I'm sorry, were Vrabel and Mcgienst crap for us or something? In their prime they were playing like all-pros. No, they never took "over" games singlehandily, but our OLBs were effective enough for us to be a good defense. I'm not looking for Dwight Freeney, but I'm looking for intimidation again. I remember when Petyon freaking Manning was always human playing us. Why? Because our pass rushers harrassed them every time we played them from 01 to 04. Ever since, our D is nothing for them to chop up.
We need a guy like suggs. As Bruinz said, we need some versatility and he's every bit the versatile player. The question is, what about Thomas? He has never been an effective rusher for us in 2 seasons. Last year he was great at ILB, our defense was at the best with Vrabes,-Bruschi-Thomas-Colvin. When we had to rely on him to pick up the slack, it hurt us pass rushing. Also due to the fact we were thin at ILB as well in that time.
IMO, I think ADT has more to offer as a pass rusher than what we've seen. I just don't know if he'll ever be enough to live up to the hype. Maybe he'd be better off being a big ass thumper ILB. Imagine us moving him inside with Guyton and Mayo. But let me say this.
I'm not looking for a 15 sack guy. I'm looking for the OLB who can hold the edge against quick RBs. Anyone notice how we seem to get beat up outside more than inside? there you go. I'm not looking for the guy to sack the QB every second, but I'd like the occasional big play. I'd like to have an OLB that locks down the outside running lane and gets after the QB when he throws.
I don't want to hear that we don't need a pass rusher. Look at the stats, the last 3 years our D has gotten worse and worse. So obviously what we have, what we've been doing on defense since, isn't working and needs to change. Maybe not change, but fix it up. We need more speed so we can actually pressure people.
All these people wanting a expensive ass CB who only plays pass defense taking up 1/3rd of our cap look clueless to me. Give me the LB who can help the DBs with pressure and the help the defense with run stopping. It's funny, because outside of Law we've never had a great CB. We had a lot of good, and average CBs play for us during 01-04. The funny thing is, it never mattered. That's why Mangini was considered a genius, as was/is Belichick. Because, ecspecially back then, they were plugging in anyone, including our very own Troy Brown into a DB with success. Looking back, was it Belichick, or his defense getting after it? Yes folks, we need pass rushers. Plain and simple.