:-):-):-)

I'm dying over here. :-)
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Is there a reason this play is not called intentional grounding?
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I tried to convince people that Houston wasn't worth his contract because nearly half of his 22 sacks were either the QB moving up in the pocket, and because Houston had been blocked, he was suddenly next to the QB, or the QB literally scrambled right into Houston.

Did he get 22 sacks, hell yeah he did. Was he dominant, beating the tackle or guard for 22 sacks? Not even close.

I know they are different players, but DT racked up sacks by beating the tackle and hitting the QB before they could throw the ball. Houston could beat the tackle on occasion, but he didn't have an ace move like DT's first step, or the Freeney spin, and he was not the dominant edge rusher people made him out to be.

He got paid like a dominant edge rusher, when that just wasn't who he was.

Frank Clark is similar in that he is not a dominant edge rusher, and he does not have a go to move to win when he needs to.


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Clark's football hero is T. Suggs, fwiw. His favorite move is a direct copy of a Suggs move. One of his favorite tackles is to jump on the QB's back, piggyback style; again a favorite Suggs move.

And as far as sack totals go, he's about on the same pace as Suggs was, meaning about 9-11 sacks/season. Suggs highest sack total was 14.

If we get similar performance from Clark, he'll have more than earned his contract, imo.
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I don't think in the history of the NFL an intentional grounding has been called on a pass deflection.

Also there was nothing intentional about getting hit in the back and adjusting the trajectory of the pass.
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Wow for a guy not having a “go to move to win when he needs to” he sure does have some timely/clutch sacks when he needed them most.

Nobody has ever said that Frank Clark is an elite pass rusher, but he’s top 10 in sacks since 2016 and still one of the NFL’s best.

The bottom line is we traded for him to be a core piece on our defense and bring an attitude to help change the culture on that side of the ball. We won a SB, and he was a huge part of it as he had one of the best postseasons for a pass rusher in NFL history. Our defense was completely different than in the 2018 playoffs. They played with passion and attitude every game. We couldn’t have gotten it done without Clark or that culture change.

Only an idiot can’t see what the Frank Clark trade did for this fucking team.
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I didn't say that I did not see the value of Frank Clark. He and HB changed the entire culture in a single season.

But he has not been the Seattle Frank Clark yet. But I would take Frank Clark over Dee Ford forever.

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Derrick Thomas didn't play in an era against extremely athletic 6'7 320 pound tackles week in and week out.

While I'm sure he'd be among the best OLBers/Defensive Ends in the NFL if he had played today, his game would be completely different.

Not only has the athleticism completely improved and accelerated across the board, offenses are designed for quick passes, which is why it's so difficult to get sacks from the edge in today's game.
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DT was also an all time pass rusher.

Stop comparing players to HOF'ers.
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Was just listening to a podcast today and it got me thinking about how good this defense could be next year.

Mathieu
Jones
Clark
Sneed
Nnadi
Wharton
Gay (assuming he develops)
Thornhill (return to form)
Hitchens (been playing pretty well, communicator of the D)
Baker (could be a player obviously)
Fenton
Ward

That’s some serious talent before adding anyone else. They could be top 5 no doubt.
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I like Danna and Saunders too.
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I get that tackle play has improved as a whole, but DT's first step would be the great equalizer.

Its arguable that DT had the quickest first step ever. I don't believe that any tackle has a quicker lateral step than DT had going forward. DT was also smart, and he had different techniques for every tackle. Whatever they struggled with, he made sure he took advantage of.

Tackles seem to set up even more offset now, and that is really just creating more space to force the tackle to cover. DT didn't always go outside. And DT had the speed to not immediately win, but outwork the tackle and still get to the QB in time.

I am not saying it's recency bias, but DT had a skill set to win, and win often, in a pass rushing role, in any era.

What he didn't have was the same prowess in the run game. I still get sick thinking about DT standing on the sideline in Buffalo, especially since that game got mentioned each time he didn't make the HOF.

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Yeah he was great at timing the snap at home and using the crowd. You'd have to be an idiot to think that would go away during today's era although obviously this year would have been tough for him to do that.
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Tackles are better now, but really, athletes are better now. Athletes and teams have learned so much about how to train and prepare your body, the techniques and equipment has improved, and there are more training companies now that start training athletes for their sport much earlier, like what Will Shields does.

So when he said Tackles were better now, he was correct, but it's possible that DT could be even better now than he was back then. Plus, the NFL focuses a lot more now on professional development than they used to, so maybe DT would have saved money and developed different habits.

And maybe he would have dedicated more time in the off-season to training for football.

Not all great players translate from one era to another, but DT definitely would have.

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Absolutely. Yes tackles are better now due to better nutrition, workout programs, coaching etc but so our pass rushers due to same thing. Therefore, like you said, DT would be better himself.
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