yankees228

Brett Gardner's UZR/150 in CF this year: 20.1 Curtis Granderson's UZR/150 in CF last year: -18.5 Going to be very frustrating if Granderson goes back to CF when he comes back. Hopefully the fact that he has been playing a lot of COF during his rehab stint is indicative of future plans. EDIT: Also, small samplings aside, that's for all the folks who thought that Gardner's LF UZR ratings were simply a product of a CF playing COF, and that it wasn't a true reflection of his defensive abilities. The guy can go get it with the best of them.

Worst active Yankees roster since probably the Stump Merrill teams and they're off to their third (tied) best start through 35 games since 1999, second best since 2004. Go figure.

Yeah I will. I meant to come back when baseball season started, but better late than never.

Haha I can't stay away from the football talk.

Really surprised Manti is still on the board. You would think the best college defensive player of the last decade would've managed to go in the top 32.

Ah I see.

Contempt toward other poster(s)? EDIT: Only asking because that seemed like an answer that begged a question ... so I was curious and obliged. Such is the result of boring afternoons.

This has become rather circular, but I'll just finish up my piece by saying that I think Te'o is an excellent player, who just doesn't quite live up to the hype that surrounds him. This is based on way more than the title game and based more on the performance of others than Te'o, because, as mentioned multiple times earlier, this is less about Te'o's own abilities and more about the abilities of others. At this point, though, I'm willing to just agree to disagree. I'm curious though, have you seen a lot of Mosley and Ogletree?

I'll try to take this point by point, for clarity. On linebackers not facing offensive linemen frequently: That's just not true at all. On power runs the fullback's responsibility is the LMOLS, and either the play side tackle deals with the ILB to seal of the backside, the pulling guard deals with the ILB as the lead blocker, or, on rare occasions the weak side tackle is tasked with getting up to the second level and dealing with one of the ILBs. On zone runs the chance of the ILB dealing with the fullback is great than with power runs (mostly because, like I said, on power runs it basically never happens), but there's as good a chance as an uncovered offensive linemen being tasked with getting off his double team and then getting to the second level to deal with the ILB as there is with the fullback blocking the ILB as the lead man. And Te'o almost never rushes the passer so dealing with a blocking fullback on pass rush is a moot point, as he's almost always tasked with the robber position. Point is, Te'o will deal with an offensive linemen one on one way more than he'll deal with a fullback or even a tight end. I understand that the common perception of football is a fullback leading through the hole and taking on the ILB, but reality disagrees. On linebacker assignments in the NFL on pass plays: It's true that they are asked to play zone, but, in order to be an every down linebacker you really have to be able to hold up in man coverage. Te'o's value takes a hit if he's not going to be an every down linebacker, but that remains to be seen. The only point is that I've read quotes with NFL executives saying they're concerned about his ability to hold up in man coverage because of his lack of speed. Here's on article in particular that I remember reading about a month ago. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/08/manti-teo-will-be-a-first-round-pick-but-some-question-his-speed/ On the awards: I brought up the awards to show his hype, and that it's clearly overstated. He was named the most outstanding player in college football, among other things. That's a massive exaggeration. On scouts and draft status: You don't think the opinion of scouts is a legitimate source of information, even if it sometimes wrong and shouldn't be considered gospel? On the BCSNCG: Couple things here. One, I'm using it as a bit of a litmus test, because it represents his only test against NFL competition. But the main point is that I'm giving players who have performed really well against better competition on a consistent basis the nod over Te'o, because that seems like the most reasonable approach, no? On Justin Blackmon: My argument about Blackmon was that he's a very good WR, but he lacked explosive play capability and benefitted from poor tackling in the Big XII. I don't really see how that's controversial. On Te'o, overall: I'm saying he's a top 15 defensive player in the country, and a top five (or three) ILB in the country. You're kind of acting like I'm saying he's a very flawed player, when, in fact, I'm saying he's an elite player ... just not quite as good as the accolades and media attention (i.e. most outstanding player in the country, best defensive player in the country, etc) would have us believe.

Just want to point about one more thing about Te'o, which probably gets overlooked. At Notre Dame, during pass plays, Bob Diaco allows Te'o to play robber coverage, freelancing and reading the QBs eyes. He does this almost exclusively, and he's good at it. But that won't be the case in the NFL. At times he'll be able to play the robber, but often times he'll be forced to play man coverage vs backs or tight ends and I've read plenty of quotes from NFL scouts and executives with concern over whether or not he has the speed to do this. So in terms of his talents translating to the NFL, people take his pass coverage as a sure thing (due to the INTs this year), but those plays came via responsibilities that he often won't be tasked with on Sundays. And that's one of the big problems with teams drafting linebackers and defensive backs out of a Bob Diaco defense. He plays almost no man coverage, and keeps things exceedingly simple for his linebackers on pass plays vs run plays and zone runs vs power runs. And he does this for good reason, it works when you have way more talent than the other team, as was the case with many of the games Notre Dame played this year. But, in my opinion, this isn't the best preparation for the next level, where assignments and responsibilities are totally different. Contrast this with the NFL style defense that Nick Saban and Kirby Smart employ at Alabama, and you see why many linebackers and defensive backs out of the Capstone aren't just successful in the NFL, but successful immediately. And this is something Bill Belichick made mention of when he drafted Dont'a Hightower, for instance.

