Le'Raven Clark

[Coffeedrinker]

If you watch him, his technique is excellent; keeps a wide base, hands come quickly up, he keeps his butt down, knees bent, back straight, head up his drop step in pass pro is quick and precise without over extending himself or losing his balance.  His lower body agility and quickness is in the elite category, he can move side to side flawlessly and quickly.

 

But he has no functional strength... he does everything perfectly gets in good position on the defender and then cannot do anything to stop or slow the defender from what he wants to do.  I've really never seen anything like.  People will claim that a couple of years in an NFL strength program should cure that.  But I don't think so, Howard Mudd has said that in all his time in the NFL he never saw a lineman increase their playing strength.

[krunk]

14 minutes ago, Valpo2004 said:

 

Maybe he just forgot about him, but even then it's not a good sign that the GM forgot about you.  

We will see what happens.  I will say Ballard didn't mention Turbins name amongst the possibilities at RB pre draft.  Then all of a sudden after the draft he cuts Matt Jones who some of us were thinking he had plans for based on his comments before the draft. After all that he comes out speaking highly of Turbin.   Of course I think we'd all be fools to believe Clark doesn't have fire underneath his bottom.  He's got to show something soon.

[Archer]

It’s interesting.  Good is the guy I thought might not be long for this team.  True, he was the best RT we had last year, but he really doesn’t seem to fit the new system. We need versatile tackles that can do reasonably well at zone blocking, trap blocking, drive blocking, and hitting people on the second level as circumstances dictate.  At Good’s size, I thought he was really only fit for a power running system.  And then there’s the fact that he gets injured a lot.  I think that Clark fits perfectly, but he’s really gonna have to earn it in TC.  

[BProland85]

I think the RT spot will be a battle between Haeg, Good, and Clark. I could see Haeg winning the starting spot, at least to begin the regular season. Hopefully the solid play from the other 4 starters on OL will make the RT's job easier. 

[DougDew]

2 hours ago, krunk said:

I think the talent issue was related to Grigson.  As soon as Ballard came in he started getting the right type of personnel even for the 3-4 defense we ran last year.  First thing he did was start getting players who had the typical NFL size for the scheme we were running.  Grigson had players who weren't even the right size for the position they played. I'm sure Pagano made it clear to him what they needed

What defense were you watching?  We immediately got and retained, big, slow players for the fatty 34 the year Luck was drafted.  Completely opposite of the small, quicker players Polian drafted.  Art Jones, the NTs, Henry Anderson, Werner, Landry, Geathers, all were the right size.  Corners needed to be nimble and sticky more than big in a man-cover D.  The ILBs were suspect but that's been the case here for years, even under Polian. 

 

I think most have said that the last draft was with conversion to the 43 in mind, so the players were not the right fit for the 34.  But as Ballard said, some transcended schemes.

 

What Ballard says about how the scouts have been trained tells me we should have never switched away from the Tampa 2, but that was Irsay's command immediately post-Polian.

 

[krunk]

34 minutes ago, DougDew said:

What defense were you watching?  We immediately got and retained, big, slow players for the fatty 34 the year Luck was drafted.  Completely opposite of the small, quicker players Polian drafted.  Art Jones, the NTs, Henry Anderson, Werner, Landry, Geathers, all were the right size.  Corners needed to be nimble and sticky more than big in a man-cover D.  The ILBs were suspect but that's been the case here for years, even under Polian. 

 

I think most have said that the last draft was with conversion to the 43 in mind, so the players were not the right fit for the 34.  But as Ballard said, some transcended schemes.

 

What Ballard says about how the scouts have been trained tells me we should have never switched away from the Tampa 2, but that was Irsay's command immediately post-Polian.

 

How many drafted players did we have sir?  Most of the D was free agents. You're name a couple out of the hay stack.  We've had a number of FA he didn't really fit.  We had David Parry at Nose Tackle and he didn't fit the standard size and athletic profiles for a 3-4 Nose.

[NewColtsFan]

2 hours ago, Valpo2004 said:

 

Maybe he just forgot about him, but even then it's not a good sign that the GM forgot about you.  

 

Possible...   but not likely...   because he wasn't talking about the group as a whole...    he broke down the possible  candidates for starter position by position...    it's much harder to forget someone when you do it that way.   

 

But another poster, @Douzer, made a very good observation...   Ballard was speaking about possible starters...   it's possible Clark is now viewed strictly as a backup..    he can backup multiple positions...   so perhaps things aren't quite as bad for Clark as I thought?  

 

That said, if you're not a starter, your margin for error is much smaller than it is for others, especially when you have someone like Haeg,  who can backup four of the five spots...

