Ron Brace is receiving praises

[KevinFaulk-33]

What about this fourth year DT? He is playing really well and for the second game in a row reporter from Boston Globe and ESPN are lauding him.

It's just preseason, but maybe he could be what we thought Fanene would be.

 

[Rob0729]

Brace is a solid player when healthy. His problem has always been more staying on the field than what he did when he was on it. Let's hope he can stay healthy this year.

 

[TheComeback]

IF he keeps it up, I could see him pushing Love for playing time. Love is good, but Brace has looked explosive. He needs to do it consistently.

 

[Ring 6]

Brace is a solid player when healthy. His problem has always been more staying on the field than what he did when he was on it. Let's hope he can stay healthy this year.

I'd even take that a step farther and say he has always played well when he has been on the field, but IN ADDITION TO injuries, he has not been on the field nearly as much as his level of play would indicate.
I have no clue what was holding him back, but if it is corrected, fans are going to be very surprised with the level of play out of this guy if we get to see enough of it to notice.
Personally I think there has been a conditioning and/or maturity issue, but I am guessing.

 

[Off The Grid]

Yes, indeed!! :rocker:

As I said earlier this week, I do believe young Mister Brace has quietly reached an Inflection Point in his young career...And thank GOD, because he could be absolutely essential to our Championship Quest, this year!!

Mind you, he's a very different kind of player than Fanene.

 

[patfanken]

I'd even take that a step farther and say he has always played well when he has been on the field, but IN ADDITION TO injuries, he has not been on the field nearly as much as his level of play would indicate.
I have no clue what was holding him back, but if it is corrected, fans are going to be very surprised with the level of play out of this guy if we get to see enough of it to notice.
Personally I think there has been a conditioning and/or maturity issue, but I am guessing.

We agree. One of the first things I noticed about Brace that was surprising to me when I saw him at camp as a rookie was his quickness off the ball, That was evident last night as well.

While I think his immaturity was the reason he had such a bad rookie year, he was coming along well in his 2nd year before he got that elbow injury. It cost him the 2nd half of his 2nd year, and damaged his effectiveness for most of his 3rd year after coming off the PUP.

Back in the day, defensive lineman used their forearms, helmets, and shoulders when they created contact with the OL. The object was to make contact, separate and run to the ball. In today's game its all about handplay. Less like a collision, and more like greco-roman wrestling.

The way they play the game today, a debilitating elbow injury like Brace had, is as incapacitating as an ACL. If you can't power lock your elbows, you can't control your OLman.

Now its clear he has a good attitude, AND a healthy set of elbows. Between getting his own snaps and taking some from Vince, Brace could be ANOTHER one of the "surprising" players who will make an impact this season.

BTW- Its one of my pet peeves is hat most defensive linemen don't get off the ball faster than they do. In college I survived as a 205lb DE/NT because no one got off the ball faster than I did. (Yes I was THAT scared, and subscribed to the philosophy that it hurt less to be the hittER than the hitEE). It wasn't a natural gift. It was a LEARNED skill. A simple skill, IMHO that too many DLmen in the league don't develop an/or use well enough. That and poor tackling "grind my gears" (Family Guy reference)

 

[patfanken]

Yes, indeed!! :rocker:
Mind you, he's a very different kind of player than Fanene.

That's a good point. Brace is a "run stopper", who I hope will develop into an "interior pocket pusher". but I don't see him as a "sack threat"

 

[BritPat]

One thing we do know is that BB isn't slow to get rid of those he doesn't think are worth it. The fact Brace is into his fourth season speaks volumes.

 

[Ring 6]

We agree. One of the first things I noticed about Brace that was surprising to me when I saw him at camp as a rookie was his quickness off the ball, That was evident last night as well.

While I think his immaturity was the reason he had such a bad rookie year, he was coming along well in his 2nd year before he got that elbow injury. It cost him the 2nd half of his 2nd year, and damaged his effectiveness for most of his 3rd year after coming off the PUP.

Back in the day, defensive lineman used their forearms, helmets, and shoulders when they created contact with the OL. The object was to make contact, separate and run to the ball. In today's game its all about handplay. Less like a collision, and more like greco-roman wrestling.

The way they play the game today, a debilitating elbow injury like Brace had, is as incapacitating as an ACL. If you can't power lock your elbows, you can't control your OLman.

