do not come around everyday. It is a difficult thing to acquire. W/ that said, D rob had a very good seonc half of the year at NT...and unless we have a definate upgrade, we should not mess w/ a good thing. What we need is someone w/ better size and strength to replace Kimo at the RE spot. 75% of our struggles against the run are right at that spot from Kimo being absolutely blown off the ball.
