Brightside: Cunningham - New England Patriots Forums

***R_T26*** · 09-20-2010, 10:58 PM

Thought henplayed really well yesterday. Got great penatration on the 2bd Warren sack. There was also one play when he played the run perfeftly. After Ninkovich failed to set the edge on the long LT run, i expect Cunningham to win the starting job sooner rather then later.

slash83 · 09-20-2010, 11:01 PM

I agree, IMO next weeks game is the perfect situation for him to get his first start and gain some much needed experience before the Pats face off with the fish, SD, and Bal.

***AndyJohnson*** · 09-20-2010, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R_T26

Thought henplayed really well yesterday. Got great penatration on the 2bd Warren sack. There was also one play when he played the run perfeftly. After Ninkovich failed to set the edge on the long LT run, i expect Cunningham to win the starting job sooner rather then later.

I think you could go a lot deeper criticizing Ninkoich than that one play.
He is certainly the weak link in the front 7 so far.

Cunningham seems to be working his way in, but we have no clue what kind of run D he can give us yet.
I think we may be seeing Crable activated soon.

D-cleater · 09-20-2010, 11:27 PM

Newsflash: Tomlinson is still pretty good.

Maybe Cunningham will be special and I hope he is. But, as much as I hate to say it, but there are few players on this defense right now that make that play on LT, as much as we all dislike him. Spikes and Mayo weren't within 10 yards of the play, both easily sealed off, and were taken out of plenty of running plays, and beaten by the TE. There were plenty of missed plays by all of the front seven, and that includes Wilfork. TBC got mauled by Ferguson on several running plays. I don't think its fair to say that Ninkovich is the weak link.

All the same, I agree there is reason for optimism with Cunningham, and the sooner the better. Just don't be surprised to see him take some of TBC's snaps as well as Ninko's.

***AndyJohnson*** · 09-20-2010, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D-cleater

Newsflash: Tomlinson is still pretty good.

Maybe Cunningham will be special and I hope he is. But, as much as I hate to say it, but there are few players on this defense right now that make that play on LT, as much as we all dislike him. Spikes and Mayo weren't within 10 yards of the play, both easily sealed off, and were taken out of plenty of running plays, and beaten by the TE. There were plenty of missed plays by all of the front seven, and that includes Wilfork. TBC got mauled by Ferguson on several running plays. I don't think its fair to say that Ninkovich is the weak link.

All the same, I agree there is reason for optimism with Cunningham, and the sooner the better. Just don't be surprised to see him take some of TBC's snaps as well as Ninko's.

I guess you havent watched him too closely.
What players on the defense would whiff on a tackle when they werent blocked by anyone? The entire blocking scheme was to use an extra player to wall off the inside and leave Ninkovich unblocked.
I dont remember a single play going more than 4-5 yards outside the T on TBCs area, which is his area.
I dispute that Ferguson mauled TBC on run plays because he would have been blocking the DE lined up acrosss from him, but if you want to give me the clock time on a few I'll take a look.

D-cleater · 09-21-2010, 12:03 AM

If I recall, there were one or two plays in the second quarter, before TBC got his sack, and then again in the 3rd. The plays didn't result in a big gain, and they were inside runs, but they were on the defensive right side. I just happened to notice that that TBC got pushed back several feet more than once by Ferguson.

***AndyJohnson*** · 09-21-2010, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D-cleater

If I recall, there were one or two plays in the second quarter, before TBC got his sack, and then again in the 3rd. The plays didn't result in a big gain, and they were inside runs, but they were on the defensive right side. I just happened to notice that that TBC got pushed back several feet more than once by Ferguson.

I'll try to take a look. I've actually been happy with what Ive seen of TBC vs the run. Also not sure how Ferguson would block him on an inside run with a DE over him. Maybe it was nickel and TBC was at DE?

condon84 · 09-21-2010, 08:23 AM

Agreed with this thread. The couple of times Cunningham showed himself on the field, it was for something positive.

upstater1 · 09-21-2010, 09:04 AM

Hopefully this kid comes on. We have big problems right now with our ILBs and safeties. They are pretty young, but I think with a QB like Sanchez, the easiest throws for him to make our over the middle, and he middle of our D is soft against the pass. This will be a problem all year until it's solved.

We're still young and can work through this. Our safety play was awful the first half of last year and then it really improved in the second half.

We need Mayo to become a force, and to make plays.

Defsoul · 09-21-2010, 09:08 AM

When the Jets tried to run the end-around, I thought to myself: "Come on, you're not going to fool Cunningham with that play." And he wasn't fooled. I guess he saw that play quite often going up against Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin during practice while playing for the Florida Gaters.

P.S. It seems like Brandon Spikes put a pretty good hit on Brad Smith during that play. The hit couldn't be seen on TV, but I saw Spikes running unblocked towards Smith and Smith was shaken up a bit after the play.