Originally posted by Tigerlaw:
You probably have tons of example clips on this lol
yes AA is the DE when this happens
Yes, I feel like many of us have gone over this a lot. There are
A LOT of clips of him consistently losing contain when he rushes from the DE position.
AA is slow off the line, but uses his hands pretty well. He's shown can beat OTs and OGs, but beats OGs far more often. Usually only beats the OT's when he gets a good start cuz it forces them to reach and he bats those hands away quickly to get past them. The problem is when he's at DT vs DE.
When he does beat the OL quickly, as a DT, that force right in the QB's face; he can get the sack, pressure, or force the QB into our DEs. As a DE, he almost ALWAYS flies past them, loses contain, and the QB escapes to his side for a run or more time to pass. There's no one else there. Its happened over and over and over again.
Now this isn't just as simple as only play him at DT. He's a really good DE when it comes to setting the edge against traditional run games. He's just very bad at containing the QBs, crashing too hard on bootlegs/misdirection. To be fair though and as unbiased as I can be, he is also very good at sniffing out screens. If this D can stick to the basics to stopping the run, and getting the opposing offense in 3rd and Long so we have Bosa, Ford, Ebukam, at DE and have AA in the middle more, this defense will be scary good.
Yes, I understand the WZ is subject to hyperbole and is very polar on a lot of our guys. We expect greatest all the time. I'm critical of AA, but feel like my assessment of him is fair. The coaches, and the team in general need to be able to play to their strengths. Football is the ultimate team game, and so many things contribute to flashy stats. Watch the film. Just because I'm critical of AA doesn't mean I hate him. He's a very good football player. He needs to be placed in positions to succeed.