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 Добавлено: Ср Авг 14, 2019 9:14 am Заголовок сообщения: This is Brent Urban.You may be a very invested fan of the Se |
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the NFL but never heard of him. Urban led the Ravens in snaps among defensive linemen in 2018 with 522 Will Dissly Color Rush Jersey , appearing in just over half of his team’s plays on defense. Conducting research on Urban, this fact seems little know even among Ravens beat writers, and if Baltimore Beatdown represents a collection of well-informed and engaged Ravens fans, prevailing opinion is that Urban could probably be re-signed for about a mil annual. Maybe that shouldn’t be true.The Seahawks need size to shore up their defensive line. Their? its? grammar is a pseudoscience. Naz Jones is now a five technique or big end. Much of Seattle’s preferred alignment of LEO, or rush linebacker-defensive end hybrid, 3-4 defensive end-4-3 defensive tackle hybrid, nosy threeish-tech, and big end or 5-tech is complete should Seattle retain Frank Clark and Quinton Jefferson, but that vital 3-4/4-3 guy—a position variably filled by Tony McDaniel, Alan Branch, and if you want to go back a decade or so, Jason Jones (situational), Kentwan Balmer and Junior Siavii—is not on the roster, and probably hasn’t been on the roster since the Malik McDowell debacle.Thus: Brent Urban.The lack is plain to see. Here’s the first play of the Seahawks-Cowboys Wild Card game.Seams everywhere. More than Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright can rightly contain. The Seahawks gapping linemen have run themselves into the backfield and out of the play. That’s okay because that’s what they’re supposed to do. If this were a pass play, boom. As such, they’re trivial in the outcome of this play. But their gap-control linemen, in this case both aligned defensive left, are in various states of failure. Shamar Stephen (9 is locked down and reeling. Jefferson is in the midst of an arm over, but La’el Collins has walled him out of the interior, and Collins’ former double-team mate, Dalton Schultz (86), is now free to impede Wagner. He won’t, much, but in part because Wagner will retreat. And thank goodness he does. The result is a tremendously easy gain of eight on first down.Jeff’s too far left. Wagner’s in damage control mode. And Stephens is sufficiently beat, allowing Connor Williams (52) to peel off and get some licks on Wright.From 2014, a very different look.An apple to oranges comparison for sure, but all the same: Seahawks have contained the outside channeling DeMarco Murray inside; he has two big holes but each is filled by a linebacker Michael Dickson Color Rush Jersey , and behind either is Earl Thomas, playing relatively shallow. Thomas’s ability to play up and recover is missed, as is Brandon Mebane’s stoutness, and I would be dishonest if I didn’t point out that Ronald Leary (65) is out to sea looking for something to do, but this is a run defense working. It’s not awesome. Murray gained four. No one shot the gap and made a highlight play. And if Mebane weren’t washed sideways by the double team, and Cliff Avril weren’t stood up and immobilized by a tight end, those holes would be smaller, but linebackers are in rushing lanes and the second level is protected by redundancy in the third level.Dallas lost EPA in the above run, if only .01, but gained .53 in the first. And it was a relentless series of lost rather than won runs which doomed Seattle’s rush defense for a second straight year.So our criteria for judging Urban are relatively simple. Can he hold up to a double team, prevent seams to his left and right, and sufficiently arrest blockers so that linebackers can play the ball carrier unmolested? Let’s see. I actually do not know!Urban is lined between Connor McGovern (60) and Jared Veldheer (66).I cannot tell you exactly how good either is, given my relative lack of exposure to McGovern and Veldheer’s extensive injury history, but on the whole run blocking was considered a strength for Denver. The Broncos finished fifth in rushing efficiency, sixth in Football Outsider’s adjusted line yards rankings, and were above average rushing to the right, including top five rushing off right end.Broncos attempted to block Urban with one player, Veldheer. It did not work. 66’s retreat is proxy proof of Urban’s dominance.Royce Freeman loses two and .82 EPA. I am tempted to write in Soviet Russia hole rushes you and I guess I just did.Next, an attempted double team. Urban is similarly situated.Veldheer is joined by Jeff Heuerman (82), who is said to be a pretty good run blocker.Walled off but ...steadily closing the gap until ...the hole becomes a tiny restricted tangle. If you look closely you can see Urban more or less chucking Veldheer. He’s forced back more than I’d like, and that inability to hold ground might keep him in a 3-4, but the control of horizontal space is very impressive. This run went for one, which shaved another .55 off Denver’s EPA, and put the drive into the red. Heading into third down, the Broncos were expected to lose .43 points off field position from this drive.Urban as pass-rushing nose tackle:Good jump and ...lateral movement to set up the stunt ...but he doesn’t otherwise factor. Broncos convert third and 11. Urban takes a breather. A couple plays later, our last look at the big man, again playing nose.jump; lateral quickness ...and since he doesn’t show much in the way of pass rushing moves Alex McGough Color Rush Jersey , Urban attempts a tip which is tantalizingly close to working. Case Keenum’s pass, if you will, nutmegs Urban’s arms.34 1/4” reach on a 6’7” dude should be able to tip passes. Above he’s the quickest of beats slow.Preventing or shrinking seams against the rush and tipping passes or closing throwing lanes