View topic - Draft Day Blunder ... passing on Maualuga, stuck w/ Farrior

[uknowwho Profile]

I'm shocked that nobody has brought up Rey Maualuga ... I was so excited on draft day when he was still there at 32, staring us in the face when our pick came up after dropping from original projections. You win the Super Bowl, and have the 32nd pick, a guy like this drops for ANY REASON ... it's worth the risk (he supposedly struggled with scheme discipline ... funny, it didn't prevent his success in college ... and that's what professional coaching is for).
We have a 50 year old, slow, befuddled, middle linebacker, and this guy is sitting there ripe for us to pick him ... and we don't!!
Instead, we pick a lineman ... when we run a fuckin' 3-4 defense! Farrior's position is arguably the most important position in our scheme, and we let this guy slip past us (and go the Bungles for Christ's sakes!) and choose a down lineman in the first round for our 3-4 scheme!! I know our line has gotten old, but the job these guys do for us, don't require first round, or 2nd round picks. Their resposibilities in our defense don't require first round talent, you can find these guys in later rounds, and we always have (save for the nose ... which Hood isn't!!).
It just didn't make any sense what so ever, and this season just continues to prove what a disastrous mistake that was. Can you imagine playing the next 5 years with Timmons, Woodley, Harrison and Maualuga as our LB's??!! Talk about an intense, fast, ferocious group ... at the most important positions in our scheme ... I just don't get it ...and I think we'll pay for this huge mistake for years to come because of the vacuum Farrior creates (contract and all!)

[Fire Arians Profile]

farrior blows

[MendenHaulin Profile]

we just drafted timmons in the first round and woodley in the second round and harrison has become an all world pro star.....THE LAST THING WE FUCKING NEEDED was another high round pick for a linebacker.

we are so stacked at LB that we let larry foote walk.

this is an IDIOTIC thread.

next years draft our first three picks should be O LINE, CB, and Safety.

linebacker? linebacker? you are a fucking idiot to say we should have wasted a first round pick on a linebacker after what weve drafted.

p.s. moron we have another star on the sidelines in keyaron fox.....


draft a LB in the first round?....


RETARD.

[uknowwho Profile]

Moron?? are you fucking serious?? I don't know how much schematic knowledge and experience you have in football ... and personal attacks are why I rarely post on here. Usually just read a little after games, but decided to throw something out there that has been bothering me all year, and in response to all the Farrior complaints, throught I throw my 2 cents in ... and of course, get personally attacked by the one guy who seems to think Farrior is great, and finding all-american physically gifted middle linebackers hanging from trees in the 4th round is commonplace. Every fucking thread and complaint is about how bad farrior is, how piss poor he has been, and this assfuck is killing our defense. He does play the MOST IMPORTANT POSITION IN OUR SCHEME. If Fox (FOX??!!! LOL ... a star???!!!) was a better player, he'd still be on the Chiefs, and the very least, seeing the field for us. He'll be 29 at the end of next year, and frankly is better suited outside at 235 lbs. Yes, our defense, the 3-4, is based on linebacking play ... go all the way back to 92, when we really started implementing this scheme, and linebackers have been at the heart of all of our great defenses. Early on we had woodson and lake, and currently Troy, but if you have 4, yes 4, great linebackers, with the soft coverage required by corners in this system, you can dominate. As evidence, our play and ranking in defense historically since 92, without very good db's (ie; all the years with scott & washington, no-names like williams, mcfadden, taylor, gay ... these guys aren't making anyone's list).
Granted, Troy really enables this defense to function well, as any GREAT player helps others perform, but in our system, with one deep safety to cover both sides of the field, and no press coverage by corners because of this, you need to dominate in the front 7, particularly at the lb position. We all know the role of the DL is to occupy and maintain, creating lanes and opportunities for our LBS, ESPECIALLY Farriors spot. He's 40 fucking years old for Crying out Loud!! To have no plan beyond him, at the most important position in our defense, with the opportunity to draft Maualuga when you're choosing 32nd, and not take him, for Ziggy-fucking-Hood??? You have to be a crazy to not think that was a huge mistake?!! Clearly, we need help in other ares too, but you don't often get a chance to draft someone of that talent that late in the draft. That was the whole point of the post ... Now he's on pace to make all rookie teams, and Hood? Ever? You honestly think that was the smarter choice?? Please ... I guess I'll just go back to reading and not posting, as it's clearly up to to MendednHaulin to determine what's actually smart to post, and worthy of ready and participating. Unbelievalbe.

