I'm not seeing the lack of 3.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage being a significant thing. That definitely doesn't prove he was worse in run D since there is a whole lot more that goes into run D than just stuffs.
But if you want an explanation it's fairly simple IMO.
It's one number you didn't circle over on the far left. Games: 14.
He missed 2 games, he was rusty for 2 others. That's a quarter of the season. That's significant. He also missed training camp which is when the D was installed. That takes some time to acclimate to.
If it wasn't for the missed time, I'm sure his numbers would have been the same as previous years. And of course you should know that fluctuation from year to year is normal. Why aren't you asking why TFL's decreased from 17 to 11 in 2016?
Since you brought up PFF, let's talk about this.
You can't cherry pick! If you're going to use PFF, then you need to use their full analysis. As I mentioned, IIRC, PFF rated 2017 as the highest run defense grade
for his career.
TFLs are awesome. But PFF is also measuring other things that go into run D. For example, how many times did he too aggressively overcharge the gap letting the RB through? The TFL and run stuff metrics don't capture that. PFF does.
My opinion - which I believe was backed by PFF - says there was no drop off in run D. If anything, he's getting better.
Bottom line for me on AD is, 2017 was his most dominant season to date despite the scheme change, the missed time, and the rusty getting up to speed period.
That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. At this point, we really should agree to disagree.
On Suh, now you're saying he's not lined up elsewhere full time when at first you said he hadn't done it at all.
I saw that it said passing downs; I was just using it to counter the 'he's never lined up anywhere else but 3-tech' narrative.
He's a great run defender. So since he's done it on passing downs, I bet he can do it on running downs.
This is where I return to my mantra: greatness supersedes scheme fit concerns.
Wade would throw Suh in there - like he did Ethan Westbrooks who btw also had no NT experience - and he would dominate, fit or not. Why? Because he's a great player.
You're all caught up in the HOW things would work. And I'm focused on WHY it would work.
A general rule of life that I've observed is, the WHY trumps HOW....every time.
I'm done.
