Quote
dzrams
Quote
RockRam
I also may be in the minority that the key to the Rams' winning is not AD. He is a great player; but he doesn't win games single handed. There are a number of players on the Rams more important that he is beginning with Goff. Sure a right minded and committed AD makes the defense better. I'm very doubtful that either of those conditions exist any longer in him.
In the short term, it's possible there are players more important to winning than AD. Goff of course, Gurley, and maaaayybe Cooks. Due to Suh, the typical impact of Donald is lessoned IMO because you have a darn good replacement player if Donald holds out.
My current feeling is: the Rams will win the SB with Donald; they have a good chance to win without him.
But over the long term, this won't be the case. I expect Suh to move on to richer pastures. Once he's gone, I see Donald's impact as being about equal to Gurleys.
Pressuring the QB is the highest premium skill set in the game after QB'ing and the man has been uncommonly great at it. I think stats show that he was singlehandedly responsible for nearly 40% of the team's pressures.
People often compare the impact of DTs to other positions. Not always, I think, in completely fair ways. But setting that aside...
AD is not just a DT. He's an ELITE DT, and that's a very rare breed.
That is the one type (an elite DT) guaranteed to improve any defense he's on. So it's someone you build around. He can't do it alone but then neither could Marino or Fouts.
Either way there's not a whole lot of comparisons to draw on for this conversation because elite DTs are so rare.
But use a time machine and add AD to either the 99 or the 2001 defense. Is the impact minimal?
Use your time machine again and add AD to the fearsome foursome. No impact?
Or a horror film version. Go back in time and put AD on the Walsh 49ers. Would we Rams fans just shrug at that?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2018 10:09AM by zn.
