Is Preston Brown our new Paul Posluszny?

[Dopey]

I read an article by gril at buffalorumblings regarding Brown. He references Peter King, who seems to like Brown. He sees Brown as a pretty good sideline to sideline player. Gril doesn't see it that way, at least by viewing a recent pats game. He writes that Brown is not fast enough for trail- coverage on Gronk and he's not fast enough or instinctual enough in the run game to make up for the mistakes of the dline. On the 1st point, he's right, but not many lbs can keep up with Gronk. On the 2nd point, if everyone does their job, he wouldn't have to make up for mistakes. I am dopey, but he lost me there. He backs up his thoughts with metrics, but what stood out to me was his comment regarding Brown making tackles "down field". Right away I thought of Poz. A ton of folks wanted him gone because he made"down field" tackles. I thought Poz was a good lb. Like Brown. All-pro? No, but good enough to help our defense. Poz signed for more than we were going to pay, but it felt like he was ridden out of town for this " down field" tackles thing. Is Brown not that good? Or are we doing the Poz thing again? Gril bases some of his feelings on 1 game vs Gronk and not making up for mistakes of teammates. Thoughts? 

Sorry for the long post.

[3rdand12]

11 minutes ago, Dopey said:

I read an article by gril at buffalorumblings regarding Brown. He references Peter King, who seems to like Brown. He sees Brown as a pretty good sideline to sideline player. Gril doesn't see it that way, at least by viewing a recent pats game. He writes that Brown is not fast enough for trail- coverage on Gronk and he's not fast enough or instinctual enough in the run game to make up for the mistakes of the dline. On the 1st point, he's right, but not many lbs can keep up with Gronk. On the 2nd point, if everyone does their job, he wouldn't have to make up for mistakes. I am dopey, but he lost me there. He backs up his thoughts with metrics, but what stood out to me was his comment regarding Brown making tackles "down field". Right away I thought of Poz. A ton of folks wanted him gone because he made"down field" tackles. I thought Poz was a good lb. Like Brown. All-pro? No, but good enough to help our defense. Poz signed for more than we were going to pay, but it felt like he was ridden out of town for this " down field" tackles thing. Is Brown not that good? Or are we doing the Poz thing again? Gril bases some of his feelings on 1 game vs Gronk and not making up for mistakes of teammates. Thoughts? 

Sorry for the long post.

I am a likely one of the few who like Preston. and to those say he is not reading the play quickly or correctly? Thats was never his MO. He was always reported as being football smart. His Dad was noted as to why he was instinctual and a good processor.
 we sure missed poz, like we missed that  " too short " linebacker who went on to have success.

 

London fletcher you may have guessed I  meant.
Coaching Coaching.  Brown might be some folks whipping boy since Rex

Edited December 31, 2017 by 3rdand12

[nedboy7]

There seems to be a deep desire to hate everyone on the Bills by some Bills fans wanna bees.  Who cares. 

[Maine-iac]

I think they were right when they said Poz was a chaser.  So was Zach Brown.  Great numbers but tackling everyone 5 yards down the field.  Brown will blow up the rb behind the line of scrimmage twice as much as either of those guys.  Poz and Zach might have a touch more speed, maybe a little more coverage ability but in a zone scheme and wanting someone who can stick his nose in there and make a tackle I'd take Preston.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

38 minutes ago, Dopey said:

I read an article by gril at buffalorumblings regarding Brown. He references Peter King, who seems to like Brown. He sees Brown as a pretty good sideline to sideline player. Gril doesn't see it that way, at least by viewing a recent pats game. He writes that Brown is not fast enough for trail- coverage on Gronk and he's not fast enough or instinctual enough in the run game to make up for the mistakes of the dline. On the 1st point, he's right, but not many lbs can keep up with Gronk. On the 2nd point, if everyone does their job, he wouldn't have to make up for mistakes. I am dopey, but he lost me there. He backs up his thoughts with metrics, but what stood out to me was his comment regarding Brown making tackles "down field". Right away I thought of Poz. A ton of folks wanted him gone because he made"down field" tackles. I thought Poz was a good lb. Like Brown. All-pro? No, but good enough to help our defense. Poz signed for more than we were going to pay, but it felt like he was ridden out of town for this " down field" tackles thing. Is Brown not that good? Or are we doing the Poz thing again? Gril bases some of his feelings on 1 game vs Gronk and not making up for mistakes of teammates. Thoughts? 

Sorry for the long post.

 

I vote solid mlb in the right system.  Enough of a thumper to help the run game... ok but not great in coverage. There are only a few nfl inebackers that should even be considered for covering gronkowski 

[bobobonators]

1 minute ago, Maine-iac said:

I think they were right when they said Poz was a chaser.  So was Zach Brown.  Great numbers but tackling everyone 5 yards down the field.  Brown will blow up the rb behind the line of scrimmage twice as much as either of those guys.  Poz and Zach might have a touch more speed, maybe a little more coverage ability but in a zone scheme and wanting someone who can stick his nose in there and make a tackle I'd take Preston.

