Danno

We've had many discussions about our LB unit looking better late last year. But it was said the last 4 games were against either bad offenses or teams playing for nothing. And thats debateable.
But here's what gives me hope about James Allen, it was actually 6 games that our defense looked significantly better in, and even if was versus teams that held stars out and yada yada, I don't think that helped James Allen look any better. It MAY have helped Colby and Watson look a bit better, but not so much Allen.

Lets face it, in the 1st 10 games James Allen's play was absolutely pathetic, clueless, and a bit embarrassing. But it was more often because he took the wrong angle, bit inside as the play bounced outside or vise-versa. His goof ups were much more mental than anything else. As the season wound down he started making better decisions and fewer mental mistakes.

It doesn't matter if Vick was out, or Crumpler, or that Dallas had a fossil at QB, or that Tampa is rebuilding or that Carolina's offense was injury riddled. The correct read is the correct read. It appeared to me that the mental part of the game started clicking for him. He's always had the physical aspect (as does every stinking player we sign), but the mental part of the game was his major weakness.

Now I'm not saying he's gonna be the next Urlacher, but if there's a silver lining anywhere I'm gonna take note.

Just some food for thought. There is a difference between a slow learner and an idiot. A slow learner can eventually learn whereas an idiot will remain a Falcon fan.

saintswhodi

:rauch06:

Danno

So I\'d assume you don\'t think its possible for a physically gifted player playing a new position to finally start grasping the mental aspect of the game?
Why not?

Or do you just think I\'m a pot smoking Mexican?

saintswhodi

Is this a bonus question? Well Cheech, i\'ll tell you, I think James Allen is as dumb as a bag of rocks. I don\'t think he will ever amount to much and it would be a waste of all our time for the front office to think so. He should be on special teams only, and hopefullt he doesn\'t screw that up. His play was too stupid for too long for the light to suddenly come on.

Danno

Kinda like Brian Cox?

saintswhodi

Wasn\'t Brian Cox good somewhere at some point? I thought he was. But if not, yeah, like that.

Danno

Cox made quite a few Brooks-esque plays early in his career.
But he obviously got better.
Allen is entering his 3rd year? Maybe 4th. He\'s only had 1 year at SLB. I\'m not saying the light came on, I\'m saying it looks like it might have.
I just hope thats what\'s happened to Allen, and there\'s evidence that it may have. I\'m actually for replacing all but two of our current LB\'s, so I don\'t really have a bias in this discussion.

saintswhodi

I gotcha. I just don\'t want you counting on Allen to be anything more than he is, a fast, punishing missile with no head to guide it. I am not knocking his athletic ability at all, but they need to give him one job and one job only, and that should be special teams wedge buster or something. If he has to decide to stop the run or cover a pass play or anything more complicated than running in a straight line, I ain\'t betting on him.

spkb25

the only thing im hoping is that something changed with our d last year. maybe it was who was calling the plays. maybe it was the personel. but hopefully whatever it was it continues. i dont care who we played because earlier in the year it didnt matter. you could pencil anyone in for 30. regardless of carolina being injured their o at the time was playing great. they were hammering people until we played them. the last 4 games is all i hoped to see from this team all year. heart. played with feeling. i really believe that if your d line can take care of buisness you dont need great lb\'s. everything starts up front. look at kc\'s o line. look at their rb\'s l;ast year. three different guys running all over people. me and my buddy who is a kc fan were talking like two weeks ago and he was saying how someone signed blaylock. we both dont think he will do much of anything next year. i think thats because of the o line they have in kc. if both of your lines are good you will be pretty good. you need people that can play at other positions. really dont get my argument wrong. but they may not have to be studs to get the job done if those two spots are really good.

Your team stinks

baronm

see this is why I don\'t want thomas davis...he is the same kinda player-a punisher who doesn\'t seem to grasp the mental side of the game. I want smart football players who can make good reads.