Falcons: Journalistic fail or sign of things to come Top 10 MLB (Vinnie Iyer)

[Polar Bear Jones]

Quote:Lewis, Fletcher still battling near the Beltway
Vinnie Iyer
Sporting News

video interview

For the past decade and a half, Baltimore's Ray Lewis has stood out as not only the NFL's best active inside linebacker but arguably, along with Dick Butkus, one of the two best professional football has ever seen.

While Lewis remains in the ring as a heavyweight tackler, there's another 37-year-old born in mid-May of 1975 who continues to plug away in the Beltway. Washington's London Fletcher, at 5-10, 245, is pound for pound impressive in his own right. He also helped the St. Louis Rams win a Super Bowl in his younger days and has made it through 14 seasons playing 16 games in each.

The Redskins were smart to sign Fletcher, the heart and soul of their defense the past five years, for another two seasons. As the venerable quarterback on that side of the ball, Fletcher admitted recently that a key to his desire to return was the team's drafting of Robert Griffin III—15 years his junior—to lead the offense.

"Obviously, them being able to get into that second pick was something huge for me," Fletcher said. "I'm in my 15th season and to go into another year not having a quarterback was not very appealing to me, I'll tell you that."

Lewis and Fletcher are shoo-ins for Sporting News' projected top 10 at the position for 2012, but neither would have any objections to the No. 1 choice.

1. Patrick Willis, San Francisco 49ers

No wonder Willis, in his prime at 27, is the current class of the NFL at inside linebacker because he models his hard-charging, hard-tackling style after Lewis. A hamstring issue slowed Willis down a little last season, but expect him to return faster and hungrier after leading the Niners' dominant defense to the NFC championship game.

2. D'Qwell Jackson, Cleveland Browns

Jackson returned with a bang after not playing at all in 2010 and only six games in 2009 because of injuries. He proved he had great instincts and quick diagnosis skills in 2008, and those were on display at a prolific level again in 2011 with career highs in tackles (158) and sacks (3.5).

3. London Fletcher, Washington Redskins

As a young player with the Rams, this undersized but heady tackler was nicknamed "Dot Com" because he was always online when plays needed to be made. He is a fundamentally sound run stopper in addition to always being around the ball.

4. Brian Urlacher, Chicago Bears

Urlacher, 34, has shaken off recent injures and played back-to-back full seasons. With that rejuvenation, no wonder he's toying with the idea of seeing what he's worth outside of Chicago in 2013. The numbers last season (102 tackles and three interceptions) show Urlacher still has plenty of playmaking range.

5. NaVorro Bowman, San Francisco 49ers

The Niners have the NFL's best linebacker unit with Willis, promising second-year man Aldon Smith and Bowman. Entering his third year, Bowman has benefited from playing next to Willis. But when Willis was on the shelf for three games last season, Bowman proved he could handle making the calls. Bowman was free to be a more active tackler (143) in his first year as a full-time starter, and he's doing a pretty good job of keeping the Linebacker U. tradition alive and well.

6. Brian Cushing, Houston Texans

It would be easy to mistake his name for "Crushing" because he's a physical force against the run. His strength is, well, his strength to battle through blockers to bring down ball carriers. Fully healthy last season in the team's new 3-4, Cushing was nearly as impressive statistically as his standout 2009 rookie season. But he had a bigger overall impact in Wade Phillips' scheme.

7. Derrick Johnson, Kansas City Chiefs

Johnson, much like Chiefs outside linebacker Tamba Hali, has found his niche in Romeo Crennel's version of the 3-4 defense. His size at 6-3, 242 pounds and explosiveness were on display at the highest level during his first Pro Bowl and All-Pro season. He had a career-high 131 tackles while showing the athleticism to continue to shine in coverage.

8. Ray Lewis, Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens are undergoing another defensive coordinator change. The one constant they count on to keep their front seven in line — whether it's the 4-3 of the past or 3-4 of the present — is Lewis. Sure, he doesn’t have the same feet, but his head, heart and nose for the ball keep the big plays coming.

