Inside Out: Bart Scott
Height: 6-2 Weight: 240
Age: 28 Born: August 18, 1980
College: Southern Illinois
Experience: 8th season
2008 Season – Bart Scott was an impact player for the Ravens in 2008 with 83 tackles, 5 passes defensed 1.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. Still, his numbers have declined steadily since his outstanding season in 2006 and it has been raised as a concern as to whether that trend will continue. Personally, I think that the number decline was in part due to the arrival of Haloti Ngata, who was able to stop more plays at the line in 2007 and 2008 than he did in his rookie season.
Strengths – Scott has good size and strength and Scott plays with an aggressive style which charges the players around him. Quick to react, Scott can change direction and move laterally well to avoid oncoming blocks to then sneak in and make the tackle. Scott good bursts of speed in short distances toward the outside to take away passing or running lanes on the perimeter. Scott is able to take on interior lead blockers and can get his pad level low enough to blow up to fullbacks before they get to daylight. Scott is gifted with excellent timing as a blitzer with good elusiveness to avoid contact at the line.
Weaknesses – Like most ILBs, Scott can struggle with much larger offensive lineman on the perimeter. Better in pass coverage than Eric Barton, Scott still isn’t elite in this regard. Scouts say Scott can play tight through the hips and is missing the ideal burst and long speed. Sometimes his risky play can jeopardize the integrity of drawn play or scheme.
Analysis – Now paired with a younger player like David Harris, it will be fun to see how the two work together. Scott’s style pairs well with Harris in that they are both decently versatile moving forward or back and both are versatile in taking on the lead tackler or ball carrier. This will allow for the defense to disguise who the MIKE is as the season wears on. Also, both players have good history in pressuring the QB, even if on delayed or schemed blitzes, which will allow them some versatility they didn’t have in the past on third down.
Use in the New Scheme – Obviously, Scott will be a key piece in the implementation of the new scheme. Since Scott knows it well and knows how to bend the scheme during the course of a game, a lot of players will be looking to him for guidance while he’s out on the field. Scott will likely see a lot of running down work, but from what we hear, the Jets have been using at least six different personnel groupings on passing downs, so pay attention to how much Scott is used here. He did have 9.5 sacks in 2006, impressive from his position, but it’s not his strength unless they are schemed for him.
Other Inside Out Posts: Kris Jenkins, Shaun Ellis, Marques Douglas,Calvin Pace, Bryan Thomas
Filed under: Opinion
“his numbers have declined steadily since his outstanding season in 2006 and it has been raised as a concern as to whether that trend will continue”
The reduction in his numbers is because his role switched from MIKE to TED so he spent more of his time occupying blockers (to placate Ray Lewis) and covering TEs, rather than playing in space and racking up tackles.
Same reason the DH wasn’t able to come close to his sensational rookie numbers last year. When he replaced Vilma, he took Vilma’s role and played in space, but then he added weight to take on the TED role in 2007 and enable Barton to play in space. Unfortunately, he got hurt halfway through the year.
It is a huge plus for the Jets that they have two guys that have played both roles.
Hope he is as good as advertised, I am concerned that he comes from a team with 3-4 outstanding defenders either in front of him, next to him, or behind him.
Cabras. the Jets defensive personnel are pretty damn good. there should be much of a difference with the talent around him.
The biggest factor for him is that he isn’t changing defenses. Almost no free agents switch to a team with the exact same scheme they just came from.
question: I know that we’ve mentioned this a a lot, but whats the big deal if the opposing team doesn’t know who our MIKE linebacker is?
I think Harris will be the primary MIKE. They’ll switch it around to keep offenses honest, but Harris is a prototypical tackling machine MIKE and Scott is better in coverage.
Bent,
The resason why he was hurt with his groin injury was because of the tremendous strain he had in a base 3-4 scheme. He switched roles with Barton in 2008 and mostly played against the opponents offensive guard or center. Then he would be pulled in to cover the tight end or runningback out of the backfield on third downs. This was tremendous strain after he added more weight. Any linebacker would struggled. Scott was fortunate that the scheme was flexible enough to have him rotate with lewis. Lewis as you can tell was better than Barton last year and could give up the body (taking out two offensive players) to allow Scott to rush and sack the opponents quarterback. What I want to see is how much of an opponents offensive line Scott can take. I don’t believe he can consistently take on the guard that is why he had help all around him. He had a younger Ngata in front of him and he had Suggs and Pryce creating pressure. Harris tried his best but I do think he is better than Scott when handling linebacker duties regardless of the scheme.
Fred,
Bent may have a different answer, but the MIKE plays the weakside ILB position, which lends itself to blitzing. In obvious passing downs the TED will cover the TE, while the MIKE will blitz. Scott is the better blitzer and likely better in coverage. Thus, depending on the down, quality of TE and personnel, Scott and Harris could switch TED duties, like Baltimore often did.
