Friendly reminder: Tyrone McKenzie

[BelichickFan]

Why isn't it? One of the problems involved in rehab is the tendency for other areas to get injured because of overcompensation and strength discrepancies.

Assuming he tore the other ACL (which Reiss has NOT said but he's suggested it in small ways), I don't buy it. You don't tear an ACL because of overcompensating from the other knee. He took a hit. We could protect all players from ACL tears by not playing them but I don't buy that coming back from one ACL tear made it more likely the other would be torn.

 

[condon84]

What are your thoughts on Pierre Woods? He's an RFA, but I don't see him coming back. By now we know he's not a starter, and in fact has been mainly a special teamer this season.

He's a good STer but in our system, where we call on LBs to make the plays, I just don't see him as one of the solutions. Bill seems to like him just like he likes Alexander so maybe we'll keep him for depth.

He might also be expendable now that we signed Ninkovich to a multi-year contract.

 

[pats1]

At this point, we know that Mayo, Guyton, Banta-Cain, McKenzie, and Ninkovich will be part of the mix at linebacker for next season. Beyond that, there's a lot of doubt.

On the outside, you have one starter in Banta-Cain, who can rush the passer at a high level and has improved against the run. The Pats still need another guy on the outside, a bigger body like Vrabel who can defend against the run and also provide some pass rush. Thomas theoretically would fit that mould perfectly, which is why he's here in the first place, but he will not be part of the picture next season. Look for the Pats to address this need EARLY in the draft. Ninkovich is only a special teamer and reserve. Crable can't be counted on as anything more than a 4th OLB; you still need guys to replace Burgess, Thomas, and Woods (if he leaves) as part of the rotation. Drafting a Woodley-type would be huge. (Graham?)

On the inside, you have a good mix of young players in Mayo, Guyton, and McKenzie. However, I think the Pats would still like to rotate one more guy in there. Larry Foote will be a free agent and seems like a possibility; he has experience playing in Pittsburgh's 3-4.

 

[BelichickFan]

You really should go back and re-check. You'll find that they weren't forthcoming about what was wrong with the knee.

Obviously Brady is 1,000,000 more well known than Tate but there was, and still is, tons of information on his injury before and after surgery. There's nothing on Tate's "surgery".

 

[pats1]

He's a good STer but in our system, where we call on LBs to make the plays, I just don't see him as one of the solutions. Bill seems to like him just like he likes Alexander so maybe we'll keep him for depth.

He might also be expendable now that we signed Ninkovich to a multi-year contract.

That's what I'm thinking. The fact that he wasn't extended when the Pats made their whole wave of under-the-radar extensions is telling.

 

[oldskool138]

Is his nickname "Spuds"?

If it's not, it needs to be.

 

[Deus Irae]

Assuming he tore the other ACL (which Reiss has NOT said but he's suggested it in small ways), I don't buy it. You don't tear an ACL because of overcompensating from the other knee. He took a hit. We could protect all players from ACL tears by not playing them but I don't buy that coming back from one ACL tear made it more likely the other would be torn.

Actually, you can tear up one knee by compensating for the other. I've seen it happen on numerous occasions.

 

[Deus Irae]

Obviously Brady is 1,000,000 more well known than Tate but there was, and still is, tons of information on his injury before and after surgery. There's nothing on Tate's "surgery".

The information on Brady's knee came from sources not named Belichick. I'll leave it at that.

 

[BelichickFan]

Actually, you can tear up one knee by compensating for the other. I've seen it happen on numerous occasions.

When Tate got hurt, people here said they saw him take a bad hit. I didn't see it myself. As usual we'll have to agree to disagree but despite what CAN happen, I believe it was a fluke hit not an overcompensation.

 

[condon84]

At this point, we know that Mayo, Guyton, Banta-Cain, McKenzie, and Ninkovich will be part of the mix at linebacker for next season. Beyond that, there's a lot of doubt.

On the outside, you have one starter in Banta-Cain, who can rush the passer at a high level and has improved against the run. The Pats still need another guy on the outside, a bigger body like Vrabel who can defend against the run and also provide some pass rush. Thomas theoretically would fit that mould perfectly, which is why he's here in the first place, but he will not be part of the picture next season. Look for the Pats to address this need EARLY in the draft. Ninkovich is only a special teamer and reserve.

On the inside, you have a good mix of young players in Mayo, Guyton, and McKenzie. However, I think the Pats would still like to rotate one more guy in there. Larry Foote will be a free agent and seems like a possibility; he has experience playing in Pittsburgh's 3-4.

The thing with AD is that we've used him exclusively as an ILB the first two years. He's still got some gas left in his tank and if he can get with the program, he can probably give us a really good year next year at OLB. As a long term fix, he's probably not going to be with us beyond next year (if we end up keeping him for his final year) because he's gonna want to get paid. There's also a chance that we could see Burgess as a short fix (2 years?) until we develop a guy we draft.

As for the ILB position, I'm guessing Bill might bring in a veteran. We have Guyton and McKenzie as young guys that are developing. Guyton is solid against the pass so if he can improve against the run, he'll be a good partner next to Mayo. McKenzie can also develop into that guy. So what we really need here is a short term fix while those two guys can develop.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Don't forget Shawn "not able" Crable

Has any player in NFL History started on IR 3 consecutive seasons beginning from his rookie year?

From the looks of things Crable could be one of those guys made of thin glass.

IR spells CUT if it happens again

As fans, I think right about now we should be assuming that Crable will bring nothing to the table. If he manages to get healthy and give us something, then awesome- it'll be the fan equivalent of finding 20 bucks on the sidewalk. But the track record for guys spending 2 years on the IR to start their career, then coming in and making an impact? Can't imagine that it's very good...

