DGDB&D: a Texans blog.

Redemption Song

Jul 31, 2007 Athletes who don't stab people, DeMeco Ryans, Morlon Greenwood, Preview

Morlon Greenwood is divisive. I happen to think he’s slightly underrated, but many Texans fans seem to think he is some combination of “crap,” “suck,” and “utterly expendable.” The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

Last season, however, one could argue that Greenwood was the second-best player on our defense, as he posted career best numbers in tackles (84 solo), INTs (1), forced fumbles (2), and recovered fumbles (3). Not bad for a guy who, over the course of the last three seasons, has been sent from a very good defensive unit in Miami to a not-so-good unit in Houston, switched from strongside LB to weakside LB, and switched from 3-4/4-3 hybrid to a straight 3-4 to a 4-3 (with 3-4 personnel).

Well, according to Megan Manfull, part of the reason that Greenwood and this blog’s namesake were so successful last season was because they spent hours together going over game tape. According to Greenwood,

I would be like, ‘DeMeco, what do you think about that play?’ [...] Then, he’d say, ‘Yeah, I think I’d play it like this.’ And then I’d say, ‘That’s the way we’re going to play it then.’ Other times, there would be a play that may put me in a bind, and I would say, ‘I think we should play the play like this.’ And he’d say, ‘Cool.’ It would just go back and forth like that.

I know exactly what he means. There are times when I am trying to think of something to blog and I email Tim and he’s like “I’d blog that like this.” And then I’m all like “Cool. That’s how I am going to blog it.”

Kidding aside, though, this article is a good sign. If you look back at Morlon’s season, he was markedly better in the second half, posting 66 of his 110 tackles, all of his FFs and PDs, and his lone INT. This suggests that he was becoming comfortable in the new defense and possibly that the tape study was allowing him to better see how he needed to play the WLB. If he can come in and pick up where he left off, my claim that he might be supplanted by Clark or Barber might be way off. If both he and DeMeco can come in and improve on last year, our linebacking corps might just suprise some people. Right now, they appear to be taking the steps to do just that.