CheezWizHed

Got a link? There was no one else playing NT in the last two years, so I find that number "odd". Unless they are defining NT as only when we run base 3-4. If that is all Clark played NT the last 2 years, then there is no way we had an NT on 100% of the snaps. Yes, you see him move out at times (i.e. formations with wide open middle) during pass rush situations.

My thoughts on the game: Love: Still learning and growing. Better completion %, but still started slow (and ended slow this time). He certainly didn't look as comfortable today. I guess Rodgers never owned the Falcons, so Love is going to have to learn that one himself. Dillon: Looked a bit like the older Dillon in making a few cuts this time... But then just couldn't keep his feet to save his life. Fights hard if you hit him high... feathers take him down if hit low. LT: The Nijman/Walker rotation was odd. I guess it mostly worked and it explains the depth chart... Overall they looked OK out there. Newman: How has this guy not learned to stay in his gap??? Same problem he had as a rookie (over and over and over). As soon as he has no one to block, he turns his head and combo blocks with the T next to him. But he leaves a gap a MACK truck could drive through and a stunt or delayed pass rush goes right through it for the sack. Often, the combo block doesn't always help either... sometimes knocking the tackle off-balanced (or the rusher outside so the tackle is now out of position). Stay in your lane dude. Or at least keep your head so you can watch if anyone is coming into your gap. Myers & Love false start. I'm guessing this was a Myer's miss? "Wait, Rodgers never did this..." DL: Overall, they looked good. Clark had a really nice day; especially early. Run tackling was rough (everywhere). The only knock I saw on the DL for run stop was that it seemed one person would penetrate upfield and leave a gap behind that that RB would utilize. Not always the same person either. ILB: Really big gap between Walker and Campbell. Seemed like they constantly were running at Campbell and he couldn't disengage from blocking. I know the performance he had a couple years ago was probably over his head, but really big drop off now. Walker conversely looked really good. Safety: Nice to Savage playing well this year. CB: Jaire didn't have the best of days. Too short, bad hands, or just a touch behind most of the day. Not horrible, but now all-pro either. Carlson was beautiful again... maybe he is only inaccurate in practice? Whelen had some wonderful punts. Really great leg and hangtime. But his best play was easily missed. Orzech had a horrible snap that almost was behind Whelen. He was able to grab it and put it down without so much as a hitch from Carlson. I guess we know more about his work as a holder!

I have a suspicion that we will be signing a FA or two this year (unlike past years) so maybe they don't expect to get any compensation anyway? What FA safeties are out there? Grab the best one! or two!

Training Camp

Do they put it on the left arm of RHB and right arm of LHB to provide "insurance" from getting hit in the arm with a pitch?

When it is the Cubs or Cardinals, not only is not bad, it is expected! 🙂 It is easy to forget that in his career, he is about league average... We fell in love with the rookies and TT says, "Don't forget about me!"

Tyrone started really slow, but is on fire right now.

For us to score more runs and avoid a close one? 😉

Again, I'm not advocating for Wiemer to play more... but CF is probably the 3rd best position to have a plus defender (after the C and SS you mentioned) given the number of balls that go there. I thought of this the other night when Monestario thought he had a HR, but it hit the CF wall... and their LF got to it first. I'm not sure where their CF lined up (especially when AM is right handed), but a CF like Cain or Wiemer might've caught that ball. While the Marlins CF wasn't even in the picture.

It wasn't a wow play, but a smart one and one that relied on a strong arm with little setup to throw the ball. Wily also had a smart play to go to 2nd instead of 3rd (lead runner) and caught Bell pulling a plow to 2nd. You can find my posts elsewhere where I've advocated that he needs to go to AAA. His bat has trended downward for quite a while now and it is getting ugly. You asked for a recent play, so I mentioned one. Defense does seem to come easy to him (aside from communicating to other OFers so he doesn't run them over).

Beyond communication with other OFers....there have not been any mistakes, but some close ones on collisions.

He caught a ball deep in CF, fired it to Wily who threw it to 2nd to double up Bell to end the inning.

I wonder how tired he is this season? This year, he has had 62 appearances (MLB+MiLB). Last year was 52. Less previous to that.

I'm guessing most of us Little League-HS BB warriors would be diving out of the way of a MLB curveball or cutter. There is a LOT of movement and bunting is not an easy task at the MLB level... plus we know better now not to.

