In a GIF:
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There is a lot to it, man. There are MANY different types of intelligence. Michael Jordan understood the mental side, the strategic side, AND had athletic intelligence…on top of that, he had physical talent.
- Athletic intelligence
- Strategic Intelligence(knowing plays/playbook, reads, how to respond to reads, etc)
- Mental - wiring - is it natural or do you have to learn fight/flight (aggression)
- Physical attributes
Rodrigo has great athletic intelligence and that helps him a ton. Athletic intelligence is understanding of leverage, angles, judging distance, timing, “feeling” what is happening & understanding how your strength relates to the situation, and what you should do about it…it includes sensing what the opposition is trying to do and knowing your own physical attributes (or lack of) well enough to know what the best response is for you…body awareness, spacial awareness and more. All of this is very natural for Rodrigo.
Having athletic intelligence allows you to learn strategy more quickly, and be more effective, as you don’t have to think about the other stuff.
Mental -->Both of them have Nice wiring…both are aggressive and wired like football players.
Barnes is aggressive like Rodrigo is aggressive, but the above mentioned factors in “athletic intelligence” are things that are purely intuitive for Rodrigo, and Barnes has to think more about those…That part of it is already automated for Rodrigo.
These guys are probably quite equal in most areas, except Athletic Intelligence. This is a major reason why some guys can learn the other stuff more quickly.
I had very high athletic intelligence, and can see things VERY well…but I had super-low talent. I had to get by on handsomeness, hence the shaved head.
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Only when we’re in a heavy DB sub package.
We actually run a base defense way more than that. Against some teams last year we ran base far more than sub.
Our LBers dropped into coverage quite a bit last year too.
Last year we ran a bunch of 3 LBer sets with a stack LBer. Harris and Barnes played this role a lot and I suspect Davis will too if we decide to keep him. This look was common against run first teams.
We also run an MOD way more than most teams. In fact we do this a lot. Sometimes it’s a box safety, NB or LBer playing that MOD role. This seems to confuse teams, fans and media alike thinking we have more defenders in coverage than we do. I think we brought in Chris Board to help play this role. Anzalone played a fair amount of snaps in this role and so did Harris. But our MOD plays downfield far more than he drops into coverage.
We mix it up a lot more than people realize.
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Ala … Will Harris
I’ll take the football player over the athlete 9 out if 10 times.
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This combined with Nattys post about signal calling and leadership are both very good points.
The intent of my OP was that “we aren’t entitled to access” regarding what the team is doing behind the scenes.
You think BB and TB12 let all of the NE fans know who was starting, signing, getting cut- and politely asked the fans to keep it under their hat from the media and opponents? No- the fans reward for BB methodical approach was wins, not “access.”
I do appreciate DC and AG being upfront, and sincere, and deciding to keep a veteran LB on the field over a rookie and second year mid rounder, CERTAINLY DOES NOT MAKE THEM DISINGENUOUS….
- Hutch, Brockers, McNeill, C Harris
- AA, Rodrigo
- AO, Okudah, Harris
- Elliott, Walker
They could and probably should be our week 1 starting lineup….
Cominsky, Bryant, Levi, JO, Barnes, Iffy, Joseph, Pascahl, Jacobs, Romeo
- that second list Is full of young, talented, athletic guys who I wouldn’t be Worried about plugging in as starters or in rotation….
Our BACKUP DL-
Bryant, Paschal, Levi, Romeo…. BACKUP
OUR BACKUP LBs
Barnes, C Board
OUR BACKUP DBs
Hughes, Parker, Lucas, Iffy, K Joseph.
- minus Romeo that second group is mostly 2nd, 3rd, 4th round guys under 25 years old with upside.
Watch as 2-3 of the backups take starting roles.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Hughes was out starting Nickel, but I also wouldn’t be shocked if he’s cut!!
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Jackson is younger, proven, and just flat out better than Craig Reynolds. I love Reynolds too but why exactly should he be ahead of Justin Jackson?
I believe JJ is the new guy and that explains the order right now. It would be a mistake if JJ didn’t make this team. He had no business being a FA available IMO.
Agree, very nice breakdown!
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That is an absurd statement
It would not be in his self interest to “toe the line” and end up with a less effective LB group
You’re just making up shit
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Couple of questions for you, man…
-Is this the same as what Austin (our old DC) used to call “heavy nickel?”
-With the amount of injuries we had last year, and all of the guys coming back (especially DBs), do you think we go more nickel than last year?
…I’m really wondering how our DL weakness/strenght plays into this
…I see better talent than last year that still needs depth.
…I see us modifying based on personal we have to run different systems, but dont’ totally understand Their perception of what our talent is/isn’t
Thanks, brother. I truly dont’ think a lot of NFL scout teams know this, or know how to define it, hence “translates to NFL” picks that dont’ work out.
