livinginthe past

Wilfork saw a significant increase in snaps for the second straight season last year. In 2009, Wilfork only saw the field on 63.1% of the team’s defensive snaps. This number shot up to 71.3% in 2010, followed by a huge jump last season to 91.5%.

These number do not appear to be sustainable if we want Vince last a few more years - he has been amzingly resilient so far.

The question is, does this seasons apparent increase in defensive line depth help to lessen the load on Mr Wilfork?

With Belichick finally deciding that a nickel based base formation is the way to go, along with the commitment to more speed and dynamism - do we have the guys on the roster to give Big Vince a breather?

Personally, i'm hoping that Pryor can stay healthy and Fanene can show us something.

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"I gave George Allen an unlimited budget", Edward Bennett, the principal owner of the Redskins, said a few weeks after hiring Allen, "and he's already exceeded it."

AzPatsFan

Neither of those two players are 3NT types. Both are penetrating DTs at best, or 3-4 DEs or 4-3 LDEs. That is why I am projecting Ron Brace to make it.

Sciz

Step 1 should be getting healthy, which he isn't yet. Probably won't see him until the PUP guys can join the roster.

As for Wilfork, I support not having him play so many passing downs. Fanene is an easy choice for one DT spot, but he's probably more likely to replace Love than Wilfork. It may be a situation where Wilfork plays all of the early down snaps and splits subpackage snaps with someone like Deaderick. I assume we'll see Cunningham and/or Francis inside in dime looks, but probably not too much in the nickel.

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Off The Grid

It's no secret that this question's been on my mind constantly.

1 ~ Vince Wilfork is the #2 most critical Element to our chances of winning the Super Bowl this year, and I am terrified that he might be on the brink of losing an entire season.

2 ~ His Conditioning is phenomenal, but than can only account for so much, even under the best circumstances: his Snap Count escalation has been so dramatic, the last two years, that the damage may already have been done. What I believe most don't account for is that Accumulated Structural Wear + Tear often doesn't manifest itself...until it's too late, of course.

3 ~ I am wild about Jon Fanene, who I think is about to have a phenomenal season...And Brandon Deaderick can play a similar Role, but neither are Nose Tackles by any stretch of the imagination. And I just can't find it in myself to take Myron Pryor's chances seriously.

4 ~ D Tackle is the Heart of our Defense, and having Vince, in my estimation, at such an high ~ albeit generally unsuspected ~ risk of Catastrophic Injury seems to me to demand that we don't begin the season without retaining substantial Depth of Talent on our roster at that position, whether by bringing one or two of the young D Tackle Talents on board ~ Marcus Harrison or Marcus Forston, who Brother Mayo, especially, has been intrigued by, and who both interest me, as well ~ or by pursuing or retaining a veteran or two, such as our man Gerard Warren, or someone who gets cut, as I am still praying we somehow steal Aubrayo Franklin, currently in the Lightning Bolts Camp...or by a combination of two of the above, to rotate with Vince and Kyle Love.

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Love HURTS!!

livinginthe past

I am thinking about removing Vince from the equation altogether on obvious passing downs - playing no NT and two penetrating DT types.

__________________
"I gave George Allen an unlimited budget", Edward Bennett, the principal owner of the Redskins, said a few weeks after hiring Allen, "and he's already exceeded it."

livinginthe past

Agreed, I think this is one of the biggest hidden issues of the upcoming season.

Vince is a force of nature on the inside, on a par with Haloti Ngata, possibly even better.

I don't see how you can have a guy Vince's size on the field for 90% of the snaps - especially when our defense has typically had trouble getting off said field.

I really think they need to rotate in another DT penetrating type, lets face it our offense should be forcing other teams to throw early and often this year - and the previous performance of our DB's should encourage teams to throw even if the score doesn't.

__________________
"I gave George Allen an unlimited budget", Edward Bennett, the principal owner of the Redskins, said a few weeks after hiring Allen, "and he's already exceeded it."

sieglo

Why? Based on last season, he's one of the top threats we have to create a turnover by intercepting the ball.