Rousseau The Sack Artist

[OrtonHearsaWho]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yesterday was the perfect demonstration of how you would hope these two work for years to come. AJ was blowing past guys and Rousseau was tidying up. The stat sheet says Rousseau 2 sacks but Epenesa was the disruptor yesterday. He played an awesome game. 

 

Greg is ahead of schedule two games in but to see the development in AJ... I mean this staff have basically rebuilt him in a year. Re-shaped his body, tweaked his technique and he is showing up on the field.

 

Through the preseason and the first couple of games my biggest takeaway is that the whole line is playing betting and beating their blocks and that's making it a whole lot easier for would be sacks/pressures to become actual sacks/pressures.  It's sort of like the anti-Jerry Hughes years to me.  For a long time now, Jerry was the best pass rusher on the team and would very often beat his man, but no one else would, so it wouldn't take much for the opposing QB to escape the pressure.  

 

Please note that I'm not diminishing Rousseau at all - he seems farther along than I thought he would be at this point.  As far as a player comp, his use of arm extension reminds me a lot of Trey Flowers and Khalil Mack.  Very effective move & made me appreciate the whole idea of arm length being important in the pre-draft process.  Hopefully he can add a few more moves to his repertoire too 😃

[foreboding]

The other thing I am noticing is the gap discipline. There are not a ton of running lanes, like last year. The whole line is a step faster and more disruptive. Good stuff!

[BADOLBILZ]

1 hour ago, Marvlevydraftdaygenius said:

He reminds alot of Reggie White.

 

 

They are physically such different players..........but I see your point.......Rousseau is a bull rusher and while Reggie White used brute strength to plow over RT's Groot uses the long arms, huge hands and long strides to get them off balance.    Different skillset to achieve similar style of rush.

[Marvlevydraftdaygenius]

46 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

They are physically such different players..........but I see your point.......Rousseau is a bull rusher and while Reggie White used brute strength to plow over RT's Groot uses the long arms, huge hands and long strides to get them off balance.    Different skillset to achieve similar style of rush.

Reggie was 6'5

[Motor26]

Did anyone notice if AJ had any moves or was just turning the corner on Austin Jackson? BTW that dude is so slow. 

[CorkScrewHill]

Per profootballnetwork rankings Rousseau has moved up to #9 in Defensive Rookie of the Year odds. His stats are surprisingly close to Micah Parsons and JOK while playing roughly 25% less snaps. It will be hard to beat those two as the narratives around them is strong.

 

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-rookie-rankings-2021-nflwk-6/

 

They were not sold on him pre-draft as they felt he just was in the right place at the right time in college.

[Albany,n.y.]

12 minutes ago, CorkScrewHill said:

Per profootballnetwork rankings Rousseau has moved up to #9 in Defensive Rookie of the Year odds. His stats are surprisingly close to Micah Parsons and JOK while playing roughly 25% less snaps. It will be hard to beat those two as the narratives around them is strong.

 

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-rookie-rankings-2021-nflwk-6/

 

They were not sold on him pre-draft as they felt he just was in the right place at the right time in college.

How many games will they need before putting Spencer Brown on the list?  

[syhuang]

5 minutes ago, Albany,n.y. said:

How many games will they need before putting Spencer Brown on the list?  

 

Defensive Rookie of the Year list? 😎

[RochesterLifer]

11 minutes ago, Albany,n.y. said:

How many games will they need before putting Spencer Brown on the list?  

 

5 minutes ago, syhuang said:

 

Defensive Rookie of the Year list? 😎

Brown is big and bad with an attitude, and ready to become the NFL's only two-way force of destruction. NEVER underestimate Spencer Brown.  

[The Wiz]

6 minutes ago, syhuang said:

 

Defensive Rookie of the Year list? 😎

Well technically he's defending against the pass rush. 

[RoyBatty is alive]

29 minutes ago, CorkScrewHill said:

Per profootballnetwork rankings Rousseau has moved up to #9 in Defensive Rookie of the Year odds. His stats are surprisingly close to Micah Parsons and JOK while playing roughly 25% less snaps. It will be hard to beat those two as the narratives around them is strong.

 

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-rookie-rankings-2021-nflwk-6/

 

They were not sold on him pre-draft as they felt he just was in the right place at the right time in college.

