Good Column for Draft Week

[nero THE zero]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Does this not sound like Mario Williams' rookie season?

I was under the impression that Mario's biggest hindrance was Plantar Fasciitis his rookie season.

I mean, no doubt it is difficult for any rookie to learn a new defense, especially a lineman. But, I thought his biggest struggles were playing on one foot, no so much mental struggles.

[Roy P]

Because the team is bad, Sack Man is expected to be an every-down starter from Day One. The whole playbook is thrown at him. He's expected to stop the run, blitz, stunt, and drop into coverage during zone blitzes. Sack Man sometimes plays out of position or is given no-win assignments.


Having a rookie play on the RDE and LDE and slide into the DT spot in passing situations was a bit much. Everytime I saw him drop into pass coverage, I nearly lost it.

[Roy P]

Originally Posted by nero THE zero

I thought his biggest struggles were playing on one foot, no so much mental struggles.

That and Jethro Franklin.

[HPF Bob]

The coaches thought they could create mismatches by lining Mario up all over the place and some of us complained at the time that this was actually holding him back. Yes, his heel problems were an issue, as was his habit of standing up to read the play rather than staying low and maintaining leverage, but in his first training camp they were using him all over the line which I thought was bound to slow his development. He isn't exactly the brightest bulb to begin with.

[dadmg]

Originally Posted by nero THE zero

I was under the impression that Mario's biggest hindrance was Plantar Fasciitis his rookie season.

I mean, no doubt it is difficult for any rookie to learn a new defense, especially a lineman. But, I thought his biggest struggles were playing on one foot, no so much mental struggles.

I agree, although it is hard to say definitively. He started off the season with three sackless games in which he was pretty well invisible. Then Kubiak called him out and he responded with 4.5 sacks in 5 games, but injured the foot in the fifth. Rest of the year he was decent but didn't rack up any more sacks. I know I've always chalked it up to the injury because its pretty hard to get a good burst with that type of injury.