If I had a kid that was an NFL talent…he would immediately be placed in martial arts. These skills teach you to feel pressure like nothing else can.
Wrestling, & ju-Jitsu → feeling body pressure and developing that intelligence
Striking styles for hand fighting (WR)…keeping DT’s out of your body (as an OL), Keeping OL’s hands off of your pads as a DT.
Also teaches fearlessness.
Aaron Donald starts trying to grab you, and you take all of the power of your entire body and channel it against his wrist to gain wrist control…in order to get im in an arm bar, and just take him to the groun, hence manhandling him without even hurting him. The danger is those fights have other players all around and chaotically intervening and someone jumping in white you are doing this could make it look like you broke his arm, when the player jumping in and putting the extra pressure on actually did it.
Every time I watch NFL I wish our WRs knew how to block, do wrist locks (not actual wrist locks, but the separation it would cause with hands). I’m surprised nobody has modified some of this stuff to teach to NFL guys…it WOULD help them with instincts and learning to feel pressure. It IS more depth than football moves.
It develops warrior spirit, overall body strength, stabilizer muscles…strength helps with balance and leverage SO much. It’s different than weight room strength, it’s stabilizer strength. This is one of many reasons why a trained fighter will massacre “an athlete” or a “strong guy”.
remember…Rodrigo is a wrestler. That is helping him an absolute shit ton.
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Jackson’s best season was last year with 364 yards.
He barely has 1,000 yards in 4 seasons.
I guess I’m not seeing where he’s “proven” himself anymore than any other 3rd or 4th RB.
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THIS!
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I agree with you. Jackson has been decent depth for most of his time with the Chargers, but there was a reason we wasn’t on an NFL roster until halfway through training camp.
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Hear you go from the horses mouth.
“That player is a player I am very pleased with right now,” Sheppard said of Barnes. "He came into this year raw. I mean raw. Ball go right and he go left.
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Lots of posters on this sight confuse instincts with savvy. What is described here is a lack of field savvy which comes with reps as he states. Instincts is like a bird has the instincts to build a nest. No-one is born a football player so the instincts have to be developed to play the game, which comes with playing numerous games. Barnes has played from youth, so the instincts are there, but field savvy is developed with each year of play. Rodrigo had an extra year playing in college and I’m sure that has helped his field savvy, that is why veterans usually play better than rookies, more reps.The level of athleticism can overcome some of the reps.
Athlete become players as a result of coaching, dedication to the sport, discipline repetition, study of the game etc.; so I don’t understand this statement. I would think all pros have dedicated themselves to the preparation of being a pro to a great degree. When they get to this level they are all professional players honing their skills, not just athletes. Coaches who have a better knowledge of the game really help at this point, that is why they are there.
However coaches make mistakes too, that doesn’t mean they are idiots are bad coaches, it means they’re human. My comments about how a certain player is not starting or another player is starting does not mean I lack confidence in that coaches ability to coach. It just means I disagree with that particular action nothing more nothing less.
44 and 55 with two mis-reads.
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AGREED!
No - Heavy nickel is where we sub out a LBer for a safety instead of a NCB.
That safety played a box safety type role.
Possibly but I hate the loose use of the word nickel. A lot fans (especially on this board) and the media call every sub package nickel. When it’s not.
Last year we ran a fair amount of sub packages. But we also ran a fair amount of base. We will see more sub packages than we do base packages. I’m confident in that.
Our defense is a cross between the rams and the saints defenses. We run a bunch of cover two like the saints. The saints use an MOD defender very heavily. They have a different name for it but it’s the same role. We also use an MOD a lot but not as often as the Saint do. I think that’s why the LBer Board is here. So I’m expecting us to use it more.
However the Rams use a lot of stack LBer sets. We do as well. I expect that to continue. I think Davis and Barnes are our stack LBers.
Bottom line is that I still think we’re going to mix it up a lot.
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Athlete = Physically gifted player. Someone with a high RAS score for example.
Football player = Someone who lives and breaths the game. They just love to play.
Sometimes you have a guy who is both. They are a rare breed but it happens and usually those guys end up being HofF players. Like Brian Urlacher for example.
More often than not you have someone who is more athlete than player or vice versa.
I’ll take the less physically gifted guy like Stephan Boyd over the athlete like Reggie Brown.
I want the guy who loves to play the game. Who lives in the film room. Who has an aggressive off season workout plan. Who is always trying to hone his skills.
Just because an athlete has the skills it doesn’t mean coaching can ever mold him into a football player. Some guys just don’t want it enough or have the mental capacity and they have gotten by on their athleticism and physical traits so far.
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