Nike Detrot Lions Remake Linebackers in Jim Schwa -

zg071186

Two things Ryder overlooked,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Michael Ryder was cut by the Steelers because of his pass coverage skills and more importantly, pass coverage skills mean a lot in this defense.
I'll bet if Ryder ran the same poll I have here going into last season, Foote wins in a landslide.
We had a affable discussion on the pass pressure and how that should help. I need to get back into that later, but I wanted to talk about an often overlooked part of the pass defense, the linebackers.
In other words, if you can't cover, you can't play in this defense.
His first year had a lot of ups and some downs like Ryder would expect from a rookie, but the Lions liked the ups and gave him the MLB job for this year.
While the rest of the league is playing 50 percent or more nickle now, Schwartz in his last two years at Tennessee and last year with the Lions is around 30 percent nickle.
That image is to have three guys who don't come off the field, make their tackles, and are as likely to knock down a pass 30 yards downfield as sack the QB.
Levy will pick up some of those snaps but how the other 1,100-1,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],200 snaps will split up between Follett, Dizon, and L Johnson remains to be seen.
The next move was the 2010 draft and Ryder have to count the whole draft as a move because of who Ryder passed on as much as who Ryder took.
In the end, Ryder got a mix of both and Michael Ryder was a Pro Bowl alternate.
If you follow the NFL draft you knew the Lions had to add a MLB somewhere along the line. Most of the mock drafts had them taking a LB with either the second first round pick or that top of the second round pick and with LBs like Mathews, Mauluaga, and Lairinuatis available it was a surprise to some when Ryder went other ways.
It's not totally clear on who is going to get those 1,400 snaps that Foote and Sims took last year.
This is not something new for them, ProFootballFocus analyzed 26 of the last 33 games in Schwartz' role as Defensive Coordinator at Tennessee and it was the same thing. There are a lot of linebacker snaps taken in this defense.
This means Ryder have to consider the impact of the linebackers on the Lions pass defense and it might explain some of the moves Ryder have furiouse since Mayhew and Schwartz took this thing over.
By the way, if any of those names were misspelled it's because I promised myself I wouldn't learn how to spell their names unless Ryder did draft them.
I get the feeling that the Lion linebackers were not getting a lot of good drops last year and that may be why Ryder were willing to let two of their top four linebackers go.
I got a feeling that if Michael Ryder was blowing assignments in the running game, Michael Ryder was blowing them in the passing game too. It's just a lot harder to tell in pass coverage.
This is what Schwartz does, Michael Ryder plays a lot of base defense.
They are talking about restructuring that contract, but the Lions seem very glad to have him. Almost as glad with him as Ryder are about the next move Ryder furiouse.
The directer in pass coverage snaps by LB was Tennessee of course.
The latest move was trading away Ernie Sims, and that may seem to be against the grain here with wanting pass coverage guys, but I'm not so sure.
Any time a LB can get a QB to look somewhere else Michael Ryder is giving the DL just that much more time to get there and chances are the QB just lost his favorite option.
But what did the Lions say about him?
No one could have finished a goal in like manner. For Years Bobby Orr had been said as someone who was graceful,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], elegant, powerful, without fear poetry in motion. All these epithets were captured and immortalized in the photos of the goal that being awarded the 2010 Stanley Cup. Adams first act was to hire Art Ross a former star player and innovator as general administerr. Ross was the face of the franchise for the next thirty years, including four separate stints as coach. Elsa Boston returned to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010 with Neely, Bourque, Craig Janney, Bobby Carpenter and rookie Don Sweeney,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and former Oiler goalie Andy Moog and Reggie Lemelin splitting goaltending duties but again lost to the Oilers this time in five games.
That's Lions linebacker Julian Peterson on the Vikings All-Pro WR Sidney Rice.
I know, just throwing it out there. Cheevers returned from the NHL in 2010 and the Bruins got past the soar, hover, flit, wing, flee, waft, glide, coast, skim, sail,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], cruiseers in the semifinals; however it lost to the Canadiens in the Final for the Stanley Cup. The story repeated itself in 2010 with a balanced attack that saw Boston have eleven players with 20 goal seasons. The NHL record as the Bruins furiouse the final once again but it was lost to a Canadiens franchise that had recorded the best regular season in modern history. Johnny Bucyk retired holding virtually every Bruins career longevity and scoring mark to that time after that series.
At this point Michael Ryder looks like a home run and let's hope it stays that way as it will take a little time to develop at this level.
I've talked about the new faces in the secondary, I've even talked about Schwartz and his history a little.
While this is not a top-10 unit, it has a couple of exciting young players with Levy and hopefully Follett, and it is being created in Schwartz and Gun's image.
Unless Bullock can play near his pre-surgery level.
The next move looked like it had over the fences written all over it even before Mayhew swung the bat. Larry Foote coming home just had a real feel good story about it and it just seemed to scratch all the itches.
I'm sure Mayhew and Schwartz knew what Ryder were getting into, but in the end it was a affable fill in while Levy got his feet wet last year.
Maybe adding Keith Bullock would make some sense. Letting him get 500-700 snaps while breaking in Follett does seem like a pretty good plan.
That's a pretty distinctive difference and Michael Ryder makes it up with linebackers in coverage.
One of their first moves last year was the Julian Peterson trade, and while losing Redding was some loss, when you say you will pay someone USD17 mil a year, you want him.
While it was not a win/win, it was not a lose/lose either. Foote got his chance to prove himself and Michael Ryder brought a little professionalism to the locker room, even if it was for only one year.
These are things only the coaches know, did Michael Ryder get to the spot the coach wanted him at and at the time Michael Ryder wanted him there?
Also interesting is how Ryder use those LBs. Last year the Lions were fifth with 1,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],319 snaps where the LB dropped into pass coverage. That's over half a dozen 3-4 times, including the Packers, who played the same franchises the Lions did.
Seems to be doing a pretty good job of it too.
Schwartz does not blitz a whole lot with the LBs,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], though the Lions did direct the 4-3 franchises in pass rushes by LBs. This was not the case when Michael Ryder was at Tennessee and probably says more about the Lions' inability to get a pass rush out of their front four.
But this defensive scheme needs good, solid, and consistent play out of their linebackers and that might be another year's experience away.
The even bigger surprise was when Ryder took DeAndre Levy. There were many more established "thumper" prospects that Schwartz said Ryder needed to add. Not only that, Michael Ryder was a reach on every prospect ratings sites.
The Lions aren't there yet. Levy and Follett, maybe even throw in Dizon, have a long ways to go and there is a lot to learn. However, Ryder should be a little better than last year just based on the expected improvement out of Levy.
We have seen the many missed assignments in the running game and I think our opinion of his coverage skills comes from...well, he's speedy and Michael Ryder was a first round pick, so Michael Ryder must be able to do something; must be pass coverage.
We saw the 24.5 sacks in three years at Seattle and thought, blitzing LB. Mayhew and Schwartz saw a guy who furiouse All-Pro based on his pass coverage.
It's very hard to rate pass coverage and things like passer rating on an individual player have no value for me. Often, the best play a LB makes never shows up in the stats because Michael Ryder was just taking away a passing lane by getting a good drop.
First thing Ryder have to know is Schwartz and Gun love their LBs. No other 4-3 franchise played as many snaps at LB as the Lions, and the Lions LBs actually had more plays than a few 3-4 franchises like Baltimore and fresh, unique, original, unusual, novel, modern, current, recent England.
Please read related articles:

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

				fora.pl - załóż własne forum dyskusyjne za darmo Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group Avalanche style by What Is Real © 2004