Cominsky, Analzone, and Buggs

Dude you still don’t get the fact that Anzalone calls the defense. It much more then tackles Barnes has got better and getting more playing time. They were winning games they were not gonna just put him in there to get experience at the cost of the team or a shot at the playoffs.

And Anzalone has a 125 tackles this year. So your whole missed tackles thing is a little miss leading, he also has 6 PD and Int. And made some good plays on our win streak. Anzalone is the better player right now. Barnes has a lot of ability but still out of position at times. When playing for a wildcard spot Couldn’t afford to have ball go left and him go right. :man_shrugging:

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[quote=“Tcmouse, post:21, topic:21062”]

1). Dude you still don’t get the fact that Anzalone calls the defense. It much more then tackles Barnes has got better and getting more playing time.

1). Ans. In the Chicago game the snap count was 38 Anzalone, 27 Barnes, and 26 Rodrigo. There was a series for the first time that Rodrigo and Barnes were on the field together. Guess what, the team didn’t fall apart while Anzalone was out. Sounds like you believe the hype that Anzalone has to be on the field to call the plays, Barnes wore the green dot during the series when he and Rodrigo played together and did fine, I was at the game 16 rows from the field. This did not cause a loss as you seem to think would be the case.

2).They were winning games they were not gonna just put him in there to get experience at the cost of the team or a shot at the playoffs.

2). They can win with Anzalone having less snaps, and not on the field, the Chicago game proved that.

3).And Anzalone has a 125 tackles this year. So your whole missed tackles thing is a little miss leading

3). 125 tackles seems like a lot, but it has nothing to do with his missed tackles. He was able to achieve that number of tackles due to opportunity, 1080 snaps. Barnes had 47 tackles on just 349 snaps, and Rodrigo had 71 on just 614 snaps. If Barnes continued to tackle at the same rate with the additional 731 snaps he could have achieved in the neighborhood of 150 tackles and remember he is a better tackler than Anzalone, he has proven that both years they have been in Detroit. So what is truly miss leading is the 125 tackles that Anzalone has.

4). Anzalone is the better player right now. Barnes has a lot of ability but still out of position at times.

4). Anzalone is a better player based on What, it sure ain’t the stats:
Barnes 40 time 4.58
Anzalone 40 time 4.63
Barnes bench press bench press 29 reps
Anzalone bench press 16 reps
Barnes college career tackles 226
Anzalone college career tackles 75
I am not a fan of PFF however even they have Barnes rated higher as a NFL linebacker Anzalone 56th out of 84 Barnes 48th out of 84. So where are you getting your info???

5). When playing for a wildcard spot Couldn’t afford to have ball go left and him go right.

5). In every game that Barnes was given any significant snaps he played well and the Lions won. No Linebacker on the team had a better single game than Barnes had against Greenbay 12 tackles 1 sack and 1 pass deflection. Interestingly that coincided with the most snaps he had all year, 50 and the Lions won.

Anzalone had his best game came against the Vikings 11 tackles 1 pass deflection, but on 71 snaps 21 more snaps than Barnes when he had his best performance and THE LIONS LOST. NEED I SAY MORE???

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So Barnes would have made them win , wow ok.

You probably gonna see more Barnes next year because Anzalone probably won’t be back , he said he would like to be back but he has his family to consider, he had a good year (even if you can’t see it) and is looking to get paid it’s probably his last chance. So I hope your right and Barnes is as good as you say.

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That was one of the games Barnes was benched for some unknown reason, he did not log a snap in the 2nd and 3rd games, and the Lions lost both games. You implied that the Lions can’t win without Anzalone calling the plays. There was a stretch were the lions went 1 and 6 and Anzalone was on the field for at least 90% of the snaps. You and Phunnypharm lost your voices during that stretch. Anzalone put together a few decent games near the end of the season and recorded 125 tackles on 1080 snap now you are bragging he is a better player than Barnes. I am correcting your mis conception.
I hope either Anzalone is gone or Barnes finds another team.

Dude I’ve never lost my voice and you seemed to disappear alittle when Anzalone was playing well. And not sure what the hell your talking about being part of 1-6 he was also part of the 8-2 stretch. If you think Barnes is all that that on you. I say he not as good as Anzalone at this time and Anzalone play was good during our run. So now I’m correcting your misconception that Barnes is this great player everyone is holding back.

