Thread: Evaluating Shea McClellin to Date................

Speaking of our offensive line, does anyone know how many sacks each individual blocker gave up?

And yes, this defensive line has improved. This is probably going to be the best defensive line since the Bears of the 1980s. None of Lovie Smith's defensive lines in the past ever sacked more than 41 or 42 times in a season, and this one is on pace for something like 56? That's crazy! We're not even running the 46 or "The Grits Blitz" and we're getting sacks in bunches.

So far I like what they've done with McClellin and part of that is the result of Wootton staying healthy and stepping up. It's allowed them to not put McClellin into a full time role at LDE where he's not ready for that quite yet.

By using him as a utility guy and moving him around he's getting to learn to play both DE spots and how to play the run and rush from either spot. That backside tackle he made in the video is as good a play from RDE as any Pep could have made and you can also see how much better he's doing on his pass rush as far as not letting guys get into him and control him.

If they plan on keeping him at DE on any kind of a full time basis he's gonna need a little more bulk and weight room strength but that will have to wait until the offseason. Right now he's just about where you'd expect him to be given the way they're using him.

This may be redundant, but: with Wooton and McClellan being good at getting to the QB, that means Pep being the main person other lines focus on is a good thing. Plus, I like McClellans' speed, because with a guy like Cam Newton, it's gonna be tough for a scrambling QB to get past him. I'm sure he'll hit a rookie wall at some point, but the way he's going now, I could see him ending up with 7 sacks or so, but his presence has been what this team needs. With him it seems like we have a line like the SB giants, in that it doesn't matter who is playing, the offensive line is going to slow down before our d-line, because we can rotate with amazing efficiency.

I'd like to see even more plays where we line up Izzy or Pep at DT. As good as our guys are inside Izzy and Pep create some huge mismatches playing at DT. Both are very hard to block one on one when they're playing DT.

Look at that sack Izzy got on Monday. He just split a double team like it wasn't even there and ran straight into Staffords face to make a big play and a key point in the game. The ability to move so many of those guys around is what makes them so good. It's like a chess game sometimes. Find a weakness in a blocker or their protection scheme and use the best guy you have to exploit it.

To me the play of Wootton and McClellin outside have allowed Marinelli to get more creative about the way he attacks. The guy is defensive Mensa but he needs the right guys to make his schemes work just like Buddy Ryan did and it looks to me like he's finally getting them.

I'm not in Mensa, but I'm in an organization just like it. Seriously. lol

Anyway, back on topic....

Rod Marinelli was never cut out to be a head coach, but that's to our benefit because he's made us into a powerful defensive unit that wreaks havoc on all opposing offensive lines. We had either three or four sacks against the Lions on Monday night. We maimed them, whether it be by the same or by hurrying the quarterback. Hitting Matthew Stafford and getting grass all up in his grill was a thing of beauty, really. I can't wait to see what tomorrow's game brings. It should be fun.

Originally Posted by Dagan81

I'm not in Mensa, but I'm in an organization just like it. Seriously. lol

Sorry J but the Hooters Trivia All Stars does not qualify as an organization "just like" Mensa.

Anyway, back on topic....

Rod Marinelli was never cut out to be a head coach, but that's to our benefit because he's made us into a powerful defensive unit that wreaks havoc on all opposing offensive lines. We had either three or four sacks against the Lions on Monday night. We maimed them, whether it be by the same or by hurrying the quarterback. Hitting Matthew Stafford and getting grass all up in his grill was a thing of beauty, really. I can't wait to see what tomorrow's game brings. It should be fun.

Well after all it was the Lions he inherited as HC and that was in the Matt Millen era too. I doubt Vince Lombardi could have done much under those circumstances.

Originally Posted by soulman

Well after all it was the Lions he inherited as HC and that was in the Matt Millen era too. I doubt Vince Lombardi could have done much under those circumstances.

I'll have you know that my IQ is measured in the gifted range, no joke. My range on most tests is 133-150. The one I took to get into the Int'l High IQ Society five years ago measured me at around 141. Of course, being in that organization means little in the grand scheme of things since the people there are asshats and bitches. I stopped going to the website and stuff a long time ago after I had a time whipping most of them at trivia and several other puzzle games. There's just not any good place on their site to go for conversation other than the forums -- no chat room stuff like there used to be. They have a social every year up in New York City, but I never went simply because I was a poor college student and never could go.

Basically, the only reason I joined was because I was still recovering from my most recent nervous breakdown which had resulted in my being hospitalized. I didn't have a job and I was out of school during that time because of the nervous breakdown, and I started getting very interested in measuring the one thing about me that I know is a plus, which is my mind. I have a very low self-esteem, to be very truthful, and I thought that by joining either that organization or Mensa, it's be a big morale booster. Unfortunately, it was not.

Speaking of Vince Lombardi and the Lions, soul, weren't the Lions a pretty decent franchise back in the late 1950s and on into the 1960s?