The Luke Kuechly conundrum, and other sports stupidities

[xgeoff]

I was watching the Carolina-Philly game this evening, watching Luke Kuechly make tackles from one side of the field to the other, and it made me really angry. Kuechly did the same thing to the Seahawks and I noticed something in both games. In both games, Kuechly was mostly unblocked. Against Seattle, there was an occasional whiff by Justin Britt, but mostly Kuechly is just left alone to do his thing.

It brought back memories of watching Ray Lewis back in the day, who did the same thing, and faced the same non-blocking.

And so I'm wondering to myself, what the heck are offensive coordinators thinking when they go up against tackling machines like Kuechly and (in the past) Ray Lewis? Cause I know what I would do, I'd have someone GET IN HIS WAY!

I'm not a great athlete, but I do play a lot of sports. Baseball, basketball, football, volleyball, soccer, etc, I play them all. And there is one thing that I refuse to allow in the sports I play. I refuse to allow one single person on the other team to be the reason we lose.

In soccer sometimes we will occasionally play against teams who will have a guy who is really good. He'll make the other team's offense go. He gets the ball, he passes the ball, he gets passed to and he scores. When I see a guy like that, I stick to him like glue. I deny him the ball. I challenge him. And it always works. It prevents that guy from single-handedly beating us.

And it's not because I'm that good. I'm not. I just know how to get in the way. I know how to deny the ball. It's not hard. Same thing in basketball. When one guy is hitting all the shots, stick to him like glue, deny him the ball, challenge his shots.

In football when one guy makes all the tackles, you just need to make sure to have someone GET IN HIS WAY. The pace of the NFL game is so fast that LBers don't have time to blow through a 6-foot something 200+ lb person and still be able to make the tackle at the sideline. The game is just too fast.

I would just like 5 minutes to address the NFL offensive coordinators and just tell them 'look, you idiots, if you're playing a team with a MLB who makes all the tackles, have someone get in their way on every play'. Then I'd drop the mic and walk away, cause that's all they need to know.

 

[chris98251]

Best way to nullify a player like that is to go straight at him, when he isn't in space and has to play straight up with a guy blocking on him he becomes negligible.

 

[Cary Kollins]

Dude, you don't think NFL coaches wish they could get a guy on Kuechly?

Opposing teams TRY to get a guy on Kuechly every play. Luke is too atheletic for even the most nimble offensive lineman. Also, the Panthers defensive tackles demand DOUBLE TEAMS which keep the big guards occupied.

That really is the key. Kawaan Short and Star Lotulelei are monsters inside and keep Kuechly and Thomas Davis free to roam sideline to sideline.

There is your answer. It's not because NFL coaches haven't thought of putting a guy on Kuechly before.

 

[Popeyejones]

Also, the Panthers defensive tackles demand DOUBLE TEAMS which keep the big guards occupied.

It's not just that they demand double teams, it's that they force double teams.

It's the job of the Panthers' DTs to maintain line and gap integrity while keeping Kuechly free to roam.

Kooch gets all the glory here, but this is really a story of two D Lineman occupying three blockers:

 

[hawknation2015]

Kawann Short plays with violence and is way underpaid.

 

[ringless]

O-lineman are the least athletic players on football field between Defense and Offense. Luke is just a freak. I am super impressed when I watch him play.

He is the type of guy that if you have him on your team he can negate the dangers of Wilson for the most part. One can dream lol.

 

[Ramfan128]

I would also add, that Ray Lewis essentially demanded that the Ravens draft Ngata, if you remember.

Ray Lewis was a great player, but the back half of his career was so successful because of Haloti Ngata.

 

[Scottemojo]

Luke is the perfect antidote for zone blocking. So is Davis. Watch Short, or any of their other DTs. On a run, when they get combo blocked, they will grab the zone blocker most likely to free up and go to the 2nd level so they can keep people out of Davis and Kuechly's way. They never call that penalty, so the Panthers would be dumb to not take advantage.

 

[ivotuk]

Dude, you don't think NFL coaches wish they could get a guy on Kuechly?

Opposing teams TRY to get a guy on Kuechly every play. Luke is too atheletic for even the most nimble offensive lineman. Also, the Panthers defensive tackles demand DOUBLE TEAMS which keep the big guards occupied.

That really is the key. Kawaan Short and Star Lotulelei are monsters inside and keep Kuechly and Thomas Davis free to roam sideline to sideline.

There is your answer. It's not because NFL coaches haven't thought of putting a guy on Kuechly before.

This really pissed me off! How could they be so lucky to get both of those guys in the same draft?! I wanted Kawaan Short so bad, and couldn't figure out why Seattle passed on him!

But he's absolutely right. It's the job of the big guys up front to keep their LBs clean.

In FACT, years ago Ray Lewis absolutely blew up at Ozzy because he was getting "beat up" and not able to "stay clean" because they had no one in front of him. I think that's they year they drafted Halotia Ngata. And Ray's tackles went up, while the defense improved. Even though he had slowed down.