9. Desmond Bishop, Green Bay Packers

Bishop has an appropriate name in the chess game of a 3-4 defense operated by Dom Capers. Capers likes to move him all around the board, and Bishop responds by flying to the ball. He had 115 tackles, five sacks and two forced fumbles in 13 games last season.

10. Sean Weatherspoon, Atlanta Falcons

Weatherspoon, who was named the team's defensive MVP last season as a weakside linebacker, was the reason the Falcons could afford not to re-sign Curtis Lofton. His athleticism and production with 115 tackles and four sacks should translate well in his move to the middle of the 4-3. Under the direction of new coordinator Mike Nolan, look for Weatherspoon to have a breakout third season.

Saw the interview first and was like when did spoon move to the Mike. Thought Dled would have said something. Maybe he means because we will be using the nickel package more with Asante and the crew but I still would not classify Spoon as a MLB.

[edit] Does anyone have any info on who was playing MLB during the nickel situations in OTA's.

[pauliwood]

Everything I've seen, indicates Spoon as the Will.

[Beef]

Just another ignorant non-Atlantan journalist who is talking out their ass.

I like that he has Spoon in the top 10, but Spoon will be playing the Will and nothing else. Even in the nickle, the Will never changes his position. Either a safety comes off the field and the LB's don't change or the Sam does and the nickle usually lines up on the strong side or the middle and the MLB floats in between.

[Radical]

(06-01-2012 07:25 PM)Beef Wrote:  Just another ignorant non-Atlantan journalist who is talking out their ass.

I like that he has Spoon in the top 10, but Spoon will be playing the Will and nothing else. Even in the nickle, the Will never changes his position. Either a safety comes off the field and the LB's don't change or the Sam does and the nickle usually lines up on the strong side or the middle and the MLB floats in between.

Don't know of a lot of teams that run with one safety in the nickel set. It's usually 4-2-5 or 3-3-5, with some teams(usually 3-4 oriented teams) running 2-4-5s or 1-5-5s. Depending on alignment, the WLB can take up more of a MLB role in a NB set. But no, he isn't going to be the MLB in our scheme. Tatupu is manning that from what I've seen in our 4-3 package, with either him or Nicholas coming out in the Nickel set.

[FullMetalFalcon23]

Interesting how Lofton didn't even make the list. Apparently in NO he has finally dropped weight playing at 241. And he displays burst a great closing speed. If that's the case then I really can't stand him. It's been known that he played at a far higher weight than that and that he wouldn't drop to the smaller lighter weight that we prefer of our linebackers. I find it somewhat amusing that they consider him capable of playing the Weakside. He could play strong, but he's not got the elite talent to play Weakside and deal with the tough coverage assignments. He sucked ass in the middle in coverage but was protected by having coverage around him. Apart from stopping the run. I believe he would be a total liability playing on an edge.

[markdzul]

Thats a pisser if he actually has dropped weight in attempt to be more active in coverage...

[FullMetalFalcon23]

Well if he is wanting to prove a point that he can be a cover guy. Dropping that weight would be the way to go about it. That being said I'd think his run stuffing would suffer if he has less weight to throw into linemen. That being said he may be better able to dodge and sit through traffic. But in his many years here there are very few recollections I can make of his ability to play the pass. He's not very good in coverage because his awareness in that aspect is just not good. I don't think it had much to do with his physical ability, I just don't think pass coverage is a strong suit of his. His INT was thrown right at him, it wasn't like he read and then jumped underneath the route.

It would be interesting to see what his INTs in college were like. I stand by the fact that a Lofa Dent combo is better than Lofton on his own because of Lofas superior pass coverage ability.

[cnasty]

49ers have two of top five. Not too shabby.

[pauliwood]

(06-05-2012 11:01 PM)cnasty Wrote:  49ers have two of top five. Not too shabby.

Not shabby at all.