Rashan Gary vs Purdue

Submitted by huntmich on

I'm impatient and don't want to wait for the UFR, so here we are. Was it just me or did Rashan Gary have a very quiet game against Purdue? It didn't seem to my fairly untrained eyes that he had much of an impact during the game. Was I just not paying attention? 

BoFlex

September 25th, 2017 at 1:00 AM ^

Sure, Gary definitely gets doubled a lot, but that doesn't mean he should just completely disappear off the stats sheets because of it.

Jadveon Clowney, JJ Watt, Joey Bosa, Brandon Graham and etc. all got doubled/tripled in college, but they still got to the QB regardless. That's what made them elite, no matter how much team's planned to neutralize them it didn't work. They still racked up sacks/TFLs.

bamf16

September 25th, 2017 at 6:56 AM ^

I watched the 20 minute highlight video last night, and after one play where Gary was in the shot, I did think to myself that that's the first time I saw him; I too noticed that his name wasn't called.

 

Big difference though between that and a conclusion that he had a quiet game or something. But if what you're trying to communicate is that you didn't really notice him in that game, you're not alone. I'm just not ready to jump to a conclusion about it yet.

1VaBlue1

September 25th, 2017 at 8:11 AM ^

The camera always follows the ball; the ball is never on the OL/DL battle.  If it were, some OL/DL would have won a Hiesman by now...  If you're not noticing Gary, its because the camera isn't on him.  It's on the guy that got a free run to the ball because Gary (and Hurst) is eating two or three blockers on his own.

getsome

September 25th, 2017 at 1:54 AM ^

yep, gary faces plenty of doubles and those other dudes have been swarming to the ball incredibly fast, both big factors in lack of stats.

also gary plays on the strong side and literally anchors the D in many concepts (hence the positions name) - he must play smart, stout, assignment-sound football like his 10 teammates, some of whom he allows to be free hitters.  they dont want him flying upfield as quickly as possible on every play, ignoring keys or missing landmarks, etc.  he has opportunities to pin his ears back and rush the passer but all within the D scheme (though hes still refining some aspects of technique like realizing when to cut a tighter path, etc).

but like winovich (and many on D), gary will eat and shed blocks and then pursue like mad virtually every play.  theyre getting hats to the ball, its great to see.  bottom line, gary is still a beast

Hail-Storm

September 25th, 2017 at 9:37 AM ^

at the end of the play, meaning that even when the play goes away from him, he is in constant pursuit until the play is dead.  I also saw him blow up a full back or running back in a play where he came around the edge fast beating his first block and blew through the second and then persued the QB.  I think Wormley had low numbers too last year for similar reasons. 

Wee-Bey Brice

September 25th, 2017 at 9:42 AM ^

I was just coming to say that. I've seen him run to the QB a half second too late after beating his double on several occasions. Rashan is being hit with the Frank Clark senior season spell. A bunch of "almost" fancystats as he gets near the QB & the play ends abruptly. Except in Rashan's case, the play is ending because somebody already got there, not because we suck and they have a first down.

South TX MFan

September 25th, 2017 at 1:33 AM ^

JJ Watt has 0 sacks so far this year. He's not playing bad but teams are double and triple teaming him and he's still able to move the pocket around. This is allowing Clowney, Mercilus, and McKinney to get to the QB. I suspect some of that is happening with Gary.

Blue in Paradise

September 25th, 2017 at 10:00 AM ^

And despite the fact that he is wrecking QBs each week and yet opposing teams refuse to change up means:

(1) Opposing head coaches and OCs are insane people who don't care about winning or losing

or 

(2) Rashan Gary is a really, really scary player for the opposing team and they will do anything and everything to keep him from ending their QB

 

kehnonymous

September 25th, 2017 at 12:52 AM ^

UFR would probably bear this out but the feeling I got was that most of the time Gary got to the QB 0.5 seconds after Bush, Winovich or someone else did since he was dragging 2-3 OL with him aon every snap

Hail Harbo

September 25th, 2017 at 7:30 AM ^

Yeah, I know, Joey Galloway.  Still he said something Thursday night that I found interesting, primarily because I hadn't given it any thought.  Somebody was talking about stats and how it would influence his draft status, to which Galloway said, NFL scouts don't look at stats.  To them stats are meaningless.  He didn't expand on it but to me it makes sense, the NFL isn't interested in what a player did in college, but with their potential in the NFL.

So while I'm sure Gary is frustrated that his stat numbers aren't reflecting his awesomeness, I'm equally sure that his coaches, formerly of the NFL, have kept him level headed with the knowledge that he's impressing NFL scouts regardless of stats.

 

jdemille9

September 25th, 2017 at 9:14 AM ^

I hear ya.. but since Peppers projected to safety in the NFL which is traditionally a position where elite players have stats to pore over.. so of course they had to compare him to other safety prospects' stats...

DL is a position where you can have limited stats but still be a monster. 

charblue.

September 25th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^

The defense is rated No. 1 or Top 5 in most statistical rankings including No. 1 in sacks. And at the rate they are being collected, there's no way you can't attribute those results to Gary's play. And, let's be honest, Bush is able to do what he's been doing because they can't block everyone. Not like someone turned Gary's motor off against Purdue because you didn't see him wrecking the Oline with an enthusiasm unknown to OUR expected likeness.