HEY BRO! WHAT UP?
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Mayo was supposed to be the guy that succeeds Bruschi. Unfortunately, the last two seasons the Pats had to play Mayo at the SILB because he was their best ILB and nobody else could fill the role.You do realize that Willis is assigned entirely different responsibliities than Mayo, don't you.
If you are expecting Mayo to read, react and execute his play the way a MLB in a system that asks him to read the play and run to the ball, he will suck in your eyes even if he is the greatest LB to ever play the game.
Mayo's responsibility in the run game is control the gaps on either side of the G he is lined up across from. That is entirely different than what you seem to be saying you want to see him do.
Here are some examples.
If the play is run in either gap between the C and T areas, Mayo must step up, establish the los, and be responsbile for both sides of the G. This typical means he is engaging the G and playing off of the block.
If the play goes away, Mayo job is NOT to read and chase. It is to step up into the G area FIRST and play cutback or counter.
If the play is an onside 'stretch' play, Mayo is not reading where the cut may be and chasing to the sideline, he is stepping up to his area then flowing after he knows the play did not come to or cutback to his area,
You are confusing a MLB in a one gap system who is told he is responsible for every inch of the field, sideline to sideline, to a guy who is first responsible for the area from C to T and then AFTER discharging those responsibilities can he read and chase.
IT is night and day.
Like I said in an earlier post, now that Mayo will probably be lined up on the weak side, it's not far fetched to ask for him to start making plays who was the 10th pick overall.
The jury is out on Mayo and their are no more room for excuses. When Ted Johnson was playing the strong side, Bruschi was the Pats playmaking LB; making clutch play after clutch play. So far, all Mayo does is tackle guys after the damage has already been done.
I've said this before and nobody really seemed to care but Merrill Hodge broke down some film of Mayo and saw that he gets engulfed in guards too easily and is very slow at reading plays.
This is the exact reason why I believed the Pats were going to draft a LB like Brandon Spikes to do the dirty work while Mayo can use his athleticism.
It's put up or shut time for Mayo.