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Originally Posted by Daseal
To be honest Im much more worried about that 2nd CB spot than I am about MLB. Pierce was a roleplayer his whole career. Smoot was a starter for a majority of his whereas Walt Harris wasn't. CBs are so essential to this defense and I really dont feel confident in Harris as our starter. I think Rodgers will be a great player one day; however hes missing part of camp, has an injury, and most of all still a rookie. I think that's going to hurt our defensive rating. I think it wont be ranked as high but I feel we'll get far more turnovers this year.
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Daseal, what the hell are you talking about??? Harris has been a starter almost his entire career. The only thing that kept him from being a starter was that knee injury in the season before we signed him. He's a former first round pick.
Anyway, I think calling AP the Peyton Manning of our defense is spot-on. We don't need to split hairs and argue over whether they're intellectual equals. The point remains that AP was responsible for lining guys up and recognizing formations before the snap. If you go back and watch the games again, see how many times he runs up and slaps Griffin on one side of the rear or the other. You'll see that Griffin promptly slides a few feet in one direction or the other, and then see how many times Griffin made a big play after that.
AP played an extremely important role in that sense. It's definitely a concern, replacing his recognition skills and ability to line guys up. I think that's why McCune was drafted; he's smart, a physical beast, and no stranger to making quick decisions thanks to his military background.
Now who knows who will end up as the starter this year; but that to me is the #1 concern on our defense. GW can drum up some sweet schemes, but somebody needs to be thinking like him on the field. I think one of our guys will emerge and do well with it; but it certainly is a big question facing our team.