JBD,
Not talking about schemes, talking about being the 3rd or 4th best defender on a team, and now you are supposed to be #1. That is what I am concerned with, have not seen too many of these FA come in and dominate.
Cabras,
Are you talking about the Jets, in particular, or the NFL, generally. As for the Jets, Big Jenks came in last season and dominated. Bryan Cox was instrumental to the Jets’ success under Parcells. That’s two that come to mind. And, there’s been many FA signings and/or trades that have been difference makers in the NFL, with Reggie White going from Philly to the Pack coming to mind. Deion made quite a difference wherever he went. I could go on.
I don’t think that Rex would have let the Jets pay big bucks for Bart Scott, if he didn’t know that Bart has a lot to offer. Look for him and Harris to tear it up.
Sack,
Jenkins was traded, Cox was dumped by the Dolphins because he was a nut, Reggie White was 15 years ago like Deion, talking about FA in this decade. And the Jets in general.
Sack’s explanation is fine. MIKEs in a 3-4 do get to blitz…how else do you explain Harris getting more sacks in his rookie year (in half a season) than he did in his entire collegiate career as a 4-3 MLB?
Hank- That’s a good point about his weight. Obviously he needed to bulk up to protect him against the extra pounding he would take when taking on blockers, but maybe this contributed to his other injuries. That’s one for Will Carroll to answer, not me. Scott did do a lot of taking on blockers and covering TEs over the last two seasons. As you say, he will continue to benefit from being in a flexible scheme and Harris will benefit from this too. Well, hopefully.
Led – A lot will depend on what weight Harris decides to play at. If it’s determined that the added weight increased how suspectible he was to injury then that would be the logical way forward, although Harris was definitely originally drafted to be a TED (alongside Vilma). Since the role is more demanding (as Hank pointed out), maybe it makes perfect sense for them to share it?
Cabras,
Saying that Jenks was traded is splitting hairs. His contract was re-done when he got here. But, if you want to be literal, last season the Eagles signed Assante Samuel and he had a great season in the NFC and made the Pro Bowl. It took a year, but the Joey Porter FA signing worked for the Dolphins. Antine Winfield was a pretty good signing for the Vikes. Antonio Pierce really solidified the Giants defense. Rodney Harrison made an instant impact and became the heart and soul of the Pats defense. I mean, there’s a lot of examples.
i mean he was also a unknown during 2005
teams started taking notice to him after that
also the ravens team is filled w all pros, and so when you have players flying all over making plays, it hard to stand out
him and harris will cause a bunch of trouble this year and they could both be going to the pro bowl in the end
my dream is for him to pop Moss coming over the middle, cause a fumble and having jenkins return it to the house
Haha John r. For Jenkins’s sake, we better hope the Jets have the Patriots pinned in their own end zone.
Sack,
Good Points.
The good teams (Philly, NYG, NE) signed FA players as a plug in to take them over the top. We are at the bottom, Do you actually see this team winning more than 8-9 games this year? I like the signing, but am not sure that B Scott actually will bring more wins to this team. Our D would have been very good without him, our O, that is another story. Do you think a rookie coach and QB combo can make the NFL playoffs 2 years in a row?
Cabras,
The Jets are at the bottom? The team was 9-7 last year and 23-25 over 3 years…nearly .500 (they’re also 2 under for the decade and 8 games over .500 since Parcells set the team on a different direction in 1997…we like to complain as Jets fans, but the Jets have been, basically, a .500 team for over 10 years). If you want to see a “bottom” team, follow Detroit or Cleveland.
The Jets offense scored over 400 points last year. I don’t see that happening. The Jets defense gave up over 350 points. I don’t see that happening, either. If the Jets hold the opposition under 300 points, which is possible (7 teams did that last year, only the Skins failed to make the playoffs), and the offense scores over 300 points (only 8 teams failed to do that last year), then I do see the Jets being better than 8-8. In my mind, there’s no question that the defense is improved with the additions of Scott, Leonhard and Sheppard. The special teams should be the same or better (Leonhard’s probably a more consistent PR than Leon and the defense should force more 3 and outs). Also, I respect Rex’s defensive acumen; I think teams will struggle scoring TDs on the Jets. On the offensive side, however, there’s lots of question marks. I’ll say this much, if the Jets somehow score more than 400 points (9 teams did so last season), they’ll likely be well into double-digit wins.
And, I think the whole “rookie coach and QB” thing is overblown. The Jets defense is a veteran squad, the OL is playing 2 years together and all 5 are vets. TJ, Leon and T-Rich are vets. The special teams coach and offensive coordinator have been around for, respectively, 8 and 4 seasons. This team is, in large part, a turnkey operation. So, I don’t think the coaching change created the type of upheaval that went into Groh-Edwards or Edwards-Mangini (where the offense and defense were changed) and, ironically, both Herm and Eric went to the playoffs their first seasons.
