Week 6 at Jax - Stats and Stuff

[Chromeburn]

So this was kinda surprising.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

When you look at this, you have to include OLBs that are edge rushers. When you do that, I see the following since 2018:

2023: 1 of 4 (Also way too early, Tuipulotu is starting and performing well for LAC though)
2022: 3-5 of 8 (You be the judge on Ebeketie and Hall, Mafe, Jackson, and Bonitto are hits)
2021: 0-1 of 3 (Ojulari is good when healthy, jury still out on Dayo)
2020: 2-4 of 5 (Yetur Gross-Matos, Darrell Taylor, and Josh Uche have all had stretches of high production)
2019: 0 of 1 (Just our bust Ben Banogu here)
2018: 2 of 4 (Harold Landry and Uchenna Nwosu are good starters, Turay and Lewis were busts comparatively)

If you take the low end numbers, that's 8 of 25 quality players (32% hit rate). At the high end, it's 13 of 25 quality players (52% hit rate). Either way, Ballard is performing way worse than average over that stretch. For reference, here are the players I included for each of the 6 years:

2023: Derick Hall, Isaiah Foskey, BJ Ojulari, Tuli Tuipulotu
2022: Logan Hall, Arnold Ebeketie, Boye Mafe, David Ojabo, Josh Paschal, Sam Williams, Drake Jackson, Nick Bonitto
2021: Azeez Ojulari, Dayo Odeyingbo, Carlos "Boogie" Basham
2020: Yetur Gross-Matos, Marlon Davidson, Darrell Taylor, A.J. Epenesa, Josh Uche
2019: Ben Banogu
2018: Harold Landry III, Uchenna Nwosu, Kemoko Turay, Tyquan Lewis

This seems like a flawed method with subjective criteria for a good pick and a small sample size. How does this compare Ballard to his peers? How often are those teams drafting defensive linemen? Are they OLBs that can rush the passer but have LB duties or full-time pass rushers? Also, would they all be considered guys they would draft that Eberflus would want in his defense?

I felt that Eberflus’ desire to shut down the run limited the prospects and eliminated some guys who might be good pass rushers but were a liability in the run game. Ballard drafts player types his coaches want.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

So this was kinda surprising.

Very surprising considering we couldn't run worth a shit. Although Freeland is only 1 of 5 guys obviously.

[Chromeburn]

This is a crazy read. NFL offenses are off to the worst start since they started tracking the data in 2000. Defenses are eliminating chunk plays and forcing offenses to dunk and dunk down the field.

https://sports.yahoo.com/the-overhan...130059011.html

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

This is a crazy read. NFL offenses are off to the worst start since they started tracking the data in 2000. Defenses are eliminating chunk plays and forcing offenses to dunk and dunk down the field.

https://sports.yahoo.com/the-overhan...130059011.html

The old bend-but-not-break defense of the Dungy era.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

This is a crazy read. NFL offenses are off to the worst start since they started tracking the data in 2000. Defenses are eliminating chunk plays and forcing offenses to dunk and dunk down the field.

https://sports.yahoo.com/the-overhan...130059011.html

The standard drop-back play is more advantageous for the defense than it is for the offense so far this year. That's wild.

[Oldcolt]

It is nice to be wrong. I thought we were screwed with a rookie 4th round pick as our swing tackle. Give Ballard props for finding quality offensive tackles in 3rd and 4th rounds. Big props to the line coaches, reminds me of Mudd and the next man up era that really worked.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Racehorse

The old bend-but-not-break defense of the Dungy era.

It’s basically the standard defense around the league now. Contain and force teams to throw short.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

It is nice to be wrong. I thought we were screwed with a rookie 4th round pick as our swing tackle. Give Ballard props for finding quality offensive tackles in 3rd and 4th rounds. Big props to the line coaches, reminds me of Mudd and the next man up era that really worked.

Good scouting and evaluation dept. that era of linemen is basically gone now. Practice restrictions makes it very difficult to develop anyone that isn’t a starter anymore.