Now its clear he has a good attitude, AND a healthy set of elbows. Between getting his own snaps and taking some from Vince, Brace could be ANOTHER one of the "surprising" players who will make an impact this season.

BTW- Its one of my pet peeves is hat most defensive linemen don't get off the ball faster than they do. In college I survived as a 205lb DE/NT because no one got off the ball faster than I did. (Yes I was THAT scared, and subscribed to the philosophy that it hurt less to be the hittER than the hitEE). It wasn't a natural gift. It was a LEARNED skill. A simple skill, IMHO that too many DLmen in the league don't develop an/or use well enough. That and poor tackling "grind my gears" (Family Guy reference)

I played C and the small quick NT was always a bigger challenge than the big strong slow guy.
You are right. You can almost break down blocking DL with their hand on the ground on a running play that simply. Whoever moves further before contact happens wins the battle 90% of the time.
The same frustration you have for DL getting off the ball holds for OL too, and is the primary reason many teams struggle with a power running game.

 

[Ring 6]

That's a good point. Brace is a "run stopper", who I hope will develop into an "interior pocket pusher". but I don't see him as a "sack threat"

Brace in the time he has been on the field, which again is very limited, has shown a good bull rush, which is really what is most important in a DT collpasing the pocket.
Shoving a G into the face of the QB is about as effective at rushing a throw, flushing the QB from the pocket, etc as anything else, and it works vs every type of passing game, unlike an outside rusher who is completely negated by a WCO short passing game. (Which is probably the most important reason the WCO was so successful when it was)

 

[BaltimorePatsFan]

Brace was quite stout against the run during his second season. IF he can stay healthy he should be a solid player.

 

[Reckedtrek]

If Brace turns out to be a solid player, the 2009 draft class looks even better.
Chung, Brace, Vollmer, Pryor, and Edelman (in draft order) are still all with the team, at least as of now. Even without Pryor, you'd have 3 quality starters and an all 'round utility guy (Classify Edelman as you like- this thread isn't about him! ). I'd say that's a pretty good haul.

BritPat brings a great point. He must have something to offer or he would have been shown the door a while ago. He's been cut in so many threads and projected rosters, to now have him make the team and then kick some butt (along with.... Cunningham?!) would just be awesome.

I'll need to call DA back on 98.5 and give him crap. Of course he's a Giants fan, so I'd better not go too far!

 

[BananaRepublican]

IF he can stay healthy he should be a solid player.

That seems to be the key, and then we have a really dynamic big guy behind the other two dynamic big guys. Hey, this is fun.

 

[BananaRepublican]

Whoever moves further before contact happens wins the battle 90% of the time.

Haha, something tells me that can be expressed in a physics equation involving mass and speed.

You must have been impressed with Vince's work in the Ravens game.

 

[mayoclinic]

I'd even take that a step farther and say he has always played well when he has been on the field, but IN ADDITION TO injuries, he has not been on the field nearly as much as his level of play would indicate.
I have no clue what was holding him back, but if it is corrected, fans are going to be very surprised with the level of play out of this guy if we get to see enough of it to notice.
Personally I think there has been a conditioning and/or maturity issue, but I am guessing.

Yes, indeed!! :rocker:

As I said earlier this week, I do believe young Mister Brace has quietly reached an Inflection Point in his young career...And thank GOD, because he could be absolutely essential to our Championship Quest, this year!!

Mind you, he's a very different kind of player than Fanene.

I have pretty openly NOT been a Ron Brace fan over the past several years. He has clearly shown flashes, but his inconsistency, injury history, and at times what seemed to me to be a lack of explosiveness and core strength all made it hard to have a ton of confidence in him. Despite showing some nice flashes early, I was skeptical that Brace would be consistent enough to make the roster. I would be more than happy to be proven wrong and see him emerge as a solid member of the interior DL, and his emergence would be a great addition to the defense.

Love has developed nicely. Deaderick seems to be fairly solid. If Brace can develop then we will have a solid nucleus of stout interior linemen behind/in addition to Vince Wilfork. As Grid notes, Fanene was a different kind of player entirely, and his loss hurts. But hopefully one of Pryor, Harrison or Forston can step up and take on that kind of role.

