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State of The DTs: Dockett’s Strong Playoff Could Mean Stardom in 2009
Published: June 26, 2009
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[This article is one of eight in B/R contributor Jack Harver’s “State of the DTs” series, introduced here.]
Coming into last season’s playoffs, Darnell Dockett—like the Cardinals as a team—had been inconsistent in the regular season, managing just four sacks and only one in Arizona’s last eight games.
Then, like the Cardinals, he showed up big-time.
It started with Arizona’s home wild-card game against Atlanta.
Dockett and the Cardinals’ other defensive linemen caught on to rookie quarterback Matt Ryan’s unchanging snap count and harassed him, tallying three sacks and forcing the Falcons’ careful quarterback into throwing two interceptions.
Dockett didn’t nab one of those sacks to pad his stats line. Instead, he took the field in the second half and changed the game.
The Falcons had scored 14 points in the last three minutes of the first half, taking a 17-14 lead and momentum into the locker room at halftime. They had the ball to start the second half, looking to expand their lead.
On the drive’s second play, Ryan turned around to hand the ball off to running back Michael Turner—but Dockett, who had already beaten Atlanta guard Harvey Dahl into his gap off the snap, jammed his hand into the exchange and tore the ball free, right into the arms of Cardinals safety Antrel Rolle.
Touchdown, Cardinals—21-17, and a breach in the Falcons’ offensive line that opened a floodgate for Arizona’s defense.
Dockett performed well in the Cardinals’ next two games. Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme was pressured into throwing five picks, and Dockett played to the last whistle against Philadelphia, intercepting a lateral on the game’s final play to seal the win.
But his shining moment came in defeat, harrying Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger snap after snap in the Super Bowl.
Dockett’s three sacks and five tackles in the box score hardly do his Super Bowl performance justice. He played like his hair was on fire, hitting his gap relentlessly, hustling in space, and forcing Roethlisberger to make some truly spectacular desperation plays to earn the win. And the whole world saw it.
Going into the 2009 season and beyond, Dockett has the opportunity to turn that month of national exposure into legitimate stardom.
Star-caliber tackles are described, past their statistics, in terms of their effect on running games and quarterbacks. After chasing Roethlisberger around for four quarters, Dockett’s name should come up in pre-game chatter this season as the representative for the Cardinals’ pass rush.
That’s the kind of talk that makes the voting public aware of what opposing linemen, coordinators, and coaches have known for a few years.
Dockett’s nine sacks and Pro Bowl appearance in the 2007 season put him on the map, but the Cardinals’ new status as a playoff team will involve him in a higher level of conversation about the NFL’s elite defensive tackles.
(He plays a hybrid role in Arizona’s defense, sometimes lining up over an opposing tackle as an end, but usually takes the inside gap and should be considered an interior lineman.)
If Dockett can produce in the coming season like he did in the playoffs, making big plays and chaos, his star will keep rising.
State of the DTs: Is Dallas’ Ratliff Too Workman-Like Second Pro Bowl Selection?
Published: June 26, 2009
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[This article is one of eight in B/R contributor Jack Harver’s “State of the DTs” series, introduced here.]
At 6’4″ and 295 pounds, Dallas’ nose tackle Jay Ratliff is too svelte to fit the stereotypical mold for his position in the Cowboys’ 3-4 defense.
Current Dolphins’ nose tackle Jason Ferguson, whose torn biceps as a Cowboy at the start of the 2007 season gave Ratliff his first starting gig, is shorter (6’3″), and, at 305 pounds, a good bit squatter.
Casey Hampton, whose Steelers run an attacking 3-4 defense similar to the Cowboys, plays at 325 pounds, and looks like he’s yet to digest a beach ball.
Yet Ratliff manages to bang heads in the trenches with the best at his position. He fought through the trash for 7.5 sacks and a starting spot in the Pro Bowl in his first full season as a starter last year.
“The main thing is I’ve learned how to keep fat off and I’ve really benefited, as far as my endurance,” he told NFL.com’s Steve Wyche.
Keeping fat off is a novel concept at a position where most starters are built like tubby boulders to hold up against double-team blocks. Ratliff looks more like a 3-4 end: tall and solid, built to take on opposing tackles—the best athletes on the offensive line, one-on-one.
And yet he thrives against guards and centers built to move those big ‘uns in spaces designed to present small gaps and pit bulk strength on strength.
Ratliff, who started his college career at Auburn as a tight end, uses his athleticism, grinding demeanor, and technical discipline to outwork opposing linemen.