[uknowwho Profile]

Retard? Just noticed your last quote ... you've got some serious problems dude. Retard? Not too politically correct I guess ... whew ... weird, personally attacking someone because of a post about our old linebacker and last years draft. Huge Ziggy Hood fan maybe?
It was a look back at a mistake our front office made ... not a wish for some other hypothetical all-american linebacker from USC to be available in the draft again next year! That chance is gone, which again, was my whole point. When you pick 32nd, you don't neccessarily have to draft by "need", we just won the SB, if you have a chance to get a huge impact player, you do ... espcially considering our situation at ILB (Farrior). Unfortunately, we need to play 4, and specifically need to be REALLY good at the one spot we play you-know-who.
In your rage about my mental retardation, you said we need db's, o-line, and safety ... yet the pick we're talking about was for a d-lineman ... ??? Seems strange that you're so adamant that we NOT draft a lb, but have no problems that we drafted a d-lineman for a 3-4 scheme. What the hell?
We still have to come up with a plan to replace the old fuck. And we had a chance with the 32nd ... THE 32ND!! PICK in last years draft ... instead, we drafted a space occupier, and now we still need to address the positions you mentioned AND the old fuck. See my point? Damn ...

[ballhair Profile]

Mendenhauling, Just because someone post an opinion that is different from yours is no reason to insult him and use profanity against him. You owe him an apology! BTW, how many games has farrior cost us due to his slow reaction?

[SteelPower Profile]

There is no doubt we should have took Rey Maualuga. The ILB poistion is the most critical to our defense. In the past when our players started to show dimminshing skills at this postion their contracts were not renewed (Kirkland) and upgrade was inserted. Our front office has made the critical mistake of signing Farrior to a ridiculous contract extension when it was clear his best days were done. They now complicated the mistake by not upgrading the position. Troy covers up for alot of Farrior's shortcomings. Now that Troy is hurt James is really exposed. Good thread and excellent point on not drafting Maualuga. MendHauling look in the mirror for clearer picture of retardation .

[SoCal Stiller Profile]

... I guess I'll just go back to reading and not posting, as it's clearly up to to MendednHaulin to determine what's actually smart to post, and worthy of ready and participating. Unbelievalbe.

Great thread! I hadn't really thought of this until you brought it up. Keep on posting!

[Sun and Steel Profile]

Farrior should be told to wait outside the stadium until every critical 3rd and 4th down play is completed. He has no business being on the field in either 3rd or 4th down situations, he is now a two down linebacker. Four times he has looked like a drunken sailor on critical 3rd or fourth downs that have cost the Steelers a victory. You see, unlike our arrogant ass of an OC, most NFL coaches actually watch film and put their players into position to succeed in situational football scenarios. Cameron Cameron watched Chicago, Cincy 1, and KC and saw that Farrior could not cover the LB out of the backfield on ANY occasion where it mattered and what did he do? He put Ray Rice in motion to detect the coverage and Flacco watched Taunto move with him. So Flacco and Cam say "thanks Dick and Taunto, for making our job soooo easy, we'll throw it to Ray and watch Taunto flail like an epileptic who took in too much of a Pink Floyd concert." And the rest as they say is history.

[Steel Jersey Profile]

Good post, but I have to disagree.

I think you are sort of downgrading the importance of having good 3-4 linemen. I'm not saying that I agree, but I seen articles written about how a few of these losses would have been avoided if we had A. Smith. These guys are more than just big bodies. I think we've all seen the slow and steady erosion in Hampton's play.

Like all drafts this one won't be fairly judged until a few years pass.

Also, if we had drafted Maualuga, you know he wouldn't have any significant playing time. They never do on this team their rookie year. It's just the way it goes.

[indysteel Profile]

I think this Mendinhaulin guy is a troll.

Certainly a newcomer that has a knack for pissing folks off on the board.

[uknowwho Profile]

Thanks for the support guys. I've been visiting this site on a weekly (typically daily, during the season) for years, and so have my cousins and friends ... finally joined a year or so ago, and none of us post much for the reason I stated before ... getting personally attacked when we're all Steeler fans (except trolls) is ridiculous. So I appreciate the defense, thanks! I get a kick out of Mills weekly report card, even though I don't always agree with EVERYTHING he says ... although anything about Farrior & Arians, I absolutely agree with every word.

