Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

[Dee Dub]

Put all of your Steeler Homerism aside for a moment and ask yourself who would you rather have…..Maurkice Pouncey or Hiloti Ngata?

I would think that as much as we love Maurkice the wise pick would be Hiloti Ngata. He is not just a good player but a game changer. A total defensive disrupter. He should be, even in the biggest of Steeler fans minds, rated above Maurkice Pouncey.

So why do I bring this up? Well I think in this year’s draft there may very well be two similar players.

Mike Pouncey and Phil Taylor. Now before you go all ballistic on me let’s take a hard look at Phil Taylor and Hiloti Ngata at each ones combine.

Hiloti Ngata
Height: 6 ‘4
Weight: 338
Bench Press: 37 reps
Vertical jump: 31 1/2
Broad jump: 9’02
40 yard dash: 5.13
20 yard split: 2.96
10 yard split: 1.73
20 yard shuttle: 4.69
3 cone drill: 7.97

Phil Taylor
Height: 6 ’03 1/2
Weight: 334
Bench Press: 31 reps
Vertical jump: 29 1/2
Broad jump: 8’04
40 yard dash: 5.09
20 yard split: 2.87
10 yard split: 1.77
20 yard shuttle: 4.77
3 cone drill: 7.75

And if you watch Phil Taylor from his game tapes/film you will see some similarities in his game and that of Hiloti Ngata. A very disruptive force inside. A true two-gapper who requires more than one body on him.

So I ask you again…who would you really rather have……a Maurkice Pouncey type or a Hiloti Ngata type?

[NJ-STEELER]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

with the current state of our OL and DL

i'd rather have pouncey...no question about it

[Blockhead]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

Defensive gamechangers are harder to find than OL blockers.

I go defense everytime. Only exception is for a rare skilled player capable of playing LT.

[Discipline of Steel]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

Frame the question that way and I say Pouncey. Otherwise we are looking at some combo of Legursky, Foster, and Essux at RG. Phil Taylor would sit behind Snack and Hoke for a year or two. Aside from that, there is the twynergism effect of having both Pounceys next to each other.

If it was Maurkice or Ngata, I would still say Pouncey at the beginning of his career that Ngata at his zenith. On top of that, our centers havent been too good lately whereas the DL has been exceptional.

[Sugar]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

Take the DL! I'm not as concerned about our OL as many on here. Sure, it's not the way it was with Hartings, Faneca and Smith. But, we have better weapons on the O than we did back then too. Even with all the injuries to the OL, we still played well enough to see the SB.

I'd rather have about any position on D (other than Outside Linebacker) than another O-lineman early in the draft.

[grotonsteel]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

If someone can guarentee that Phil Taylor = Haloti Ngata i am willing to give entire draft picks to draft him ala Ricky Williams.

[NJ-STEELER]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

If someone can guarentee that Phil Taylor = Haloti Ngata i am willing to give entire draft picks to draft him ala Ricky Williams.

which begs the question if he is as close to him, why is he being considered at the bottom of round 1 and not in the top 10

[Captain Lemming]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

Put all of your Steeler Homerism aside for a moment and ask yourself who would you rather have…..Maurkice Pouncey or Hiloti Ngata?

I would think that as much as we love Maurkice the wise pick would be Hiloti Ngata. He is not just a good player but a game changer. A total defensive disrupter. He should be, even in the biggest of Steeler fans minds, rated above Maurkice Pouncey.

So why do I bring this up? Well I think in this year’s draft there may very well be two similar players.

Mike Pouncey and Phil Taylor. Now before you go all ballistic on me let’s take a hard look at Phil Taylor and Hiloti Ngata at each ones combine.

Hiloti Ngata
Height: 6 ‘4
Weight: 338
Bench Press: 37 reps
Vertical jump: 31 1/2
Broad jump: 9’02
40 yard dash: 5.13
20 yard split: 2.96
10 yard split: 1.73
20 yard shuttle: 4.69
3 cone drill: 7.97

Phil Taylor
Height: 6 ’03 1/2
Weight: 334
Bench Press: 31 reps
Vertical jump: 29 1/2
Broad jump: 8’04
40 yard dash: 5.09
20 yard split: 2.87
10 yard split: 1.77
20 yard shuttle: 4.77
3 cone drill: 7.75

And if you watch Phil Taylor from his game tapes/film you will see some similarities in his game and that of Hiloti Ngata. A very disruptive force inside. A true two-gapper who requires more than one body on him.

