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No worries about Josh but the Interior DL is a concern!


PUNT750

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Josh will lead the team to offensive greatness.  We've got a power house group of skilled players who can put points on the board.

 

But, can we stop the runs up the middle?  Time killing drives that can limit our offense.

 

Gone are Shaq, Star and Jordan.  Replacing them are; Vernon Butler who has started only 9 games of 52 and has a total of 77 combined tackles, Quinton Jefferson with 4 years in Seattle, 24 starts and just 59 combined tackles and Mario Addison at age 33 who has started 51 games in 9 years.  I don't see any Pro Bowls &  All-Pro awards.

 

Can they stuff the run up the middle and keep the opponents OL off Edmunds?? 

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3 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

If we score enough points teams won't be able to run. I don't think we'll be good vs the run but in terms of concerns it's a distant 2nd behind our ability to put up points. 

 

Josh Allen remains the biggest concern on the team until proven otherwise.

 

He's the first, second, and third most important factor going into this season.

 

 

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7 minutes ago, 1ManRaid said:

How many All Pro awards did we lose if that's your metric for quality?

My metrics are players with quality resumes!

Just now, Nextmanup said:

 

He's the first, second, and third most important factor going into this season.

 

 

IMO Josh will manage a great offense!

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I don't see the worry with the D-line especially against weaker offensive lines like the Jets. Star might be missed in the rushing defense but H.Phillips return might help mitigate that. I don't see Jordan Phillips loss being that big of a deal in the ground game. J.Phillips was not a good rush defender. I think Jefferson and Butler will be more than capable of filling in that gap. Overall I see the D-line being more of a concern against top 10 offensive lines. I think better O-lines might handle this D-line but we will have to see. I think McD prides his D-line as being built off depth and with the additions of AJ, Jefferson, Butler and Addision it should more than make up for the loss of Star, J.Phillips and Shaq.

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If memory serves me correctly Star and Jordan Phillips weren’t exactly elite run stuffers were they? Remind me, how many pro bowls and all pros did they receive? 
I think we’ll be ok, Beane obviously targeted these guys and I trust him more than I’d consider trusting Punt750. 

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I'm not concerned with the dline at all. But I am a little concerned with the oline. We brought back most of the starters and they were below average last year, and the playoff game really showed as a weakness, but hopefully they have improved.

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If you want to have any weakness in the 2020 NFL of all the ones you can pick, being below average against the run would top my list.

 

No I don't want to be bad vs the run.  Which we won't.  But we will be middle of the pack.  No one could run on Tampa last year and look how far that team went.  It wasn't like their offense was incompetent.  The Chiefs run D was atrocious most of last season.  

 

It's a concern vs the 49ers, Seahawks, Raiders, Titans, and Steelers. 

 

But shouldn't be a concern in any division game or anyone else really.  If it is then we're not just avg vs the run we would be terrible.  But I'm not concerned right now.  Do the Patriots and whatever it is their doing worry you?  Jordan Howard and Matt Breida?  The Jets?  We should be 5-1 minimum in division go find 4 or 5 more wins and we are division champs. 

 

I think winning these first 2 games immediately puts our odds at winning the division at about 90%.    

 

 

 

 

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I liked Shaq, but Addison is an upgrade (talent/experience-wise). And I know it's popular to trash Trent Murphy, but he is actually excellent against the run and really had a good run down the stretch of last season [with multiple big plays in each of the Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Houston (playoff) games]. And A.J. Epenesa's strength is supposed to be against the run.

 

As to your thread title, about the interior of the line, yes...we know very little right now. We will just have to wait and see. But...

 

Ok, we lost Jordan Phillips, but he was considered a 2nd round bust until he got into our defense. Last year was the first good year of his career. And he will be replaced by 1st round pick Ed Oliver, who was starting to show signs of being a true stud down the stretch last year. And Quinton Jefferson, who yes, has mostly been in a backup role to this point in his career, but only because the guys ahead of him were studs. His old team loved him and didn't want to lose him. Everyone has talked highly of him. I think he is ready to breakout. Now, we are definitely losing some size here at this position, as Jordan was a giant, but I think the talent level may be better.

 

Star has opted out. Big body...did the dirty work. But Harrison Phillips is back, who again I think is a better player than Star (if his knee continues to be ok) because he has more big play ability and a better pass rush (or a pass rush, as Star had none). Plus, Harrison is by no means a liability against the run. And we're not really losing much size, as Harrison is an inch taller than Star and only 8 pounds lighter. And they added Vernon Butler. He's a reclamation project, no doubt. But hopefully in his new surroundings and with our coaches and scheme/defense, he can take that next step. Yes, he is still a question mark. But, he's a former 1st round pick that hasn't panned out yet (much like Jordan Phillips, though Jordan was a 2nd rounder), and Vernon actually brings more size than Star did. Butler is two inches taller and 15 pounds bigger than Star.

 

Plus, Butler, Addison, and Jefferson all have position flexibility. Leslie can show so many different fronts with this D-line, to match up against any situation and to confuse offenses. So, I really don't think we'll need to worry too much about the D-line. But we shall see soon enough.

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1 hour ago, Rc2catch said:

If memory serves me correctly Star and Jordan Phillips weren’t exactly elite run stuffers were they? Remind me, how many pro bowls and all pros did they receive? 
I think we’ll be ok, Beane obviously targeted these guys and I trust him more than I’d consider trusting Punt750. 

 

 

Elite, no, but Star was very good at doing the unglamorous space eating, block absorbing duties McD needs in the middle of a run defense. Jordan Phillips less so.

 

I was really hoping that Vincent Taylor would prove to be the block eater this scheme seems to require, but it wasn't to be. I don't see a massive hole there, but I think "concern" is fair enough.

 

I'm not worried about the run stuffing abilities of our DEs at all. That does not appear to be a problem. DTs? We'll have to see how that goes.

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4 hours ago, PUNT750 said:

Josh will lead the team to offensive greatness.  We've got a power house group of skilled players who can put points on the board.

 

But, can we stop the runs up the middle?  Time killing drives that can limit our offense.

 

Gone are Shaq, Star and Jordan.  Replacing them are; Vernon Butler who has started only 9 games of 52 and has a total of 77 combined tackles, Quinton Jefferson with 4 years in Seattle, 24 starts and just 59 combined tackles and Mario Addison at age 33 who has started 51 games in 9 years.  I don't see any Pro Bowls &  All-Pro awards.

 

Can they stuff the run up the middle and keep the opponents OL off Edmunds?? 

Harrison Phillips and Ed Oliver play there as well

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