Easley to IR

ashley1992 said:

And when LaFell wakes up, he'll start holding onto some balls

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I really want to say something here, but Ashley posted this, so I shall shut my pie hole.

I think the team will miss Easley more than Blount. Granted, they are much deeper at DL, but no one else is going to fly off the ball in the middle like Easley.

Unfortunately, the Patriots knew what they were getting in Easley during the draft. He dropped in the 1st round due to knee issues.

2 yrs into his rookie contract and he has played less than 50% of the games. Have to ask yourself, how durable will he be in the next 2yrs?

Maybe we will see more of Trey Flowers and Siliga now?

QuantumMechanic said:

Quad or hammy tear or something like that, maybe?

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I thought I saw in one of the Pats articles it was quad related

Will not be seeing anymore of Flowers this year. Maybe more Grissom.

moejr said:

I thought I saw in one of the Pats articles it was quad related

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I read thigh.

willard said:

Will not be seeing anymore of Flowers this year. Maybe more Grissom.

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Grissom had some reps at DT before Hicks arrived.

zipster9 said:

Unfortunately, the Patriots knew what they were getting in Easley during the draft. He dropped in the 1st round due to knee issues.

2 yrs into his rookie contract and he has played less than 50% of the games. Have to ask yourself, how durable will he be in the next 2yrs?

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Except the knees are not the reason for him landing on IR in those two years. Always amazing how people want to connect completely unrelated dots to create a narrative.

Its the same logic that makes people say Gronk is made out of glass because he had a) a high ankle sprain because a Raven fell on his leg from behind, b) broke a hand on a PAT and c) TJ Ward shredded his knee.

All of those injuries are completely unrelated to each other and have nothing to do with the back issues that caused him to miss his final college year.

Instead of focusing on the few times someone got injured lets think about how much more often those players absorb big hits and get up and keep playing. Accidents happen.

manxman2601 said:

@pff had Easley graded as their best pass rushing DT a couple of weeks ago. This hints as to why. Hit rate of pressures/snaps is quite something.

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This is exactly why Easley is so special to me Manx. His sack numbers won't blow anyone away, but the amount of times he blows up/pushes back an Olineman is insane. The guy is so disruptive.

Will it stop us from winning another championship? No, but just personally sucks, cuz after Collins, he's my second favorite defensive player.

AzorianPats said:

This is exactly why Easley is so special to me Manx. His sack numbers won't blow anyone away, but the amount of times he blows up/pushes back an Olineman is insane. The guy is so disruptive.

Will it stop us from winning another championship? No, but just personally sucks, cuz after Collins, he's my second favorite defensive player.

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Hightower is mine. The pressures created by Hightower, Collins and Easley have helped this defense no-end this year. We should expect pressure from the DEs, it's this ancillary support from the non DEs that have made this defence, and the pass rush, so much better this year.

ashley1992 said:

Jones was a no show this past week. Our two best defenders were Sheard and Hicks. Hopefully, he'll get back that momentum that he had earlier in the season

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Truth be told, Chandler been a no show for the past 3-4 games.

I like Jones, but he def benefits from Collins/ Hightower/Easley.

manxman2601 said:

Hightower is mine. The pressures created by Hightower, Collins and Easley have helped this offence no-end this year. We should expect pressure from the DEs, it's this ancillary support from the non DEs that have made this defence, and the pass rush, so much better this year.

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Hightower is a beast as well of course. And that's exactly the key. We get pressure coming from all angles.

But the fact that Jones disappears in games for long period of time concerns me a bit moving forward. Until he dominates a game start to finish, and is more consistent, I'm not justifying giving him a long term, big money contract, esp with our LB's coming up around the same time. Shears and Nink get to the QB just as much.

AzorianPats said:

Hightower is a beast as well of course. And that's exactly the key. We get pressure coming from all angles.

But the fact that Jones disappears in games for long period of time concerns me a bit moving forward. Until he dominates a game start to finish, and is more consistent, I'm not justifying giving him a long term, big money contract, esp with our LB's coming up around the same time. Shears and Nink get to the QB just as much.

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I'm starting to think he might not be worth a big contract. He has been noticeable less effective these last few games when we've been without Hightower and a 100% Collins. I wonder how many sacks Sheard would have had if he'd taken all of Chandler Jones' snaps. We have Jones for next year so it's not a decision that has to be made tomorrow, but I wonder how much additional value Jones/Sheard gives us over Flowers/Sheard in 2017 and beyond. I'm not convinced it'll be 10m - 15m per year in additional value.

When Jones is on, he looks great, I just wish he was "on" a little more consistently.

Chandler Jones had the same treatment as JJ Watt had - dobble or triple team for most of the game. I think with Collins and High down, other teams has been able to focus harder on Jones. That sayed, he shouldn't "vanish" completely. But again, if he make's 1-2 sacks in every game in Januar then people forget December fast

mgteich said:

Grissom had some reps at DT before Hicks arrived.

