Last year Clowney played decently until JJ went out. Then he was a monster. I don't think it is as much to do with Watt as it is with Clowney being shifted to his more natural DE position with his hand on the ground. Today there was talk of him moving around a lot but I mostly saw him standing as an edge rushing LB. Maybe I just zoned out because of the misery on the screen, but he looked like an LB. Why can't he and Watt both play DE when in a 3-4 or 3-2-5? Who cares if there isn't a great edge rusher after Mercilus in the LB core? If Clowney is elite at DE and average (or below in coverage) then isn't it better to punt that position and try to max Clowney/JJ/Mercilus? Can't be hard on Watt. He has barely played in a year and today had to be a huge struggle for rust and endurance and game feel. He will get better. Might still not be elite JJ but first game back I won't go crazy over him.
I have never understood the whole 3-4 vs 4-3 thing to me ... Where coaches have a certain system and get players to fit it. I think the obvious thing to do is to tailor a system to the talent you have. There is no reason why JJ and clowney shouldn't be on the line at the same time . That being said , despite our front 7's lackluster performance ... The secondary is a far bigger issue as they performed closer to expectations ( i.e. I think the front 7 will round into form) Many of fournette's gains came when he was met near the LOS by a safety and destroyed them.
His problem wasn't him being listed as a linebacker instead of a DE, he just had a bad game.....just like everyone else did.
There's no reason he and Watt can't be ends in whatever alignment you want to call it. Reader is the DT, but if they want to go 4-man front who is the other.....? Dom Capers bullshit "we have to draft guys to fit our scheme" is why they drafted Travis instead of Derrick Johnson
It's kind of crazy how they've forsaken the rest of the team to build a "super front 7" and while the rest of the team has trouble building anything the super front can't figure out how to operate.
You have to draft guys that fit your scheme. That said, good players typically fit any scheme (though usually end up in scenarios that fit them best) and a good player not fitting is more an indication of a bad scheme (or a really poorly-talented team).
Clownguy is better off without Fatt. Just look at last season when Fatt sat out I have said for a long time Fatt needs to go. Trade him or dump him for whatever pieces you get and let Clownguy take over. Texans will be better off. Addition by subtraction just like Dwight Howard.....