Anyway, I agree that lineman in our system aren't just big bodies (especially important is the play and talent of the NT in our defense, as I stated in my post ... ie: Steed, Hampton) ... I know Aaron Smith has been good, but we've done well with serviceable DE's on our team for years. They've all been interchangable ... R Seals, B Buckner, K Henry, N Harrison, von Oehlfen, Keisel, but they just don't hold the importance that our LB's have, especially the ILB spot. He's responsible for most of the run stopping as the system dictates that the plays funnel his way, and primarily the RB, TE coverage on passing downs. He has to be the most flexible, and multi-talented player on our defense. He has to the have ability, speed and size to possibly shed a block, and take on a charging RB (which Farrior constantly gets plowed over in GL defense), but also be able to swivel his hips and play pass defense against guys who are small and quick (which goes without detail of his trivails in pass coverage). I just think that when someone like Maualuga is dropped into your lap on draft day, with the last pick in the 1st round, you gotta ... GOTTA ... take him. Now I have to hear about him making the all-rookie teams. Ugghh ...

[MendenHaulin Profile]

My point is Farrior was a STUD all last year. superstud in fact. We also had FOOTE and let him go. FOOTE was great. If you really wanted farrior out this year then what you wanted is not manauluga but foote starting instead of farrior.

Ziggy Hood was a smart draft choice as weve had a ton of D line injuries. without hood we would be in serious trouble come playoffs regarding depth.


I will give you several points WHY you are wrong to draft manalugee over hood.

first we have a STUD backup to farrior in Keyaron Fox. when he subbed for timmons he broke out with a Touchdown. he is a badass.

second we just replaced an inside LB in starting Timmons now. inside is being renewed.

third farrior was a STUD last year. no one knew he would give up a game altering play in two games.

fourth ziggy hood has been used extensively. we lost aaron smith for the year and possibly forever. we lost two other d linemen at different points during the season. ziggy hood has been playing in opposing backfields all year.

fifth manaluugee wouldnt have started this year as farrior is healthy AND he has a fuckin stud of a backup.

sixth we HAD foote so could have kept him instead and let farrior go. foote is about 5 years younger than farrior. problem solved.


NOWHERE does it make sense to draft man a lugee ...nowhere. woulda coulda shoulda ....and then we would be SCREWED on d line. especially if aaron smith retires after this year.

finally your points that i am a farrior fan are false. im a timmons fan if any ILB were to be chosen and I am not a ziggy hood fan. if you choose d line my favorite is casey hampton.


I take back the retard comment as you actually can formulate a complete sentence but being that you could not understand a single point i made you are at least a fucking idiot.

[uknowwho Profile]

Jeez man ... you just can't help yourself ... its so frustrating, I'm reading your post and trying to understand your position and opinion about the Steelers, yet you have to end the the conversation by calling me a "fucking idiot" ... is this seriously how you debate on all topics? Work, family, friends?
I mean, come on man ... I'm hardly an idiot ... REALLY far from it ... without getting into personal details. I'm hoping, based on the way you debate your points, that you're just young and gung ho behind an annonymous keyboard. In which case, I should have never even responded after your first tirade.
Anyway, I hear your arguments for DL, but I maintain, as I stated, we've always got by, in our scheme, with servicable linemen. We'll never get the "production" out of a Hood, that we would have out of a Maualuga. We don't draft the prototypical game-changing type DE ... 6'6", 270 pound fast DE ... they're too light, and not good enough "occupiers" to do what we ask out of that position. Which is why we've always had luck finding guys that fit what we do in later rounds. Most of the league views these guys as tweeners. Too small to play inside in a 4-3, too big & slow to play outside. So we've had luck finding them a home, playing outside DE in our 3-4. We were especially good at finding these guys through the 90's & early 2000's, as we were one of the few teams running a 3-4 defense. It has been a little tougher lately, now that more teams are playing our scheme, but there are still tons of these guys available in later rounds because of the statless nature of the position they're drafted to play. No team has to spend high dollars on these guys, thus justifying later round selections. Ziggy Hood will never justify a 1st round selection in our defense.
Secondly, I'm not sure too many people share your opinion that Farrior was a STUD last year, or that Fox has been, or ever will be, a STUD. You seem to use that term loosely, and I'm not sure it fits any of the players you've mentioned. And I'm 100% positive that a very very small portion of the population ever thought Foote was an answer to replace Farrior, hell, he was slower than Farrior is now ... regardless of the fact that he is 5 years younger. He's a helluva nice guy, and a good team player, but an underperformer, and too slow to be effective in our defense. Which of course is why we drafted guys (Timmons/Woodley) to replace him even though he wasn't old. I think that was pretty obvious, and if you remember, even Foote said so 2 years ago in the pre-season.
Oh well, another topic beat to the ground.