My personal evaluation of Te'o isn't all that different than how the scouts see him. He was horrible on Monday night, by both the eye test and PFF's grading system (-5.7). Unfortunately for him this was the first time he faced NFL talent on the interior of the offensive line (and the top two running backs he had scene all year), and he came up way short. Contrast that with someone like Nix who played a solid game, often winning his one on one matchup with Barrett Jones when he was playing the zero technique. The point is that Monday was a sort of litmus test for many of these highly touted ND defenders who feasted on what essentially amounted to poor competition over the course of the season. Some of them were decent, others horrible. Mayock talked after the game about how awful a performance it was, but he should be able to stay in the first round. The fact that he had to say 'should' is pretty telling. He fell pretty steeply on SB Nation's draft board and some of ESPNs mocks. As for him definitely being the best ILB in the country, I couldn't disagree more. The funny thing is, he wasn't even the best ILB on the field Monday night. That would be CJ Mosley, who would almost certainly go higher in April's draft had he chosen to enter. I'd also take Alec Ogletree and possibly Kevin Minter over Te'o. All four of these guys have had comparable years, but Mosley, Ogletree, and Minter were doing it against much tougher competition, but just didn't get the same hype. And none of that even touches the point I actually made, which is that he's a top 15 player in the country. I don't even see that as controversial. Just for starters, he was the fourth best defensive player on the field Monday night (Nix, Mosley, and Milliner). Beyond that, off the top of my head, Lotulelei, Jones, Elam, Werner, Clowney, Mingo, Ogletree, and Moore are all almost certainly better, and the list probably could include a few more. I don't really see this as a slight at Te'o, by the way. He's one of the five best ILBs in the country (maybe even top three), and he's one of the fifteen best defensive players in the country. It's just that the hype surrounding him (and the awards that came with that hype) were undeserved, simply because there are better players. EDIT: It's very close with a couple of the guys I named, and you could make a good case that he's better than one or two of them. But we're talking about a guy who won the Maxwell, Walter Camp, Bronko Nagurski, Lombardi, Chuck Bednarik, and Lott ... and nearly won the Heisman. He's a very good player, but he's not nearly that good. So to my original comments, I see nothing remotely controversial.

I like Te'o too. He's not the type of player he has been made out to be (not even close, really) but he's probably a top 15 defensive player in the country, and should translate well to the next level. The player on that defense that has superstar potential, who will be in next year's draft, is Louis Nix. Very similar to Vince Wilfork, in my opinion. Has a chance to be an elite 0/1 technique 3-4 nose tackle.

It was interesting that they kept targeting Milliner. It seemed like every time one of his primary targets, Eifert (when he was split out wide), Jones, or Daniels, was man to man vs press coverage (with only a single high safety) Golson was given the freedom to check into either a fade or a fade-stop, regardless of whether they were matched up with Milliner or Deion Belue. In fact, he did this twice on the opening series, on both 2nd and 2 and 3rd and 2. Also did it on the big fourth and five that Belue batted away. Kelly kept saying, leading up to the game, that they needed to be aggressive down the field if they were going to win, and this was their opportunity. Truth is, I'm sure they didn't want to go after Milliner so much, but he's the guy Alabama is willing to leave on an island with no safety help, so if they wanted to go down the field often times it had to be vs him.

Haha nowhere special ... just realized I haven't been on here in awhile and figured I'd check in. How is it around here they days?

At the same time, JayBay is right, Alabama is an excellent team who played their most complete game of the year vs Notre Dame. Golson threw the ball 36 times (and had a few other drop backs) and the Alabama secondary didn't have a single coverage bust, a remarkable feat considering their performance vs LSU, AtM, and UGA. To that end, lots of credit to the coaches. It took them almost the entire season, but they finally found the right solutions at free safety (HaHa) and nickel corner (Geno Smith).

To be fair, Stanford (#7) played the entire game with their backup QB and Notre Dame won the game on what is widely regarded as an awful call. Also, it's always impressive to win in Norman, but this was a down year for Oklahoma. They lost to all three quality opponents (the AtM game was totally noncompetitive) and struggled against inferior opponents (WVU, Baylor, and the Pokes). And when you have to cite beating five loss Michigan as a reason why a team is really good it's probably best to rethink your position. On top of all that Notre Dame struggled against one team clearly inferior to them (BYU) and two poor teams (PITT and Purdue), not to mention they only managed to find the end zone once against USC's horrible defense. When you only play three true road games and your resume consists of the above, regardless of your record, you might not be quite as good as your record would indicate. This speaks to the importance of focusing on the process rather than the result when evaluating teams, but that's a longer discussion, one that's unnecessary at the moment. All in all I'd probably have them as the ninth best team in the country, behind Alabama, AtM, Oregon, UGA, Stanford, LSU, Florida, and SCAR. An excellent year, all things considered, but not as good as many believed prior to the BCSNCG and some likely still believe now.

I wouldn't say 'way more', but I do agree that Dwight was more deserving than Rose was. The Bulls were a team based primarily on defense, and Rose was the worst defender out of the entire starting five. Howard is the best defensive player in the NBA, and with a relatively weak supporting cast he managed to place fourth in the Eastern Conference. Hollinger's PER ratings agreed with this idea, for what that's worth. Just my two cents.

Also, if we're looking for more knowledgeable people to join ... few people on here know the game better than ORS.

Yeah I am. So when are we having the draft?

I'm in, if there's still room.

Ugh that sucked. Great game though.

Technically this is true, but it wasn't because Davis was bad. He was actually really consistent. The strike zone was wide on the outside corner vs lefties, but small on the outside corner was righties. Against CC the Tigers had eight guys hitting right handed, and against Verlander the Yanks had seven guys hitting left handed. So just by chance, when the starting pitchers were in the game, the Tigers were sending eight guys to the plate that were going to benefit from a wide zone while the Yanks were only sending up three.

Yes! Brilliant sarcastic comment, without thinking through what I meant! It's their fault for beginning a game when rain was coming immediately after the start. They should have held off.

Haha yeah, but it won't matter. Based on what the people from the stadium are saying, I doubt they resume.