The Final Countdown: ILB Bart Scott
Don’t worry, we’ll get through the countdown before camp opens. Just means Bassett and I will have to pull a few two-a-days to get there…
Position: Inside Linebacker
Player: Bart Scott
Summary:
Despite being undrafted out of Southern Illinois, Bart Scott became a key member of the Baltimore Ravens defense over the last seven years. For the first three years of his career, he was a back-up, but when Ray Lewis was injured in 2005, he made the most of his opportunity, starting 10 games and performing well enough to earn a three year contract extension. In 2006, starting alongside Lewis, Scott had over 100 tackles and 9.5 sacks and ended up going to the Pro Bowl and earning All-Pro honors. Over the past two seasons, he has been given more responsibility for taking on blockers and covering TEs, which allowed Lewis to play in space and increase his tackle numbers significantly. Scott followed defensive co-ordinator Rex Ryan to the Jets when he signed a 6 year, $48m contract in February and is already emerging as a vocal leader.
Scott has great speed, is solid in coverage and plays with fire and passion. He has proven his ability to make plays in the running game, as a pass rusher and in coverage. Despite playing the TED role, which inevitably leads to a reduction in statistical production, he had more QB hits and tackles for losses than anyone on the Jets last season. He has also been durable, missing just three games in seven years *knock on wood*.
The main area for concern, as with any athlete receiving a big-money deal to play in New York is how he’ll handle the increased attention. Playing alongside Ray Lewis (and guys like Suggs and Thomas) in Baltimore, he was rarely “the man”. Now ODB has to prove he is worthy of that big money deal and that his success was not simply a bi-product of being surrounded by great players. The good news is that if his success was all down to Rex Ryan’s scheme, that scheme is coming over with him! He certainly seems to be approaching the new season with confidence.
Moving Forward:
What I wrote in the DH’s final countdown post is also relevant here:
Having acquired Bart Scott in the offseason, the Jets are blessed to have two inside linebackers with the ability to play both TED and MIKE, which gives the team a golden opportunity to stunt and confuse the offense. Since they can both play MIKE, I have dubbed this pairing “The MIKE and MIKE show”. As with the Rhodes/Leonhard situation the incoming player add a level of flexibility to the defense which could also upgrade the performance of their partner.
Questions:
Is his bark worse than his bite? How will his time be split between MIKE and TED? Is he talking too much? Are you looking forward to him being mic’d up during the season as much as I am?
7 Responses to The Final Countdown: ILB Bart Scott
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Bent says:
Rudy,
You make some good points and some interesting projections and I have no problem with the negativity of your opinion.
However, constantly implying that Jets fans don’t know what they’re talking about just because they are positive about their teams is getting kind of old.
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Charlie D says:
Love this Kid!
The Best aquisition this team made on defense. Most likely the best linebacker in the NFL!! A young “Ray Lewis”
Go Jets!
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BubbyBrister/shovelpass says:
Wow, Rudy, I’m sooo glad that you are a JETS fan and not a JETS hater…sheesh!
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StvDoe says:
C’mon, who did it?
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Jeff says:
Rudy is secretly an “in-the-closet” Pats fan.
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Osaigai says:
Rudy needs a hug.
Scott will prove what most know already that he was the beneficiary of playing with Lewis, Suggs and Nygota or however you spell the NT name.
Scott will prove that he is a decent ILB that is above average but falls way short of being outstanding. The Jets don’t have any great LB’s and we all now know why Pace had such a good year. There aren’t too many LB’s that weigh at 270 lbs and Pace can thank the steroids for his size and It will be interesting to see if the Jets update his weight, for somehow I think that the Tannenbaum PR machine will mask the facts. In fact it is more likely that Pace will come in at 250LBs than the 270 he once was. As far as Harris is concerned he is good for at least 5-6 games of not playing as a result of some kind of injury. Bryan Thomas is overarted as well and was overpaid for only one decent year of service. I would have to say that Harris perhaps is there smartest LB but all the rest IMHO are dummies like there HC.
Most Jet fans can never look beyond their teams weakness and always believe that there players are better than the oppositions. I will go out on a limb and say that this years LB corps will not have the impact that most Jet fans are hoping for.
If Jenkins should get hurt and there is a good possibility that he will as he has missed almost 2 full seasons because of injury and now with his bad back its just a matter of when rather then if he will play a full season.
The Jets have to pray that Jenkins stays healthy for if he doesn’t the Jets will have one of the worst rush defenses in the league. Douglas and Ellis are not what I would call elite DE’s and they are both getting older and without any push in the middle they will be ordinary. If you look at Ellis numbers last year they were more a byproduct of Jenkins effectiveness prior to his injury. The Seahawks game sticks out as a game of futility and our defense couldn’t handle their scrubs in what was the most crucial game of the year.
Ryan is a rookie HC and I don’t care what people say about him for he has never been a HC and is the son of Buddy Ryan who IMHO is the most overrated DC of all time. Buddy was a lousy HC and when he coached for Ditka he had some great players playing on that very special Chicago team.
Too much enthusiasm breeds contempt and I envision a season that will be plagued by injuries to both the defense and offensive lines and a rookie QB that will be playing way over his head as he was never NFL ready and will prove why the 2009 draft in years to come will be the most abominable draft in Jets history.
I hate the Jets owner with a passion and see Ryan as the reincarnation of Rich Kotite.