The biggest issue is QB, that’s why I think the Jets will struggle to score more than 350 points. But, if they score 360 and give up 290…that sounds like, at least, a 9-7 team (and likely better). I think most people look at the uncertain QB situation and suspect WRs and assume the Jets won’t score…the team scored 405 points last season and that’s with Favre tossing 22 INTs. How much worse do you think the offense will be? To be one of the 10 worst, the Jets need lots of things to go wrong…inept QB play and a decimated OL…let’s hope that doesn’t happen!
I am excited about Scott and I think aside from his talent on the field, his ability to help translate Rex Ryan’s scheme to the rest of the defense is huge. But did we overpay a bit? The Giants signed Canty, a stud DE/DT to a 6 years, 42 million contract. Not only is Canty 3 or 4 years younger than Scott, he has the size and athleticism to play in the 3-4 or 4-3. Canty can set the edge, he can stuff up the middle, he can rush the passer, he is a dominant player. ILB’s shouldn’t cost more than harder-to-find versatile linemen, should they?
Sack,
Nice rubuttal, 23-25 over three years, 27-37 over 4 years. 3 coaches in 4 years, zero consistency.
Ok we are in the middle, it just feels like the bottom when we share the city w/NYG.
I am not into stats, they are very misleading. I judge on W’s and L’s and playoff births. The playoff teams last year probably had worse stats than we did, but they were in the playoffs.
I disagree about the O, I like the line although we have no depth, hope we do not get an injury, also our passing game will be much worse than last year, which should have an adverse affect on our run game.
Not sure I see more than 8 wins. Good Blogging!
Brad R,
Different situations. Scott had to be lured away from Baltimore, while the Cowboys couldn’t afford to keep Canty. Scott made the Pro Bowl in ‘06, is in his prime and was signed to be the defensive captain of the Jets. Canty’s a nice player, but will he even start for the Giants? And, while Scott’s older, he only has 1 more year of starts (and just 10 at that) under his belt and ILBs tend to last longer than D-linemen. Last point, while Scott’s contract is more, it’s not like it’s outrageously more…$6M more over 6 years. And, isn’t he worth it? I mean hasn’t he been a better ILB than Canty has been a DE? Canty is not a dominant player…no Pro Bowls and never more than 3.5 sacks on the weakside…just from cleaning up for Ware, he should get 8-10. He’s a nice player, but dominant?!? No way.
I agree – different situations. But Canty is coming into his prime and has continued to improve. And guys that are 6′7, 300lbs with good athleticism are harder to find then a 6′2, 240lb inside linebacker. Canty is only a 4 year player and with the strong supporting cast of the giants (as he would have had with the Jets) I think he will be dominant, if he’s not quite there yet.
Good points though, Sack, and I do think Scott will be worth it. I just wish he was a little younger and cheaper.
Cabras,
Passing game much worse? The only thing that I’ll say about the passing game is that the Jets will pass drastically less than last year. The offense was dominated by the pass last season…the Jets passed 529 times to 422 rushes. I see the reverse this season. And, even if you predict injuries to the OL, such injuries would impact the pass more than the run. The offense will be different…more rushing, more ball control, more short to intermediate passes. I expect a lot of “war of attrition” games, which the Jets will be well-suited to winning.
Brad R.,
Yes, Canty is a physical specimen, but Scott’s a “mad backer.” A guy with a high football IQ, non-stop motor and leadership skills. Those guys are just as rare. I mean James Harrison is 31, 6-0 and 240 lbs…don’t you think he’d get even more than Scott and Canty if he came on the market? Plus, how much stronger a supporting cast does Canty need? He played in front of Ware, who had 20 sacks…one of the 10 best seasons of all-time. Ratliff at NT is a Pro Bowler, Greg Ellis at LDE has played at a high-level for a long time. I mean, the Jets spent money on a guy who is at his peak…you’re projecting greatness for Canty, but he’s not there, yet.
Scott is a dud. This guy will prove what an idiot Rex is and will finally put an end to the Tannenbaum run at GM. Scott couldn’t hold Ray Lewis jock strap and Newsome knows this well. Ozzie in fact overlooked the dummy Ryan and chose Harbaugh simply because Ryan is as dumb as they come. Ever hear of the expression ” like Father Like Son”. It’s truly amazing that so many Jet fans live in a world of fantasy. This team defense is on the way down. The only strong suit will be the CB’s and I am so sick and tired of Rhodes and wish that they would finally trade this overrated bum with the big mouth who hasn’t done anything on the field that makes you think that he is an elite SS. Yes Jet fans get ready for the 4-12 season which is ready to embark on the 3 stooges, Woody, Tannenbaum and Ryan. I just don’t understand how so many fans can be so blinded and not accept the fact that their beloved team is weaker this year than last. Yep get ready for 4-12. Without question if anyone can be honest with themselves they should recognize that this team has a much greater chance of starting the season at 0-4 than 4-0. Oh well I guess you will all have to wait for the agony of another lost season and another idiot hire of the spoon fed billionaire.