[SoCal Stiller Profile]

uknowwho - You make very sound and intelligent arguments. I can see both sides of the argument but I would have to side with uknowwho mainly because he does it with a helluva lot more class!

[No l Gravity l Profile]

The problem isn't with Farrior, it's with LeBeau believing that Farrior is capable of covering a RB. Instead of using Timmons to cover, he blitzes him on 3rd down, usually leaving Woodley on a TE and Farrior w/ the back.

[MendenHaulin Profile]

Jeez man ... you just can't help yourself ... its so frustrating, I'm reading your post and trying to understand your position and opinion about the Steelers, yet you have to end the the conversation by calling me a "fucking idiot" ... is this seriously how you debate on all topics? Work, family, friends?
I mean, come on man ... I'm hardly an idiot ... REALLY far from it ... without getting into personal details. I'm hoping, based on the way you debate your points, that you're just young and gung ho behind an annonymous keyboard. In which case, I should have never even responded after your first tirade.
Anyway, I hear your arguments for DL, but I maintain, as I stated, we've always got by, in our scheme, with servicable linemen. We'll never get the "production" out of a Hood, that we would have out of a Maualuga. We don't draft the prototypical game-changing type DE ... 6'6", 270 pound fast DE ... they're too light, and not good enough "occupiers" to do what we ask out of that position. Which is why we've always had luck finding guys that fit what we do in later rounds. Most of the league views these guys as tweeners. Too small to play inside in a 4-3, too big & slow to play outside. So we've had luck finding them a home, playing outside DE in our 3-4. We were especially good at finding these guys through the 90's & early 2000's, as we were one of the few teams running a 3-4 defense. It has been a little tougher lately, now that more teams are playing our scheme, but there are still tons of these guys available in later rounds because of the statless nature of the position they're drafted to play. No team has to spend high dollars on these guys, thus justifying later round selections. Ziggy Hood will never justify a 1st round selection in our defense.
Secondly, I'm not sure too many people share your opinion that Farrior was a STUD last year, or that Fox has been, or ever will be, a STUD. You seem to use that term loosely, and I'm not sure it fits any of the players you've mentioned. And I'm 100% positive that a very very small portion of the population ever thought Foote was an answer to replace Farrior, hell, he was slower than Farrior is now ... regardless of the fact that he is 5 years younger. He's a helluva nice guy, and a good team player, but an underperformer, and too slow to be effective in our defense. Which of course is why we drafted guys (Timmons/Woodley) to replace him even though he wasn't old. I think that was pretty obvious, and if you remember, even Foote said so 2 years ago in the pre-season.
Oh well, another topic beat to the ground.

you made zero points. you brought up some random tweener 3 4 info that is common knowledge. thats not an insult its just that...common knowledge.

in all that you would think there would be a single point.

so do you consider ray manauluga or whatever the fuck his name is to BE a tweener? if so you just shot yourself in the head with a shotgun via the quoted reply.....


if you are calling hood a tweener id have to laugh

[ILLSTILL Profile]

Words cannot describe how much I love this thread.

Mendenhaulin is truly oneofakind.

[ILLSTILL Profile]

I think this Mendinhaulin guy is a troll.

Certainly a newcomer that has a knack for pissing folks off on the board.

I'm surprised at you, indy! Look closely at his sig and think.

[roadace Profile]

"MendenHaulin
Greenhorned Rookie
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:29 pm
Posts: 56
Post Re: Draft Day Blunder ... passing on Maualuga, stuck w/ Farrior
we just drafted timmons in the first round and woodley in the second round and harrison has become an all world pro star.....THE LAST THING WE FUCKING NEEDED was another high round pick for a linebacker.
we are so stacked at LB that we let larry foote walk.
this is an IDIOTIC thread.
next years draft our first three picks should be O LINE, CB, and Safety.
linebacker? linebacker? you are a fucking idiot to say we should have wasted a first round pick on a linebacker after what weve drafted.
p.s. moron we have another star on the sidelines in keyaron fox.....
draft a LB in the first round?....
RETARD."



YOU SIR, ARE AN IDIOT.