- Joined
- Jul 13, 2009
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The argument that "player x didn't play well against us so he must not be good" is awful. There aren't too many Gronks and Crumplers out there. Plus you're dismissing his other games and narrowing your opinion to just one game.
The idea of him not being able to take on blocks is just something of a fantasy. He plays OLB in a 3-4, you have to be able to take on blocks. Hell, any player playing in the front seven has to be able to take on blocks if they want to succeed or even get playing time whether they play in a 3-4, 4-3, one-gap, or two-gap. You think a coach would let a player get on the field if they can't take on blocks? LMAO. Granted, there are certain players that are better at shedding blocks than others, but some of the stuff that's being posted about how awful Matthews apparently is in this thread is laughable. This is like when I go to another team's board and they dismiss Brady because he doesn't do certain things well. LOL.
I watched other games of him. My impression from those games was similar, but I have the game of him against the Pats, so that's the only game where I've seen any of his plays more than once. Gronk completely dominated Matthews, but there are other, lesser TEs who can still win their matchup, albeit in a less-dominating fashion.
And Matthews is a case of a player who is so good at going around blocks that his inability to take on blocks is lessened. But when a blocker gets his hands on Matthews, then the play is pretty much over for him. That's exactly what Bill doesn't want out of his OLBs.
This isn't "Brady sucks because he's slow." This is "I don't want Brady in a one read and then run offense because he's slow."
Matthews doesn't suck because he can't take on blocks. I just don't want Matthews in our blocker-engaging defensive scheme because he can't take on blocks.