Anyone worried about the middle of the Dline this year?

[Canes Legacy]

I'll say it again this is the year Holley balls. He was the most talked about DT on scout last year and in the spring. Kid has great moves and is very strong.

That 4th DT spot is wide open, either him or JHH need to step up to give us a legit 2 deep.

 

[Go Canes!!]

As long as Baker doesn't have GR15 playing NT on 3rd downs. I'm good with the DT position.

Wut?

 

[Go Canes!!]

You dont think it ridiculous. Your taking your best pass rusher and moving him out of position where he is elite. Just to move him to a position where he is "effective" at is not counter productive? You could have moved Miller to that spot on 3rd down where he had collapsed the pocket at the rate Rousseau has and play the run better. While still having Rousseau coming off the edge. Add the fact the player that behind was him was no where at his skill level that Rousseau was at.

He picked up a huge percentage of his sacks last season playing inside. Suggest you watch the highlights from the FSU game where all four of his sacks came while lining up there.

 

[NorthEastCane]

I mean were you upset with the dline play last year? All we did was add depth and experience, we did not lose an impact DT.

Also, with our DEs, you have to think that is where teams are going to double team so the interior should get some favorable match-ups.

To answer your question, yes, this was a noticeable drop off last year. Not enough to be upset or to hurt us but enough to notice that we weren't as effective as when we had Willis or McIntosh. It didn't help that Silvera got off to a slow start because of injury but I'm still looking for the day that we can get pressure with a 4 man rush.

 

[NorthEastCane]

Pitt and GT both gained fewer than 350 yds of total offense against our defense. UNC had 389 and they beat us through the air. We held them under 100 yds rushing.

I'd like to know which team on our schedule in 2020 you think is gonna be able to line up and pound the ball on the ground against our defense.

Is there a single team you have in mind?

So you're saying we have a crappy schedule playing mostly finesse teams or teams that don't play a power game very well.

I'm more concerned when we step up a level and start playing the Clemson's, Bama's GA's or even Wisconsin's.

 

[NorthEastCane]

I’m very high on Miller. I thought he flashed quite a bit in the limited number of snaps last year. So long as he improves his conditioning, he should be a big contributor this year as the 3rd DT.

For what I've heard, conditioning has been his limited factor. He improves that, he'll get more burn.

 

[DTP]

Two things to notice in this highlight vid.

1) Look how many times GR made plays from the DT/NT position. He's arguably better inside than outside.
2) There isn't a ton of blitzing going on here. Most of these plays are using a four man rush. Occasionally you'll see a linebacker coming late because he was assigned to spy but the QB doesn't leave the pocket. You have to give offenses different looks and bring pressure from different areas because being predictable gets you beat in today's game.

 

[NorthEastCane]

Miller doesn’t do anything at the rate of Rousseau and actually the interior is the quicker route to the qb so you can’t say he would have more sacks on the edge if he just stayed there

Maybe he can't say it (nor I for that matter), but someone who charts all the plays over a season (like a Lance Roffers) could say. I don't know the answer, but I do know that unless you have an elite DT (like Jerome Brown or Warren Sapp) or sending an inside blitz, you're going to get most of your pressure from the edge. There's just too much traffic inside to get there quick enough.

 

[Go Canes!!]

Two things to notice in this highlight vid.

1) Look how many times GR made plays from the DT/NT position. He's arguably better inside than outside.
2) There isn't a ton of blitzing going on here. Most of these plays are using a four man rush. Occasionally you'll see a linebacker coming late because he was assigned to spy but the QB doesn't leave the pocket. You have to give offenses different looks and bring pressure from different areas because being predictable gets you beat in today's game.

I always chuckle when people mock our coaches for lining him up inside. Dude was a matchup nightmare and absolutely crushed it there.

 

[rok]

Two things to notice in this highlight vid.

1) Look how many times GR made plays from the DT/NT position. He's arguably better inside than outside.
2) There isn't a ton of blitzing going on here. Most of these plays are using a four man rush. Occasionally you'll see a linebacker coming late because he was assigned to spy but the QB doesn't leave the pocket. You have to give offenses different looks and bring pressure from different areas because being predictable gets you beat in today's game.

