Would we have a better Defense if...

[feltdizz]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

so do we have to wait until harrison is ineffective due to age to see timmons at olb? i would hate to see timmons not re-signed and see him play at a high level on another team playing outside LB. is harrison a "smart" enough player to learn to play inside? i love harrison but i wouldnt say is all that bright. he reminds me a lot of mike tyson, more in the comical way than violent. i guess its a classy problem to have

Is Timmons better than Jimmy Hate at OLB? I understand the concern with Timmons inside but it's a little overblown IMO. It's not like our run D is abysmal.

[frankthetank1]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

so do we have to wait until harrison is ineffective due to age to see timmons at olb? i would hate to see timmons not re-signed and see him play at a high level on another team playing outside LB. is harrison a "smart" enough player to learn to play inside? i love harrison but i wouldnt say is all that bright. he reminds me a lot of mike tyson, more in the comical way than violent. i guess its a classy problem to have

Is Timmons better than Jimmy Hate at OLB? I understand the concern with Timmons inside but it's a little overblown IMO. It's not like our run D is abysmal.

there are few better than harrison at olb if any. the run d is great, i just think timmons natural position is olb. i would be suprised if timmons isnt playing olb when jimmy hate retires

[birtikidis]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

so do we have to wait until harrison is ineffective due to age to see timmons at olb? i would hate to see timmons not re-signed and see him play at a high level on another team playing outside LB. is harrison a "smart" enough player to learn to play inside? i love harrison but i wouldnt say is all that bright. he reminds me a lot of mike tyson, more in the comical way than violent. i guess its a classy problem to have

Timmons is fine where he is. He definetly wasn't our worst LB'er last year. He's young and he's only gonna get better. moving Timmons is as bad of an idea as moving Colon would be.

[frankthetank1]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

so do we have to wait until harrison is ineffective due to age to see timmons at olb? i would hate to see timmons not re-signed and see him play at a high level on another team playing outside LB. is harrison a "smart" enough player to learn to play inside? i love harrison but i wouldnt say is all that bright. he reminds me a lot of mike tyson, more in the comical way than violent. i guess its a classy problem to have

Timmons is fine where he is. He definetly wasn't our worst LB'er last year. He's young and he's only gonna get better. moving Timmons is as bad of an idea as moving Colon would be.

im not sure if colon played guard in college. i do remember timmons dominating at olb in college though. i dont think timmons was our worst LB'er i think farrior was. when timmons has filled in at olb he has done a great job so i wouldnt write it off as a bad idea. we have some serious depth at LB now with the signing of foote. it will be an interesting position to watch in preseason. my guess is we will see less snaps from farrior next season which would be the smart way to go. kind of like bruschi his last few years

[birtikidis]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

so do we have to wait until harrison is ineffective due to age to see timmons at olb? i would hate to see timmons not re-signed and see him play at a high level on another team playing outside LB. is harrison a "smart" enough player to learn to play inside? i love harrison but i wouldnt say is all that bright. he reminds me a lot of mike tyson, more in the comical way than violent. i guess its a classy problem to have

Timmons is fine where he is. He definetly wasn't our worst LB'er last year. He's young and he's only gonna get better. moving Timmons is as bad of an idea as moving Colon would be.

im not sure if colon played guard in college. i do remember timmons dominating at olb in college though. i dont think timmons was our worst LB'er i think farrior was. when timmons has filled in at olb he has done a great job so i wouldnt write it off as a bad idea. we have some serious depth at LB now with the signing of foote. it will be an interesting position to watch in preseason. my guess is we will see less snaps from farrior next season which would be the smart way to go. kind of like bruschi his last few years

the OLB in a 4-3 is much different than a OLB in a 3-4. I agree he did alright outside, and he could be really good there. but the debate was moving harrison inside to put graham there. which is a terrible idea.

[frankthetank1]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

so do we have to wait until harrison is ineffective due to age to see timmons at olb? i would hate to see timmons not re-signed and see him play at a high level on another team playing outside LB. is harrison a "smart" enough player to learn to play inside? i love harrison but i wouldnt say is all that bright. he reminds me a lot of mike tyson, more in the comical way than violent. i guess its a classy problem to have

Timmons is fine where he is. He definetly wasn't our worst LB'er last year. He's young and he's only gonna get better. moving Timmons is as bad of an idea as moving Colon would be.

im not sure if colon played guard in college. i do remember timmons dominating at olb in college though. i dont think timmons was our worst LB'er i think farrior was. when timmons has filled in at olb he has done a great job so i wouldnt write it off as a bad idea. we have some serious depth at LB now with the signing of foote. it will be an interesting position to watch in preseason. my guess is we will see less snaps from farrior next season which would be the smart way to go. kind of like bruschi his last few years

the OLB in a 4-3 is much different than a OLB in a 3-4. I agree he did alright outside, and he could be really good there. but the debate was moving harrison inside to put graham there. which is a terrible idea.

i agree i dont think it would be wise to try and move harrison inside. he is one of the best pass rushers no reason to mess with that

[Flasteel]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

We traded down, picked up another 2nd round pick, drafted 6'2" 265 lb. Brandon Graham in Rd. 1, played him at OLB and moved James Harrison to ILB?

I'd rather an ILB with Harrison inside and move Timmons to his natural position as an OLB. He was drafted to play outside; the Steelers didn't realize that Woodley was going to become a very good OLB so quickly and that Silverback was going to become a DMVP and stalwart OLB. They are simply finding a way to get Timmons' athletic ability on the field by playing him inside.

Timmons will be Silverback's replacement in 2-3 years.

Pappy

Where do you get that Timmons is a natural 3-4 OLB Pap? He played outside in a 4-3 scheme in college and 4-3 outside linebackers have roughly the same skill set as 3-4 middle linebackers. When Timmons was drafted, Colbert even talked about his ability to play inside.