And bro that’s not what I implied at all , I implied that him calling the plays on defense is why he gets them snaps that you keep complaining about. Are you implying that we lost them games because Anzalone was on the field and Barnes wasn’t

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This could speak volumes of where they think the team is headed. If you’ve been in the league for some time, being on a team where winning is the rule rather than the exception (barely at 9-8), taking less money to win and possibly play in one or more playoff games mean something.

Not everyone is purely in it for the money.

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Barnes is a better linebacker than Anzalone hands down, he just needs opportunity some of those 700 additional snaps Anzalone gets.

When Barnes does get his opportunity to start the commentary will be he wasn’t ready or we’ve coached him into what he is. The truth is Barnes is ready now, just like Houston was ready and was just being held back.

Barnes can have games like the Greenbay game at any given time. The problem is and has been he plays on a short leash ie sitting the second and third game. The coaches have no problem benching him but when he plays well it does not benefit him. Who could play under those conditions. Anzalone is allowed to play freely, no matter how he plays, and he is still not an NFL caliber linebacker.
I will say again no linebacker had a better single game than Barnes had against Greenbay. Barnes played 50 snaps only because Rodrigo was hurt, they were forced to play him. They won that game and that set off a 6 game winning streak. Barnes was a very significant factor in that win and to that point Anzalone was still playing terrible. Two games later against the Giants Anzalone was recorded as having 5 missed tackles the most in the NFL, yet there are no repercussions for his inefficiencies.

This is the commentary about Barnes in the game after Greenbay against the Bears:

Barnes, surprisingly, didn’t actually see a higher percentage of snaps than last week.

You say Anzalone played well down the stretch, this is the commentary on Anzalone after the Carolina game week 16:

– Derrick Barnes was back in the lineup, drawing 17 reps in his return. Malcolm Rodriguez was up to 42 plays, the most snaps the sixth-round rookie has seen since Week 8. Rodriguez logged five tackles in the loss. Alex Anzalone was out there for every play, logging five tackles and a handful of whiffs. The analytics site had Barnes as the second-highest-graded defender in his limited role. On the flip side, Anzalone slotted as the worst player on the defense with enough snaps to qualify. It’s a tough look for Anzalone, who had stacked three of his better games since landing in Detroit.

It is easy for Anzalone to finally put together a couple good games when you know you are not coming off the field no matter what. On the flip side Barnes can not get any significant increase in snaps unless there is an injury, that has to be very disappointing for him.

So whose misconception needs correcting???

More than likely, sure!

How do you know?
That’s not at all what I have been seeing. Sure, guys get better w/practice, but EVERY player on our team (no exceptions)appears to be developing nicely.

I belive in Barnes’s potantial, for sure.

Why would coaches not play him, if what you think is true is true?
Is the goal to lose more games?
I’m not mocking you at all…truly just asking a question on what you are seeing.

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[quote=“BigNatty, post:28, topic:21062”]
How do you know?

I know based on what I see when Barnes gets ample opportunity, ie. the Greenbay game. The only reason Barnes got an increase in snaps was because Rodrigo was hurt. Barnes would not have had that opportunity if Rodrigo didn’t get hurt. We did not hear that Barnes was coming along and will start next week, we heard Rodrigo is injured so Barnes will be forced to start. Barnes was a different player that game, no leash, they were forced to play him.

Why would coaches not play him, if what you think is true is true?
Is the goal to lose more games?

I have stated on this blog before that Anzalone is a friend of Campbell and Glenn, he is afforded special treatment,(additional opportunity despite his play), as a result. There is no direct relationship between Anzalone’s snap count and victories or losses so your question “Why would coaches play him” is simple, He Is A Friend and they are trying to build his resume so he can stay in the NFL. He was able to achieve 125 tackles, however that was based purely on opportunity. The Lions were not expected to win very many games this year, so the risk was minimum and opportune for resume building.

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Boy you see a different Barnes then me. I seen a guy that was out of position alot missed reads and wasn’t very good in coverage. He is playing better now. But He couldn’t beat out a 6th Rd rookie this year. And the things I listed is why. I hope he is ready next year if not they may be another rookie playing ahead of him again. I’ve seen some really good snaps from him and I’ve seen him looked lost. I hope he is this player you say he is because we sure could use it.

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I didn’t lose my voice… I just grew tired of trying to reason with somebody who has no interest in changing his opinion.

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You point out the 1st Green Bay game as to how good Barnes can be… but what about next week when he had 2 tackles on 42 snaps?

Or the next game against Green Bay… when he had only 3 tackles on 34 snaps???

That’s 5 tackles… on 76 snaps.

