Which side should Peppers play?

[nfoligno]

Okay, now that Peppers is our man, I think it worth talking about what side of the DL he should play.

 

Peppers has played both sides. As I understand it, he used to play RDE when Rucker was on the left, and then moved when Rucker left, but moved back to RDE this past year. Not sure, but something like that.

 

I have read before that Peppers is best at RDE. That isn't to say he can't play LDE. Not saying that at all. But everything I have ever read was that his best position was RDE, and even when playing LDE, the team worked to move him back, which they eventually did.

 

Brown has always played RDE. I believe that is what he played in college, and through his NFL career as well. DEs can move from one side to the other, but it is not always seemless.

 

With that said, I would be of the opinion that you play Peppers where ever he is best. We need to see the stud Peppers. If that doesn't happen, we are hosed. If Peppers plays at LDE, but doesn't give the stud performance, while Brown gives his usual solid play, will our defense be good? On the other hand, if Peppers is a stud at RDE, even if Brown struggles at LDE, I would argue our defense regardless has chance of being very good. In other words, its all about Peppers, not Brown. Where Brown is best should not be a key factor in this IMHO. Where Peppers is most likely to dominate, that should be all this is about.

 

Is it possible Peppers could be great at LDE? Sure. Heck, maybe that is his best position. I don't know. All I am saying is we should factor Peppers, and Peppers alone, when choosing who plays where. Brown is a secondary consideration.

[madlithuanian]

Wherever he prefers!

 

Seriously...

 

Wharever he wants. Brown can adjust to either side.

 

Make the man happy.

 

I'd say wherever he is best. But I don't feel that the staff is qualified to make that decision.

[Grouchy Bear]

I personally think we could use him on both sides during a game depending on the situation.

Teams are going to game plan around him no doubt. But if we flip him might cause some headaches and confusion during the game with some line twists or blitz packages. Let alone line him across the weaker of the two OL tackles.

 

If he's onboard with that go with it.

 

[Mongo3451]

name='nfoligno' date='Mar 8 2010, 01:26 PM' post='78937']

Okay, now that Peppers is our man, I think it worth talking about what side of the DL he should play.

 

Peppers has played both sides. As I understand it, he used to play RDE when Rucker was on the left, and then moved when Rucker left, but moved back to RDE this past year. Not sure, but something like that.

 

I have read before that Peppers is best at RDE. That isn't to say he can't play LDE. Not saying that at all. But everything I have ever read was that his best position was RDE, and even when playing LDE, the team worked to move him back, which they eventually did.

I think he actually had his best years as an LDE and moved to RDE when Rucker left.

 

Brown has always played RDE. I believe that is what he played in college, and through his NFL career as well. DEs can move from one side to the other, but it is not always seemless.

True. And I think Brown strongly prefers RDE.

 

With that said, I would be of the opinion that you play Peppers where ever he is best. We need to see the stud Peppers. If that doesn't happen, we are hosed. If Peppers plays at LDE, but doesn't give the stud performance, while Brown gives his usual solid play, will our defense be good? On the other hand, if Peppers is a stud at RDE, even if Brown struggles at LDE, I would argue our defense regardless has chance of being very good. In other words, its all about Peppers, not Brown. Where Brown is best should not be a key factor in this IMHO. Where Peppers is most likely to dominate, that should be all this is about.

I think with Peppers ability, he would be a greater benefit at LDE. (Distrupting in the QB's face. ala Strahan) This would also benefit the way we are used to seeing Brown Blast by the QB as he step up. Now the QB can step up into Peppers or flush out to Brown.

 

Is it possible Peppers could be great at LDE? Sure. Heck, maybe that is his best position. I don't know. All I am saying is we should factor Peppers, and Peppers alone, when choosing who plays where. Brown is a secondary consideration.

I think so.

 

[BigDaddy]

Play him right next to Tommie "the walking excuse" Harris.

[bradjock]

We played Carolina back in '05 and that was the game Fred Miller missed because Kreutz broke his jaw. It was a huge deal because it meant John St. Clair had to line up against Peppers, and the thinking was that he'd get like 10 sacks that game. He ended up not even sniffing the QB (I'm guessing we had him double teamed???)

 

I say this because he was a LDE at that time and a pretty damn good one.

 

IMO the key is for our RDE to be able to get to the damn QB and vice-versa. Both sides need to be fairly disruptive. The bad part is that Alex Brown can't do that.

 

One option would be for Brown to rotate with Mark Anderson like they did in '06. You mix the run-stuffer and the guy who can get to the QB.

[balta1701-A]

I think he actually had his best years as an LDE and moved to RDE when Rucker left.

But might that also suggest that he had his best years at LDE when they had an RDE who also drew attention?

[bowlingtwig]

But might that also suggest that he had his best years at LDE when they had an RDE who also drew attention?

