Quick turnaround by Lovie?

[TheRed]

That team has a lot of talent, Lovie will make them contenders, but he's going to have his hands full in this division.

[t96]

I didn't underestimate them--their numbers are what I went by.

 

In the NFC last year, Mitchell was the 26th Safety in combined tackles (67).  There are only 32 starting safeties in the NFC.

He was better in Interceptions (4) and sacks (4) but statistically, was right there with the Lions' Louis Delmas (64 combined tackles, 2 sacks, 3 Interceptions)--the 28th ranked S in combined tackles.  Thomas DeCoud (65 tackles and 2 Ints) is also in that group of Safeties.  Mitchell was behind a great front 7 and followed Nakamura.  I think his value is currently inflated.

 

Even here, he was inconsistent in some areas of his game (like tackling angles)--winning makes it forgettable.  The other players, statistically, are as I said. For example, if you are referring to Smitty, a 4-td, 765 yard season is average at best.  Munnerlyn?  average-  he may have overachieved, but his productivity was pretty average. 

 

You underestimate Mitchell's leadership that he brought to that entire secondary. That's the big thing we'll be losing. Other than that I agree and think people are overreacting to barely losing anything important. Gross is our only huge loss and I still think we have a chance at signing Mitchell.

[t96]

Bring it on. If the rumors about Lovie and Rivera are true, then The Panther/Buc rivalry could be next Niner/Seahawk.

 

What rumors?

[ajax4132]

Moncrief and Matthews please

[MHS831]

You underestimate Mitchell's leadership that he brought to that entire secondary. That's the big thing we'll be losing. Other than that I agree and think people are overreacting to barely losing anything important. Gross is our only huge loss and I still think we have a chance at signing Mitchell.

 

I agree 100%---this started with a post that I headed in all caps--"Based on productivity alone" 

[MHS831]

I thought Tampa had the talent to be good in 2013.  Lovie is in a great position to look good here.  The players hated Schiano (spelling?)

[rayzor]

What rumors?

lovie didn't want rivera there as his DC. he inherited rivera who ran a more aggressive scheme than the tampa2 lovie preferred. when rivera's contract was up, it was lovie's choice to move on from rivera, despite his success. lovie replaced rivera with his own guy. i suspect that many think that there weren't good feelings between the two because it's pretty much perceived that lovue fired rivera (which it could be considered is essentially what happened).

[stirs]

I could see every team in the NFC South being incredibly close to the 9/10 win mark.

 

Looks to be very very close

[jarhead]

What if they go :

(1) Watkins

(2) Shazier

 

 

[t96]

Word on the street is that Lovie fired Ron because he feared losing his job to him. The players already had favored Rivera over Smith (not shocking considering Ron is a player's coach). So Lovie promoted the LB coach and chose not to bring back Rivera.

 

 

lovie didn't want rivera there as his DC. he inherited rivera who ran a more aggressive scheme than the tampa2 lovie preferred. when rivera's contract was up, it was lovie's choice to move on from rivera, despite his success. lovie replaced rivera with his own guy. i suspect that many think that there weren't good feelings between the two because it's pretty much perceived that lovue fired rivera (which it could be considered is essentially what happened).

 

Wow. Good, Rivera's gonna be out for blood, and we'll play Tampa harder than ever. This could turn into a great rivalry and oh how I'd love to see the Saints and Falcons dive the next few years.

[t96]

I could see any team in the NFC South being incredibly close to the 9/10 win mark.

 

Looks to be very very close

 

fixed it for you. Don't think ALL will be around there, but I think any of us could be.

[rayzor]

Word on the street is that Lovie fired Ron because he feared losing his job to him. The players already had favored Rivera over Smith (not shocking considering Ron is a player's coach). So Lovie promoted the LB coach and chose not to bring back Rivera.

i heard that as well but had forgotten that tidbit. very much could have been a factor.

[TheRumGone]

I didn't underestimate them--their numbers are what I went by.

 

In the NFC last year, Mitchell was the 26th Safety in combined tackles (67).  There are only 32 starting safeties in the NFC.

He was better in Interceptions (4) and sacks (4) but statistically, was right there with the Lions' Louis Delmas (64 combined tackles, 2 sacks, 3 Interceptions)--the 28th ranked S in combined tackles.  Thomas DeCoud (65 tackles and 2 Ints) is also in that group of Safeties.  Mitchell was behind a great front 7 and followed Nakamura.  I think his value is currently inflated.

 

Even here, he was inconsistent in some areas of his game (like tackling angles)--winning makes it forgettable.  The other players, statistically, are as I said. For example, if you are referring to Smitty, a 4-td, 765 yard season is average at best.  Munnerlyn?  average-  he may have overachieved, but his productivity was pretty average. 

 

i look at game changing plays. winning plays. attitudes.

 

munnerlyn when used correctly is quite the playmaker (sacks and pick sixes), mitchell commanded that secondary (the (audibles, called plays that resulted in corner picks i.e. melvin white. quite possibly the biggest game of the year against the 49ers that really got our season going he came up HUGE.)

 

these aren't scrubs we are talking about. They're not elite but they are solid players. They are players you want to keep with your core because they round out your team nicely and they can be relied upon. Mitchell took over that secondary leadership position and flourished. It's easy to say they are replaceable when you look at stats. It's the same argument people had with Cam and the 4th quarter because they were not resulting in wins before last season.

 

Mitchell was the last defender, was he perfect? hell no, nobody really is. Did he take some bad angles on plays? sure. But that man gave our secondary tenacity and viciousness. WR feared him. He brought the thunder that was much needed with our elite front seven.

 

Can he be replaced? i dont know if there is anybody out there that we can afford that can do that and is a known. I just look at this guy as being on that edge and staying in the same system we could see another jump from him. I want mitchell back more than any of the FA we have on the team right now. He wants to be back, i hope G-man and him can come to some sort of reasonable deal. Mitchell definitely seems like a team player who has more room to grow. The guys intangibles are off the charts.

[rayzor]

Bear fans still blame Lovie for the defense declining over the years. I mean, Rivera finding more success at San Diego only reinforced it. If you were to talk to a Bear fan right now, they would credit Ron for the team's success, not Lovie. Hell, fans were hoping G-Man was going to fire him early last season. So it's obvious that Ron was highly thought of by Chicago fans.

yep. it was ron's D that got them to the superbowl. if they had an offense worth a crap (which isn't what lovie smith's tems are known for) they could have won.