Let’s talk Jacas. Is it physical, mental, both?

[TommyD4207]

Call me crazy but I think many are underestimating the impact of him not starting to practice until August 1st.

Checks calendar...yep it's still August.

How dare you make sense in a patsfan.com thread!

We must make immediate snap judgements!

 

[upstater1]

What i'm more concerned about is the lack of quick first step for a DE. He looks physical enough but his fist step looks below average for a DE.

I get the Keion White comparisons. Strong physical guys but don't have the quick twitch attributes to play edge.

White weighed 30 more pounds though so it makes sense he wouldn't be as quick at that size.

 

[TomPatriot]

I’m going with both mental and physical. Slow to react, not used to NFL game speed (even scrub preseason), thinking about his edge setting (which wasn’t bad actually), not enough burst. One play he beat the RT and ran directly into the RB and got blocked.

It wasn’t great but he’s only been practicing a month. We’ll see.

 

[Pape]

He's processing with his eyes... He's slow on the uptake and it's to be expected.

Dude missed the entire Ota season... Missed all those chances to learn, to practice with his new team... Even just the opportunity to sit in the film study room with position coaches would have helped

He looks like he came late... It should surprise no one

 

[jimnance]

Given our Supreme thinness at edge, I think it's realustic to assume our D overall will be worse than last season. Byard was a big upgrade so our secondary should be even stronger, with the caveat that both Gonzo and Woodson return to good health.
Plus with us facing more good offenses this season we'll probably give up some points.
The D will still be top 10 imo, but not top 5 like last year.
That might be OK, because the offense will obviously be better this year.
I believe we will have the #1 offense in the NFL. That's realistic, assuming we have good health at key positions.
The Patriots overall are a top 5 team, if we're only including starters. That's good enough to win a SB. But it wont be easy and I dont expect it this season. But soon, I expect us to longterm perennial SB contenders.
But we all know we have very little depth on both sides of ball.
Obviously the starters are a lot more important than the backups and Vrabel has done an incredible job putting this roster together. I think hes the best HC in the league.
The depth takes a few years to build. The Patriots will get there. They are still way ahead of schedule and we are all a bunch of lucky mfers.

 

[n1997y]

It certainly isn't physical. The guy is a freak of nature physically. He shows it in camp. So he isn't injured.

The guy raw and he missed months of development because of his injury and not getting a contract done until camp.

He may never pull it together, but if he does, his ceiling may be HOF quality.

From all I saw researching him after the draft his approach mentally is great, so I don’t see any reason to doubt he will get it together. He is way behind because of the contract and medical issues so he has had just about half the preparation other rookies have by now. I’m not terribly concerned about him. I really don’t expect it to take until late season for him to show improvement. If it does by then I’ll be worried about the rookie wall, and waiting for the sophomore leap. Hope it doesn’t come to that.

 

[p8ryts]

Given our Supreme thinness at edge, I think it's realustic to assume our D overall will be worse than last season. Byard was a big upgrade so our secondary should be even stronger, with the caveat that both Gonzo and Woodson return to good health.
Plus with us facing more good offenses this season we'll probably give up some points.
The D will still be top 10 imo, but not top 5 like last year.
That might be OK, because the offense will obviously be better this year.
I believe we will have the #1 offense in the NFL. That's realistic, assuming we have good health at key positions.
The Patriots overall are a top 5 team, if we're only including starters. That's good enough to win a SB. But it wont be easy and I dont expect it this season. But soon, I expect us to longterm perennial SB contenders.
But we all know we have very little depth on both sides of ball.
Obviously the starters are a lot more important than the backups and Vrabel has done an incredible job putting this roster together. I think hes the best HC in the league.
The depth takes a few years to build. The Patriots will get there. They are still way ahead of schedule and we are all a bunch of lucky mfers.

I think physically is fine. He needs to learn the finesse points of defense. I wasn't impressed with the defense until the playoffs. I think the new DC improved over the year and they begun to understand how the attacking defense worked.

 

[n1997y]

Character matters. His shenanigans around his drafting/signing suggest he might be pretty lacking in that department. Some of these guys, having been lauded and lionized all their lives, turn into real turds.

Again with the unfounded character issues accusations.

Everybody who isn’t stellar has character issues?

 

[n1997y]

I think that’s where I’m at.

No issue with the mental errors at this stage. He had a short camp and is behind in development. But what did concern me a little was that he showed no flashes of the physical ability against pretty poor talent. He seemed manhandled. You would hope some of that pure talent could win out there.

I’m not panicking on him yet. The major concern is the state of our depth chart currently on the edge. I really really wish he were further along, because there’s just not enough in the room.

He’s shown some physical talents at times.

The one time I remember seeing him manhandled was by a behemoth OT in the Eagles game, I think the guy was like 6’8” or 6’9” in both height and girth. That’s where Jacas needs to improve his repertoire apart from the bull rush.

 

[Thelonious]

Again with the unfounded character issues accusations.

Everybody who isn’t stellar has character issues?

It is a contributing cause in some cases, yes. His record to this point in his relations with the team suggests at least preliminarily that this might be an instance. Evidently you do not think that character matters. It does. Perhaps your tendresse for studmuffins blinds you to this aspect of things.

 

[Patjew]

If the simple things he's being asked to do are too mentally difficult for him, then we have a problem.
This country is so dumbed down, everyone acts like playing DL is rocket science. There's only a few different options for an EDGE player to diagnose. Rush the passer, Contain/Tackle the runner, Discern if/when it's a RPO and maybe cover a flat route.
Jacas' issue seems to be that he can't tell if the RB is running or QB is scrambling. In college he seemed to have instincts, so it must be that he's too afraid to make a mistake. They can simplify things for him once all the starters are next to him.

Finally someone has the guts to say it. Make DL Great Again!!