Margus Hunt Analysis

[FatDT]

I like that they highlighted this play:



These are two veteran, multi-year NFL starters. Kelce is a Pro Bowler and All Pro. But Hunt outpositioned one and outmuscled the other, while staying even with the RB, and timed his burst perfectly to beat both blockers and make the play. Most DL cannot make that play.

We saw flashes of this last year when he played interior DL almost exclusively.

His athleticism was never an issue. As a Bengal he just didn't seem to know what to do with it most of the time.

I do think the DL movement, which we've already talked about some in other threads, is something that fits his athleticism well. Woods and Sheard, too. For his size, Sheard is a strong lineman, and I expect in his time in NE he learned a lot of tricks that he's finally able to put to use under Eberflus. We can also see now why they kept Woods, he is a blocker magnet. All three have shown they can tie up and position a blocker to put their teammate in better position to get into the backfield, whether that's another DLman on a stunt or a linebacker.

It seems to me like he's just developed enough to know what to do in a given football situation, and has the coaching and scheme in place to put him in good positions to do what he knows how to do well. Pagano had the DL doing more two gapping, reading and reacting, and while we saw some good things from him last year, I think having a bit simpler of a system and leveraging his athleticism probably suites him well.

This is something I think opposing OL will get better at addressing once we have a few more games on film, so we will see if he and the rest stay as effective as they've been so far. Scheme is good and makes players look better than they are, for a time. That is why you still need talent. So we will see just how much his development and technique have actually improved in the 2nd half of the season.

[JAFF]

The right guy at the right place at the right time. Sometimes it just happens