No intent to put words in your mouth, Box.
But i would appreciate an expansion of the highlighted observation.
Is TBC so close to Colvin's performance
that perhaps Tully should get some money
... while we consider "re-structuring" Rosey's 3XL contract?
I'm not a capologist and it's Bob Kraft's money, so contract details are for others to argue.
What "I" saw on tape were two guys that were similar in performance, allowing for experience and location on the line. Warren dominated last season, if you played alongside him you had a lot of help. Seymour had injury issues, if you played alongside him you had a tougher challenge.
As for Salty's recollection of the yardage change thread, there were also people posting in that thread with other positions on the numbers being argued. An example would be noting the change at NT and SS during the period in question.
There have been arguments put forward laying the entire "blame" for decreased efficiency against the run on TBC, those arguments ignore the other factors involved, such as the re-shuffle at LB noted above.
The only way to effectively grade TBC is to watch him on tape, not live during the game; novices such as myself can't critique a player's performance with any accuracy at game speeds. I need to re-watch the game tape using slow motion to track each player and to have any hope in puzzling out what happened - you might notice BB refuses to comment on a player's performance before he has watched tape, and I'm fairly certain that regulars to this forum aren't up to his standard at game speed.
I watch tape to understand, not to find fault with a player. I watch TBC and I see the first DE to LB developed from a Pats' larvea since Tedy Bruschi. I see a LB doing a good job in underneath zone coverage; due to injury, I see a young LB getting his first extended taste of 3-4 OLB at game speed and holding his own against starters, setting the edge and turning plays inside. He also made a few tackles, 40 Total in 5 starts out of 16 games played that ranks him 16th on the roster - compare that to 8th ranked Rosie who had 59 in 15 starts and 16 games played and you can argue that TBC got off his blocks better then people credit. Add on TBC's 10 ST's tackles and he put a fair number of people on the ground.
If people who question TBC's game would go back to tape and attempt to break down each play describing how TBC was the player giving up the running plays and underneath receptions I'd be glad to read their work. So far people have attempted to use "team" statistics and apply it to TBC - when they can control for all the "other team members" who are playing those statistics might be valid in arguments, for now it's shoddy analysis. Telling me how carefully you watched him during a game doesn't cut it either, I know the number of football geniuses posting on this forum is astronomically low - but speak up if I slight you.
Bottom line: On tape TBC is a good 3-4 OLB who
at minimum is a good reserve. If he is signed away for a better offer, such is the NFL, BB just has to push Alexander and Woods along faster or sign a couple vets who can fill in until they are ready.
