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The Trenches NFL Podcast: Robert Mays and Ephraim Salaam
By Robert Mays at
Robert Mays and Ephraim Salaam talk Super Bowl XLVII, NFL free agency, and which teams are set to succeed next season.
Robert Mays and Ephraim Salaam talk Super Bowl XLVII, NFL free agency, and which teams are set to succeed next season.
J.J. Watt just completed one of the more impressive seasons by a defensive football player in NFL history. You don't need us to tell you what he did. You can just read Mays's LiveJournal for a refresher course. We're here to talk about the future. When asked to look ahead to his forthcoming third season in the league, Watt said, "My second year is not going to be my best year in the NFL. I can promise you that." Which begs the question: WORD?! Above is an artist's (or, really, Mark Lisanti's) rendering of what J.J. Watt will look like in the 2013-14 NFL campaign. Don't worry, people of Earth. When the Kaiju rise from the crevices of the ocean to destroy us, J.J. Watt will be there to cancel the apocalypse.
Smart Guy Wednesday: Aaron Schatz joins Bill Simmons to discuss Round 2 of the NFL playoffs.
Because I’m a Bears fan, and because my friends and I made a blood pact to never again discuss what transpired in the NFL on Sunday afternoon, I decided that this week’s Trenchie Awards would go a bit differently. There’s really no sense in discussing what happened in the past. We can only move forward, and in front of us is a set of lineman matchups that has me (and anyone else with pictures of J.J. Watt in his or her locker) looking forward to this year’s wild-card weekend even more than I normally would.
OK, so they’re not actually playing against each other, but in a game that’s otherwise uninspiring, we get a chance to watch the two best defensive players in football do their thing.
As Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus wrote this week, if it weren’t for the historic year Watt has put together, Atkins’s 2012 would be the season worthy of all this adulation. According to PFF’s numbers, Atkins graded out almost two times better than any other defensive tackle the site has ever charted. Cameron Wake and Von Miller were the only two players, at any position, to record more total pressures. Unlike Watt, whose position varies based on Houston’s front and situation, there’s no mistaking what Atkins is. He’s a 3-technique, 4-3 tackle who happens to be one of the four most disruptive pass rushers in the league.
Watching back through this week's games, I did the best I could to single out a few guys whose performances I hadn't yet mentioned this season. Calais Campbell was everywhere in the Cardinals' win. Muhammad Wilkerson is the Jets' only saving grace. Brandon Graham keeps showing why the Eagles traded Justin Babin. Each had one of his better games of the season, but I still couldn't help feeling that it all seemed a bit dishonest.
This post was supposed to be an appreciation for the best in offensive and defensive line play each Sunday, and if that's what it is, then no one really mattered this week except J.J. Watt. I've said just about everything I can about Watt this season, and that's why this time, I'm not saying anything. Here, simply, are the five best moments from Watt's 10-tackle, three-sack Sunday afternoon. Just take it all in, people. We're watching something here.
With Ephraim back in the studio this week, we talked Aldon Smith v. Von Miller, the tricks to keeping warm in cold-weather games, and what it's like to be released at the end of the season.
On any given Sunday (or Monday, or Thursday), your NFL Run & Shootaround crew will be gathered around multiple televisions, making inappropriate jokes and generally regressing to the mean. Catch up on all the NFL action right here.
This is a video of Adrian Peterson highlights, with play-by-play by Gus Johnson, because of course Gus Johnson was calling this game.
In celebration of the NFL's release of the all-22 and end zone film for the 2012 season, each week we'll be bringing you the best in offensive- and defensive-line play. For the winners of last week's Trenchies, click here.
The Deacon Jones Award for Excellence in Pass Rushing
Cameron Wake, Miami Dolphins, and Aldon Smith, San Francisco 49ers
There were more important games this past Sunday, and there were better ones, but for the guy who writes this post every week, it doesn’t get much better than Dolphins-49ers. Miami’s defensive front seven is one of the best in football. The 49ers’ offensive line is the best. And each defense can claim one of the best four pass rushers in the league, each with a style uniquely his own. It was those two guys who defined Sunday afternoon, and they did it in the way they always do.
The conversation about Defensive Player of the Year, and about the league’s best pass rushers, has mostly been limited to three players: Aldon Smith, J.J. Watt, and Von Miller. Mostly, this is a product of sack totals, where those three, in that order, lead the league. Coming off a three-sack game against San Francisco, Cameron Wake is fourth on that list with 14.0 on the season, but understanding just how good he’s been requires more than that total. According to Football Outsiders, only Clay Matthews had more quarterback hits than Wake in 2011, only Tamba Hali had more hurries, and no player drew more holding penalties.
This season, Wake is the league’s most productive pass rusher when it matters most. According to Pro Football Focus, on third and fourth down, no player has more total or per-rush pressures than Wake, who barely edged out Von Miller for the top spot. In situations where he can pin those ears back, no one has been better, and that’s because in a lot of ways, Wake is the classic pass rusher.
