Jonathan Newsome Pass Rush Drill vs RB/TE

[Superman]

impressive, but come on guys those were 3rd and 4th string players he was beating not even lineman

 

Second string defensive players go against second string offensive players. And Newsome is mostly playing Sam, according to Pagano, so he'll be going against TEs and backs, not linemen, if they can at all help it.

[ColtsLegacy]

He's a better pass rusher.

I sure hope so.

[Superman]

I sure hope so.

 

Walden wasn't bad at rushing the passer last year. Nothing special, but all the noise about the guy is mostly noise.

 

And yeah, Newsome is going to be a much better pass rusher.

[ColtsLegacy]

Walden wasn't bad at rushing the passer last year. Nothing special, but all the noise about the guy is mostly noise.

And yeah, Newsome is going to be a much better pass rusher.

I guess it depends on what your definition of "bad" is. In my eyes he was simply bad, especially when you consider we had arguably the best pass rusher in football on the other side of the ball and Walden was still largely ineffective.

[Superman]

I guess it depends on what your definition of "bad" is. In my eyes he was simply bad, especially when you consider we had arguably the best pass rusher in football on the other side of the ball and Walden was still largely ineffective.

 

The player on the opposite side of the line is irrelevant. It's not a 4-3 defense anymore. They move Mathis away from the strong side on purpose, to get him away from double teams. So it's not like the old "the best pass rusher gets the attention, which means the other guy should get more sacks" kind of thinking. We actively scheme for the best guy, and the other guy gets far fewer pass rush opportunities.

 

And even then, from his non-pass rush specific position, he was more effective on a per rush basis than Ahmad Brooks, Connor Barwin, Quinton Coples, Brooks Reed, etc. He could be better; with a little more speed and explosiveness, he'd have had twice as many hits and sacks. But he's not this dreadful pass rusher that everyone makes him out to be.

[ColtsLegacy]

The player on the opposite side of the line is irrelevant. It's not a 4-3 defense anymore. They move Mathis away from the strong side on purpose, to get him away from double teams. So it's not like the old "the best pass rusher gets the attention, which means the other guy should get more sacks" kind of thinking. We actively scheme for the best guy, and the other guy gets far fewer pass rush opportunities.

And even then, from his non-pass rush specific position, he was more effective on a per rush basis than Ahmad Brooks, Connor Barwin, Quinton Coples, Brooks Reed, etc. He could be better; with a little more speed and explosiveness, he'd have had twice as many hits and sacks. But he's not this dreadful pass rusher that everyone makes him out to be.

The other rusher is not irrelevant, less relevant than in a 4-3? Sure, but when Robert Mathis is across from you, it's not irrelevant. I'm not buying that.

I can't speak for him being "more effective" than the guys you mentioned but 2/4 are pretty crappy players in Barwin and Reed. The other 2 I can't say I paid much attention to last year but being more effective than guys who weren't very effective does not make you effective, effectively.

[JPFolks]

I actually like Walden...he brings a sense of nastiness to the D that was lacking during the Manning era.

Bob Sanders was pretty nasty! 

[Superman]

The other rusher is not irrelevant, less relevant than in a 4-3? Sure, but when Robert Mathis is across from you, it's not irrelevant. I'm not buying that.

I can't speak for him being "more effective" than the guys you mentioned but 2/4 are pretty crappy players in Barwin and Reed. The other 2 I can't say I paid much attention to last year but being more effective than guys who weren't very effective does not make you effective, effectively.

 

In a defensive scheme that moves the best rusher away from chips and double teams, it's not helping anyone else get pressure. It's all about the Rush backer. 

 

Barwin and Reed aren't going in the HOF, but they are prototypical Sam backers who get pressure (if not a lot of sacks). Ahmad Brooks had 8.5 sacks and 44 total pressures last year, playing on a stacked defensive front. But he rushed over a hundred more times than Walden. If Walden rushed 445 times like Brooks did, he probably wouldn't have had as many sacks (he's not as athletic), but he would have had more total pressures. Same thing for Coples.

 

Walden isn't going in the HOF either. But he was serviceable as a rusher. Not that we don't need more out of him -- we do -- but the standard to which he's being held should be properly calibrated. Compare him to other Sam backers. And when you do that, you see that his rate of pressure is right in line with what other 3-4 teams get out of their Sam backer.

[Hoosierdome93]

Been preaching Newsome all along

Believe it!!

[John Waylon]

Pagano and Grigson did a pre-draft interview with a top rated tackle, and they asked who the best pass rusher they faced was, and Newsome was identified. So I expect him to have some good pass rush moves.

[HtownColt]

Pagano and Grigson did a pre-draft interview with a top rated tackle, and they asked who the best pass rusher they faced was, and Newsome was identified. So I expect him to have some good pass rush moves.

That was Morgan Moses from Virginia that said that