Exactly what I've been saying.... Heck, I'm kinda glad the staff didn't toss everything they knew about their defense in order to pacify an over rated LB and an Undersized DT that still needed a wide body next to him.... People today are acting as if: 1) The Jets defense was among the best in the NFL 2) Vilma and Robertson were models of health 3) The staff didn't think at all about trading these guys or using diferent systems earlier It's not their fault Bradway spent the world for DROB.... Let that part go. The last staff is the one who came in with som erag tag plan of hiring a 3-4 coach and installing a hybrid defense on the fly for a team that was pretty good at 3-4 to start.. THE GOAL OF THIS DEFENSE IS TO BE UNPREDICTABLE AND MULTI-FRONT - It's not to be locked into some label.....
Apparently DeWayne Robertson has morphed from a guy that half the board thought was a bust and a bad football player into some star player who was one of the best players on our defense. Sure he might have had some of the most talent, but he rarely showed it. He would show flashes which gave people hope, but he was never a great DT. Vilma isn't healthy, people. And he's sucked for 2 straight years. Sure the scheme has a lot to do with it, but I still find it a little hard to believe that Vilma went from a rising star to a mediocre linebacker just because of a scheme change. Vilma was a tackling machine in the 4-3, but he never made that many gamechanging plays at all. I know he is undersized for a 3-4 LB, but some of it is on Vilma for not adjusting well to the new scheme. Plus, he's hurt, and we don't know how badly. I wish we traded him last year, I know several other people did, too, but if we're going to make the deal this year, we probably got as much as we could. Draft picks are considered worth their weight in gold nowadays.
Vilma was a finesse LB and in the 4-3 was a pretty good one at that. You dont build your D around finesses LBs though, you build it around big, fast tough Lbs that play with a mean streak, like David Harris.
Well said.. I like it "Finesse LB".... And now INJURED... Thank god my team didn't make all it's decision around and build a defense around Vilma and Robertson.. A lot of insanity around here people thinking we should run the 4-3 all for these Two underachieving, unser sized hacks... Hey, and Robertson is a "Finesse" DT.... LOL Good Riddence to these guys.
In responding to some of the first posts in this thread, I would agree that it is extremely frustrating that Mangini decided to try (and fail miserably) to implement a 34 in his first season when the personnel for a 34 couldn't have been worse. It would have been better to keep the 43 in place, at least for a season, and then ease into the 34 into his second season. Not only would the defense have been better the last 2 years, but it would have kept Robertson and Vilma's trade values much higher. Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh did this, but in the reverse. Tomlin, who is a Tampa 2 disciple, recognized that the team had better personnel in 2007 for a 34, so he kept Dick LaBeau as D-Coordinator and will transition the Steelers into a Tampa 2 defense in 2008.
There is one huge factor that you are leaving out. Tomlin took over a team that had a good D in the 3-4. Mangini took over a D that wasn't very good in the 4-3. During Herms time here there was exactly one season that you could consider his D to be any good. I'll ask you, do you think Vilma and Drob were good enough to build a D around? Those are the only two players that were better suited to the 4-3 when Mangini took over.
So... Since when DRob transformed into the "elite" DT? I still recall "Dslob" from the 4-3 days... Look. Bradway gave up 2 1st rd picks for him. Leave it at that. He's an undersized DT that can't even hold his own fort within the so-much preferred scheme of 4-3. Stop acting as if he was the lone bright star of the defense. He never was, is, and never will be. I'm glad he is gone. Say, even if Mangini wanted to stick to 4-3, he still would have needed a wide body he didn't have anyway. Just what the HELL makes you think DRob could be productive in 4-3? Wake up, please. His marginally serviceable season came when Jason Ferguson was there for him, occupying blockers. DRob is a bust, so cut that crap already.
Stop being logical. Vilma and DRob were HIGH FIRST ROUND PICKS meaning we should have gotten HIGH FIRST ROUND PICKS back. At least Day 1 picks. I mean, 4-3 teams should be lining up around the block for a DT with an arthritic knee, no Pro Bowl appearances, and inconsistent performance his whole career...and they should be salivating for a LB with a knee injury coming off two very mediocre seasons...right? RIGHT? RIGHT? I mean Vilma won DROY 4 years ago AND he went to the Pro Bowl once...doesn't that mean something to Mangini and the league? Trading away these guys only proves our incompetent our FO really is. You build around guys like that....duh.
I'm gonna barf at the Tomlin comparisons... After one year we had THE MAN GENIUS.... Lets see what happens with Tomlin before we annoint him Super genuis. Tomlin started off with a much better defense than we had - This was a work in progress no matter what....
Good stuff guys. I thought I was going crazy when I read this thread in the morning. How can you blame this GM Drob not being worth 2 first round picks or Vilmas know knee probably finally rearing it's head???
