Bucky Brooks talks out of his ass
Jul 5, 2007 2007 Draft, Amobi Okoye is 20, Big dudes doing the little things, Gary Kubiak might be high, Jason Babin, National Media, Preview, Super Mario, The Schaub Experiment
Other than Peter King, I rarely find a reason to read anything at SI.com. Andrew Perloff is insufferable, Dr. Z might actually be retarded1, and Michael Silver has never written anything that kept my attention beyond the first paragraph.
Occasionally, however, Bucky Brooks writes something that I not only read, but that I feel the need to comment on. Obviously, if I am writing this, today was one of those days. In his AFC South preview, Brooks lists the key challenges for each team in the conference. Thankfully, not one of his challenges is about the offensive line, as B^2 posits the following:
Challenge No. 1: Make Matt Schaub comfortable in a new offense.
Challenge No. 2: Find another threat in the passing game.
Challenge No. 3: Get better play out of the defensive line.
Now, 1 and 2, I can’t argue with. We’ve talked about both of those ad naseum for the last two months. Schaubby definitely needs to be “comfortable” in the offense, assuming that “comfortable” means “good,” and the WR2 slot needs to be filled by someone who doesn’t play like he is missing one leg and three chromosomes. No surprise.
As for 3, well, I suppose I agree with the sentiment. After all, with the number of first round picks we run out there in the front four, you’d expect for that to be the best third of our defense. The part that stuck out to me, however, was this:
But now with Mario Williams, Travis Johnson and ‘07 draftee Amobi Okoye slated to start, the onus is on this crew to produce some pressure on opposing signal-callers. [...] Johnson’s ineffectiveness as a rusher allowed teams to double Williams without fear. If Johnson can recover from his season-ending calf injury and provide a push inside, Williams should begin to see less of the double teams that he faced last season.
Um… huh? First of all, am I the only person who hadn’t heard that TJ was going to start? I’ve lived the last six or seven months assuming that Anthony Maddox was going to be the starting two-gapper, since, you know, he was MUCH better than TJ last year, in pretty much every way (tackles, sacks, ff, fr, etc.). Besides, Kubiak has pretty much been singing Maddox’s praises since minicamp. So, why, dear Bucky, is Johnson “slated to start?”
In the end–unless I completely missed the memo–this is probably some writer just looking at the current depth chart at NFL.com and basing opinions thereon. Whatever. The bigger question is here is “what if Bucky is right?”
The single most important thing for Manchild is that he isn’t continually double-teamed (like Mario was last year). Teams are going to focus on him early, if for no other reason than the hype that accompanied his selection. Part of the reason that Weaver has already been penciled in at LDE is because he’s a better rusher (supposedly) than Jason Babin. Maddox showed last year that, of the two real options, he is the better two-gapper. You combine Weaver on the outside with Maddox on Manchild’s right (along with a healthy Mario), and Amobi should see nothing more than a single guard (with the occasional clip from the center) all season. This is important–Okoye is at his best when he gets penetration straight up field and can read-and-react to the QB and RB. He is faster in the pass rush than any of our other defensive linemen. If he is forced to fight through double-teams all season, not only will he be hampered, but the entire line will be worse by orders of magnitude. I can’t say this strongly enough–Johnson getting single blockers while Amobi gets doubles make the entire defense worse; Maddox taking on two, even if he never makes a single tackle, frees Okoye and makes the entire defense better. I’m no coach, but I am pretty sure that a better defense is better than a worse defense.
So Bucky, don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope you are just as full of shit as the rest of the national media. Thankfully, if your colleagues are any indication, you are.
UPDATE: The Texans’ own website ran an article yesterday about how Anthony Maddox is the starter and anyone who wants to play that position is going to have to beat him. That’s pretty much what we’ve been hearing and planning for since December, and it looks like Kubes is using some common sense.
It’s not overly surprising that a columnist would just glance at the Texans depth chart on NFL.com and use that to form his “opinion.” I’m sure that sort of thing happens all the time. What is surprising, though, is that he would devote paragraphs to supporting something that was wrong to begin with, while simultaneously failing to mention the secondary as a “challenge” this season. Poor showing, Buckwheat. I now lump you in with the rest of the ‘tards.
1 Seriously, I cannot stand that guy. How many self-referential mailbags where he talks about wine and his wife being redheaded do we have to endure before he is euthanized?