is collectively not prestige work. Which is to say it won’t be recognized by Cris Collinsworth, but it’s pure football and a vital part of good defense. That’s part of why you’ve probably never heard of him before. A good day for Urban may involve zero sacks, tackles, tips or quarterback hits.The other part is he’s been injured, a lot, and seriously. Search for “Brent Urban” and you might find this bit of molliprop from the Ravens official site. It is about his return from a lisfranc injury, following his return from a biceps tear, following his return from an ACL tear.The bad news is injury often seems to beget injury. The good news is that’s gonna be baked into his cost in free agency. The bad news is lisfranc injuries effin suck. The good news is, he played all of last year without problem, and will be that much more removed from the injury in 2019. The bad news is people have become inclined to say stuff like “health is a skill.” The good news is that’s probably just another one of those pithy nothings we wield to ward off the terror of constant incipient chaos. And the extra good news is none of Urban’s injuries seem chronic. And, oh yeah, he’s young, and oh yeah, apparently he can be re-signed for a milli, which makes me think he’d probably sign a free agent contract for, say, two. Spending a draft pick on a punter isn’t unusual in the NFL because field position matters in the league. When that rookie comes in and shows off a booming leg, people take notice.Michael Dickson bypassed his final year of eligibility at Texas to enter the draft early, and the Seattle Seahawks traded up in the fifth round to take the Australian native and 2017 Ray Guy Award winner. Dickson has made both decisions pay off very nicely in his debut season.Dickson edged out Johnny Hekker of the Los Angeles Rams as the NFL’s top punter in 2018 in voting released Friday by a panel of 10 football writers for The Associated Press. Dickson received four first-place votes and was the only punter listed on every ballot.“When’s the last time a rookie topped any of the position rankings? Who knows?” Dallas-based Schuyler Dixon said. “When’s the last time a punter skipped his final season of eligibility for the draft? This former Texas Longhorn is a generational talent.”Dickson, who has had a long punt of 69 yards this season, is second in gross punting averaging at 48.7 yards. But the rookie easily leads the NFL with a net average of 44.2 yards. He’s also placed 20 punts inside an opponent’s 20. Dickson was voted the NFC’s special teams player for November thanks to his leg.“Spending a fifth-round draft pick on the Aussie from the Texas Longhorns has turned into a key move in Seattle’s unexpectedly solid season,” New York-based lead NFL writer Barry Wilner said.Hekker, who finished fourth in these rankings in 2017, received two first-place votes. His biggest challenge comes from playing for a team with a high-powered offense that just doesn’t need him much. Luckily, Hekker keeps finding ways to make himself valuable.“He’s a four-tool punter Byron Maxwell Color Rush Jersey ,” said Philadelphia-based Rob Maaddi. “Hekker can run or throw for a first down on fake punts, and he has also made an extra point and field goal this season. His net average being fifth is just an added bonus.”In all, 17 punters received at least one vote, with only five receiving at least one first-place vote.Brett Kern of the Tennessee Titans, who earned his first Pro Bowl nod in 2017 when he also the top punter in these rankings , joined Hekker receiving two first-place votes and finished third. Kern is fourth with a gross average of 40.5 yards with his net taking a hit from a struggling punt coverage unit. But the 11-year veteran still has a strong leg, with a long of 62 yards this season.“Forget drafting Tim Tebow or trading Jay Cutler, Josh McDaniels’ head coaching legacy in Denver was inexplicably waiving Kern, who landed on Tennessee’s roster and has been nothing but sensational for the last decade,” said Denver-based Arnie Stapleton.No punter has had as many chances this season as Andy Lee of Arizona, not that usage is limiting his effectiveness. Lee finished fourth with a leg that has a long punt of 64 yards this season.“Lee is a three-time Pro Bowl pick and could be in for another trip with another solid season,” New York-based Dennis Waszak Jr. said. “With Arizona’s offense struggling as the worst-ranked unit in the league, Lee has been plenty busy while punting an NFL-leading 71 times, and his 48.5 gross average and 41.7 net both rank near the top.”Cameron Johnston of Philadelphia finished fifth as the other punter to receive a first-place vote. New York-based Simmi Buttar noted the Australia native is tied for the league lead in gross average with Dickson and has a long punt of 68 yards.Washington’s Tress Way and Dustin Colquitt of the Chiefs tied for sixth. San Francisco-based Josh Dubow noted no punter has been better than Way at pinning teams deep, with nearly 60 percent of his punts downed inside the 20.“No one has even approached that mark in nearly three decades,” Dubow said.Colquitt, like Hekker, simply doesn’t get many chances to punt. Wilner says, yes, Colquitt could get rusty with how well the Chiefs move the ball, but the punter remains one of the NFL’s best.Sam Koch is a 13-year veteran for Baltimore yet remains a factor for the Ravens and came in eighth. He finished just ahead of a second-year punter in Matt Haack of Miami. The Dolphins keep Haack pretty busy, but he has put 31 kicks inside the 20 to finish ninth.Rigoberto Sanchez of the Colts came in 10th, and he has the second-best net average at 42.8 yards that cannot be ignored.“Don’t usually look at indoor kickers, but Sanchez has given up a total of 63 return yards,” Wilner said. |
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