<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Ratliff new starting DE? That's what it looks like and sounds like from Jay Ratliff. He worked exclusively at defensive end during the first practice Wednesday morning while Marcus Spears worked at nose tackle. "That was something that had been talked about," Ratliff said of switching to defensive end. "But I guess it's a reality now." Ratliff was just getting used to being a solid nose tackle, but now has the freedom of more space to take advantage of his burst and relentless motor. He is considered undersized at nose, but Spears is not. He is noticeably bigger this season (listed at 315 pounds) and looks more like Ferguson. The move gives the Cowboys a bigger body in the middle and possibly a better pass rusher at defensive end. Spears has struggled to provide a steady rush and this move could add a new dimension to the defense. Wade Phillips said yesterday this was just something they were working on to add another wrinkle. Ratliff started playing defensive end in the 3-4 before moving to nose last year when Jason Ferguson got hurt in the season opener. "It's going to take some time getting used to it," Ratliff said of defensive end.</div> http://startelegramsports.typepad.com/cowb...ff-new-sta.html Interesting. I know we discussed the possibility of this in another thread....
For whatever reason, I did not think Spears was big enough to play NT in a 3-4. This twist reminds me of when Fritz Shurmur when he was w/ the Packers or maybe Rams put an extra LB @ NT to confuse West coast offenses... specifically the Niners when Montana was QB.
Jay Ratliff is money, but from what I was hearing out of Oxnard, we were leaning more towards Tank Johnson starting at NT
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GMJigga @ Jul 30 2008, 08:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Jay Ratliff is money, but from what I was hearing out of Oxnard, we were leaning more towards Tank Johnson starting at NT</div> I think the idea is to get some lineups of Ratliff - Johnson - Canty as the DL... With Hatcher - Spears - Bowen as the second DL. Or at least, that's what I'm reading into it. Spears does a good job at taking on double teams. This is evident by the fact that he holds up really well against the run (him being a Strongside DE and all). If he wants to, he can be a heckuva NT. He has good size for it, will have good athleticism for the position, and does hold up well against the run.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Thoth @ Jul 30 2008, 08:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>For whatever reason, I did not think Spears was big enough to play NT in a 3-4. This twist reminds me of when Fritz Shurmur when he was w/ the Packers or maybe Rams put an extra LB @ NT to confuse West coast offenses... specifically the Niners when Montana was QB.</div> Parcells always wanted Spears down in the 295 range. But Parcells always said that as a player gets further away from 18 years of age, he'll put weight on. Spears has. IIRC, he is 25. He's probably in the 310 range. That's not prototypical NT size for Parcells.... but for Wade, its fine. We play a 1 gap attacking scheme as opposed to a 2 gap 3-4. So we can get by with smaller NTs. Like Jay Ratliff, for example. Also, we saw some of this last year. Spears took some reps at NT against Washington in week 17.