That “nose to the grindstone” reputation made Ratliff the perfect candidate for the Pro Bowl this past season in a down year for NFC defensive tackles.
Chicago’s Tommie Harris, who had a streak of three consecutive Pro Bowl trips, had a so-so season as the Bears’ defense slipped a bit from the ranks of the elite. Kris Jenkins and Shaun Rogers left NFC teams to have Pro Bowl seasons in the AFC.
Ratliff, of course, had a career year statistically. His 7.5 sacks were far and away the most by a nose tackle last season (three ahead of Shaun Rogers’ 4.5, the second-most), and close to the eight put up by Tennessee’s Albert Haynesworth and Minnesota’s Kevin Williams, two perennial Pro Bowlers.
Good numbers always help win voters.
Oddly enough, the same workman-like mentality that Ratliff used to fight through offensive lines to sacks and Pro Bowl recognition might keep him out of a repeat selection.
“The first thing I did was forget about last season,” Ratliff said. “The Pro Bowl was a reward for last season. After that game was over, I put it behind me. I’m back to being a regular guy.”
“[We need to] be a team more than anything,” he said when asked about his aims for the Cowboys’ upcoming season. “That’s my goal. I’m going to go out and work hard to produce, but I’m not going to make it about me.”
If keeping his head down, and doing work means drawing blockers away from Dallas’ pass rushers instead of getting sacks—and, with veteran lineman Chris Canty gone in free agency, it might—Ratliff won’t complain.
But with Haynesworth moving to the NFC, and Arizona’s Darnell Dockett building a big-play reputation, Ratliff might be unsung once again after this year’s Pro Bowl votes are tallied.
State of the DTs: Cracks in Vikings’ Williams Wall, or Just Minor Issues?
Published: June 26, 2009
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[This article is one of eight in B/R contributor Jack Harver’s “State of the DTs” series, introduced here.]
Albert Haynesworth’s biggest competition for NFC Pro Bowl honors will come from Minnesota defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams.
During their past three seasons manning the middle of the Vikings’ defensive line, the Williams duo has been the engine room for the NFL’s stingiest rush defense. Minnesota’s opponents have averaged less than 71 yards per game on the ground during that span, and Kevin and Pat have been fixtures on the NFC’s Pro Bowl roster since .
Kevin, who has 42.5 career sacks in his six pro seasons, is considered the better pass rusher of the two. Pat, who has played at 320 pounds for the Vikings since arriving at 335 pounds from Buffalo in 2005, uses his massive frame to occupy blockers, freeing the Vikings’ linebackers and other down linemen to make plays. He’s deceptively quick, taking on double teams with his fast movements and sheer bulk.
Minnesota had a few scares involving these two cornerstones of their defense toward the end of last year—situations worth watching going into the 2009 season.
After taking the NFC North lead with a Week 13 win against Chicago, both Willams were suspended for testing positive for a banned weight-loss diuretic. Both Kevin and Pat hunkered down against commissioner Roger Goodell in court just like they’d done against opposing running backs, filing an injunction that stalled the suspension and allowed them to play out the season.
Opinions differ on whether the Williamses will win their protracted legal battle with the NFL as they continue to fight tooth and nail to clear their names and play.
The stakes are particularly high for their reputations: if they are eventually suspended, criticism from pundits and sports fans—already disillusioned by the seeming prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball—would likely be severe.
Point-blank; if Kevin and Pat Williams come out of court with anything short of a complete victory, they’ll likely be tainted in the public eye. Fair or unfair, they’d have long odds to be voted into the Pro Bowl.
On the football field, Kevin shows no signs of slowing down. A Pro Bowler in four of his six NFL seasons, he has missed only two games in his career—a knee sprain sidelined him for Weeks 13 and 14 in 2005—and is coming off his highest one-season sack total (8.5) since exploding onto the big-league scene with 10.5 and 11.5 in his first two seasons.
Pat, on the other hand, seems to have a few chinks in his formidable armor. He missed the Vikings’ last three games this past season after breaking a bone in his shoulder, but the real points of concern are his offseason surgeries. He had work done on his elbow in 2008, and recently underwent a minor procedure on his knee.
Turning 37 this October, the heftier of Minnesota’s two top-caliber tackles is no spring chicken. Joint injuries tend to nag and recur; while Pat’s level of play may not drop, medical problems might keep him out of enough games to miss out on a fourth consecutive Pro Bowl appearance.
