Thoughts (from what I've seen so far)

No, we won't.

No, he wasn't. The problem is that it's difficult for some to understand anything about pass rushing besides the sacks number. Jenkins was far more disruptive last year than Lewis.

You're correct that it is difficult to quantify, although not as difficult to qualify. And Kemoeatu is not very good against the run either, although he's obviously useless as a pass rusher. Kemoeatu plays too high out of his stance and thus isn't very good at getting leverage, which means that he rarely holds his ground against double teams. One blocker he can usually handle due to his immense girth, but it would be nice to see him play with better technique.

One thing that stuck in my head from when we signed Kemoeatu is that Ray Lewis kept going on and on about Haloti Ngata and how their defense would be so much better with a DT who was actually good at occupying blockers. I remember thinking how crazy that sounded at the time because they'd just had Kemoeatu and I thought that surely he had been good at holding the point and allowing linebackers to get to the ball. Then, unfortunately, I watched the film and learned why Lewis said what he did. Frankly, I'm not sure what our coaches were watching when they gave him $23 million.

 

Carstens + Buckner > Lewis + Kemoeatu

 

Even thought I'm just a dumbfuck I gotta agree with Collin on this. Jenkins was by far our best DT last year. Even with his habit of jumping offsides when he was looking at the damn ball he was still a steal for a 3rd round pick IMO. I really hated to see him go but I guess this was more a locker room problem than his play and they knew he would be gone when his contract was up and we'd have nothing.

I do think unless the DT's we have really step it up we're gonna miss Jenks.I just hope they are decent enough to keep guys off of Beason long enough for him to make plays, if not we're in trouble.

 

That is what Kemo is for. I don't mind if the DT's don't make tackles as long as the LB's are free to attack the LOS.

 

If Kemo wasn't our best DT last year and still couldn't make the plays what happens when he is the focus of the opposing offense?

 

If he occupies blockers and gets some push, he doesn't need to make alot of plays. The LB's are free to make plays. Not saying that he has done that...

 

Well the good is that our LB corps is tight this year, so they can take up a certain amount of slack.

That we are going to blitz more, is telling when it comes to what we expect from our DL.

edit: also telling re expectations of the DBs.

 

I really wish they had drafted a DT

 

an entire DBF of all pros doesnt mean shit if your DL cant get pressure

 

what i fear is that we could have 7-8 pretty good defenders out there on D but that the 3-4 DL will just kill us.