TCal,

In Response to Re: what happened to germaine cunnigham our 2nd round pick:


cunningham was drafted higher than spikes for cryin out loud. if he`s healthy he`ll play. urban myer and belichick see eye to eye, so there is no way that he can`t be useful this season if healthy. also, jermaine was spotted at practice today, although he didn`t participate. i would guess that he was doing some peddling.

In Response to Re: what happened to germaine cunnigham our 2nd round pick:



"Get around one guy?" That's for a 4-3 DE, not a 3-4 OLB. 

3-4 OLB means setting the edge with the DE and also collapsing the pocket, that's why the OLB needs some size and/or range. 

Burgess is not ideal with the 3-4, but his experience and savvy may offest any physical limitations he has in the role.

It's not that i's difficult, it's just different what you would do as a 4-3 DE.

In a 4-3, the edge rusher is the DE and he's not necessarily responsible for the run.  When was the last time you saw Dwight Freeney make a tackle against the run?

In Response to Re: what happened to germaine cunnigham our 2nd round pick:

The outside linebacker is responsible for setting the edge on the defense, he cannot allow runningbacks or anyone else to beat him to the outside, he has to cover them, tightends and take on pulling offensive linemen. Rushing the QB is the fun part but they may get called on to actually rush the passer about as often as an inside linebacker or safety. 

Fast enough to beat a halfback to the sideline but strong enough to take on 300+ pound linemen; I'd say the degree of difficulty for OLB's is pretty high... the amount of busts at that position draft after draft confirms this.

^^^You said it better than I did.

I am surprised some Pats fans don't know what the roles are in a 3-4.

We both said the same thing at about the same time...

In Response to Re: what happened to germaine cunnigham our 2nd round pick:


Did you even read my second post russ?  I was simply talking about Pass rushing and Pass rushing only.  I was not talking about the responsibilities of an OLB in a 3-4 Defense.

Here, I'll make my point as crystal clear as I can.  Cunningham as a rookie can be successful as a pass rusher if he has the talent and ability to beat his man.
The fact he is a rookie should not hinder him though experience will help.  I think he will be OK as a pass rusher.

How BB will use him, in what situation I don't know but I think he's going to be OK.

 I ask again,can anyone in the Boston media get even a modicum of information about Cunningham's injury(I read somewhere that he turned an ankle and a  high ankle sprain would account for week and a half abscence)and a prognosis for his return.Anybody,anybody at all,I mean reporting is what you do,right   right?

all accounts are it was some sort of ankle injury, not serious. he was back on the sidelines today, which means he will be back at practice in the next few days. my guess is we wont see him play this week, but he should see a lot of action against the giants. i'm anxious to see him.

I think it is a high ankle sprain, but why must we speculate. Cunningham was the second guy off the board for the Pats and there has been nada, zilch, cero information coming from the vaunted BG. Why can't these writers actually do some investigating and report something other than what ESPN Boston, and the Boston Herald report? I swear Gasper and Breer have yet to do any serious substantive reporting.

Cunningham was picking up the defense very well.

In Response to Re: what happened to germaine cunnigham our 2nd round pick:


clearly they do not becasue this 34 we are playing now is Fairbanks 34, Parcells runs a modified Fairbanks/Bullough 34 that resembles Bum Philips 1 gap 34.

The line we have now is too big to run the bum philips 1 gap, If we rotate the following guys (Wright, Wilfork, G. Warren) (Brace, Pryor, D. Lewis) collectively our line looks like it has 5 nose tackle and one end... Wright is the only 2 gap end on the list. Damion Lewis played NT and DT with St Louis and Carolina, G Warren has played a little on the nose but 90% DT in 43 schemes for Cleveland, Denver and Oakland... Pryor is our back up NT now and Brace looks like he lost 30 pounds recently which puts him at around 320... Nonetheless the average interior DL on this team is tipping the scale @ 6'3 330 and that is way to big for them to run blast, fires, or switches on the outside with there OLB's...

Wilfork gets moved around the line now and i have to speculate that they do that for two reasons; 1) they want him to go man to man with the strength of the opposing defenses OL. 2) He is not mobile enough for them to run twists from end to end... Wilfork is a big man so chances are it is both.

I think it would benefit the patriots to rotate there defense to the strength of the offense. At the moment the strength of the offense only determines our middle libacker positions and our safety positions.

By the end of the year i would like to see Brace in a starting role, I would also like to see brace and Wilfork rotate to strength of the opposing offense because Braces skill is stuffing the run... which makes him a pour fairbanks 34 DE because he should be able to rush when asked but i suspect that is a weakness of his.

If it is at all possible for them to play a modified bum philips 34 like the cowboys, chargers, bills and packers that would be nice occasionally.

changing to the fairbanks "bend don't break" base 34 would be acceptable when the game is in our hands late in the second half.

A more aggressive one gap style would be great in the first half though

I do not see Cunningham as another Crable.  Cunningham is from Florida.  Coach Meyer and BB are tight.  BB knows what he got in drafting Cunningham, Spikes, and McCourty.

Cunninghams a high motor kid and he is very thick in the legs, his calves will not be an issue as they resemble many of our quads!

He looks like a very well developed DE with speed. I think his muscular development is similar to the Jets bust Sir Gholstabust, lets hope that is the only comparison they share.

I hope we see him this week, a steady rotation of TBC/Burgess and Cunningham/Murrell would be healthy but it may not produce BIG sack results.

The sacks need to come from the middle men Mayo, Bmeri, & Chung should be huge in the sack department, I am not expecting much from Spikes in the form of sacks because I don't think he will be on the field when they perform those stunts.

50 sacks would be nice, 25 to 30 from the hybrid DE/OLB position, 7 to 10 out of our MLB's, 10 plus from the secondary and another 10 from that big a z z Dline. 

In Response to Re: what happened to germaine cunnigham our 2nd round pick:


I am surprised that some Pats fans don't even know what DE position Richard Seymour played for years. We all make mistakes Russ.

In Response to Re: what happened to germaine cunnigham our 2nd round pick:


Have you ever seen the animated transformers movie (late 80's I believe)?

I prefer it to both of the current non-animated transformer movies.

I also LOVE the avatar.  Then again, I own the transformers season 1 box set.

In Response to Re: what happened to germaine cunnigham our 2nd round pick:


I jumped out of my seat when I saw the avatar....and im 26.