Interesting list.  And that list was for ALL rookies, not just Defense.

 

You are right about the Micah Parsons narrative, especially a player at Dallas.  Media so wants something great to happen for the Cowboys.

 

There is little to no way Creed gets rookie of the year, now with the eye popping plays of people like Rosseau, Micah Parsons of Jamarr Chase.  A Center has no shot at it.

Edited October 11, 2021 by RoyBatty is alive

[DJB]

43 minutes ago, CorkScrewHill said:

Per profootballnetwork rankings Rousseau has moved up to #9 in Defensive Rookie of the Year odds. His stats are surprisingly close to Micah Parsons and JOK while playing roughly 25% less snaps. It will be hard to beat those two as the narratives around them is strong.

 

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-rookie-rankings-2021-nflwk-6/

 

They were not sold on him pre-draft as they felt he just was in the right place at the right time in college.

 

Two of my absolute favorite pre draft prospects in Parsons and JOK. 

 

I actually was not the biggest Rousseau guy but he's been stellar and exactly what we needed 

[Warcodered]

54 minutes ago, CorkScrewHill said:

Per profootballnetwork rankings Rousseau has moved up to #9 in Defensive Rookie of the Year odds. His stats are surprisingly close to Micah Parsons and JOK while playing roughly 25% less snaps. It will be hard to beat those two as the narratives around them is strong.

 

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-rookie-rankings-2021-nflwk-6/

 

They were not sold on him pre-draft as they felt he just was in the right place at the right time in college.

I mean we have a nice string of bad teams we get to play this year.

[DCofNC]

Groot is real deal, man he’s good.  He does such a good job shedding blocks and getting to runners on the edge, is getting to the QB pretty well and his length is an obvious problem as illustrated by the pick last night.  He was an absolute steal.

[DJB]

22 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

Groot is real deal, man he’s good.  He does such a good job shedding blocks and getting to runners on the edge, is getting to the QB pretty well and his length is an obvious problem as illustrated by the pick last night.  He was an absolute steal.

 

Just wait until he adds man strength. Goodnight o lineman 

[Solomon Grundy]

11 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

Groot is real deal, man he’s good.  He does such a good job shedding blocks and getting to runners on the edge, is getting to the QB pretty well and his length is an obvious problem as illustrated by the pick last night.  He was an absolute steal.

Why he isn’t/don’t get the hype they gave to Chase Young when he was drafted is mind boggling 

[DCofNC]

6 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Why he isn’t/don’t get the hype they gave to Chase Young when he was drafted is mind boggling 

I think a lot of that has to do with him sitting a year and people not getting to see him coming into the draft.  
 

Young had a great year, came out, the hype train was rolling and he played really well his rookie year.  I feel like his raw numbers were a little less than expected, but he still would have been in the conversation for DROY without the hype.  With the hype around him it was all but over. 

 

Groot has to not only overcome the fact he was a late first round pick, but the fact he’s in a deep rotation and not getting a ton of snaps.  If he keeps showing up, he’ll have double digit sacks, if he manages a couple more of those “wow” plays like that pick, he’ll start getting media attention.  I’ll tell you this, Offensive Coordinators know who he is already.  He’s a force to reckon with out there. 

10 minutes ago, DJB said:

 

Just wait until he adds man strength. Goodnight o lineman 

Calaisis Campbell 2.0

Edited October 11, 2021 by DCofNC

[Jauronimo]

4 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Why he isn’t/don’t get the hype they gave to Chase Young when he was drafted is mind boggling 

Chase Young was a 5 star recruit coming out of highschool, an all american in college, a Heisman finalist, and #2 overall draft pick playing for a top 5 CFB program, and DROY last season.  I like Rousseau a lot but lets get real.

[Bad Things]

Not only is Groot a "sack-artist", but he's a fantastic tackler in general.  Whenever he is near the ball carrier, he just seems to snuff them out.

He's a joy to watch. 

[Albany,n.y.]

3 hours ago, syhuang said:

 

Defensive Rookie of the Year list? 😎

It's a top 25 rookie list.  If you open the link I responded to you'll see the list.  The1st 10 or so get paragraphs & then the others are listed by the author's rating.  

Edited October 11, 2021 by Albany,n.y.