yes, yes he does. its the very reason he gets manhandled at the point of attack and cant run block to save his life. he even has problem with the inside bullrush. as of now hes good at keeping his rusher in front of him which is what puts you in position to be strong once engaged. yes he went against top rushers last yr which explains his high allowed sack count. but what i saw was him acting more as a speed bump, staying in front of his rusher and being pushed around. it doesnt matter how athletic he is. any lineman gets a hold of your under 300 lb frame, you become easy to move. why is mangold an exception? hes straight up stronger and has a road grader mentality. something brick lacks. this was my main criticsim of him, just as people knocked on vernon davis (the player I wished we had drafted, although I respect the brick move) brick has physically peaked, hes grown into his body as much as he ever will. the guy was 245 when he entered college, gained about 50 lbs of muscle. no way will he be able to maintain an above 300 playing weight. only reason he reached over 300 was pre draft when he had the luxury of living in the weight room without the anaerobic workout he gets from running and doing drills in his pads on a consistent basis. i hope he proves me wrong, and hes only in his second year. but these are the exact negatives i saw in him and theyre already being wrote about.
Thats a bold statement. I played with guys that were over 300 and I knew they didn't take anything. It can be done....these guys are elite athletes, there are reasons why the NFL is such an exclusive league that only certain guys can break into: it's hard, and it's for the best of the best.
Again, Brick is great in the running game at trap blocking and pull blocking due to his athleticism and long arms. However, he lacks initial explosion/punch and no matter his size, he will never be a great drive blocker. He was not brought here to be one. He was brought here to be an elite pass protector and an athletic presence along the line. he is well on track to being just that. To me, his size isn't the issue. He dominated on the collegiate level being 20 lbs lighter than what he is now. What he needs to do is improve technique(which WILL happen w/ time) and improve his upper body strength to counter inside moves and bull rushes. When those 2 things take place, and he gets more experience under his belt..he will be a top 3 pass protector in this league...I have no doubt..
I agree. The foundation is there, and regardless of however his weight retention problems have arrived in the past, he has a huge frame and one way or another should be able to keep on this weight. You can't really teach Brick's athleticism and fleet feet, but you can monitor everything from his diet to his workout regimen to find some way for him to keep on the weight. It's not like he's 5'9" and has maxed out his frame. He's a big guy with a large frame which is pretty much prototypical for a LT. His God given skills and athleticism have the potential to make him that much better than the other LTs in the league.
I'd rather have a solid 295lber of pure muscle than a 340lb fat ass who can't move on the left side. Put the fat ass on the right side.
I still don't believe if he hangs out with Mangini for a month, how he can't put on 20 lbs. Gotta hit those Italian restaurants. Putting 20 lbs on his frame should just not be that difficult.
I went back and looked at the three prior seasons. The results were not as stark. 2005: 1359 at home 1180 on road 2004: 1178 at home 1155 on road 2003: 1296 at home 1333 on road
The game has changed ALOT over the years...the NFL has become a bigger, faster, and stronger league. These guys couldn't do today what they did back then...it just isn't the same anymore.
It's so true, I used to go on believing the hype that our athletes were getting bigger and stronger and faster through some sort of evolutionary gain, except the evolution of mankind faces less physical adversity and wouldn't trend toward the more physically adept. Then I thought that maybe the scouting methods were boosted by the higher technology available with the media sources, coming right up to streaming live video and scientific scouting, and maybe that has a lot to do with finding the players able to raise the level of play to new levels. But it has never been much of a secret that performance enhancers are common in the NFL, they made a show of it with the steroids testing, but the testing itself is a joke. NFL players are becoming larger in direct correlation to baseball players, which makes sense since it was the science of performance enhancers that evolved with the size and shapes of pro athletes.
It's not just steriods, it's growth hormone, blood dopeing, supplements that are on the fringe that many of these guys have been takeing since high school. It's been around the NFL for years, it's invaded track and field for years, cycling is just about completely ruined because of it and even second tier baseball players are widely using various techniques to gain an edge.
Dude...if you know how to get bigger, stronger, and faster, why don't you go blood dope with Anthony Gonzalez and pop pills with Mark McGuire and Shawn Merriman, smoke a little pot with Ricky Williams, and fight some dogs with Mike Vick. You'd be perfect for the NFL. Perfect.