This week's podcast started with mixed emotions. For as much joy as I had for Ephraim attending his good friend Chester Pitts's wedding, it just wasn't the same without him in the studio. Colors just seemed less bright, ya know?
We powered through though, and after asking what the vibe was like in Houston following Monday's loss, we talked some J.J. Watt, Vince Wilfork, the uniquely developed games of the league's young pass rushers, and the dearly departed Cam Cameron. But mostly, we talked about the Dirty Bird. Inspired by this week's great touchdown celebrations, I asked Ephraim about his all-time favorites, totally forgetting his time with the famed 1998 Falcons. You'll hear the heartbreak in my voice when I learn he never Dirty Bird–ed — mostly because that means there's no video.
In celebration of the NFL's release of the all-22 and end zone film for the 2012 season, each week we'll be bringing you the best in offensive- and defensive-line play. For the winners of last week's Trenchies, click here.
J.J. Watt, Houston Texans
Before last week’s games began, both J.J. Watt and Von Miller ranked among the top three in the entire league in two telling statistical categories. The first has been one of the more talked-about stats races of this near-finished season. Along with fellow 2011 first-round pick Aldon Smith, Watt and Miller stand as the three men vying for this year’s sack title. The other stat, conversely, hasn’t been talked about at all, and it probably won’t be found on any website, either. But as much as or more than the sacks, it’s the telling figure about just how dominant both Watt and Miller have been. Coming into Week 13, among eligible players (at least 20 tackles), both ranked in the top three in yards allowed per tackle on a rushing play. Ranked first was Miller, who on his 27 tackles in the run game allowed an average of -.3 yards per play. In other words, Miller was averaging a tackle for loss. Third, at .3 yards per rush, was Watt, whose 38 tackles were three more than Brian Urlacher’s total in the same category. Brian Urlacher is a middle linebacker.
Robert Mays and Ephraim Salaam discuss player relationships in NFL locker rooms, saying good-bye to star players, and the best running backs of all time.
In celebration of the NFL's release of the all-22 and end-zone film for the 2012 season, each week we'll be bringing you the best in offensive- and defensive-line play. For the winners of last week's Trenchie's, click here.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive line
Coming into the season, Tampa Bay’s offensive plan was clear. With Vincent Jackson, the Bucs added a new option on the outside for their young quarterback, but each of their other two major personnel decisions seemed like moves toward a more grounded attack. First, Tampa signed All Pro guard Carl Nicks away from New Orleans for $47.5 million — the hope being that the combination of Nicks and Pro Bowler Davin Joseph could replicate the Nicks–Jahri Evans tandem that gave the Saints the best guard combination in football. A month later, the Bucs traded back up into the first round to grab Boise State running back Doug Martin — a needed replacement for the ineffectual LaGarrette Blount. Nine weeks into the season, Tampa Bay has finally developed that devastating running game they envisioned this spring. It just hasn’t come about exactly as planned.
Joseph, lost in the preseason to a knee injury, won’t play a down this year. Nicks joined him on injured reserve last Tuesday following Martin’s breakout game against Minnesota. The thought was that, now missing its top two interior linemen, the Tampa running game would slow — both against Oakland and for the rest of the season. Then Doug Martin went and had one of the best rushing games in NFL history. The rookie’s 251 yards came on just 25 carries, and they came on a mix that seemed one part scheme, one part Doug Martin, and about three parts relentlessness.
After hearing the news about Tyron Smith and his family issues, I talked to Ephraim about the financial and personal strain family can be for young players entering the league. From there, we discussed Chuck Pagano's moving postgame speech, the most affecting locker-room speech Ephraim ever got, and the different kinds of relationships players have with their coaches. Because we're only capable of being mature adults for so long, the conversation than devolved into sophomoric double entendres about Charles Tillman's ball-punching and an argument about the notion of being "overrated" in the NFL. Finally, Ephraim picks out a few players he's been most impressed with halfway through the season.
Listen to this podcast here.
Eight weeks in seems as good a time as any to figure out who’s most deserving of this season’s yearly awards in the NFL. The phrase “most deserving” is the important one here. The list that follows isn’t a prediction of who I think will win (In order: Matt Ryan, Peyton Manning, J.J. Watt, Robert Griffin III, Luke Kuechly) but who should. Fifty-five times, the AP has voted on the league’s best player, and 37 of those times it’s been a quarterback. Only two defenders have ever won — Alan Page in 1971 and Lawrence Taylor in 1986. Considering kicker Mark Moseley has one more MVP award than Jerry Rice, it’s probably safe to say that the right guy doesn't always take it home. With that in mind, here are this year’s winners.
Ephraim Salaam and Robert Mays discuss the head-coaching issues in the NFL, the merits of DirecTV's football package, and the one trade that should happen before today's deadline.
Listen to this podcast here.