[needanoline63]

On 4/30/2018 at 11:35 PM, LJpalmbeacher2 said:

Though Philbin was 'supposedly' a OL guru I felt he did a less than adequate job. Ventura complained several times that the line continuedly failed to pick up simple stunts.

I think Clark may improve with a new OL coach.

I read reports about our new OL coach being worse then philbin and one of the worse in the league

[DougDew]

8 minutes ago, krunk said:

How many drafted players did we have sir?  Most of the D was free agents.

You're name a couple out of the hay stack.

You mentioned they weren't even the right size for the 34.  So what drafted players were you talking about?

 

Anderson, Ridgeway, Geathers, Werner...were not the right size?  There were only a few players drafted for the D.  Most were free agents.  And most of them were the right size.

 

Immediately after firing Polian, even before Grigson was hired, Irsay wanted to mold the D after the two teams that kept Manning from winning more SBs, the 2005 through 2008 Steelers and Chargers, which were the two teams that knocked the Colts out of the playoffs those years.  SD did it 2 years in a row.  He wanted their defense.  We immediately began to get bigger players on defense beginning with the season Luck was drafted.

 

The point is that Ballard recognizes the need to match defensive scheme to the scouts strengths, unless you want to redo the whole department.  It matters, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned it.

 

 

[krunk]

1 hour ago, DougDew said:

What defense were you watching?  We immediately got and retained, big, slow players for the fatty 34 the year Luck was drafted.  Completely opposite of the small, quicker players Polian drafted.  Art Jones, the NTs, Henry Anderson, Werner, Landry, Geathers, all were the right size.  Corners needed to be nimble and sticky more than big in a man-cover D.  The ILBs were suspect but that's been the case here for years, even under Polian. 

 

I think most have said that the last draft was with conversion to the 43 in mind, so the players were not the right fit for the 34.  But as Ballard said, some transcended schemes.

 

What Ballard says about how the scouts have been trained tells me we should have never switched away from the Tampa 2, but that was Irsay's command immediately post-Polian.

 

Here is exactly what Ted Monachino said about his Defensive Unit from 2016.  I wonder why he would make a comment like this if we had the right parts for the defense all along?

 

NDIANAPOLIS – When Ted Monachino looked at his starting defense during June’s minicamp, he might have needed to check his roster.

Not one defensive starter at the 2017 minicamp was in the starting lineup in Week One of last season, when Monachino made his debut as an NFL defensive coordinator.

Any final judgments on the ’17 Colts defense will occur starting Sept. 10 in Los Angeles.

For now though, Monachino has seen one obvious change.
 

“I will tell you we’re different,” Monachino says. “I know that we’re bigger, we’re younger, we’re stronger.

“We’ve got some guys that are more the rule than the exception around our league, where a year ago maybe we had a few more exceptions. We’re big where we need to be in there. We’re explosive where we need to be in there.”

http://www.colts.com/news/article-1/Colts-Defense-Looking-More-And-More-Like-Prototypical-3-4-Scheme/19be529e-4ddb-4ec9-a0a1-48aae3507c2a

 

 

In short he says previously we had more guys that were the EXCEPTION to the rule and not the Rule.   What does that mean?  We had too many parts that did not fit

[ColtsBlueFL]

2 hours ago, needanoline63 said:

I read reports about our new OL coach being worse then philbin and one of the worse in the league

 

Because... the Pats lost in the playoffs, and BB fired someone?  Didn't BB fire Dean Pees when Raven squashed the Pats in 2009/2010?  Have a meltdown in playoffs and someone is getting fired it seems. Here's a Boston Globe article on the guy before he became scapegoat coach #2...

 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2016/01/11/patriots-assistant-dave-deguglielmo-holds-line-together/bDaggMqV4XY20Ty4FTZx0L/story.html

 

So I don't know how he will do here, but Ballard and staff appear to give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

 

[DougDew]

2 hours ago, krunk said:

Here is exactly what Ted Monachino said about his Defensive Unit from 2016.  I wonder why he would make a comment like this if we had the right parts for the defense all along?

 

NDIANAPOLIS – When Ted Monachino looked at his starting defense during June’s minicamp, he might have needed to check his roster.

Not one defensive starter at the 2017 minicamp was in the starting lineup in Week One of last season, when Monachino made his debut as an NFL defensive coordinator.

Any final judgments on the ’17 Colts defense will occur starting Sept. 10 in Los Angeles.

For now though, Monachino has seen one obvious change.
 

“I will tell you we’re different,” Monachino says. “I know that we’re bigger, we’re younger, we’re stronger.

