Michael Bennett

dreighver said:

Appreciate the sarcasm but the premise of the thread was never, "Why isn't Bennett playing better? This defense could be even better and I'm FURIOUS".

The premise was, "Bennett was expected to be a big contributor/every-down-player here (at least by me, I can't speak for others). Why hasn't he been playing more, and what is his current role?".

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In all seriousness, I don't know how you could expect more from the guy. He is making plays and giving us decent interior pressure. He is older than Flowers but putting up similar results. Keep in mind Flowers never gets double digit sacks in a season.

Lastly, he was recently on the injury report with a shoulder injury if I remember correctly. That could probably explain his playing time.

Triumph said:

Igor has failed Ivan.

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Not surprised you have given up already, it’s a week later than usual.

Ivan said:

Not surprised you have given up already, it’s a week later than usual.

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I missed seeing you triggered.

Bennett is awesome

patfanken said:

Nothing to discuss. Bennett is a 34 year old defensive lineman with a LOT of wear and tear on him. The SMART thing for this team to do is ration his playing time, ESPECIALLY while we are playing the softer part of our schedule so that he will be fresh for the harder part of the schedule and playoffs. It's as simple as that

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Bingo ... On pace for 8 sacks / 16 tackles / 12 TFL / 12 QB hits in very limited play. Then, turn him loose in the playoffs.

I won’t entertain any sort of complaint on the defense. It’s out there

Can’t expect Bennett to be playing every snap, he is up there in age and BB wants to get everyone playing time to keep them on their toes.

Keep him ticking over till playoff time, then he can step it up

In the NFL war of attrition, AKA the Season, rotating players to keep them fresh and not worn down by the time of the "Tournament" is a very good thing..

Currently we have more than a few "D" guys stepping up big time to do what needs to be done..

FYI y'all Trey Flowers has 1 sack while play 58% of the snaps for the Detroit Defense..

Some insights from Reiss:



RE: trading Bennett:

RE: injury:

Wayyy past it.

3 sacks in limited action. Patriots need him in January. I'm fine with this.

Also, Reiss' obsession with this is weird.

dreighver said:

Some insights from Reiss:



RE: trading Bennett:

RE: injury:

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Would love to see charts like those in the first tweet more often. Very useful to see how we're actually lining up most of the time game to game.

Marqui said:

He's actually better than Flowers. The difference is they play a 3-4 defense this year vs a 4-3 defense last year, and neither guy is an every down player in a 3-4 scheme.

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In light of Reiss' tweets, this earlier post from Marqui turned out to be spot on. I initially called this out, saying the 3-4 base doesn't really exist, but I was clearly wrong.

Happy to eat some crow and give props to Marqui for an accurate analysis of the situation.

I'm so happy we can find something to complain about, as far as this historic defense that gives up 6.9 points a game.

The next best defense gives up more than twice that.

PP2 said:

I'm so happy we can find something to complain about, as far as this historic defense that gives up 6.9 points a game.

The next best defense gives up more than twice that.

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Why do folks continue to insist this thread is a complaint in some negative sense, rather than just observing/analyzing Bennett's usage?

As Reiss himself notes, the expectation was that Bennett would be a full-time player when he was signed in March, and he has been far from that. It would seem natural to discuss why that's the case.

His usage is certainly an interesting topic worthy of discussion, as evidenced by the multiple variables involved (schematics, personnel rotation, depth at other positions, and perhaps a snap-count given his age).

None of this is intended as a complaint that he hasn't played a large volume of snaps, rather, this thread was intended to open the discussion as to why his usage has been limited and what to expect moving forward. After a couple of pages of discussion and some digging by Reiss, we're starting to get answers.

dreighver said:

Some insights from Reiss:

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I just took some notes on these package charts and made a list of our different front 7 players showing the different ways they've lined up in our primary packages this year:

50 Winovich: 1-4 SLB
51 Bentley: ILB
52 Roberts: ILB
53 Van Noy: 3-4 SLB, 2-4 SLB, 1-4 WLB, ILB
54 Hightower: 3-3 SLB, 2-3 WLB, ILB
55 Simon: 3-3 WLB, 2-4 WLB
58 Collins: ILB, 3-4 WLB, 2-3 SLB
70 Butler: 3-4 RDE, 2-3 LDT
71 Shelton: 3-4 NT, 2-4 RDT
77 Bennett: 3-3 RDE, 2-3 RDT
90 Calhoun: 3-3 LDE
91 Wise: not in these packages
93 Guy: 3-3 NT, 3-4 LDE, 2-4 LDT

It looks like they only really want to use Bennett in passing situations for now. Also very cool to see just how versatile 53, 54, 58 are.

dreighver said:

In light of Reiss' tweets, this earlier post from Marqui turned out to be spot on. I initially called this out, saying the 3-4 base doesn't really exist, but I was clearly wrong.

Happy to eat some crow and give props to Marqui for an accurate analysis of the situation.

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I'm not so sure theres crow to be eaten. They knew miami was inept, and ran a base d package most the game.

Against actual NFL teams with somewhat competent offenses/qbs, we go light and put the db on on place of a big. Its a change many have noted not just on our team, but around the league.

I doubt we go light against the Colts. Do we play them this year? Chiefs were 1st in division so we'd have to play their division and I'm having a brain fart.

Weird morning home getting kids off to school/potty training my two year old princess who spent the game quietly snuggling up with dad rather than jumping around in front of the television like her 4 foot tall 5 year old brother

Greg Bedard is really pushing the Michael Bennett is on his way out theory also. Bennett only had 11 snaps yesterday and most were in garbage time.