Cville-Raven
MVP
Exactly, he’s way too slow and cumbersome for a pure edge player. Teams will just run off the edge all day with him out there. I’d rather give Bowser and Williams snaps over him.
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The General Front 7 Thread
- Thread starter JoeyFlex5
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My thoughts exactly. Zds is holding us back big time. He may be better setting the edge but not enough to warrant playing him more than bowser or Williams. Besides he has reached his ceiling.
even if you use ZDS situationally id be fine with that but ZDS getting 41 snaps (3 more than judon) while bowser only gets 6 is criminal
Wow, didn’t realize zds got more than judon. That’s crazy
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Because our pass rush comes sporadically and we typically bring pass rush from blitzing, when we could have far better pass rush and pass defense in general by using cover guys to cover and getting production a good pass rushing front 4
The Ravens don't need there pass rush though, there secondary is so good teams,should probably be running on 3rd and 7. Going all in to shut down run seems to be the winning formula.
we got 6 sacks on sunday but mostly because hundley held the ball too long because we had great coverage on the backend - that being said a better qb will still find the small windows in coverage if you give them enough time - so often we'd get no rush and then hundley would move out of the pocket once the pocket closed and have another 3 seconds to throw - that's not good enough
run stuffs put you in advantageous position but your defence doesnt get off the field unless it can create negative plays for the offence - that typically means an offensive penalty, a sack, a TFL or a turnover - pass defence is more conducive to creating those advantageous plays
the other point is that ZDS is no upshaw - he isnt an all-world edge setter, he's ok and the ravens certainly thought bowser was at least ok at it earlier in the year given the number of snaps he got vs the bengals and cleveland, im ok with keeping judon fresher by not having him in on every down
there's a place on this team for ZDS sure but im not sure he should be taking too many snaps away from tyus and timmy...
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Rossi nailed it. If ZDS was some stellar run defender and edge setter then it's a different story, but he's slightly above average in that regard, AND he's even lesser as a pass rusher and offers zero threat of confusion on passing downs because not even pees wants to drop him in coverage, haloti ngata in the Rex Ryan days was a bigger threat to do a zone drop than ZDS lol. There is just no logical reasoning for having ZDS take so many snaps from far superior players, other than being a coaches guy due to his motor and intensity. When he faces really bad tackles and qbs with no pocket awareness/mobility he can look like a world beater, but if he faces anyone besides what he faced vs Cincinnati then he just trips and strumbles and whiffs all day
That's most likely exactly why he gets more snaps than TWill and Bowser. He's the better run defender (assuming here) and that's the defenses number one priority.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
But tim Williams was in there defending the run over and over yet pulled off in passing situations often
If that's the case then idk what the hell our coaches are thinking. Maybe trying to give film on ZDS to use as trade bait this off-season? Williams definitely needs to be seeing more snaps tho. I like I've seen this far
1st game of season ZDS was beasting and everyone hyper him over 1 game and i think he was hurt for the next two and it was " we missing zds", but now they realize it was only one game and people want him out lol. Anyway, yes tim needs and browser needs more passing downs so we can see what they can do
That started to change that this week a little - Timmy came in for a whole drive because Green Bay had to chase the game and pass a lot - the only snap of that 7 play drive he was off the field for was a 3rd and 3 and he came back in after they converted
This was the drive where he had 1 great qb hit and another rush where he forced hundley out of the pocket
Also promising that he got 19 snaps - ZDS getting 41 is unacceptable though (because that means that he’s still being used in rush packages too much)
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
So it took a completely obvious comeback situation to get him on the field yet he's pulled off on countless third downs after run defending for first and second down lol.
Dunno how accurate my description but I recall a fair bit of it off the top of my head
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Well Z always had burst, raw power, and a high motor, he just lacks a lot of nuances like bend and balance. We were hoping that maybe he worked on his game and finally put it together, but it turns out he just had a perfect scenario where he faced a weak tackle that he could physically dominate and a qb who didn't give him much trouble in the pocket.
Idk why you like to fault people for getting excited over a good performance.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
I doubt Z has any trade value nor do I think that's what they're doing. He's a solid locker room guy and a solid rotational guy who offers a little something from OLB all the way to 5T on all 3 downs, but he's not gonna generate much interest and when he hits the market he should be an easy grab for any team who wants him.
I think it's just another case of harbaugh going with guys he's 100% comfortable with no matter how average they are. Harbaugh just despises playing younger/less knowledgeable guys when he has a decent player who knows the system
I’m hoping the packers second half was the watershed moment that changes his usage
Not to mention absolutely no lateral agility so he is the most jukable free rusher I’ve ever seen and literally ends up falling over
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Exactly his most hurtful trait. That's what I was referring to when I said balance. He beats his blocker so badly sometimes an absolutely nothing happens of it because the qb doesn't a simple a aidestep and he goes tumbling off into fucktown