We had him at OLB in his first year due to the pass rush situation, but I clearly recall being one of the guys on the board who was calling for his move inside.

I see that he's compact and explosive but he's never been an edge rusher at any point in his collegiate or pro career. In his limited time at OLB, he displayed no knack for getting to the QB or any indication he would ever get there.

I'm not sure if his problem was reading, reacting, or some combination of both, but last year he got caught up in the wash or was out of position to make the play far too often. I don't see a problem with discussing replacing Timmons inside or even having him move outside. But to suggest that he is a natural, was solely drafted to play outside, or simply finding a way to get his athleticism on the field is nothing less than erroneous and speculative.

Just sayin'

[Lebsteel]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

so do we have to wait until harrison is ineffective due to age to see timmons at olb? i would hate to see timmons not re-signed and see him play at a high level on another team playing outside LB. is harrison a "smart" enough player to learn to play inside? i love harrison but i wouldnt say is all that bright. he reminds me a lot of mike tyson, more in the comical way than violent. i guess its a classy problem to have

Timmons is fine where he is. He definetly wasn't our worst LB'er last year. He's young and he's only gonna get better. moving Timmons is as bad of an idea as moving Colon would be.

im not sure if colon played guard in college. i do remember timmons dominating at olb in college though. i dont think timmons was our worst LB'er i think farrior was. when timmons has filled in at olb he has done a great job so i wouldnt write it off as a bad idea. we have some serious depth at LB now with the signing of foote. it will be an interesting position to watch in preseason. my guess is we will see less snaps from farrior next season which would be the smart way to go. kind of like bruschi his last few years

the OLB in a 4-3 is much different than a OLB in a 3-4. I agree he did alright outside, and he could be really good there. but the debate was moving harrison inside to put graham there. which is a terrible idea.

Yea, almost as bad as being a Gator...what happened to them today? I had them beating BYU and they let me down. My brackets are totally busted already...

[birtikidis]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

eh, i don't follow gator baskbetball all that close. i really don't like bb. though i heard it was a great game.

[papillon]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

We traded down, picked up another 2nd round pick, drafted 6'2" 265 lb. Brandon Graham in Rd. 1, played him at OLB and moved James Harrison to ILB?

I'd rather an ILB with Harrison inside and move Timmons to his natural position as an OLB. He was drafted to play outside; the Steelers didn't realize that Woodley was going to become a very good OLB so quickly and that Silverback was going to become a DMVP and stalwart OLB. They are simply finding a way to get Timmons' athletic ability on the field by playing him inside.

Timmons will be Silverback's replacement in 2-3 years.

Pappy

Where do you get that Timmons is a natural 3-4 OLB Pap? He played outside in a 4-3 scheme in college and 4-3 outside linebackers have roughly the same skill set as 3-4 middle linebackers. When Timmons was drafted, Colbert even talked about his ability to play inside.

We had him at OLB in his first year due to the pass rush situation, but I clearly recall being one of the guys on the board who was calling for his move inside.

I see that he's compact and explosive but he's never been an edge rusher at any point in his collegiate or pro career. In his limited time at OLB, he displayed no knack for getting to the QB or any indication he would ever get there.

I'm not sure if his problem was reading, reacting, or some combination of both, but last year he got caught up in the wash or was out of position to make the play far too often. I don't see a problem with discussing replacing Timmons inside or even having him move outside. But to suggest that he is a natural, was solely drafted to play outside, or simply finding a way to get his athleticism on the field is nothing less than erroneous and speculative.

Just sayin'

I recall Colbert saying he could play inside and that versatility helped move him up the Steeler draft board. I believe Colbert drafted him as an OLB to replace Porter or to be groomed as such. I acknowledge that I don't know enough about the skill sets necessary to play each position, but, Timmons seems to either overrun plays or get caught up in the wash when he's inside.

He did have a pretty good year inside. Hopefully, the experience and another year of getting stronger will allow him to turn the corner and be a dominant ILB for the Steelers. I don't know where he'll end up long term, but I do like having him on the field, because, he's explosive.

Pappy

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

so do we have to wait until harrison is ineffective due to age to see timmons at olb? i would hate to see timmons not re-signed and see him play at a high level on another team playing outside LB. is harrison a "smart" enough player to learn to play inside? i love harrison but i wouldnt say is all that bright. he reminds me a lot of mike tyson, more in the comical way than violent. i guess its a classy problem to have

Timmons is fine where he is. He definetly wasn't our worst LB'er last year. He's young and he's only gonna get better. moving Timmons is as bad of an idea as moving Colon would be.

im not sure if colon played guard in college. i do remember timmons dominating at olb in college though. i dont think timmons was our worst LB'er i think farrior was. when timmons has filled in at olb he has done a great job so i wouldnt write it off as a bad idea. we have some serious depth at LB now with the signing of foote. it will be an interesting position to watch in preseason. my guess is we will see less snaps from farrior next season which would be the smart way to go. kind of like bruschi his last few years

the OLB in a 4-3 is much different than a OLB in a 3-4. I agree he did alright outside, and he could be really good there. but the debate was moving harrison inside to put graham there. which is a terrible idea.

Yea, almost as bad as being a Gator...what happened to them today? I had them beating BYU and they let me down. My brackets are totally busted already...

sorry it didn't go your way but that was a great game! watched it on tv, double-overtime thriller...that one BYU dude was just on fire unfortunately.

did you have the Gators going all the way?

[Lebsteel]

Re: Would we have a better Defense if...

Yea, all the way to Gainesville...it was my upset pick.....there were a lot of upsets, unfortunately I didn't pick any of the right ones! What do I know? Apparently not much. I even think Harrison could play ILB.