Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
It's the lack of counter-moves that have me the most disappointed.
The 2-point conversion demonstrated the athleticism; great footwork and balance there. And at times you'll see the power. But where's the bend? I don't see hardly any. And where's the plan, man? Where's the 2nd move? I just never see it.
He reminds me of rookie year Justin Houston right now. Houston would occasionally show you something that made you think "alright, we might have something here..."
But all too often he'd blast upfield and then didn't know what to do with his momentum so the tackle would just ride him out. Or he'd get into a body, even get his arm extended....and then just ineffectively chop his feet. He'd flash a tool or two but not the know-how to put it to full use
Then suddenly he started using that straight-arm and then use a chop move to get the OL off balance and come inside. And once that started working he'd find a way to turn his strength into power and lean into the OL to get his bend to work (his technique there was second to none). He started finding ways to make all those tools work. Then the rip and swim moves came and he was just a force (even with guys chipping him - {gasp})
Did Clark just forget? Is he trying to put it all back together? Did he ever truly have some of that technique to begin with?
Because right now I'm seeing a guy who decides before the snap what he's gonna do and then dies with it. I'm not seeing a plan and I'm not seeing much in the way of real intuition. At times he'll be a scrapper in the Wistrom mold but that's not the bill I was sold.
I simply cannot believe that the team missed this badly. There has to be something there that he's just struggling to put together. Nobody put a gun to Veach's head and said "no, you can't sign Smith or Smith or Flowers - you HAVE to trade for Clark..."
A presumably bright NFL personnel staff chose this man for a reason. There HAS to be more here.
But it has been pretty poor thus far.
I'm starting to wonder if his UCLs aren't still giving him trouble. He tore them both in 2018, and as far as I know he played with them like that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
Funny thing is - I feel exactly the same way but for the exact opposite reason.
We waited 35 years to draft a QB and ended up with possibly the best young QB EVER. The defense was awful last year and the only thing that prevented them from going to a Super Bowl.
They went out and spent a trillion dollars on the defense, overturned the entire starting lineup, overturned the entire coaching staff, scrapped the entire scheme and started over.
The team is 3-0 and just beat what many considered one of the contenders in the AFC and he we are discussing...
"Frank Clark fucking sucks"
I guess it's just too much to expect CP to undergo any kind of significant emotional growth. We're just too condition to pull everything apart and complain about it.
I don't think it's lacking emotional growth to see an area that needs improvement and talk about it. It would be one thing if we were nitpicking something the offense did. But we spent literally all off season discussing how the defense needs to be better and investing picks and money into players for the defense and people want to see an improvement.
I have no question that playoff time, no matter who we face the offense will do its job and put up enough points to win. But I have a lot of doubt when it comes to the defense especially against the Patriots. So that's why I'm posting like this. I didn't think that when we got Frank Clark the highlights people would be talking about would be him getting double teamed. That's really disappointing so far. [Reply]
Originally Posted by -King-:
I don't think it's lacking emotional growth to see an area that needs improvement and talk about it. It would be one thing if we were nitpicking something the offense did. But we spent literally all off season discussing how the defense needs to be better and investing picks and money into players for the defense and people want to see an improvement.
I have no question that playoff time, no matter who we face the offense will do its job and put up enough points to win. But I have a lot of doubt when it comes to the defense especially against the Patriots. So that's why I'm posting like this. I didn't think that when we got Frank Clark the highlights people would be talking about would be him getting double teamed. That's really disappointing so far.
We're 3 games into a COMPLETE overhaul. You don't think it's just a tad premature? [Reply]
And when I referenced CP's collective "emotional growth" I'm talking about the fact that we've literally gotten everything we wanted over the past 3 years or so and still can't just be happy for a while.
We all wanted Bob gone. He's gone.
We all wanted a new scheme. 3-4 gone, 4-3 in.
We all wanted new players. They did that not only at the bottom of the roster but at the TOP of the roster too.
