Post by grizz299 on Jan 23, 2018 11:28:45 GMT -5
JJP AMONG THE TOP 6TH. PERCENTILE IN STOPPING THE RUN
There's a poster here who defends John Jerry to the point of irrationality. I've already posted that the maligned ("he's coasting once he got his contract") JJP took 90% of the snaps last year. That doesn't mean I want to get tied to his hip like Bill Clinton supporting Hillary, but it does mean that we should be taking a look at some of our assumptions and a pre disposition to negatively judge players and coordinators.
Maybe JPP is no longer world class, but the man allegedly played with injuries through the year, took 90% of the snaps and now a survey shows he was 13th in the league in run stops. It has to be noted that that's not a among just DE's either, but rather collectively among all defensive players. So if we just count the front seven (Kahil Mack and Luke kuechly) are rated higher) that means JJP ranks 13th among 224 or in the top 6th percentile.
We can stretch things a bit because Rashad Jones - the Safety from Miami - made the list of top run stuffs (defined as tackles with within two yards of the line of scrimmage). So in a broader outlook (even if not completely fair) JJP ranked 13th. among 352 starting defensive starters or in the TOP 4 PERCENTILE.
Numbers can always be quibbled and nibbled at (and will be as a certainty), but it's time to stop the notion that the man who has fought his way back from what might have been a career ending injury to a man of less stern stuff is a malingerer. He's among the league leaders in snaps and run stops...Wow and BBWC believes he wasn't trying. I think if you put a capable blitzing linebacker in back of him that his sacs will go way up too - remember, most teams are right run orientated and JPP is seeing the TE and ORT. And I have to point out that JJP's long arms and ability to be in the right place always seems to give him some blocks and re-directions of throws that don't show in the stat sheet.
And quess who was far away the best (see below)?? All of which give lie to so many of the assumptions we've parroted. And - agreeably in a more subjective sense - supports the argument that this team has a good personnel base to build on. Tomlinson made the all rookie team and can reasonably be expected to make a dramatic improvement in his second year. I think this hardworking kid is going to be great. JPP, Snacks, Tomlinson, Vernon can reasonably -with good coaching in place - be expected to be a dominant front four next year and the kind of cornerstone that you build a strong defense around. No certainty there, but not the kind of negative doom saying we've been getting here either.
The resident jerk here can denigrate but there are still almost 7 (Harris, Collins, Vernon, Jenkins, JPP, Cromartie and - I'm going to take a shot and include Tomlinson) pro bowl type players with two being all pro's. That's outstanding, probably among the top five or so in the league and on top of that I think Apple can still be productive and Robinson, Kennard and Goodson can be adequate. Bad coaching distorts, losing distorts, and turmoil distorts the most, but step back and add in the impact of drafting second in each round and we could still see some excitement in the immediate future.
"It’s fitting that an award named after Ted Washington is won in it’s inaugural year by one of the heaviest players in the league. Damon “Big Snacks” Harrison is a 350-pound nose tackle with the kind of run-stuffing prowess Washington would be proud of. He had the highest PFF grade against the run among all interior defenders, with a 97.3 mark, and almost matched Aaron Donald’s raw grade, despite playing significantly less, even against the run. Harrison made a defensive stop on 18.1 percent of all running plays he was on the field for, which is the best rate PFF has ever seen among defensive tackles, and over 150 percent of the best mark we had seen heading into this season. He made 54 tackles; 49 of them were defensive stops in the run game, a mark that led all DTs this season. He missed just two tackles all year.
Harrison ended the season with nine straight games of green grading (above +1.0) against the run, and only failed to grade positively in the run game twice over the season, with both being just about average performances in games where he was sparsely used. Small, quick defensive tackles and interior players may be all the fashion in today’s NFL, but there is still a place for behemoth run stuffers, and there is none better in that regard than Damon Harrison, the winner of PFF’s inaugural Ted Washington Award.