“We’ve got some guys that are more the rule than the exception around our league, where a year ago maybe we had a few more exceptions. We’re big where we need to be in there. We’re explosive where we need to be in there.”

http://www.colts.com/news/article-1/Colts-Defense-Looking-More-And-More-Like-Prototypical-3-4-Scheme/19be529e-4ddb-4ec9-a0a1-48aae3507c2a

 

 

In short he says previously we had more guys that were the EXCEPTION to the rule and not the Rule.   What does that mean?  We had too many parts that did not fit

To read article as intended, that in 2017 we now have more guys to actually play the 34 defense, you'd have to believe that Ballard drafted guys to play in the 34 defense.  So which 2017 guys did Ballard draft to play in the 34?  (Are we still talking about draft picks or free agents, because Monachino didn't distinguish)  

 

So Werner, Montori Hughes, Henry Anderson, Geathers, Ridgeway, were not big enough for the 3-4.?  In fact, since the defense was mainly funded by free agents, I can't think of more than a few draft picks that weren't the proper size to play the 34.  Djoun Smith was a man-corner, and size is less relevant there.  Perry was an undersized NT, but was drafted in the 5th probably due to his over-achieving play in college. 

 

What about TJ Green?  He's like 6 foot 2.

 

Nearly all of the draft picks and free agents brought to the Colts between 2012 and 2017 were the proper size to play the 34.  

[Steamboat_Shaun]

On 5/1/2018 at 7:35 PM, NewColtsFan said:

 

So........

 

This is NOT good news for Le'Raven Clark...

 

Ballard was on NFL Radio with Alex Marvez and some other guy named Polian...

 

Marvez introduced Ballard by calling him the most honest, straightforward and truthful interview he's done in 24 years of interviewing NFL people....     High praise...

 

Then, in the interview,  they asked him to breakdown the O-line....

 

Left to Right....     AC -- Nelson -- Kelly....

 

Then....   he said RG would be a battle between Slauson, Mewhort and the rookie, Smith...

 

Then.....  he said RT would be a battle between Good and Haeg.     No mention of Le'Raven Clark.    Not.  A.   Word.

 

That's not good.     The only way to spin it would be to say that he's trying to light a fire under the guy.    Otherwise, he's telegraphing that Clark is not long for this roster....  

 

He did say,  in a perfect world,  there would be 10 O-lineman on a 53-man roster...    and he said that he's not done looking for more....   so, I took that to mean,  any cuts made now,  or during the cutdowns in August and Sept,  he could grab someone.....

 

But if you're Le'Raven Clark....   if you want to make this roster,  it's time to man-up and deliver.....

 

 

I think we should hang on to Clark. Worst case, he can step in and play tackle if we lose a guy or 2 to injury. Historically with this team and their inability to stay healthy, that usually ends up being a pretty valuable thing. 

[NewColtsFan]

3 minutes ago, Steamboat_Shaun said:

 

I think we should hang on to Clark. Worst case, he can step in and play tackle if we lose a guy or 2 to injury. Historically with this team and their inability to stay healthy, that usually ends up being a pretty valuable thing. 

 

Im with you!

 

New system, new coach...   I'm all for it...

 

And if you were a Mad Scuentust and you were building a Right Tackle, you'd likely build Clark.

 

The right height weight, arm length, hand size, good but not great testing.   He's the package.    Now...   if we can just make the light go on... ???

 

[DougDew]

7 hours ago, krunk said:

Here is exactly what Ted Monachino said about his Defensive Unit from 2016.  I wonder why he would make a comment like this if we had the right parts for the defense all along?

 

NDIANAPOLIS – When Ted Monachino looked at his starting defense during June’s minicamp, he might have needed to check his roster.

Not one defensive starter at the 2017 minicamp was in the starting lineup in Week One of last season, when Monachino made his debut as an NFL defensive coordinator.

Any final judgments on the ’17 Colts defense will occur starting Sept. 10 in Los Angeles.

For now though, Monachino has seen one obvious change.
 

“I will tell you we’re different,” Monachino says. “I know that we’re bigger, we’re younger, we’re stronger.

“We’ve got some guys that are more the rule than the exception around our league, where a year ago maybe we had a few more exceptions. We’re big where we need to be in there. We’re explosive where we need to be in there.”

http://www.colts.com/news/article-1/Colts-Defense-Looking-More-And-More-Like-Prototypical-3-4-Scheme/19be529e-4ddb-4ec9-a0a1-48aae3507c2a

 

 

In short he says previously we had more guys that were the EXCEPTION to the rule and not the Rule.   What does that mean?  We had too many parts that did not fit

 

Nevermind.  Double post.

 

Its not important.