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PS…. Anzalone had 18 tackles on 120 snaps in those 2 games against Bears and Packers….

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Roc Nation Mic Drop GIF by Mr. Paradise

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Why limit it to just that small sampling, let’s look at the entire end of the season picture:

Over the last 8 games Greenbay to Greenbay Anzalone had 65 tackles on 570 snaps, while Barnes had 34 tackles on 254 snaps, so Barnes had more than half the tackles, (twice 34 would be 68 tackles) than Anzalone had on 31 less than half the snaps, half the snaps would be 285 Barnes only had 254. So no matter how you cut it, Barnes out performed Anzalone per snap all year.

Like I have stated many times before Barnes is limited by the opportunities he has. The only way he saw more opportunity was after Rodrigo got hurt, prior to the Greenbay game when Rodrigo got hurt Barnes had just 95 snaps in 7 games an average of just 13 snaps a game. Anzalone averaged 64 over that same period. 13 snaps per game is not a lot of opportunity especially compared to 64, and I can’t emphasize enough the importance of Anzalone playing under the circumstances of not coming off the field no matter what and Barnes having to play on eggshells and every little mistake being over blown. That is two totally different experiences.

What you did in your comparison is take two of Anzalone best game and compared them to two of Barnes’s worse games. That is not a very honest analysis is it? What I did is compare apples to apples totally transparent and honest. I don’t need to skew the numbers in Barnes’s favor like you did for Anzalone.

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Buggs is a depth player, but Cominsky was very good starting at end opposite Hutch and inside on passing downs.

Bingo, and he was playing with a broken hand all season. If someone needs a research project this offseason, look at the Lions defensive stats when the Commish is on the field vs when he’s not. He was the unsung hero of the defensive improvement during the 8-2 run.

Da Problem wasn’t bad either. ha ha

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Sorry brother but I’ll repeat the story I heard on the radio. According to the guy on the radio, “It was clear in training camp that Houston wasn’t going to make the team. Houston worked with Taylor Decker.” …Houston picked Decker’s brain about what moves worked the best and worked tirelessly on them. Houston was lucky to even make the Practice Squad and no one would have predicted his success on the field.
So yeah, you’re making stuff up again. Coaches don’t hold players back, players hold players back.
Cool stories though. I know you hate it that Barnes isn’t finding the success you hoped he would in the pros. There’s a lot of kids that go to the pros and it doesn’t click or translate for them, Barnes has been one of those guys so far. Maybe it will click for him eventually but he’s obviously not there yet.

I wonder how many other reserve or backup players have old coaches or family friends acting all crazy on chat boards?

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Aaron Glenn broke his hand and held him back, it’s obvious.

Behind The Scenes GIF by BET Awards

I did see some improvement from Barnes, and that’s encouraging at least. It’s all between the ears with him, the physical tools are there. Year 3 will likely make or break his career next year. So far, I’ve seen a dude that can flash in run support, but struggles to grasp the passing game aspect of being a linebacker. His snaps have been limited because he’s not a complete linebacker as of yet. But he was playing 20+ snaps per game the last 6 weeks or so, mostly on early downs, the Lions coaches know his strengths, I’m still hopeful about him.

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If we squint and only look at the games Barnes has good stats….

he completely justifies your hypothesis.

I like how you post the stats over the games that fit your narrative…
over part of the season….
and then claim it happened all year long.

Anzalone has 125 tackles on 1080 defensive snaps & 47 special teams snaps… and 6 passes defensed in coverage.

Barnes had 47 tackles in n his 349 defensive snaps + 161 special teams snaps… and 1 pass defensed.

Big difference in coverage production….
and even without doing a breakdown of special teams tackles…
the tackle rate is similar.

I have also mentioned this before… but Anzalone plays more snaps in obvious passing situations than Barnes did…. for obvious reasons… and that will lower his tackle “rate” on a per snap basis…

so maybe take that into consideration as well… if we are being objective here……

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Curb Your Enthusiasm Bingo GIF by Jason Clarke

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Yeah like I’ve said before, Barnes looks the part. Physically, he’s how you want your LB’s to look…but yeah, he’s clearly not there yet for the coaching staff to play him consistently.

To be clear, I want Barnes to succeed. I want him for it to click for him and not force us to have to draft a high round LB.

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Yep, I kinda admire Cap’s never ending love for the guy, but Barnes has been a work in progress since he was drafted and that does happen pretty often with 4th round picks. Not everyone is going to be St. Brown in the mid rounds out of the gate.

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