thebandit27 Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Textbook class in how to play ILB in the NFL at 2:30...slide toward the play, identify the blocker, stuff the inside shoulder in his chest and stand your ground to squeeze the hole, keep the play-side arm free to make a tackle, and then bring down the ball carrier. Fantastic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsBytheBay Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 (edited) He wore down as the season went on. He used his speed a lot in the beginning of the year to make plays. Once teams figured that out they could account for him. I think he will be much more effective playing the WLB spot compared to the MLB i kinda feel like he slowed down after tweaking his knee. Not that he was figured out. It's not like he stopped making plays, but how long did we expect to keep the pace on the interceptions? Textbook class in how to play ILB in the NFL at 2:30...slide toward the play, identify the blocker, stuff the inside shoulder in his chest and stand your ground to squeeze the hole, keep the play-side arm free to make a tackle, and then bring down the ball carrier. Fantastic that was a big blocker too! RG? Edited June 18, 2014 by JaxBills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 i kinda feel like he slowed down after tweaking his knee. Not that he was figured out. It's not like he stopped making plays, but how long did we expect to keep the pace on the interceptions? that was a big blocker too! RG? I think it was a combination of things that made his 2nd half of the year not as impressive as the 1st half. 1) OCs learned they needed to actually game plan for him and would stop running the plays that would allow him to bait the QB into a pick, 2) He hurt his knee at Jax and played through it the rest of the way, and 3) He played the 4th most snaps of any player in the league - 100% of the Bills defensive snaps. That would be, 1,145 snaps. For a rookie used to playing 7-8 fewer games a season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 I hope you are right, because if he isn't more effective playing WLB, we may have a problem. How so? All he has to do is be AS effective at his natural college position without having to fight off blockers to make plays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallskiWallski83 Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 excellent highlight video. One thing you notice about him is that hes got really good instincts and hes quick to react to plays, which allows him to use his speed to get around blockers and make tackles. Where Kiko had problems his rookie season was making tackles while shedding a block, something I'm confident he'll be better at after a year of NFL strength and conditioning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machine gun kelly Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 He wore down as the season went on. He used his speed a lot in the beginning of the year to make plays. Once teams figured that out they could account for him. I think he will be much more effective playing the WLB spot compared to the MLB +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountryCletus Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 So pumped to see what this year brings!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDIGGZ Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 cool video. he has such great awareness. it's like he knows the play is coming. he can just feel what they are trying to do. especially on those screen plays and rb out of the backfield. he's very patient and he can see what they are trying to do when the linemen release on those plays. for a rookie to have that kind of intuition is crazy. you would think he would still be getting a feel for the league and be second guessing himself, but nope. Kiko see ball, Kiko get ball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klos63 Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 How so? All he has to do is be AS effective at his natural college position without having to fight off blockers to make plays Because as most people here have noted, yet don't feel it's an issue. His play declined considerably last season, our run defense up the middle suffered greatly and management felt we needed to make a change at inside LB. I'm not against Kiko, but I think the hype has covered up much of the performance issues we saw last year. It's become sort of a sin to do anything but praise him. The facts are, most of his impressive stats with sacks and take aways happened in the first few games of the season, in the second half he wasn't very effective. I'm sorry that I will upset a lot of people but I think that's the case. If he doesn't improve on his second half performance from last year, it will be a problem. I like Kiko, I expect him to improve and play well, I'm just admitting to what everyone saw but are afraid to say. How so? All he has to do is be AS effective at his natural college position without having to fight off blockers to make plays Nobody blocks outside linebackers? He just gets to run free all day - nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebandit27 Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Because as most people here have noted, yet don't feel it's an issue. His play declined considerably last season, our run defense up the middle suffered greatly and management felt we needed to make a change at inside LB. I'm not against Kiko, but I think the hype has covered up much of the performance issues we saw last year. It's become sort of a sin to do anything but praise him. The facts are, most of his impressive stats with sacks and take aways happened in the first few games of the season, in the second half he wasn't very effective. I'm sorry that I will upset a lot of people but I think that's the case. If he doesn't improve on his second half performance from last year, it will be a problem. I like Kiko, I expect him to improve and play well, I'm just admitting to what everyone saw but are afraid to say. I think "declined considerably" is an overstatement. Actually, I think several folks in this thread have stated it more accurately when they say he "wore down" toward the end of last season. It makes sense when you're talking about a smaller LB who didn't miss a snap and played 5 more games in a season than he ever did in college. What waned down the stretch were the high impact plays from Kiko, not necessarily his down-to-down effectiveness. There's also the factor of teams game-planning against him and the Bills not having anything next to him at the other LB spots. Overall, I cannot agree that he'll be "a problem" if he doesn't improve on his 2nd half performance. Would we like to see that? Yes. Do I expect to see that? Yes. Will he be the weak link on the defense if he doesn't do that? I highly doubt it, and if he is, then I think this group will be dominant overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 Also mentioned (I believe on the John Murphy Show last week) was that since he jumped in as the starting MLB as a rookie, he had to call the defensive plays and get everyone lined up, while getting used to a new position and trying to think about what he had to do at the same time. Pettine didn't have a better option at MLB, he still did a great job, but I love the move outside now in the base D now that we have Spikes. I still think we will see him back at MLB in some nickel and dime subpackages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LB3 Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 (edited) Also mentioned (I believe on the John Murphy Show last week) was that since he jumped in as the starting MLB as a rookie, he had to call the defensive plays and get everyone lined up, while getting used to a new position and trying to think about what he had to do at the same time. Pettine didn't have a better option at MLB, he still did a great job, but I love the move outside now in the base D now that we have Spikes. I still think we will see him back at MLB in some nickel and dime subpackages. Since the SAM normally goes off in most nickel packages, why wouldn't they just bring in Brown and let Kiko stay at weak? Or are you thinking they'd possibly move Kiko to MLB and bring someone like Bradham in to play in some instances? Edited June 19, 2014 by KikoSeeBallKikoGetBall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 Since the SAM normally goes off in most nickel packages, why wouldn't they just bring in Brown and let Kiko stay at weak? Or are you thinking they'd possibly move Kiko to MLB and bring someone like Bradham in to play in some instances? I think we could see all of the above depending on how good Brown looks in coverage. He was not supposed to be a 3-down LB going into the draft but the word is he has shown some of that ability so far in OTAs. Once in TC they will need to determine how strong he is there - of he can't do it then Kiko will need slide over. Rivers technically should be able to but history shows he isn't consistent at it, that's another wild card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LB3 Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 I think we could see all of the above depending on how good Brown looks in coverage. He was not supposed to be a 3-down LB going into the draft but the word is he has shown some of that ability so far in OTAs. Once in TC they will need to determine how strong he is there - of he can't do it then Kiko will need slide over. Rivers technically should be able to but history shows he isn't consistent at it, that's another wild card. That makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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