That's one of the reasons that SF had such a good defense, Justin Smith. Not only was he a monster, but he was the Master at holding without getting a penalty. He was so strong, and kept his hands inside, that he could tie up a Guard and the Center, thus leaving his All Pro LBers to make the tackles.

So I understand the OPs frustration, and it's a legit point. But Kuechly has the advantage of 2 elite DTs up front, and a damn good DE on the end. Not to mention Davis and Josh Norman.

Edit: I see RamFan beat me to the Ray Lewis point, which only means that it's a valid one.

 

[kobebryant]

I thought what the Eagles did on the Ryan Mathews long TD run was an interesting antidote.

Didn't necessarily block Keuchly or put a man on him, but used misdirection to get him aggressively going in the wrong direction and then ran the counter to where Keuchly should have been.

Often the best answer to guys with the speed and instincts that guys like Keuchly and Wagner have is to get them going in the wrong direction.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

That's what speed does to the position. Keuchly is too fast for lineman to get a body on him, so he's always a step ahead of the blocker sideline to sideline.

As someone else said, the way to beat speed guys is run right at them. But with Davis, Short and Norman the Panthers are playing some really good D right now.

 

[ctrcat]

Dude, you don't think NFL coaches wish they could get a guy on Kuechly?

Opposing teams TRY to get a guy on Kuechly every play. Luke is too atheletic for even the most nimble offensive lineman. Also, the Panthers defensive tackles demand DOUBLE TEAMS which keep the big guards occupied.

That really is the key. Kawaan Short and Star Lotulelei are monsters inside and keep Kuechly and Thomas Davis free to roam sideline to sideline.

There is your answer. It's not because NFL coaches haven't thought of putting a guy on Kuechly before.

This really pissed me off! How could they be so lucky to get both of those guys in the same draft?! I wanted Kawaan Short so bad, and couldn't figure out why Seattle passed on him!

But he's absolutely right. It's the job of the big guys up front to keep their LBs clean.

In FACT, years ago Ray Lewis absolutely blew up at Ozzy because he was getting "beat up" and not able to "stay clean" because they had no one in front of him. I think that's they year they drafted Halotia Ngata. And Ray's tackles went up, while the defense improved. Even though he had slowed down.

That's one of the reasons that SF had such a good defense, Justin Smith. Not only was he a monster, but he was the Master at holding without getting a penalty. He was so strong, and kept his hands inside, that he could tie up a Guard and the Center, thus leaving his All Pro LBers to make the tackles.

So I understand the OPs frustration, and it's a legit point. But Kuechly has the advantage of 2 elite DTs up front, and a damn good DE on the end. Not to mention Davis and Josh Norman.

Great post but just curious who the damn good DE is in your opinion? Johnson is damn good in spurts when healthy but is currently taking up over 20+ million in cap hit on the shelf. The hope is that he and Shaq are ready for the stretch run, but Ealy/Allen/Delaire/Addinson/Horton, while not bad, are not the same players that a Johnson/Allen in their primes were or a 2013 Hardy.

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the Panthers go DE early in the 2016 draft.

 

[ivotuk]

Dude, you don't think NFL coaches wish they could get a guy on Kuechly?

Opposing teams TRY to get a guy on Kuechly every play. Luke is too atheletic for even the most nimble offensive lineman. Also, the Panthers defensive tackles demand DOUBLE TEAMS which keep the big guards occupied.

That really is the key. Kawaan Short and Star Lotulelei are monsters inside and keep Kuechly and Thomas Davis free to roam sideline to sideline.

There is your answer. It's not because NFL coaches haven't thought of putting a guy on Kuechly before.

This really pissed me off! How could they be so lucky to get both of those guys in the same draft?! I wanted Kawaan Short so bad, and couldn't figure out why Seattle passed on him!

But he's absolutely right. It's the job of the big guys up front to keep their LBs clean.

In FACT, years ago Ray Lewis absolutely blew up at Ozzy because he was getting "beat up" and not able to "stay clean" because they had no one in front of him. I think that's they year they drafted Halotia Ngata. And Ray's tackles went up, while the defense improved. Even though he had slowed down.

That's one of the reasons that SF had such a good defense, Justin Smith. Not only was he a monster, but he was the Master at holding without getting a penalty. He was so strong, and kept his hands inside, that he could tie up a Guard and the Center, thus leaving his All Pro LBers to make the tackles.

So I understand the OPs frustration, and it's a legit point. But Kuechly has the advantage of 2 elite DTs up front, and a damn good DE on the end. Not to mention Davis and Josh Norman.

Great post but just curious who the damn good DE is in your opinion? Johnson is damn good in spurts when healthy but is currently taking up over 20+ million in cap hit on the shelf. The hope is that he and Shaq are ready for the stretch run, but Ealy/Allen/Delaire/Addinson/Horton, while not bad, are not the same players that a Johnson/Allen in their primes were or a 2013 Hardy.

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the Panthers go DE early in the 2016 draft.

20 Million? Holy crap. He's not that good. But yes, I was talking about Johnson.