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Yep and the run D suffered.

ashley1992 said:

Jones was a no show this past week. Our two best defenders were Sheard and Hicks. Hopefully, he'll get back that momentum that he had earlier in the season

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Hey Ashley. I'll make it clear that I DO NOT HATE CHANDLER JONES by any stretch. He seems like a great teammate and seems very coachable. To me, Jones is what he always has been: a guy who can make big plays because he has the size and presumable talent (we've seen flashes), but he remains inconsistent and, more importantly, doesn't show up in the big moments. It's funny how there's a thread about Ninko almost every season for the past two or three talking about his value (or lack thereof) to the team. People look at his stats and wonder how much longer will he be here. That's laughable, especially considering they just extended him. But more than that, the man makes his biggest plays in the biggest moments and we've seen it year after year with him.

There have been critical moments that I sat on the edge of my seat and thought, "It's Chandler Jones time" or "Time for Jones to make a big play," but it rarely happens. The one sack he got in the SB was when Wilson pretty much ran right into him and Jones was unblocked. Ninko got his late in the game to kill a promising drive and, if memory serves, NE scored on the next drive. Jones will continue to slide in the sack race, which I couldn't care less about. What I would like to see, however, is more impact plays when the team is in dire need of a sack or pressure. Ware, J. Allen, Peppers and more recently Ansah, Mack (though he plays all over), etc. do it in crunch time/big downs. Until Jones starts to do that with a bit more regularity, I'll always see him as a very good DE (and one I would rather have on my team) but not elite. Sadly, he'll likely get paid elite money elsewhere because he has the size and potential. I say sadly because it likely will not be here.

Luxusdk said:

Chandler Jones had the same treatment as JJ Watt had - dobble or triple team for most of the game. I think with Collins and High down, other teams has been able to focus harder on Jones. That sayed, he shouldn't "vanish" completely. But again, if he make's 1-2 sacks in every game in Januar then people forget December fast

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Much respect. This is a false statement, whether you're talking the HOU game specifically or the season overall. He does get doubled at times, but it's hardly most of the game and it's rarely tripe teams. Let's not put Jones in Watt's stratosphere because Watt has been a DPOY. Jones has yet to reach that plane. Sorry, I love my players on my favorite team, but Watt is leaps and bounds better than Jones in just about every way. Whole game plans are made for Watt. Most teams don't do the same for Jones.

PatsBoy12 said:

Much respect. This is a false statement, whether you're talking the HOU game specifically or the season overall. He does get doubled at times, but it's hardly most of the game and it's rarely tripe teams. Let's not put Jones in Watt's stratosphere because Watt has been a DPOY. Jones has yet to reach that plane. Sorry, I love my players on my favorite team, but Watt is leaps and bounds better than Jones in just about every way. Whole game plans are made for Watt. Most teams don't do the same for Jones.

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Not a surprise that Watt is leaps and bounds better than Jones. He's leaps and bounds better than basically any other end in the league. Watt really is more consistant than any other end in the league. He makes plays game after game, year after year. I really like Jones, but he is more flashy. Sometimes he dominates a game or two in a row, then he can dissapear for a while. I wouldn't mind paying Jones $9M or so a year. But I would definitely not pay him $12M+. For that I wan't much more consistent dominance But as I have said before. There are extremely few non-QBs in the league that I think is worth that kind of money, and absolutely no non-QB that is worth more than $15M per year. For $14M you should be the best at your position, and play an important position(Revis, Sherman, WR). For $15M you better by historical, like Watt. For $15+m you better be a QB. AKA, my rant about why the Suh contract can not in any way be a good contract, no mather how good he is.

I think the biggest problem with Jones is that because of his long arms he tends to get locked up if he gets close to the OT, and then the OT can ride him outside and around the pocket.

QuantumMechanic said:

Quad or hammy tear or something like that, maybe?

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moejr said:

I thought I saw in one of the Pats articles it was quad related

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It looked to be quad related, based on the position he was in when the injury occurred. His legs were under him and he was driving up into a larger OLman. He wasn't extended at the knee or bent severely at the waist, which would stress the hamstring. I'd also note that during ACL recovery, the focus is on strengthening the hamstring, as it supports the ACL in stabilizing the knee and preventing it from hyperextending. The quad is a knee extensor and therefore certain exercises to strengthen it are avoided during ACL rehab to prevent stressing the or overpowering the recovering ligament, so in a sense this could be related to his prior injury history. Fortuntaely, with a muscle tear like this, he can begin recovering right away, first by spinning the bike and later by heavier work. He'll get a full off-season in the S&C program, and that will be the perfect medicine for him. I fully expect him to come back better than ever. Shame he couldn't be hear for the big games, however.