Flywheel
Wait, what year is it?
- Joined
- May 10, 2007
- Messages
- 18,954
I'm glad you brought them up. Joe Anoai, Vance Walker, and Darryl Richard were all good talents.
Joe never played a down in the NFL, Darryl played on a practice squad, and Vance moved to defensive end. None of them were NFL-ready defensive tackles. The fact of the matter is this: We are playing teams who are producing NFL-ready defensive tackles. Teams all over the country are producing them. We, however, are not. With strength and conditioning programs starting as early as junior high and our ever increasing knowledge of the body, kids are coming out of high school more ready than ever to go to the NFL.
But, as I already noted in both my observation of our S&C as well as my question about Cerg-Henderson, size alone isn't good enough. TJ Barnes did get pushed around. He was also big enough to warrant double teams, and he is also the only defensive tackle still playing that position in the NFL, even if it is on the practice squad. Size matters, but good size is important.
Let me ask you this: let's say you weigh 150lbs. You are strong for 150lbs, but you only weigh 150lbs. Now, you have the task of beating a blocker in an Oklahoma drill and getting to the running back, but that blocker is 200lbs, and he is strong even for 200lbs. Do you think you will ever make it to the running back? The answer is no. You won't. Not without help. Now, as a defense, we have to send 2 guys to do the job of 1 because the first guy can't get it done on his own. Meanwhile, there is a gap on the field, and any good running back as diverted to that gap.
This is precisely what happens when our defensive line goes head-to-head with the NFL-ready offensive lines we are playing. They can't shed the blocks that other players can, or eat double teams that free up defensive ends and linebackers. This is why we rush 6 men on 26% of snaps, but only reach a quarterback 1 time a game. In a game with 80 snaps, we are blitzing about 20 times and that blitz is successful 1 time.
Now you know why we give up 5.3 yards per play. Our good secondary contained a lot of problems for us.
Being a successful NFL DT isn't a requirement to be a successful collegiate DT. Otherwise, the best DL we've had in decades would not have been very good.