Peppers

Technique, responsibility, and ability.

Technique: Julius is extremely athletic, but its been mentioned many times that if he doesn't win at first, he often does too much bull rushing, trying to overpower the blocker. He plays a little upright, so you can get your hands into him.

Same thing was said in college, but it wasn't accurate then either. He's giving effort, but at that point the effort is in just pushing the pocket and seeing if the QB runs to create and agle or try and knock the ball down.

Responsibility: Freeney is always going upfield, every down. If it's a run, tackle him in the backfield on the way to the QB. Of course, that doesn't happen too often. Julius isn't going to be dancing around like that cause he's going to play run first on run downs.

Ability: Two different players. Freeney is a freak made to edge rush. JP isn't that fast, is taller and bigger, plays the run better, can do a decent job on zone blitzes (we do too much of that), is great in space. JP isn't a top 5 edge rusher yet, but gets double digit sacks, good run defense, good chase defense, and has to be accountable when in coverage.

 

exactly. And it comes back to who he's facing - the RT. RTs are hoping for a guy they can get their hands on, and/or that will be bullrushing. They're theoretically stronger, and have a TE out there if they need him, so their effort is more often placed on locking up.

And watching Peppers face the guys he struggled most with, like Nat Dorsey and - who was the other one? Marvel Smith or Terrence Metcalf? I want to say Metcalf, because he slid in to G. It was one of those SEC guys who was considered an excellent run blocker, but projected to G, and didn't have elite pass blocking for OT but dominated Peppers because he could get into JP's body, and JP would bullrush. So it'd be a stalemate. Same with Dorsey, who was huge, and Pep was playing him inside somewhat.

Which he's just not strong enough to do, consistently. Maybe that's partly Rucker's influence, since Rucker tends to do too much of that. Both of them want to have a little too much Reggie White in them and too little of that edge rusher in them.

 

I believe you're thinking of Kendall Simmons. I don't remember Carolina playing Mississippi.

 

That's the one. Name just wouldn't come to me.

 

Peppers is not making the most of his potential. I think most agree with that. Whether it is due to lack of effort or lack of technique can be argued but I think the reason it remains an issue is because you can see how great he could be and how great he is and wonder why he is not there.

 

why do you keep saying this? I'm not trying to sound rude by asking, but could you elaborate a bit more? What do you think his ceiling is?

No player is perfect, therefore any player can improve in certain areas. It would be nice if he could fix some things, technique wise. But to say that he's not making the most of his potential sounds like he doesn't care enough, and there is already a pretty strong consensus here that would disagree.

 

I think most would agree that averaging just over 10 sacks, 39 tackles, 5 PDs, each year for the first four would be worth it when he was drafted.

 

I think we all saw a difference in Peppers' performance during the first half of 2005 and the second half. The difference wasn't effort, but technique, as Piper already explained. He started playing a lot smarter after those first eight game and his production went up because of that. Hopefully he'll build on that momentum and perhaps a healthy Jenkins in the middle will allow him to put up those monsters stats that everyone wants to see.

 

I never said he was not worth the draft pick. I am thrilled to have him. I just think he can be the best defensive player in the league. I think he can have the same kind of impact that Ray Lewis had on the Ravens defense or Lawrence Taylor had on the Giants. We have not seen him do that yet. He might never do that and that is what I mean when he has not lived up to his potential.

 

Yep. He could be better, but to expect him to be dominating at any point is a bit much. Defensive linemen have very rarely dominated. You want a few more plays out of 2005 Peppers than we got, but it's nearing ridiculous when you're thinking that we really needed a couple more touchdowns from our defensive end.