Just gonna leave this stat here: Von Miller, Khalil Mack, and Aaron Donald have 8 penalties COMBINED this season.......Clowney has 9 just on his own. It's something he's done his entire career, and even though you don't want to take away his aggressiveness, there has to be SOME discipline at the LOS.
Miller, Mack, and Donald are better players than Clowney. I think Clowney is on a tier lower than them which is still pretty good.
And I'm not saying that he doesn't do it too much and that he could be better at it...but it's a very hard thing to fix. It's pretty much his job to get a good jump off the snap and telling him to be more passive about it means he could end up getting blocked a lot more. It would be like telling a 3 point shooter who is cold to maybe not take too many 3 point shots...then he's gun shy when he's open and it messes with his game. Do we need the football version of Ryno? The big issue many had with Ryno was how passive he became for whatever reason. I always feel like Clowney's having a bad game if he doesn't have one because when he does get one it seems he's very engaged and just wants to wreck plays...and ironically enough he had a pretty good game yesterday (although no sacks and that's all people see instead of the hurries and how we stopped their run game) and yeah, he's probably the last person I put the blame on for losing that game yesterday. I thought the Dline did well considering how the colts were lined up and what they were doing.
There a few players at Clowney's level so it is hard to come up with a good comparison. There have been players who have played better on their second team like Adrian Clayborn, Nick Fairly (best season as a saint), Malcolm Jenkins (gotten better in Philly), Jonathan Joseph (arguable).
There's Stephon Gilmore, but scheme and in this case I bet locker room are big factors here. Also I think Chandler Jones made all NFL in one of his years with the Cardinals.
You get a good jump and maybe you blow up the run. Maybe they run to the other side and Watt blows it. Maybe it's up the middle, play action, QB run, etc...We'll never know because they never had to run a play. Everything else is pure conjecture. Except they're not. But anyways I'll leave it at that. To each their own.
None of those guys were looking to sign the deal that Clooney will be asking for. In some cases (Fairley), they were just not that good. If Clowney were truly the generational player he was expected to be, it would be a no-brained... even with having another generational player in the fold in Watt. As it is, I still see them trying to make something work. I just don’t have a fear that if they let him go, he will allofasudeen turn into an all-pro guy.
2nd team, one time. By contrast, Suh was all pro first team on 3 occasions and was still not deemed worth the price.
Half of those penalties were lining up past the ball, offsides. That is a very simple thing to fix. The guy is also quick enough to not need that extra millisecond head start. Hes just a dumb dumb sometimes.
Never asked that at all. Just expect him to play under control when his aggressiveness would cost them the only opportunity to have a final chance to win the game. It seems his coach agrees with the vast majority of us in this thread . HE MADE A MISTAKE that he should not have made.
That particular quote was from when Clowney did that earlier in the season on a possession where it didn't matter much at all.
If his entire game relies on him getting an extra millisecond jump on every play, dude is not worth much at all. If he's worth what he'll be asking, he doesn't need to jump the snap. He's not worth $100 million, which is what he'll get. He's worth more like $60.
He'll get far more than 100 mil, 100 mil was the market rate 4 years ago, it's much higher today and he's one of the top defensive players in the NFL. If the Texans are too cheap to keep him, they'll quickly go back to the days of double digit losses.
Speed is negated almost instantly when a pro linemen gets his hands on you though. Yeah, offsides is something different. That is something that could definitely be fixed I mean, are you sure? The post you first replied to me was me saying this... Your reply... BOB... "Look, he’s an aggressive player, and you never want to take away that aggressiveness," He's saying the same thing I'm saying? Also, lets all just ignore that JJ Watt has more Neutral Zone Infractions than Clowney this season...
there are some knucklehead moments like the personal foul from the sideline but he makes so much more happen for that entire line. It'd be a mistake not to sign him or franchise tag him. Watt is 30. Keep the band together while you're still paying Watson a couple of pesos.
Maybe Clowney would have had more if he was healthy. Maybe. I'm actually glad Clowney isn't playing lights out and getting stats and highlights. That would have guaranteed him a huge payday. Now any team trying to give him the biggest contract will have to think twice about it.
This was about yesterday's play: “Look, he’s an aggressive player, and you never want to take away that aggressiveness," O'Brien said of Clowney. "In that situation, he made a mistake. I’m sure he’d be the first to tell you that. Andrew did a good job on that play. They did a good job. JD’s a very aggressive player, he’s made a lot of plays for us. We didn’t lose the game because of that. "We lost the game because we had four or five three-and-outs. We gave up 199 yards passing to one receiver. We didn’t play our best game on special teams. Give the Colts a bunch of credit. They did a better job than us. I think that’s really more what it came down to.” It almost sounds like they are willing to deal with the penalties that come with his aggressive play. Like he gives up five yards here and there but he usually gets them back in other plays. I don't know if I agree with that. Maybe they don't think its a problem that can be fixed.
I would bail on Clowney. I have never been a fan. He is injury prone and has "strange" injuries. I question his love and commitment to the game. I think after he gets the big payday he will limp off the field never to be heard from again. When he is good, he is great, but he isn't that great or good that often.
To me Clowney is a part of the future core of his team. Watson, Hopkins, Clowney, Matthieu, Cunningham, Martin will anchor the next 5 years. Pass rushers that can stop the run don’t just grow on trees. I wonder if he/ Texans would be willing to sign a shorter (3 yr 66 mill?) contract allowing him to sign 1 more big contract before he retires.
