King Descends from the Mount to Talk Jets
Peter King, the same guy who just had a Guinness for the first time in the past year as well as just told us how much he loves The Office (nice trendspotting two years too late), is giving his assessment of D’Brickashaw Ferguson’s Week 13:
a. In case D’Brickashaw Ferguson didn’t get the number of that truck that steamrolled him Sunday for an embarrassing, drive-ending sack in Miami, the number is 99. Jason Taylor. And D’Brick, you might want to learn leverage as part of your blocking bag of tricks.
b. This is the man the Jets picked No. 4 overall last year. The jury is, at best, still out on Ferguson. But he’s been as leaky as dominant in his first year and three-quarters.
Ferguson’s troubles haven’t gotten past me, but having said that, didn’t Brick hold up pretty nicely against Taylor once already this year? Peter King should recall that, since it was King who then used Taylor’s comments AFTER that game as his Quote of the Week as Taylor told the press that he “sucked”? Remember that Peter? No? Oh sorry, that was two months ago … who can remember things that far back if they weren’t spoon-fed to you by Chris Collinsworth or a team’s GM via Batphone …
D’Brick may be OK, but he’s no Pace, Ogden, Jones et al. For the fourth pick, he’s not the least dominant.
Just wrote this about Brick on another post, but probably more applicable here:
I think Brick’s actually played the pass well this year, and improved in the running game ( he still needs work in that area, but he’s better than last year). Left tackle is a thankless position – no one notices when you execute well, but when you don’t, it’s often a game-changing play (sacks, fumbles, bruised QB’s). Compare our guy vs some of the top teams in the league. Matt Light has been getting his share of grief in the NE press over the past year. Tony Ugoh’s a rookie who Peyton has had to teach on the job. GB’s Chad Clifton is slowing down, and PIT’s Marvel Smith has been a turnstile for the past month. Even Marcus McNeill, SD’s poster boy last year, has run into a wall this year and just got punched around by Jared Allen yesterday. And, each of those guys has a better LG next to him than Brick does with Clarke.
Bottom line – Brick isn’t perfect, and I don’t know that he’ll ever get to the Pace-Ogden-W Jones level, but he’s solidified a critical position for hopefully the next decade. I’ll take it.
By the way, I loved this tidbit from Rock’s report on Newsday:
The Dolphins were in no mood to congratulate the Jets. “They suck, too,” defensive end Jason Taylor said of the opponent he loves to hate. “They beat us. They’ll go home happy, and their fans will be happy that they got three wins this year. Good for them.”
You stay classy, 99!
I would agree that Ferguson is getting a bit of a bad rap at this point. He’s had a few games where he has struggled (he had a terrible time with Harrison against Pittsburgh), but he’s had a significantly better season than Mangold, whose struggles invariably go uncommented upon. I keep on eye on Ferguson on every snap and contrast him with the opposing left tackle, and only Chris Samuels has obviously outplayed him. Ferguson doesn’t have the bulk yet to be elite, but he’s a good player.
Loved that Jason Taylor quote — is it wrong that in a bad season I’ve taken much pleasure from Miami’s demise, especially yesterday’s whipping?
As for D’Brick — where was King when he shut down Taylor (the first time), Schoebel and Umeniyora? Oh that’s right — he was too busy fellating Brady and Belijerk to notice.
I love how the week after he elevated Big Ben to one of the three best QBs in the league, the Jets took him apart and beat him, and King didn’t offer a single word acknowledging what the Jets had done.
The more I read and watch football, the more I’ve come to realize that there’s only about 3 or 4 guys out there (Jaworski and Dr. Z among them) that truly seem to pay attention, understand the game and offer genuine assessments based on in-depth study rather than basing everything on what they see on the highlights or what everyone else is saying. King is pretty useless for actual analysis — his forte is “up close and personal” type profiles.
I think Brick is coming along on passblocking. He is handling speedrushers who shoot his inside hole much better and he’s been better in dealing with bullrushers. His big problem, and it’s a very big problem, is he’s an awful run blocker. Not average, not even bad, AWFUL!!! What I just cannot stand is his failure to block anyone when he pulls. He did it yesterday, twice that I counted. He’s extremely mobile and should excel at pulling. There’s no excuse for being a lead blocker and, then, blocking air. Instead, of Brick, how about “Avatar” the last air-blocker?
Idiot writers for sports sites like Sports Illustrated are the last people who should be making judgments of o-lineman. Here’s what the typical idiot in this situation does. “OT gets beat once for a play and the announcers point it out”. Well he got beat once, so he must suck. Let me write an article about how he sucks and he’s the reason the Jets suck and he’s a bust. Oh, and so people think I know what I’m talking about let me throw something in about leverage.
Though outperformed last year by McNeil this year Ferguson is playing like the best OT from the 06 class.. by a combination of Ferguson’s improvement and McNeil’s disappointments.
where a guy is drafted and how he compares to other draft picks is irrelevant. draft position is a sunk cost. it’s a matter of whether the guy can get the job done from this point forward or if we need to think about another option. thinking about where a guy was drafted is one of the biggest wastes of energy and time.
R in CT
Completely agree with you on Jaworski and Dr. Z. I hate how most guys who cover sports these days are nothing better than pundits. They go down on whoever’s looking good (see G. W.) then when they start to go bad they take the opposite tack as if they never fellated them in the first place.
Peter King is a ass kisser, if you can’t see that after reading his MMQB you must be blind. I think that he watches ESPN for the highlights and then writes an article.
Brick has played very well this year considering his guard is terrible, and the offense so predictable. Yesterday he was 10 yards downfield w/Leon on the runs, and had 1 bad pass protection play.
King is good bathroom reading, that is about it!
The Pats OL got absolutely manhandled tonight, yet somehow I’m pretty sure that won’t be Kings major take-home message from his column tomorrow.
Why the anger against King, he’s been a leading analyst for years and you know he’s right. D brick looks like a bust and we spent the 4th pick in the draft last year. I think Ngata looks a whole lot better than Dbrick. Think he would help us stop the run? Anyone here think that D brick will be an all pro, because from the 4th pick in the draft that’s what you want.
I don’t think he has to go to every pro bowl to be a stud, i would much rather have him be consistent the next 10 yrs keep improving which i think he has done, remember he is not working w/the best supporting class and their are other things that are going wrong other than Brick. Prince said it best N.E. got manhandled last night, but because Brady has an all-star cast around him they got by- those jackasses