PatsBoy12

I am becoming a little nervous about Cunningham. That's the guy we really needed to see improvement from, but he is barely on the field. And even when he's on the field there has still been room to debate if he's effective at all. He needs to come on quick.

sbpatfan

Or medication.

condon84

People were saying Cunningham was a home run pick last year? I remember posters constantly having to defend the Cunningham pick because he was being outplayed by Dunlap who we had a chance to pick.

Rob0729

Dunlap is playing in one of the most simplified defenses in the league. If he succeeds in Cincy, doesn't mean he would succeed anywhere else. Also after a good rookie season, from I can tell he has been rather unremarkable so far this season. Granted it is two games.

Rob0729

I don't know if people said he was a homerun pick, but he did show flashes of being special. He had to be consistent though.

As for defending the pick against Dunlap, two different systems. A lot of players in Marvin Lewis' system end up being flash in the pans too because it is a simple, undisciplined system. Once teams get a book on a player, they tend to regress.

jsull87

Yes people definately were. I remember people saying what a feat it was for a DE/OLB conversion to "get it" so quickly in BB's defense. The only reason he needed to be defended was suddenly Dunlap plays well getting after the QB in cincy's defense and that somehow had an effect on peoples opinions of Cunningham.

He is injured, all i am saying is lets reserve our opinions of him until he is healthy/gets to play some football and have longer memories than the last game/injury report. Great example was the "Drop/Cut Gronkowski thread last year after the Browns game".

jsull87

Two whole games? the guy must be a bust/wasted pick if we are all being consistant and as hard on him as we are on our draft picks.

condon84

Being unable to beat your man one-on-one doesn't have anything to do with the system. Dunlap has shown to be a bit more consistent in doing so compared to Cunningham. While I'm not going to write Cunningham off as a bust, I'm not going to say he was close to a home-run pick. Mankins was a home run pick. Cunningham could be a solid pick, depending on how he develops.

Rob0729

Cunningham was injured for much of the season last year.

And yes, the system can definitely affect how you beat your man one-on-one. Different systems have players lining up in different plays and playing different responsibilities. Is the player lining up inside the tackle or outside? Are they are weakside or strong side? Is the player in a three point stance or two point stance? What are his responsibilities on each play (just pin his ears back and rush the passer or gap responsibilities or other responsibilities)? There is a lot of things that go into what makes a player an effective pass rusher. A perfect example is Willie McGinest. He was considered washed up as a DE in the 3-4 in a three point stance. He ressurected his career moving to a 3-4 OLB who mostly played in a two point stance. I bet you take a guy who is explosive out of his stance type of player like Dwight Freeney and put him in a two point stance and he turns into an less effective rusher because he won't have the same initial burst.

Rob0729

I'm not saying Dunlap is a bust or even that he is declining, but we are rushing to judge Cunningham after 18 games (many of which he was injured). There are many Bengals who come out strong out of the gate and rapidly decline as they go along though. Too early to put Dunlap in that category, but he could be a player who might decline after teams get a book on him.

The one good thing about Marvin Lewis is that his system is so simple that players can come out guns smoking when they enter the league. The bad thing is that the simple defense can expose a player's weaknesses and neutralize him after a while.