 

[Ring 6]

I have pretty openly NOT been a Ron Brace fan over the past several years. He has clearly shown flashes, but his inconsistency, injury history, and at times what seemed to me to be a lack of explosiveness and core strength all made it hard to have a ton of confidence in him. Despite showing some nice flashes early, I was skeptical that Brace would be consistent enough to make the roster. I would be more than happy to be proven wrong and see him emerge as a solid member of the interior DL, and his emergence would be a great addition to the defense.

Love has developed nicely. Deaderick seems to be fairly solid. If Brace can develop then we will have a solid nucleus of stout interior linemen behind/in addition to Vince Wilfork. As Grid notes, Fanene was a different kind of player entirely, and his loss hurts. But hopefully one of Pryor, Harrison or Forston can step up and take on that kind of role.

If Pryor actually was what many fans think he is, then he would be a great Fanene replacement.
However, what he is happens to be an always injured guy, who really has never done anything in the NFL other than make some plays vs scrubs in the preseason, and be surprisingly not awful in his few chances in a real game, to create unsubstantiated optimism.
I hope he becomes the ceiling of his talent that many fans have annointed him already to be, but expect that when all is said and done his Patriot career as supposedly a great inside pass rusher sadly ends at the 2 half sacks in his career that he already has in 24 games played over 3 years.

 

[Ring 6]

Haha, something tells me that can be expressed in a physics equation involving mass and speed.

You must have been impressed with Vince's work in the Ravens game.

Yeah, it probably is basic physics.
90% may overstate it though because technique and pad level are key too.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Brace in the time he has been on the field, which again is very limited, has shown a good bull rush, which is really what is most important in a DT collpasing the pocket.
Shoving a G into the face of the QB is about as effective at rushing a throw, flushing the QB from the pocket, etc as anything else, and it works vs every type of passing game, unlike an outside rusher who is completely negated by a WCO short passing game. (Which is probably the most important reason the WCO was so successful when it was)

The WCO WAS assembled from a series of Paul Brown plays for PRECISELY that reason by Walsh. it was developed to counter Buddy Ryan's and the Bears overloaded Right End blitz, the so-called 46 Defense. It did a very good job at doing so.

I'm sure Grogan and the Skirt remember that Superbowl XX with nightmares every once in a while.

 

[mayoclinic]

If Pryor actually was what many fans think he is, then he would be a great Fanene replacement.
However, what he is happens to be an always injured guy, who really has never done anything in the NFL other than make some plays vs scrubs in the preseason, and be surprisingly not awful in his few chances in a real game, to create unsubstantiated optimism.
I hope he becomes the ceiling of his talent that many fans have annointed him already to be, but expect that when all is said and done his Patriot career as supposedly a great inside pass rusher sadly ends at the 2 half sacks in his career that he already has in 24 games played over 3 years.

Pryor has shown some terrific flashes as a penetrating DT. He was an impact player against Miami in game 1 last year. But his inability to stay on the field and to consistently be a presence make it less and less likely that we will see more than we already have. I had great hopes for Pryor, but they're fading fast. I had little hope for Brace, and would be happy to have him finally show that he's able to contribute on a regular basis.

 

[patfanken]

If Pryor actually was what many fans think he is, then he would be a great Fanene replacement.
However, what he is happens to be an always injured guy, who really has never done anything in the NFL other than make some plays vs scrubs in the preseason, and be surprisingly not awful in his few chances in a real game, to create unsubstantiated optimism.
I hope he becomes the ceiling of his talent that many fans have annointed him already to be, but expect that when all is said and done his Patriot career as supposedly a great inside pass rusher sadly ends at the 2 half sacks in his career that he already has in 24 games played over 3 years.

You are right. Pryor is a lot more promise than substance over his career. That promise has grown to almost mythic proportions, and I am as guilty as most.
.
Mike Wright's rise and fall is still very painful for me. Prior to the Cleveland game in 2010 Wright was in a truly breakout season with 5.sacks in 2009 and 5.5 in just 7 games in 2010, most coming as an interior rusher. His loss has been vastly underestimated and his skills have yet to be replaced.l

Perhaps we are seeing some flashes from Pryor and are hoping against hope that he has some "Mike Wright" in him. I take hope in that BB has kept him around despite almost no real production and into his 3rd year of mainly injuries. He's shown the same kind of patience with both Cunningham and Brace and it seems to be being rewarded...so far. Maybe....just maybe....the wait for Pryor will be worth it as well.