You saw a different game than I did.

 

Gotta believe this drops him to late 1st early 2nd...his one game vs the closest thing he will see in the pros, one unimpressive game

 

I seriously, seriously doubt this drops Manti Te'o into the bottom of the 1st or top of the 2nd round. I think that's the definition of an overreaction.

If he goes bottom 1st or top 2nd then that's about where he was the entire time. Last night's game didn't have much effect, IMO.

 

Whoever gets him in the late first/early 2nd would be getting a steal then.

 

My popcorn is ready.

 

I'm not a huge Teo fan or more accurately I'm not a huge fan of taking MLBs in the first half of the 1st round. Like CBs, I see it as a position where, outside of a few HOF types, you just don't get that much impact. I think I would prefer to take a shot at a more boom/bust type at a greater impact position like pass rusher/S/WR or even a TE with that pick.

 

I thought he was over-hyped all year. Last night just confirmed it.

 

Sorry dude, but this is what happens when you see one game not two seasons. It's archetypal Bowl game reaction.

 

MY concern is his inability to shed blocks from NFL caliber linemen and the point of attack. I don't think he is much better than a guy like Ogletree or Minter. I see him falling to the Bears.

 

We saw different games.

We saw different games.

Again I'm reminded of when Brandon Marshall's dropped touchdowns became a theme (or is it a meme?) and suddenly every ball that went his way that wasn't caught was yet another dropped touchdown, even if it was 50 yards away from the end zone, or out of bounds, or defended by a corner, etc.

 

Here's what concerned me though as I watched that game....

We knew going in that this was a step up in competition for Notre Dame and Te'o from the last two seasons. A big step up. And neither Te'o nor Notre Dame could meet Alabama at the summit. It looked, for all the world, like the Irish didn't belong on that field with Bama. Or A&M, and perhaps a bunch of other teams. Really sobering when you heard analysts agree this was maybe Saban's third or fourth-best Alabama team. The one facet of the game Notre Dame was GREAT in -- run defense -- Alabama absolutely destroyed them.

It was one game. But again, the tide had risen (no pun intended) and the Irish couldn't tread water. Te'o front and center among them. I sort of fall into Section's view. That blowout or not, you'd expect to see a decorated guy like Te'o kicking *** regardless.

Rookies talk about how jarring the speed and physicality of the NFL game is once they get there. This seemed like a preview. If nothing else, it might suggest that perhaps Te'o would not be an instant impact type of player.

 

I'm sorry but it all starts up front.

The city of Zach Thomas should know this better than most.

 

I'm with this! T'eo is still the same player we saw the rest of the year. I'd be happy with him at 12.

 

What we saw in that game was a dominating offensive line dominating a very good middle linebacker. Like Mawae on Thomas. I'd still like to have Thomas and for the same reason would like to have Te'o. But not in the first round.

Bama had very good to great athletes, superbly coached. Notre Dame had good athletes coached up to very good by the coach of the year. Good in Notre Dame's schedule, not against top level SEC competition.

 

I'm pretty sure they will.

And you'll see the same game I did. A game where Alabama's best-in-college offensive line totally dominated the Notre Dame defensive line with the exception of one or two plays made by Louis Nix, and you'll see iso blocking constantly putting a hat on Manti Te'o nearly every play, and never having to pay the price for it because the Notre Dame defensive line couldn't take advantage of the favorable spacing.

You'll see plays that were initially regarded as "missed tackles" that were in actuality plays where an OL was on the carpet, reached up and tripped Te'o as he scraped to the ball, which should have drawn a penalty.

You'll see plays where the blocking scheme left other linebackers or Zeke Motta free to the ball, and just totally miss.

You'll see plays where Te'o is so tired of having to deal with blockers immediately and cleanly plastering onto him that he aggressively shoots his gap, but a left tackle that will probably be the top tackle taken when he comes out athletically redirects and chips him just enough to prevent Te'o from making the tackle for a big loss.

 

What I saw a lot of in the first half - couldn't stay awake any longer - was Chance Warmack making an awful lot of plays on Manti at the second level.

 

If this is what it takes for him to fall to #12....please stop arguing and let the NEWS spread far and wide....let him fall to #12 please!!!!

