I am just as surprised as everyone else at back to back DT selections. One thing I have said is I miss when we had Suh wrecking havoc in the middle. Having good players on the interior is one of the most important things in football. Not saying they will be Suh, but I get the desire to be strong up the middle. How many QBs say that the toughest thing to deal with is pressure up the middle. Both these guys have very quick first steps and could really push the pocket if they develop.
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When I watch a football game for pleasure and not evaluation…I tend to watch from the DT position out. What happens with the initial action of the DT/OL interaction tells me alot about whether the play is going to work or not.
When I played video games with my friends, I would always select a DT as my initial player pre-snap. I felt like that was my best and fastest way to blow up a play. If I didn’t win on the initial burst I would change mid play to another defender, just like my eyes would change what I was looking at while watching games.
Going back to the Suh reference, I remember back in those days I would actually take the time to go back and watch our upcoming opponents on All 22 cam to get a feel for their offense and playcalls. What I noticed is that Suh was kind of like Calvin. Teams changed things up significantly when they faced us. With Calvin they added stuff that wasn’t normal to a football game. With Suh it was more about subtraction. No matter how effective a play was, if it involved single blocking Suh or having a pulling guard…teams learned that they either needed to throw it out of the playbook for the week or be selective in when they used it. The 2013 and especially 2014 seasons are the best examples of that.
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So awesome! Behind Barry, I miss Suh more than anyone I’ve seen play in a Linos uniform. He’s the dude with the King Kong energy. God made him to play football. His torso was so powerful. Crazy powerful human. Loved his attitude too.
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I have 2 wishes. First, I wish people knew how good Shaun Rogers was. Second, I wish Shaun Rogers would have played for a team that allowed people to appreciate how good he was. When we had Shaun Rogers, it was like having a shark trying to thrive in a kiddy pool.
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I liked him. I liked Jerry Ball too (fuck Brad Baxter).
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Suh could be a crazed on the field and the most well adjusted guy away from the the game. Levi seems to have some of that energy. I’m not saying he’s going to play at that level, but I’m hopeful.
I had a Jim Schwartz/Jahvid best moment when I watched suh’s college film. I doubt we will ever have another player that elevates everyone else on our defense quite like he did. Say what you will about him, he most definitely defined our defense and it changed drastically after he left.
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If he could have played with that oxygen tank strapped to his back he may have been unstoppable.
He’ll be high energy, but Suh was just so freakin’ powerful. Good lord, I love that shit.
To me, this is what a good DT can do - disrupt everything. While it won’t be to the extent Suh did, it will be to the extent that DBs don’t have to cover for 10 seconds.
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I bet our secondary is loving that! Quite the opposite from Fatricia cover for 30 minutes 1 lineman everyone drop in coverage and get roastedThis regime gets it. Interior pressure is something every qb hates
I got so pissed, when I realized MP wasn’t gonna adjust his defensive mindset.
Leggo of my EGO!
Wanted to kick him in the balls, but don’t think I’m that good of an aim.
yeah to bad Lions fans back then chewed on Suh, spit him out , and Boo’ed him offstage. right along with our opposing teams. remember? “he was a dirty player and the lions were dirty for having him.” days ?
I remember when we drafted him and they were showing his highlight real, showing this huge dude chasing down a little running back. My buddy and I both looked at each other and simultaneously said, “Holy shit!”
I think you’re misremembering a bit. Some fans got bitter after he left, but there are exceedingly few who wouldn’t have taken him back.
It’s like getting dumped by a hot chick. Some guys have to try to rationalize it in their heads by saying, “She wasn’t that great anyways.” Nope. She was that hot, and an animal in the sack to boot. It would’ve been great if she stuck around for a few more years.
Dominant D-Tackles completely change the offensive play calling. If QB’s can’t step up, D-ends are now getting more and more hits and sacks on the QB. Average secondaries always look much better than they actually are with a dominant D-line.
Hopefully the new additions will help us start controlling the LOS again, like we did back in the Suh days.
Average QB’s look outstanding when they have nothing but time to throw and face no pressure. Mitchell Trubisky has a passer rating of 106.3 with 1868 yards, 15 touchdowns and 4 interceptions in 7 games versus the Lions in his career.
My recollection of Shaun Rogers is slightly different. He was inconsistent.
At times, he would look like King Kong in shoulder pads, an All Pro and the best DT in the NFL. Other times, Rogers seemed unmotivated and just another guy.
In 2006, the Lions season opener against defending NFC Champion Seattle, the Lions defense was dominant. Rogers blocked a FG attempt on STs and just played lights out.
Back in those days, there was talk of Lions players who were just there for a paycheck. My impression is that Rogers was one of those players.
I remember the first and only time I saw Suh play in college. It was this game:
Suh had 12 tackles (seven for losses, a school single-game record) and 4½ sacks in a 13–12 loss to the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 Championship Game, for which he received game MVP honors.
Suh had lined up at DE and was a one man wrecking crew. I was hoping that the Lions would draft him. That was quite a first impression.
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That game was something else. I’ve never been as blown away by a player as I was seeing Suh in that game. I wanted the Lions to draft him so badly.
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You guys remember when Miami didn’t want to double team him. I was laughing so hard at Tannehill with his helmet on crooked the entire first quarter. Suh was a monster!
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Back in those days I used to record the games and rewatch them. Rogers was an animal. I wish we would have let him shoot the gap more often, that would have been special to watch. His first step was so quick when we let him do that…which was rare. The version of Rogers I will always remember is 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. After that he wasn’t quite the same player. I think the losing got to him, along with getting paid, being used as mainly just a space eater and then Rod coming in (they didn’t get along). I think the problem with Rod is he wanted Rogers to play like he was 300 lbs and not 350 lbs.