bestfightstory":30rw2pvy said:
Pandion Haliaetus":30rw2pvy said:
So, lets say Bruce Irvin happens to prove you guys wrong... does that mean he was only successful because of his supporting cast.
I'm not going to say anything else, I can say this, and "you" can say that but in the end its all up to Bruce Irvin. I can't prove that he will prove some of your guy's opinion wrong but he can and I can believe in him.
Don't know who you are talking to bit I don't give three shits if I'm proved wrong!
Do you understand?
This board gets way too caught up in beating its chest about predictions and analyses of players and coaches and game plans.
I want the Seahawks to win.
That is what matters to me.
That means I want the players on the Seahawks roster to EXCEL and DOMINATE.
That includes Irvin.
That includes Moffitt.
All of them.
I say what I see-when I am INCORRECT and it is to the Seahawks' benefit I CELEBRATE being wrong!
Jesus Christ
Whoa, buddy… I did not mean to ruffle your feathers. I kind of aimed that at you a little bit but what I say next is to everyone.
I just feel that Irvin out of all people has just got a bunch of sh!t constantly handed to him about who he is as a person and who he will be as a player.
Irvin has come a long way to get to where he is now in the NFL, from streets being a petty drug dealer and criminal, to playing football in JuCo for two years before transferring to West Virginia. At every stop he’s been at he’s worked hard and has been successful. For the most part relying on his athletic talent more than he was coached up. Irvin he admitted that he wasn’t coached up that much, they just put him out there and let him do what he does best… eat quarterbacks.
And the two things I hated seeing in this thread was one:
1) Knocking Irvin down because of his intelligence. The thing is most football players aren’t that smart. But if a players has top notch athletic talent and the desire plus dedication to work hard to improve every day and understand what the job is. Just enough intelligence can make you into a great player.
And there are plenty of players in the league and college who aren’t very athletic or strong but get by on intelligence, I’m not going to discount that… it’s a very real thing. At times if you have enough athletic talent, intelligence can make you into a great player i.e. Lofa Tatupu.
And there are players definitely with both but it doesn’t mean that player is on track to become a hall of fame type of player. No, again, in order to be great, in order to be the best you have to be competitive in every way, you have to work your ass off, you have to dedicate pretty much your life to football and as Wilson always says “preparation is in the separation”.
And if I have to guess where Irvin’s allegiance lies towards dedication and hard-work, even though its my own opinion, I’ll admit that, but from what I gather from his interviews, from his write-ups, and from what the coaches have said about him… is that his heart is in this game, that he’ll put in the hard work, the overtime work to improve, and the dedication to become the best of which he can be.
And one of the best things about our team Irvin is not alone in this, he has one of the best offenses in the NFL to practice against to get better, with one of the best defenses watching his back, and more than enough solid coaching to go around. The weight of expectation is not thrust upon Irvin’s shoulders as some players are. The Seahawks aren’t forcing him to be a great player, right away, because they’ll win or die with his ability. No, I think it’s in Irvin's own personal agenda, his own expectations to become great, to prove his importance in a world that has constantly laughed in his face or told him he’s not good enough and to disprove all the haters, even the ones that are fans of his own team.
2) When is not leading you’re rookie class in sacks not good enough.
Irvin had 8 sacks in 16 games, no starts, fact, it doesn’t matter how he got them.
Lets compare to other NFL 1st round DE’s from 2012:
The next closest rookie to Irvin was Chandler Jones with 6 sacks in 14 games, 13 starts.
Jones was a full-time starter for the Patriots, despite missing 2 games, he had the 7th most snap counts on the Patriots defense with 729 plays. If he played a full 16 clip, he easily would have surpassed the 6th guy at 733 snaps, and pushed for 5th behind CB Kyle Arrington’s 824. The other players ahead of Jones, respectively, were stars and key starters: Wilfork, Ninkovich, Mayo, and McCourty.
Bruce Irvin had 415 snaps according to Sando, (434- FO) and from what I could find that ranked 11th among the rest of Seahawks defense.
So theoretically let’s say Jones played a full 16 games and tied Irvin with 8 sacks but also had 830 snaps ( About 50 snaps per game seems reasonable enough for a starter, Jones had 41 snaps in his first game back from his ankle injury).
You guys do see the picture I’m painting, Irvin had 8 sacks on more or less than half the snaps (of a normal defensive starter). Again, Irvin led all rookies, it doesn’t matter how he got them.
Whitney Mercelius tied Jones with 6 sacks on 500 defensive snaps (FO) in 16 games, 4 starts.
Next closest guy was Quinton Coples with 5.5 sacks with 516 snaps (FO) in 16 games, 2 starts. Coples also had 40 pounds on Irvin. Chandler had 15 pounds. Mercelius had 12.
The other rookies, Melvin Ingram and Shea McClellin were nothing talking about pass-rush wise in 2012.
So who really cares how Irvin got his sacks, he still was more productive in the sense, in less playing time than any of the other first round pass-rushers.
Even Clemons, a 9 year vet, who played twice the snaps more than Irvin with 840 snaps, managed only 3.5 more sacks than Irvin in 16 starts.