They were aggressive about the whole approach - it's exactly what we all wanted.
But now 3 games - check that, 3 WINS - into the season, it's not enough because we're not willing to wait and let them actually implement the changes. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
And to be fair to you, DJ. You didn't start the thread.
And you've been plenty fair with your scrutiny of Clark as well.
I got involved in this thread to address certain people who want to say Frank Clark is garbage, which simply isn't true.
Those people have crawled back into their holes and left you holding the flaming bag of pooh. Shame on them, not you.
I took back my vitriol of Frank Clark. Long ago in this thread. I shouldn't have said he fucking sucks. That's not posting-and-running like you're suggesting. That's getting worked up on gameday, watching him have a bad play, getting frustrated by losing to Oakland 10-0, accounting for the lack of plays he made against backup tackles in Jacksonville, and then turning it into a hate-filled "he fucking sucks" assessment. Then regretting it.
Here's just one more thing. We all saw him ruin Fisher's shit when the Seahawks played us last year. Lots of things went wrong for the Chiefs against Seattle, but one of those things was Frank Clark blowing shit up and making life difficult for Mahomes all game.
That's who I thought we were getting. And he sure as fuck didn't look like that in Jacksonville. Or in the 1st quarter against Oakland.
Yeah, he's got time, but I'm saying we paid him to do THAT in football games. Games. Plural. He should have a few of those this season. If he just keeps "doing his job" like he is now, then we got royally fucked. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
I took back my vitriol of Frank Clark. Long ago in this thread. I shouldn't have said he fucking sucks. That's not posting-and-running like you're suggesting. That's getting worked up on gameday, watching him have a bad play, getting frustrated by losing to Oakland 10-0, accounting for the lack of plays he made against backup tackles in Jacksonville, and then turning it into a hate-filled "he fucking sucks" assessment. Then regretting it.
Here's just one more thing. We all saw him ruin Fisher's shit when the Seahawks played us last year. Lots of things went wrong for the Chiefs against Seattle, but one of those things was Frank Clark blowing shit up and making life difficult for Mahomes all game.
That's who I thought we were getting. And he sure as fuck didn't look like that in Jacksonville. Or in the 1st quarter against Oakland.
Yeah, he's got time, but I'm saying we paid him to do THAT in football games. Games. Plural. He should have a few of those this season. If he just keeps "doing his job" like he is now, then we got royally fucked.
Honestly, I wasn't talking specifically about you either, since I just jumped in today. Sorry about that. Didn't mean to be mean about it. At least you're able to admit that it was a "heat of the moment" thing and move on. We should all be more willing to do that, myself included.
Originally Posted by -King-:
I can evaluate his play in the 3 games. Its not like I said he's going to be shitty the whole season.
Yet you're already talking about having "doubt" about the playoffs. No, you didn't say he would be bad the whole season but by framing your argument that way, you're certainly suggesting you believe he will be or you wouldn't have that doubt. Right? [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
Yet you're already talking about having "doubt" about the playoffs. No, you didn't say he would be bad the whole season but by framing your argument that way, you're certainly suggesting you believe he will be or you wouldn't have that doubt. Right?
Yes, doubts can change. If Clark starts playing up to hiss pay level and the rest of the defense figures shit out, then my doubts will go away. But I won't pretend that the defense/Clark is playing well now when it isn't. [Reply]
Originally Posted by -King-:
Yes, doubts can change. If Clark starts playing up to hiss pay level and the rest of the defense figures shit out, then my doubts will go away. But I won't pretend that the defense/Clark is playing well now when it isn't.
You're right. New team, new defense...he should be all-world by now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by suzzer99:
Nnadi made that play.
With all due respect, no he didn't.
When Clark sliced under the second block and swept Lamar's feet out from under him, even pulling him back a bit, the play was over. You can't run forward if your feet are both off the ground, last time I checked. [Reply]
