@MichiganPacker - Gary.... He ran out of gas due to lack of conditioning as the season wore on. He rehabbed the knee. But this off-season. He's already talked about working on conditioning.
I got Gary approaching Defensive player of the year status
11/06/2022
It's easy to forget it was only 15 months ago when he blew out his knee.
@FLPACKER posted:Biggest thing I see on defense is a lack of "football IQ". We have some great athletes, but other than Alexander (when motivated), we don't have players with that "it" factor, the ability to anticipate rather than react, which leads to big plays.
Charles Woodson might have been the best football player I've ever seen in terms of football IQ. It's almost like he can see the All-22 in his head while the play is going on and instinctively react based on that.
As a basketball coach, you can probably think of examples like this too where some guys just have an almost unbelievable ability to see the whole floor. I remember being at a basketball camp in the 80s with some counselors that had played pick up games with Magic Johnson. They said if they weren't looking at all times you risked getting hit in the head with a pass because he knew his teammates were open before they did. They described him as essentially seeing an image of where all 10 guys were on the court in real time.
Charles Woodson, Troy Polamalu, Ed Reed, Rod Woodson, and Tyron Mathieu are all football examples of this.
Wayne Gretzky always talked about passing the puck to where a guy will be, not where they are. In soccer, the player who scores gets all the glory, but it's the player who gets the ball through nine other people and puts it on the foot of the forward to tap it home or in a place where a scorer prefers to take their shot who really makes the play.
^^^I have it on good authority that Quay cannot ice skate.
@MichiganPacker posted:You'd live with some missed tackles if he made more plays like the pick 6 against Dallas. For a guy with his physical tools, he just doesn't make enough wow plays over the course of his career. Mainly because he has hands of stone and plays the ball in the air as poorly as any otherwise good athlete I've ever seen.
He can’t tackle and he can’t play the ball over his shoulder. Those are fundamental skills for a safety.
Yeah but he runs 4.3.
The league is littered with Safety's that are out there making "business decisions" and not tackling. You can hardly blame them....the rules are geared towards protecting and helping the offense. Back in the 80's and 90's WR's didn't dare cross the field or get destroyed by a safety. Now you get a "defenseless receiver" flag if you blow a snot bubble on them from 5 yards away.
He sure looked plenty fast enough on that Interception return in Dallas
Savage with Pettine looked more like Maryland Savage then he did with Barry.
@H5 posted:
Savage with Pettine looked more like Maryland Savage then he did with Barry.
Agreed.
And pre-concussion Savage also looked more like Maryland Savage than the Post-concussion Savage.
@Iowacheese posted:What can be - Unburdened by what has been.
what is who
@"We"-Ka-Bong posted:what is who
That depends on what is is.
whichever injury it was with savage, the spirit of the matador entered him
I think we can do better, wouldn't break the bank or anything for him
@Tdog posted:the spirit of the matador entered him
Haha C-Dix?? Making business decisions?
Carved out himself a career with the Pack/Bears/Skins and Raiders
At the ripe old age of 31 he is now Alabama's Director of Player Development.
He could've been a really good Safety....instead he chose to collect a paycheck and coast his way into his current job. Such as life.....
Will Savage follow in his footsteps? I'm all on pins & needles
@Boris posted:He sure looked plenty fast enough on that Interception return in Dallas
Not really. Lotta green grass in front and behind him when he caught it. And unfortunately if the only time we see his top end speed is when he makes an INT, those days are few and far between.
I don't recall the last time I saw him fly over to the opposite side of the field to make a play and though "where did he come from?!".
@DH13 posted:Not really. Lotta green grass in front and behind him when he caught it.
Re-watch the play.....he outran everyone on the field.
I'm not saying the guy is a good Safety or even taking up for him....He does have the one thing you cannot teach, speed...whether he uses it or not out there on the field is entirely up to him.
@H5 posted:
Quay, like many on this defense seems to be better suited attacking the play versus "keeping it all in front of them".
I think we'll see that this year. He's had time to learn the pro game, and now his DC will be imploring him to turn it loose and attack
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/INGVDJHRARBMHHZ4UVQA4NBTWU.jpg)
Unleash the Kraken , or let dem dogs hunt. If Hafley lets the dogs out and they succeed could be a special season.
Salvatore put together some clips on Quay Walker from last year
Some nice highlights and you can see he's thinking and reacting where Hafley wants him to just trigger and go. He knows the DL assignments and no more gap and a half responsibilities
I honestly cannot wait to see 11 defenders on the same page without the looking at each other and shrugging shoulders & communication issues.
Oh gawd.. What is worse than 3rd n goal and every member of the secondary is looking around, pointing, or holding arms up to say what are we doing?
So many times we saw that under Barry.
.
I was just reading some commentary about Quay Walker playing in this defense and the general consensus is that he should thrive in it. ( Recurring theme)
The combination of his maturation as a Pro plus turning loose his athleticism really bodes well for the Packer defense in 2024
There's some nice clips in that video above, you can see the pro game is slowing down for him... and now he has Campanile- a very well -regarded LB coach to take him to the next level.
Quay- sit down and watch some tape of Fred Warner
@Iowacheese posted:Quay- sit down and watch some tape of Fred Warner
Why??
So he can dream about what he's supposed to be??
I've been thinking this the past two weeks and Herman finally said it out loud....are we better with Eric Wilson at inside LBer over Quay Walker?
Quay gives off a Darnell Savage vibe. Great athlete with limited production on the football field. He is just … there.
It has been jarring to see Cooper make plays that Quay just never makes. Almost as jarring as seeing our less athletic Safeties make plays this season that the great athlete Savage almost never made.
Stokes will be the next RAS stud to follow Savage out the door without a 2nd contract and it seems unlikely that the Pack will pick up Quay’s 5th year option unless something drastically changes over the next 9 games.
Starting to think drafting high IQ “football players” would do more to help the D than workout warriors with high RAS scores but little instinct for the game.
Eric Wilson is limited athletically but seemingly produces more when on the field than Quay.
That said, giving highly drafted younger players every possible opportunity to prove they were worthy of their lofty draft status has been a staple of Packer defenses for over a decade, so unless Hafley has the stones to play a journeyman over a 2022 1st round pick, I expect #7 to be back to his usual role sooner rather than later.
@SteveLuke posted:Starting to think drafting high IQ “football players” would do more to help the D than workout warriors with high RAS scores but little instinct for the game.
Most front offices think "we can fix him"
I'd much rather have the high IQ guy than boy that looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane.
It's all about football instincts. Coming out one of the draft knocks on Quay was limited instincts for the position. Instincts include reading the play faster and then quickly getting into the proper position to make the play. It's football IQ.
@Boris posted:Most front offices think "we can fix him"
I'd much rather have the high IQ guy than boy that looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane.
Give me 22 Evan Williamseseses and I will win more football games than I lose.
@DurangoDoug posted:It's all about football instincts. Coming out one of the draft knocks on Quay was limited instincts for the position. Instincts include reading the play faster and then quickly getting into the proper position to make the play. It's football IQ.
100%. Especially on defense and especially at LB. If MLB 1 runs the shuttle at X speed and MLB 2 runs it 1/4 second slower, MLB 2 can still get to the hole faster if he reacts 1/2 second sooner. At LB, reacting to the play before the big boys can get their hands on you is what it's all about for run D.
But if a car leaves New York traveling West at 60 mph and one leaves Chicago traveling East at 70 miles an hour, who gets to Toledo first?
@EC Pack posted:But if a car leaves New York traveling West at 60 mph and one leaves Chicago traveling East at 70 miles an hour, who gets to Toledo first?
The loser
All I know is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is 42