see dan drive said:
This is from Cafardo's Globe article, and though Hobbs is specifically saying this about Artrell Hawkins, it totally applies to himself as well....it's the reason he's a starter now, and he's gonna be good.
Quote:
"Most people think he wouldn't be that physical but he's one of those guys. But he doesn't have size and a physical stature. He has more of a willingness. That's all it comes down to. Either you want it or you don't. That's what this game is about, especially on defense."
People point to Bruschi's return as the changing point for our defense. But I think that Ellis Hobbs' being inserted at nearly the same juncture has alot to do with it as well. The guy just has that right attitude.
People got miffed at his celebrating, but my thought was 'hey, wake up, he actually MADE A FRICKIN PLAY!' While all our CBs all season were running around trying desperately just to stay close enough to WRs to even make a tackle Ellis is bucking up in there and knocking balls out. He leads the team in INTs and he's started what, four or five games?
The guy brings that aggressive nastiness that none of the other DBs have supplied in Rodney's absense. It is truly nice to see a guy that doesn't play so damn soft. Early in the year Asante looked better because he was across from Starks, now across from Ellis I've honestly thought that Asante has looked putrid. The guy is the textbook definition of soft. He plays too far off, never gets into the WRs body, doesn't make plays on the ball even when he does end up close enough to get a hand in. The guy is playing awful. Basically all he's done is make tackles after allowing a catch.
Guys might point to Asante's big hits early in the season, and yeah those plays weren't soft.. but I'd take a guy that leaves out the huge hits and actually makes plays to stop drives. A couple of Asante's big hits that he actually celebrated were on plays that had ALREADY NETTED A FIRST DOWN.
Ellis seems to be the real deal. While it is too early for canton, it's easy right now to say that he's our best CB bar none. If he gets injured, PRAY for that secondary, because to me he is irreplaceable considering what we've already lost.