DLs move around in any and all schemes based on blitzes, stunts, what the LB is going to do, etc... Doesn't matter who the DC is... no one rushes from the same alignment every time. All NTs need to swap between 2-1-0-1-2 (maybe more?) based on the call. Someone that is 100% heads-up on the center (0) makes a predictable defense that won't succeed. Of course, maybe that is what Ed Donatell did...😅 Point is... Clark played significant time last year at NT - his best position - and was just OK. I'm sure at DE, he will be also OK. Better than Lowery...maybe a bit like Reed (strong run D, a little bit of pass rush) last year before he wore down late in the season. I'm sure Clark will get snaps at NT in obvious passing downs or mid-range. But Slaton is playing a very strong NT also.

If the Brewers know they will add Chourio to the 40 man roster next year (probable, but not certain), I'd role the dice at this point on Jackson providing more than Wiemer at this point offensively. Even against LHP (where Wiemer has hit 270/300/522/822 on the year, is eroding in the second half: 263/263/263/526 in August (19 PAs) 100/182/200/382 in Sept (11 PAs) Small sample sizes, but really trending the wrong way. Tyrone Taylor is hitting 324/359/595/954 vs LHP in Aug/Sept (similarly 39 PA samples) and should be playing in most of the time now. His history against LHP is also solid (not 954 OPS solid, but a respectable 247/299/438/738)

Odd... I regularly take Nyquil when I have a head cold and it works for me.

Yes, I was thinking about this a bit as I was writing up my part. Obviously, I'm arm-chair GMing the injury situation and would hope our own people do more diligence if this was a consideration. But still, it doesn't really fit our MO to go get high priced aging players when we are already budget constrained and building a core of young players and have a few FAs of our own to carefully consider for the future.

I'm sure the snap numbers at each position is buried in the annuls of the team's metrics, never to be seen by any of us... I was simply trying looking at whether he was playing the NT position (i.e. middle of the 3-4) or not. Thus I assumed: If Slaton and Clark were in together, Clark was playing a DE role and Slaton the NT role. Slaton played around 30% of the snaps the first 14 games, 40-50% the last 3. I'd assume Clark was also resting a chunk of those snaps (he played 70-80% of the snaps typically) If Reed-Clark-Lowry were in together, Clark was playing the NT role. Each player had about 60-80% of the snaps for the first 14 games (Lowry had very few the last 3 games). Clark also took most of the snaps in pass rush when there were 2 DL. Obviously, the gap they are playing when in that role is designed to fit the defensive play called at the time. So, if Clark is truly only a one-trick pony (i.e. playing 0 tech), then he really isn't the pro-bowler people talk him up to be. The NT needs to be able to flex around the 0-2 tech positions as necessary. I agree he isn't as good at DE, but the last couple years, he was really only "solid" at NT and not great.

@nate82, Brock can attest that I've tried to identify various dark mode issues for him and he has made improvements along the way. I often go into the articles to fix dark-mode formatting also (and remind the authors). They have gotten better as I see fewer of them now. But @Brock Beauchamp, here is another issue for dark mode. The pop-up notifications are not readable either:

New topic. I see TE Austin Allen was released from the PS. I'm pretty surprised by that. After thinking he was going to be a decent option at development TE and being one of my last people predicted to be cut (mainly because of TE need), I'm surprised to see him off the PS now. Now I wonder if they give Michael Jordan jersey #23... (Yes, Jaire would protest)

So we know the LT tried a cut-block on 2 of 4 snaps Rodgers played in... how many did they do for the game? You typically cut-block when you are doing something quick - like a WR screen or a slant... perhaps it is just coincidence? Hard to know the full game plan. Rodgers could've gotten hurt like he did on any other play call where he gets sacked. It isn't like the cut-block call caused his injury. It was an awkward sack that could've happened anytime.

There was much ado about Darrisaw last TC after they drafted him, but I don't think he was much more than "meh" last year. Perhaps he has improved? Bradbury is below average and doesn't holdup to a strong NT. I have a feeling that coaching might be an issue for them since it doesn't really matter who they get... it continues to be an issue for them. Meanwhile the packers continue drafting 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th rounders (with our 7th and UDFA looking not bad either) to build a strong OL.

Clark still played a significant amount at NT last year. TJ did play throughout the year with Clark either at DE or taking a break. But the base D was still Reed-Clark-Lowry for most of the season. And Clark had most if not all the pass rush reps at NT. It wasn't until the last 3 games of the year when Slaton's use started to increase; including his 2 starts. Not coincidentally, that was when they finally gave up on Lowry at DE. Even then he was only used 40-50% of the defensive snaps. For reference Clark typically played 70-80% of the defensive snaps. I couldn't find anywhere that had snaps at a position.