 

Zach Brown has been one of the Redskins best defenders this year. 

[Maine-iac]

Just my opinion.  I stand by it though.  In the right system I'm sure he makes a ton of tackles but he's not going to knock guys down.

2 minutes ago, bobobonators said:

 

Zach Brown has been one of the Redskins best defenders this year. 

Actually looking at it they are 21 in giving up yards and giving up almost 25 ppg.  I don't know the Redskins enough to speak to why they are horrible on defense but that doesn't speak well to how good Brown is.

[K D]

Preston Brown has been the worst player on the defense for the past 3 seasons and I will be happy to see him go

[Shaw66]

54 minutes ago, Dopey said:

I read an article by gril at buffalorumblings regarding Brown. He references Peter King, who seems to like Brown. He sees Brown as a pretty good sideline to sideline player. Gril doesn't see it that way, at least by viewing a recent pats game. He writes that Brown is not fast enough for trail- coverage on Gronk and he's not fast enough or instinctual enough in the run game to make up for the mistakes of the dline. On the 1st point, he's right, but not many lbs can keep up with Gronk. On the 2nd point, if everyone does their job, he wouldn't have to make up for mistakes. I am dopey, but he lost me there. He backs up his thoughts with metrics, but what stood out to me was his comment regarding Brown making tackles "down field". Right away I thought of Poz. A ton of folks wanted him gone because he made"down field" tackles. I thought Poz was a good lb. Like Brown. All-pro? No, but good enough to help our defense. Poz signed for more than we were going to pay, but it felt like he was ridden out of town for this " down field" tackles thing. Is Brown not that good? Or are we doing the Poz thing again? Gril bases some of his feelings on 1 game vs Gronk and not making up for mistakes of teammates. Thoughts? 

Sorry for the long post.

I think he IS the new Poz, or less.   I think he's too slow to play the position that McD wants.   McD's defense in Carolina was goof to great in part because he had a middle linebacker with above=average speed - Keuchly.   McD plays a lot of cover 2, which requires a lot of the middle linebacker, especially quick and deep drops into the middle zone.   There were a lot of passes completed over Brown's head this season, largely because he couldn't get deep enough into his coverage.  

 

I expect Brown will be gone.  I expect a guy taken in the first or second round next spring will be out there when the season starts.  

[CEN-CAL17]

I like Brown in a 3-4 system

 

He is just not athletic enough to cover the middle, not terrible but we need a LB who is just more of an athlete.

 

I personally don’t think he’ll be resigned.

 

Waiting to see what Leighton Vander Esch ILB Boise St Does at the combine. 6’4” 240 lbs, tons of talent with a big upside. Mountain West Defensive Player of the year and dominated in the Vegas Bowl against Oregon.

Edited December 31, 2017 by 1ZAYDAY1

[Maine-iac]

Just now, Shaw66 said:

I think he IS the new Poz, or less.   I think he's too slow to play the position that McD wants.   McD's defense in Carolina was goof to great in part because he had a middle linebacker with above=average speed - Keuchly.   McD plays a lot of cover 2, which requires a lot of the middle linebacker, especially quick and deep drops into the middle zone.   There were a lot of passes completed over Brown's head this season, largely because he couldn't get deep enough into his coverage.  

 

I expect Brown will be gone.  I expect a guy taken in the first or second round next spring will be out there when the season starts.  

I hope they are careful.  McDermott seems great at drawing up coverage.  That said I remember the days with Schobel and Denney and all the other undersized misfits and getting destroyed week after week.  We already have issues stopping the run.  Brown might not be great in coverage like Keuchly and Keuchly is a really good LB but I still like Brown. 

[Rico]

I thought Pos was a putz, and I don't miss him. I wont miss Preston Brown next year either.

[Maine-iac]

From his rookie year.  I don't think he did well in Rex's system but who did?

 

Preston Brown was drafted in the third round out of Louisville in 2014 and was expected to be a backup behind the starting trio of Kiko Alonso, Brandon Spikes, and Nigel Bradham. A season-ending injury to Alonso, however, meant he was pushed into the starting lineup sooner than expected and tallied 94% of the team’s defensive snaps on the year, the highest percentage on the Bills’ defense.

Grading out 15th overall among 4-3 outside linebackers, Brown’s season mark of +3.9 was held down by a pair of poor performances. Looking past those two games (Week 1 and Week 16, both ends of the season, understandable for a rookie), Brown notched a +11.5 grade over the other 14 contests.

There are two clear strengths to Brown’s game: the first is as a coverage defender and the second as a pure tackler. Posting impressive numbers when in coverage, he allowed just 0.57 yards per coverage snap, which was third-best for all off-ball linebackers and his +3.6 coverage grade came in 11th among all 4-3 OLBs and ILBs combined. The moments he showed some struggle in coverage were nearly all down to over-aggressiveness in reacting up to the run first and having trouble getting back to find his zone. Certainly a fixable issue.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/secret-superstar-buffalo-bills

All of this said, I thought that Ragland had his job until the injury.  He seems solid but replaceable.  I don't think we have his replacement now.