This is a good debate and I think this will go on for a while as well. As of right now our 2 starters will be Brown and Peppers and then we will have Anderson and maybe Gilbert as the swing guys. So I guess my question is can Brown play LDE. I have really only seen him play on the right side. Peppers excels at both sides for as far as I am concerned and Brown always seems to do well and if Brown can't play on the Left side I think it would be pointless to move him because then I think it would negate the signing of peppers a little.

[nfoligno]

I threw the question out there w/o really an idea of what the answer is. I know Peppers has said he feels comfortable at either side, which is why most will assume him to play LDE. At the same time, the key for me is simply where he can dominate the best. So maybe the answer is to simply rotate the hell out of him. I have heard the staff talk about such, which is surprising as we rarely seem to move players around, but I would like to see us do this.

 

Move Peppers around the way many teams do w/ their top pass rushers. If we do this though, Brown is going to need to either learn to play LDE, or he is going to lose even more snaps to Anderson, who does have experience playing on the left side.

 

We played Carolina back in '05 and that was the game Fred Miller missed because Kreutz broke his jaw. It was a huge deal because it meant John St. Clair had to line up against Peppers, and the thinking was that he'd get like 10 sacks that game. He ended up not even sniffing the QB (I'm guessing we had him double teamed???)

 

I say this because he was a LDE at that time and a pretty damn good one.

 

IMO the key is for our RDE to be able to get to the damn QB and vice-versa. Both sides need to be fairly disruptive. The bad part is that Alex Brown can't do that.

 

One option would be for Brown to rotate with Mark Anderson like they did in '06. You mix the run-stuffer and the guy who can get to the QB.

 

[madlithuanian]

Whoa! Hold your horses! Rotating? You mean changing up things on the fly to find the best match-up! Well, that's just darn revolutionary... That a little too modern for our stellar defensive minds to contemplate.

 

I threw the question out there w/o really an idea of what the answer is. I know Peppers has said he feels comfortable at either side, which is why most will assume him to play LDE. At the same time, the key for me is simply where he can dominate the best. So maybe the answer is to simply rotate the hell out of him. I have heard the staff talk about such, which is surprising as we rarely seem to move players around, but I would like to see us do this.

 

Move Peppers around the way many teams do w/ their top pass rushers. If we do this though, Brown is going to need to either learn to play LDE, or he is going to lose even more snaps to Anderson, who does have experience playing on the left side.

 

[AZ54]

Whoa! Hold your horses! Rotating? You mean changing up things on the fly to find the best match-up! Well, that's just darn revolutionary... That a little too modern for our stellar defensive minds to contemplate.

 

Come on now we've been rotating all sorts of players through our D the last few years. RBs rotate freely through our Dline. WR and even the occasional TE rotate freely through our secondary.

[bradjock]

This is a good debate and I think this will go on for a while as well. As of right now our 2 starters will be Brown and Peppers and then we will have Anderson and maybe Gilbert as the swing guys. So I guess my question is can Brown play LDE. I have really only seen him play on the right side. Peppers excels at both sides for as far as I am concerned and Brown always seems to do well and if Brown can't play on the Left side I think it would be pointless to move him because then I think it would negate the signing of peppers a little.

 

The SCORE guys were saying that we're not the least bit impressed with Gilbert. They speculated that since we signed Peppers, we'd likely move him back inside. After all, we have Peppers, Brown, Anderson, and Idonije playing DE. That's a solid group who never gets injured and is sure to be activated every week.

 

The inside is far more precarious with the ever-injured Tommie, the solid but under-appreciated Anthony Adams, the dissappointing Marcus Harrison, and the possibly gone Matt Toeneia. We're also tinkered with moving Melton inside (who is far too light IMO). It seems obvious to me that Gilbert would be an inside player and we'll likely draft another.

[madlithuanian]

True enough!

 

Come on now we've been rotating all sorts of players through our D the last few years. RBs rotate freely through our Dline. WR and even the occasional TE rotate freely through our secondary.

 

[defiantgiant]

Play him right next to Tommie "the walking excuse" Harris.

 

I think this is actually the best idea. Put Peppers at left end, next to Harris at the 3-technique. That way the line goes:

Brown-Left Tackle-Left Guard-Adams-Center-Right Guard-Harris-Right Tackle-Peppers-Tight End

 

So Brown draws the left tackle while Adams anchors against the left guard and center: even if neither of them gets any pressure, the blocks they're occupying mean that the right side is at a pretty bad disadvantage. Even if the TE stays in for a double-team block, that right tackle is going to have to block Peppers, which leaves Tommie in the B gap one-on-one with the right guard. Even in his diminished form last season, he should win that matchup a fair amount of the time. They could pull the left guard to help with Harris, but that would open up a lane for a linebacker to blitz.

[AZ54]

I prefer to put Harris on the other side opposite Peppers with Adams in between. It forces the line to choose which side they want to be strong on and it makes stunts from either Peppers or Harris a lot more difficult to handle. Put all your good players on one side and they'll just run away from you or load up on that side to contain you.