What is this you say?

 

[305407cane]

DT will be fine. Elite? No but they’ll be alright. Losing bethel and chigozie is not an issue.

 

[Lazarre]

Maybe he can't say it (nor I for that matter), but someone who charts all the plays over a season (like a Lance Roffers) could say. I don't know the answer, but I do know that unless you have an elite DT (like Jerome Brown or Warren Sapp) or sending an inside blitz, you're going to get most of your pressure from the edge. There's just too much traffic inside to get there quick enough.

It's just football logic. But people will look at the highlights and see him beating Central Michigan oline and FSU oline in the inside and say its effective. A DC playing GR15 inside is like playing Von Miller or Julius Peppers at NT on passing downs. That DC would get fired before he can even explain himself in a press conference.

 

[DTP]

What is this you say?

I’m not averse to playing him inside although his run stopping ability inside is still a question mark

 

[DTP]

It's just football logic. But people will look at the highlights and see him beating Central Michigan oline and FSU oline in the inside and say its effective. A DC playing GR15 inside is like playing Von Miller or Julius Peppers at NT on passing downs. That DC would get fired before he can even explain himself in a press conference.

Are the Rams stupid for playing Aaron Donald inside on passing downs? By moving Rousseau inside on passing downs, it allows them to play another pass rushing end outside. It’s about getting your best pass rushers on the field together. There’s ton of video evidence that GR is a fantastic inside pass rusher. Not taking advantage of that would get a DC fired

 

[mirvin88]

Of all the things I have to worry about for 2020, our defensive tackles rank just below catching COVID.

FIFY

 

[Lazarre]

Are the Rams stupid for playing Aaron Donald inside on passing downs? By moving Rousseau inside on passing downs, it allows them to play another pass rushing end outside. It’s about getting your best pass rushers on the field together. There’s ton of video evidence that GR is a fantastic inside pass rusher. Not taking advantage of that would get a DC fired

Aaron Donald is a DT. Was always a DT.. so no the rams are not stupid

 

[brock]

It's just football logic. But people will look at the highlights and see him beating Central Michigan oline and FSU oline in the inside and say its effective. A DC playing GR15 inside is like playing Von Miller or Julius Peppers at NT on passing downs. That DC would get fired before he can even explain himself in a press conference.

Sounds like you didn’t watch Rousseau play much just listing fsu and central Michigan as the only games he had sacks on the interior. He also did it vs va tech, uf, unc as well

 

[DTP]

Aaron Donald is a DT. Was always a DT.. so no the rams are not stupid

So if we switch the letters next to Rousseau‘s name from DE to DT, it will be a smart decision? Inside pass rush is far more valuable than edge rush because the quarterback can’t step up in the pocket to avoid it. There’s a limited number of guys who can get pressure from the DT position so it makes the skill even more valuable since it’s rare.

 

[rok]

I’m not averse to playing him inside although his run stopping ability inside is still a question mark

I happen to think he's big/strong enough and can use his length to engage blockers or simply swim past people the way McIntosh and Willis did so proficiently. A DE rotation of Rousseau, Roche, Phillips is awesome but I'd hope to see them on the field together more often than not.

 

[Moonman]

So you're saying we have a crappy schedule playing mostly finesse teams or teams that don't play a power game very well.

I'm more concerned when we step up a level and start playing the Clemson's, Bama's GA's or even Wisconsin's.

As you should be. Those teams are vastly more ******* talented than we are, aside from Wisconsin, which is a whole nother topic altogether.

Now, if we start winning meaningful games and are able to begin recruiting at the level of those schools, then maybe we'll be able to match up well with them head to head from a physical standpoint.

As for Wisconsin, they dominated *osu (who had 3 defensive lineman drafted) for the better part of the B1G title game. That program incubates linemen like Jurassic Park. Nobody slows them down when they're rolling.

The fact of the matter remains that if we can string together two or three 10 win seasons, then we'll start to land the type of kids that Clemson, *osu and Bama do on a consistent basis. Until then we're just gonna have to play our asses off and hope not to trip on our ****s...like we did so many times last season.