Teo is improving?

[sandiego17]

Because he isn't! If he's 240 lbs, then I'm 360 lbs.

Q, you need to diet!

http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/manti-te'o?id=2539277

Why would the combine numbers be wrong on his weight? Are they also wrong on his 40 times?

[TTK]

Q, you need to diet!

http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/manti-te'o?id=2539277

Why would the combine numbers be wrong on his weight? Are they also wrong on his 40 times?

Sounds "physical" enough to me.

STRENGTHS

Aggressive middle linebacker with a thick overall build. Vocal leader on the off the field, communicates the call and moves teammates into place when necessary. Downhill player who recognizes plays and closes quickly. Provides pop as a tackler, capable of thumping the ballcarrier and wrapping up to secure the stop. Aware run-stopper between the tackles, finds the ball and can mirror backs to prevent cutbacks. Stops backs’ momentum on first contact and drive them backwards. Takes on linemen and fullbacks, can bounce or use his hands to rip off and make a stop. Hustles to recover from cut blocks, work through double teams at the second level. Shows enough movement skills to follow stretch plays to either sideline and cover running backs in the flat. Drops to the first-down marker, but is able to close on receivers and backs over the middle to prevent yards after the catch. Attacks gaps as a delayed blitzer, will try to work past the shoulder of linemen picking him up. High character player who performs community service and became an Eagle Scout in 2008.

[QSmokey]

Sounds "physical" enough to me.

STRENGTHS

Aggressive middle linebacker with a thick overall build. Vocal leader on the off the field, communicates the call and moves teammates into place when necessary. Downhill player who recognizes plays and closes quickly. Provides pop as a tackler, capable of thumping the ballcarrier and wrapping up to secure the stop. Aware run-stopper between the tackles, finds the ball and can mirror backs to prevent cutbacks. Stops backs’ momentum on first contact and drive them backwards. Takes on linemen and fullbacks, can bounce or use his hands to rip off and make a stop. Hustles to recover from cut blocks, work through double teams at the second level. Shows enough movement skills to follow stretch plays to either sideline and cover running backs in the flat. Drops to the first-down marker, but is able to close on receivers and backs over the middle to prevent yards after the catch. Attacks gaps as a delayed blitzer, will try to work past the shoulder of linemen picking him up. High character player who performs community service and became an Eagle Scout in 2008.

Has that been your impression of Manti THIS season? That's a question for everyone, not just you.

To me, he looks small-ish; not physical; unable to get free of the 'trash'; a bit lost (that, I agree, will improve with experience). He's getting swallowed up inside. That's been my impression, anyway.

The scouting reports can say all they want; and that's based on his COLLEGE performance. It's like all the silly stats and ratings that get posted here; I only care about effectiveness and results, not the opinion of some so-called experts.

[sandiego17]

I've also seen him make some plays and hits. The DL has been the bigger issue, even Butler hasn't been effective.

[Beerman]

I've also seen him make some plays and hits. The DL has been the bigger issue, even Butler hasn't been effective.

Te'o has taken a ton of bad angles. I think that's correctable and will improve with experience. A lot of rookies also make big strides physically following their first year after having a full season/offseason of work in an NFL strength training program. Te'o needs to get cut IMO. He looks pudgy and that doesn't help with his already small frame. Te'o looks like the only polynesian I've seen/met that doesn't seem have that natural strength that's obvious most of the time. I had a few buddies that played rugby that were just so damn naturally strong. I guess watching Seau for years isn't helping Te'o in that regard either. Granted it's not a great comparison since Jr. had a much larger frame than Te'o has.

The sad part is that he doesn't look any worse than Butler right now. Both have had big issues all year. You can definitely make a case for the D line having a hand in their issues, but if that's the case wouldn't it make more sense to invest more resources in the D line vs the ILB core? Clearly Butler isn't the type of ILB that can take over a game, so what's the point in paying him as such. Use those dollars and sign D line help and bring in some quality cheap vet at ILB.