So I ask you again…who would you really rather have……a Maurkice Pouncey type or a Hiloti Ngata type?

If you look at "combine" numbers you have the next Ngata in every draft. I could just as easily compare Taylor to center AQ Shipley when it comes to combine "feats". That is a truly "elite" athlete.

Talk about what he did on the field fine (tapes as you say)

I am not saying he isnt the real deal, but his combine numbers prove nothing.

[steelblood]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

I would argue that the only player like Ngata in this draft is Marcel Darius. Not quite as big, but very strong and explosive. Baylor is a potential top NT. But, I don't believe he is going to be nearly as good as Ngata.

[Northern_Blitz]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

If I had to choose, I'd take Ngata because I think a great 3-4 DT is harder to find than a great C.

My counter arguement would be that I think that the drop off in our run D was much less when Hoke had to play for Hampton than the dropoff in O when we were searching for a C after Hartings.

I trust the Steeler's scouting department when it comes to evaluating players and I think what they did on the field is 10x more important than how them measure at the combine.

[JUST-PLAIN-NASTY]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

I think your are asking would you take Mike Pouncey or Phil Taylor if they are both there. First, I think Taylor will also be off the board. But I will play along. Taylor & Pouncey both sitting at #31...What a good problem to have. Wow! Good scenario. And you all know how big of a Pouncey fan I am. And RG is a big need. Taylor would sit and Pouncey would start. However, I have Taylor graded much higher. Looking at the draft and how the position drop off is laid out...I couldn't pass on Taylor. Have to stay true to the board when a player of his caliber falls because I think it would take our 1st & 2nd to trade up for Taylor. Pouncey may be more in reach with giving up our 1st & 3rd. I think the only one of the two that have a chance to fall to the Steelers would be Pouncey.

[birtikidis]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

after witnessing great center play for the better part of 25 years and then to witness center play that was typical of a high school kid with downs syndrome the past few.. I'd say center. protect your franchise qb, give him time to make reads, and let him be the game changer. football is the ultimate team game. narrowing it down to one player vs another is not possible.

[flippy]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

I'd take a defensive player over offensive player any time talent is equal.

I'd take Ngata over almost any other player in the league right now.

The formula for championships is elite QB + elite D.

And Ben doesn't even need a line.

[chiken]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

In this is a Qb's league.. I protect my Qb first.

[Dee Dub]

Re: Maurkice Pouncey or Haloti Ngata?

Here is some Youtube of Phil Taylor versus Oklahoma. Yes there are some plays here where it appears that Taylor is beat or doesnt quite give his best but there are also plenty of plays where he is flat out dominate. Now waht would this type of player look like with the likes of Casey Hampton on one side and eitther James Harrison or LaMArr Woodley on the other? With Troy Polomalu, Lawrence Timmons, amd James Farrior behind him?

Even the likes of Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, and even a Hiloti Ngata is beaten and or nullified several times throughout a game but I believe If Phil Taylor was at DE (not NT), for the Steelers along a line with Casey Hampton and Ziggy Hood, with the rest of the that Steelers cast of stars on defense, we are looking at the likes of a Steel Curtain that is built with dominance upfront.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezk5xKe_vHg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezk5xKe_vHg[/url]

And for those who are saying if he is that great why would he be there at the end of round one?..well he didnt play at Oregon like Ngata, he played at Baylor. Many people including NFL scouts didnt even know that much about Taylor until recently. Scouts Inc currently has him rated as the 30th overall player in this years draft.

I really believe Phil Taylor will be in reach for the Steelers. Maybe they have to trade up a tad but not before pick 25. And it is my opinion that he is going dominate at the next level especially if he goes to a defense like the Steelers.