My goodness Te'o | Page 7 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

My goodness Te'o

Kevlared said:
he missed alot of tackles last night. i can understand bama o line domination. but those missed tackles, have nothing to do with the oline dominating.
Click to expand...

8 yard unimpeded runs at defenders makes a huge difference - but they all of them were wore out in the 1st quarter esp #13
 
And to think, we could have had Kuechly AND Russell Wilson.

Anyway, even if T'eo was not overrated , MLB is just not an impact position in today's NFL. Give me WR's, DB's and guys that rush the passer.
 
I take what everyone has said about it only being one game and you should judge his entire body of work not just this one off game against a vastly superior opponent but Bama are more like NFL teams than some of the cupcake teams he's face this year and what I saw in the game was a player who looked and worse still played small, it really was boys versus men out there. That's not a good sign, personally wouldn't touch him in the first round, but someone will for sure lets hope it's not us.
 
There are two really bad plays in here.

[video=youtube;d9NeqNEApgU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NeqNEApgU[/video]

Everything else is fine. Not the best he could be, definitely needs to use his hands better, protect his feet, but it's just minor technique points that most every player needs to continue to work no matter how great a prospect they are.

Those two plays are bad. But you also see a lot of good plays that got lost in the vitriol against Manti Te'o Monday night.
 
I can see the defense of Te'o which amounts to excuses along the lines that the Alabama offensive line manhandled the Irish D line such that Te'o wasn't protected. That may be fair, but then to be consistent you take away from his better performances when the Irish were playing weaker competition throughout their schedule, because you have to then give those same D linemen credit.

I wouldn't dismiss this as one bad game. This was a career altering game, where a player's legacy is affected. This was a game where if he were truly elite he would have transcended the circumstance and played better despite adversity. You want a guy that elevates his defense, especially in a big game. The Dolphins have plenty of guys who can quietly do their jobs and wait for the next guy to make the game changing play, especially in a big situation. This was a big game, and I think it is entirely fair to hold it firmly against Te'o because it really mattered. This kind of performance is not worthy of a top half of round 1 guy, especially at that position. Low 1 or second round, I'd consider him because I am not saying he is a bad player. But not top half of round one. Seau, Kuechly and Willis were worthy of such lofty draft positions but Te'o is not IMO.
 
I think Mike Mayock's got the right of this when he said that there's a massive overreaction going on out there, but that it is another data point and a lot of teams are going to look at it. However, and Mayock admitted himself he's still yet to review the tape, I think very little is being done in the way of CRITICAL evaluation of what actually happened. Just this generalized, "Oh why didn't you step up and take over the game by yourself" nonsense. I think when the people that evaluate these things throw on the tape critically and really dig into it they're going to see 2 or 3 really bad plays, some minor nits, a lot of good plays that he's been making all year, and a lot of plays where Manti Te'o has absolutely nothing to do with how the play played out by virtue of position, alignment, assignment and play direction.
 
He's still the same prospect he was before this game in terms of outlook on the NFL. The perception has changed more than the reality.

It affirms that he's a linebacker who plays disciplined, and within the framework of the specifics in regards to a system as opposed to a freelancing "playmaker". Notre Dame was destroyed at the line of scrimmage by the best offensive line that Tuscaloosa has seen since some of Bear's teams of the 60's.

It wasn't a good performance by Te'o. However, it was magnified by the fact that everyone around him was overmatched. There is a case to be made that he was also.

Fact is, when he was in position to make plays, he whiffed badly. He got caught leaning trying to make tackles rather than bringing his feet with him when he was in position to make the stop. This is typically what you see defensively when a team can't match up physically, or from the aspect of speed. I see it on a regular basis at the high school level, college level, and in the NFL.

There's a long line of terrific defensive players who will play in the NFL that have been neutralized and taken advantage of by Alabama's power, speed, and execution. Many that already are in the NFL and doing quite well.
 
First of all even if T'eo dominated the game I would throw a major tantrum if he was picked by Miami at 12. MLB is just not an impact position in today's NFL. That being said, I remember many games against the Jets where Zack Thomas just got man handled. Does it change my opinion of Zack Thomas? No, I still wear his jersey.
 
When Mayock reviews the film he's going to see that we used Notre Dame's strength on defense, which is a very simple fast-flow/quick read, and turned it into a weakness. The simplicity of the defense is designed to allow the front 7 to play fast and get into their run fits quicker. Most of what we did was shift into formations that dictated Notre Dame's defense to be out of position.

Notre Dame's front 4 got penetration on a regular basis.... because Bama allowed them to penetrate when and where we wanted. The front would get good push, only to be turned completely away from the ball.... it's the old Pin-and-Pull techniques of zone blocking. When you allow penetration only to turn the defender away from the ball, that allows for second level blocking.

Notre Dame and coach Diaco couldn't adjust to that. Dropping a safety into the box as an 8th defender can't be your only adjustment at this level of football. The safety (Motta) and Te'o were in position within their run fits to make the play singled up on the back in several instances, but simply could not do it. They were able to do it all year using this simple formula defensively.... but they hadn't seen anything like the backs Bama brings to the dance.

They were out-schemed and out-executed from an X's and O's perspective. Couldn't match up athletically or physically when in position to make the play when it simply boiled down to their player vs. Bama's.
 
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