[TTK]

Has that been your impression of Manti THIS season? That's a question for everyone, not just you.

To me, he looks small-ish; not physical; unable to get free of the 'trash'; a bit lost (that, I agree, will improve with experience). He's getting swallowed up inside. That's been my impression, anyway.

The scouting reports can say all they want; and that's based on his COLLEGE performance. It's like all the silly stats and ratings that get posted here; I only care about effectiveness and results, not the opinion of some so-called experts.

I don't see anything wrong with his "physicality". Linebackers get swallowed up by linemen all the time. He's not putting himself in the right position to make plays yet. It's the mental game he's struggling with right now.

[oneinchpunch]

I don't see anything wrong with his "physicality". Linebackers get swallowed up by linemen all the time. He's not putting himself in the right position to make plays yet. It's the mental game he's struggling with right now.

Agree. I thought he played better in the previous couple games before the Bengals. I just saw some bad angles and him getting out of position too much. The plays were there he just missed them.

[Guy Lombardo]

I simply don't get the critics here. There is something very wrong with this defense. Butler looks bad, Weddle is having a bad year, Luigit and Reyes have been awful. Teo just seem to be following the theme for the year. The defense is lacking decent players at key positions and the coaching seems to be pretty bad in general. He's not underperforming other players on the defense, they are all playing poorly.

[Panama]

I'm afraid it's too latte to change.

Come on, you can't repeat the same joke! You've got to espresso yourself better than that! :runaway:

[Panama]

Has that been your impression of Manti THIS season? That's a question for everyone, not just you.

To me, he looks small-ish; not physical; unable to get free of the 'trash'; a bit lost (that, I agree, will improve with experience). He's getting swallowed up inside. That's been my impression, anyway.

The scouting reports can say all they want; and that's based on his COLLEGE performance. It's like all the silly stats and ratings that get posted here; I only care about effectiveness and results, not the opinion of some so-called experts.

We've already seen him thump a guy pretty hard, the kind of hit that makes everyone in the bar go "Oooooh!" Just give him time to settle into the game mentally and you might be singing a different song.

[blahblahblah]

Te'o has taken a ton of bad angles. I think that's correctable and will improve with experience. A lot of rookies also make big strides physically following their first year after having a full season/offseason of work in an NFL strength training program. Te'o needs to get cut IMO. He looks pudgy and that doesn't help with his already small frame. Te'o looks like the only polynesian I've seen/met that doesn't seem have that natural strength that's obvious most of the time. I had a few buddies that played rugby that were just so damn naturally strong. I guess watching Seau for years isn't helping Te'o in that regard either. Granted it's not a great comparison since Jr. had a much larger frame than Te'o has.

The sad part is that he doesn't look any worse than Butler right now. Both have had big issues all year. You can definitely make a case for the D line having a hand in their issues, but if that's the case wouldn't it make more sense to invest more resources in the D line vs the ILB core? Clearly Butler isn't the type of ILB that can take over a game, so what's the point in paying him as such. Use those dollars and sign D line help and bring in some quality cheap vet at ILB.

Yes

[homeless simpson]

Butler and Teo doesn't seem like a good combination as a LB core. we had better DL play in 2012 than 2011 but both those years Butler was paired up Spikes, a big physical backer. he might be better paired up with another Godfrey type of player. but since he's most likely leaving.....how confident are people on Teo stepping up his game next year? the way people have been describing him, smallish, not gonna be a big hitter cuz that's not his game, not fast, not quite physical or athletic enough...it's like describing the Jacob Hester of LBers lol...Captain Vanilla doesn't really sound like the guy you would want to build your defense around, which means (if Butler departs) we would need somebody better (or more expensive) paired with Teo.

also, his biggest hit to date (after 9 games) is on a 170lb wr on a pass play. that's really impressive if we were talking about a db....