 

How is this not a red flag? If he couldn't shred a NFL caliber Guard or Tackle what makes you think he is going to his rookie year?

 

It's just hard for me to wipe it away and chalk it up to a great Alabama OL alone.

Aside from being mauled by the linemen, I felt like Te'o took some poor angles early and filled gaps I didn't think he should have. I didn't like that he couldn't deal with Eddie Lacy 1-on-1 at all (Lacy is a bull though). I recall him biting hard on some play action (I believe he was the one victimized on the goal line TD over the top). Your MLB certainly needs protection, but Te'o was a complete a non-factor. 220-pound Zach faced the great Mawae plenty and managed to not be completely wiped off the face of the earth. It just raised some flags for me.

Just a bad night all around for Notre Dame. Out-gunned. Out-coached. Out-played.

 

..... all year long

 

IF that is the case we better take future hall of famer Chance Warmack.

 

I'd still take a WR or a DB at this point.

 

Bama routinely got hats on Mike linebackers by Warmack, Jones, and stud blocking TE Michael Williams ALL YEAR LONG no matter what team nor who the linebacker, be it Te'o, Minter, Ogletree. They all got blasted, embarrassed, and gashed for some big runs. Opposing defensive lines gotta do a better job keeping the linebackers cleaner and to prevent the LOS from essentially being pushed back 2-3 yards every play, but when Bama's front 6 has the blocking affect of 7 or 8 guys, it's often impossible to prevent. Ogletree played the best of the 3 linebackers IMO, but even he still got stampeded more times than made a play.

 

Rust.

I would give very very serious consideration to Te'o at 12.

He fits Jeff Ireland's MO exactly, take a more or less "safe" pick. Middle linebackers are that.

 

Who is the all-star game changer? You can't be referring to Te'o

 

Watching Bam's Oline dominance is just amazing. Imagine our interior Oline with Pouncey, Warmack, and Jonathan Cooper, that is, if it weren't too damn expensive to keep them all. Our run game would average 5+ ypc and play action potential would be insane.
Add Mike Wallace and draft Markus Wheaton as the dual outside vertical presence to make the play action a nightmare for coverage.
Perhaps send a pick to Jax for stud blocking TE Marcedes Lewis who's also great in the redzone.
Draft Marcus Lattimore in the 3rd.
Draft Chris Harper as a big, physical slot receiver.
Super Bowl. :shifty: lol

 

Oh I'm with you there with Patterson and Jordan. My comment was more tongue in cheek but I think if Banks is there you have to take him. I was encouraged by the play of Vernon this season and feel like Banks would be the best pick. Have to watch out for some teams that will trade up for him.

 

I don't need Cordarrelle Patterson to house a bubble screen. Probably pretty unrealistic in the NFL. But he can consistently turn a simple read like the bubble screen into 5 to 9 yards, which is a successful run play.

Where you get excited about what he can do with the ball in his hands would be on end-arounds, jet sweeps, crossing routes, and out routes. Not to mention returns if you decide to put him there (Miami has a pretty good return guy).

 

A guy I'm getting pretty excited about is Margus Hunt. Guy is a freak athlete. I wonder how well he is going to develop in the NFL.

 

Him and Jon Cooper are better prospects then Decastro imo.

 

He doesn't need to shed blocks. He can be like Derrick Johnson. Or Lavonte David.

 

And plus lets face it when you're having trouble shedding a Chance Warmack block when Chance gets a clean release out to you and it's not even a zone play to where he has to catch up to you as you're moving with the action...I mean, is that really all that damning? It's Chance Warmack, a guy I've seen many rate even higher than DeCastro who was the best rated guard probably since Hutchinson.

 

The evaluation of shedding blocks, in general, has become overrated. Linebackers are simply not asked to do it a ton, even with the combination blocks from zone blocking schemes.

 

It was a joke he was even considered a Heisman candidate. Why because he had some ints as a mlb? It was bologna. As a player he is pretty good but obviously overrated. Wont make a huge impact in the nfl....then again not many mlbs in todays game do. But teo wanted no part of bama, purposely taking bad angles and late to the hole because he wanted no part of lacy.