 

[Patspsycho]

At this point, we know that Mayo, Guyton, Banta-Cain, McKenzie, and Ninkovich will be part of the mix at linebacker for next season. Beyond that, there's a lot of doubt.

On the outside, you have one starter in Banta-Cain, who can rush the passer at a high level and has improved against the run. The Pats still need another guy on the outside, a bigger body like Vrabel who can defend against the run and also provide some pass rush. Thomas theoretically would fit that mould perfectly, which is why he's here in the first place, but he will not be part of the picture next season. Look for the Pats to address this need EARLY in the draft. Ninkovich is only a special teamer and reserve. Crable can't be counted on as anything more than a 4th OLB; you still need guys to replace Burgess, Thomas, and Woods (if he leaves) as part of the rotation. Drafting a Woodley-type would be huge. (Graham?)

On the inside, you have a good mix of young players in Mayo, Guyton, and McKenzie. However, I think the Pats would still like to rotate one more guy in there. Larry Foote will be a free agent and seems like a possibility; he has experience playing in Pittsburgh's 3-4.

What makes you think Burgess is leaving? He is catching onto the 2 gap system. Against the Bills, we finally saw him shed a block and sack Fitzpatrick who tried to sneak a bootleg up the middle. He seems to be getting his act together after getting sent home.

 

[BradyFTW!]

When Tate got hurt, people here said they saw him take a bad hit. I didn't see it myself. As usual we'll have to agree to disagree but despite what CAN happen, I believe it was a fluke hit not an overcompensation.

IIRC, Tate took a hit to the knee on the play where he was injured. Not disagreeing with Deus that overcompensation *can* cause a knee injury, and my memory's far from perfect so maybe it even did, but from what I remember that didn't seem to be the cause this time.

 

[BradyFTW!]

What makes you think Burgess is leaving? He is catching onto the 2 gap system. Against the Bills, we finally saw him shed a block and sack Fitzpatrick who tried to sneak a bootleg up the middle. He seems to be getting his act together after getting sent home.

Agreed- I really like what we've seen from Burgess the past couple of weeks. The guy's a talented football player, and given his production the past few weeks, it seems like his struggles were probably more knowledge-related than age-related.

 

[drakesta101]

One of my good friends went to Florida for the holidays and as it turns out his grandparents (with whom he was staying with) are neighbors with Tyrone McKenzie's family. (Really cool/weird, right?) Well, apparently they all got together that Sunday to watch the Patriots play the Jaguars. My friend said Tyrone sounded like a pretty intelligent guy, currently renting a place in Mass and looking to buy...and when I texted him to ask about his ACL, my friend said Tyrone described himself as "100 %"....

...this isn't one of those friend of a friend of a friend stories....

 

[satz]

Burgess - He is the smallest of our LB .He looks tiny next to guyton and mayo.He and banta can rush over TE and RB but tackles they struggle.

Banta - He needs mismatch to get sacks.If you want him to rush everydown against a decent tackle he is shutdown.This year he has 5 sacks against bills who have their tackle on IR.He is just not big to bring the heat against bigger tackles.

Mayo - ILB Weak Side - Forced to play SILB .

Guyton - ILB weak side.Covering TE ,FB and RB in the flat and rushing the passer some. But cannot hold the RUN so has to rotate in WILB/OLB 3rd down package.

SILB - Big need . a slow big thumper. Lower picks 2 as we are looking for size and not speed he will be a low pick,

Woods - I think we need to sign him as he better against the run and gives decent pass rush which you need on the wolb. woodley type 6-8 sack guy who is responsible for edge setting and cover RB on the flat.

Ninkovich - He is the only true strong side OLB size we have. He might improve if he can do what woods did last year now on the strong side[harder] he will get the job next year.

 

[RobertWeathers]

One of my good friends went to Florida for the holidays and as it turns out his grandparents (with whom he was staying with) are neighbors with Tyrone McKenzie's family. (Really cool/weird, right?) Well, apparently they all got together that Sunday to watch the Patriots play the Jaguars. My friend said Tyrone sounded like a pretty intelligent guy, currently renting a place in Mass and looking to buy...and when I texted him to ask about his ACL, my friend said Tyrone described himself as "100 %"....

...this isn't one of those friend of a friend of a friend stories....

Well, he blew it out in early May. 8 months of surgery and rehab w/o complications would make it possible I guess.

 

[pats1]

What makes you think Burgess is leaving? He is catching onto the 2 gap system. Against the Bills, we finally saw him shed a block and sack Fitzpatrick who tried to sneak a bootleg up the middle. He seems to be getting his act together after getting sent home.

He's a free agent and the equivalent of Deltha O'Neal.

 

[Sicilian]

As fans, I think right about now we should be assuming that Crable will bring nothing to the table. If he manages to get healthy and give us something, then awesome- it'll be the fan equivalent of finding 20 bucks on the sidewalk. But the track record for guys spending 2 years on the IR to start their career, then coming in and making an impact? Can't imagine that it's very good...

Actually, it's more like finding 20 bucks in your winter coat pocket when you pull that out of the attic in October. It's not 20 new dollars, it's just re-finding money you thought you lost.

 

[pats1]

Woods - I think we need to sign him as he better against the run and gives decent pass rush which you need on the wolb. woodley type 6-8 sack guy who is responsible for edge setting and cover RB on the flat.

Did I mis-understand you, or did you just say that Woods is a 6-8 sack type? The guy has ONE sack in FOUR seasons.