Tag: captain

Report: Washington names rookie DE Chase Young a team captain

Washington has reportedly named rookie DE Chase Young a team captain after the title was stripped from QB Dwayne Haskins.

After second-year QB Dwayne Haskins was stripped of his captaincy earlier this week, the Washington Football Team has reportedly named rookie DE Chase Young one of the team captains going forward.

We argued that this is what Washington should have done earlier this week, as it has become clear that Young is one of the emotional leaders of the team, both on and off the field. Veterans and young players alike have remarked all season long how much of a leader Young is, and his energy on the sideline and before games in the huddle is palpable. It is clear that everyone on the team looks up to him, and he has a strong voice in the locker room.

Now he will have a C on his chest for hopefully a long time in Washington as well.

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Film Study: How Jarrad Davis is finding success in his new role

Detroit Lions linebacker Jarrad Davis was demoted from his starting job three weeks ago, but he has settled into a new role and is thriving.

Three weeks ago, Detroit Lions linebacker Jarrad Davis was demoted from his starting job, and while it took a week to adjust to his new role, he has settled in over the last two weeks and has been playing some terrific football.

Davis was a four-year starter as an off-the-ball MIKE linebacker but he has always struggled with the staples in coach Matt Patricia’s scheme. Over the last two seasons, he was often guilty of misreading gaps, overpursuing plays, and his missteps would often put him out of position.

There is no doubting Davis’ athleticism, and his leadership has earned him love from the coaching staff — he is a team captain once again in 2020 — but after the first two weeks of the season, it was clear there were other linebackers on the roster who were performing better and he was benched.

Davis has been relegated to a fifth linebacker role and has only been on the field a handful of snaps — 15 in Week 3, 19 in Week 4, and 11 in Week 6 — but he is making those snaps count.

Over the last two weeks, Davis has been Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded Lions player, earning a 94.5 grade in Week 4 and a 95.2 grade in Week 6 — both in the elite range. Currently, Davis’ season grade of 81.1 is the 7th best among NFL linebackers with at least 85 snaps (He has 126 on the season).

So what has changed?

I took a look at all 11 plays from Davis game against the Jacksonville Jaguars and will break them down in this film study.

Setting the table

Davis didn’t enter the game on defense until the eight Jaguars drive and when the Lions were up 24-3 with 7:39 remaining in the third quarter. He played on five snaps on the eighth drive, one snap on the ninth drive, zero snaps on the tenth drive, and five more on the final drive of the game.

Snap 1

Drive Down and Distance Davis Position LB Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
8 1st and 10 WILL Tavai – MIKE Cover 3 Man coverage versus Tight End

Play result: Davis covers the tight end well, Jaguars QB Gardner Minshew takes a shot downfield for an incomplete pass.

Snap 2

Drive Down and Distance Davis Position Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
8 2nd and 10 MIKE Tavai – WILL Cover 3 5-yard drop Zone coverage

Play result: Davis drops 5-yards deep in the middle of the field and Minshew finds the running back in the right flat. Tracy Walker gets outside contain on the back and Davis shows his range, pursues hard, properly breaks down, and squares himself for the tackle. The Jaguars gain just 3-yards.

Snap 3

Drive Down and Distance Davis Position Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
8 1st and 10 WILL Tavai – MIKE Cover 2 man Man coverage versus Fullback

Play result: Davis shadows the fullback during his route and when Minshew hits the running back underneath, Davis breaks off his coverage, squares the back, and sticks the tackle, forcing a fumble that lands out of bounds. Jaguars gain just 2-yards.

Snap 4

Drive Down and Distance Davis Position Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
8 2nd and 8 MIKE Jones – JACK Cover 1 Man A-Gaps

Play result: Davis takes on the block from the center and holds his ground but he is not involved in the play as it goes to his left. Jaguars gain 0-yards.

Snap 5

Drive Down and Distance Davis Position Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
8 1st and 10 WILL Tavai – MIKE Cover 3 Backside A/B Gap

Play result: Davis takes on the left guard, shows his burst with a quick lateral shift to his left, all the way over to the frontside A-gap, and makes the tackle on the running back. Davis’ stop is wiped out after Romeo Okwara was ruled offsides and the Jaguars accepted the penalty.

Snap 6

Drive Down and Distance Davis Position Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
9 3rd and 10 JACK Collins – MIKE Cover 2 Zone Pass Rush

Play result: Collins bluffs the left guard leaving him blocking air and everyone else in one-on-one matchups. Davis is locked up on the right tackle, uses a bull rush to walk him back into Minshew, who has to escape a collapsing pocket. When Michshew scrambles, Davis disengages the tackle with a stiff arm, dives for the sack attempt, but just misses. He was awarded a QB hurry.

Snap 7

Drive Down and Distance Davis Position Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
11 2nd and 2 JACK Collins – MIKE Ragland – WILL 2-3-6 Shell Pass Rush

Up 34-16 with just 4:32 remaining, the Lions are in a 2-3-6 shell the rest of the way, with Davis asked to only rush the passer.

Play result: Davis is stalled by left tackle and Minshew throws an incomplete pass.

Snap 8

Drive Down and Distance Davis Position Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
11 3rd and 2 JACK Collins – MIKE Ragland – WILL 2-3-6 Shell Pass Rush

Play result: Davis begins his rush upfield, stab-steps and drops inside the left tackle’s inside shoulder. Davis gets past him but the tackle gives him a shove in the back and it throws Davis off just enough to push him off his pursuit line. Minshew escapes the pocket and scrambles for the first down, but once again, Davis should get credit for a QB hurry.

Snap 9

Drive Down/Distance Davis Position Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
11 1st and 10 WILL Collins – Mike Ragland – JACK 2-3-6 Shell Delayed  pass rush

Play result: Davis drops back off-the-ball to the WILL, delays his pass rush, and is easily picked up by the right tackle.

Snap 10

Drive Down/Distance Davis Position Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
11 2nd and 10 JACK Collins – MIKE Ragland – WILL 2-3-6 Shell Pass Rush

Play result: Davis rushes the right tackle but instead of making a pass rush move, he disengages and plays contain. Minshew throws an incomplete pass, but Davis didn’t have an impact on the play.

Snap 11

Drive Down/Distance Davis Position Support Coverage Scheme Assignment
11 4th and 10 JACK Collins – MIKE Ragland – WILL 2-3-6 Shell Pass Rush

Play result: On the Jaguars’ final offensive play of the game, Davis lines up outside the right tackle and stunts inside through the frontside A-gap. Davis once again will get credit for a QB hurry but he misses his clean shot for a sack and Minshew escapes the pocket. The play is not over for Davis though, as he illustrates his relentlessness by getting up after his miss, pursuing Minshew with aggression, and forcing him to throw an incomplete pass.

Summary

Davis’ 11 snaps were split between the WILL (4), MIKE (2), and JACK (5) and he found success at each spot. Both of Davis’ tackles came from an off-the-ball position, one at the WILL and one at the MIKE, while he also managed to get credit for three QB hurries on five rushes from the JACK and one from the WILL.

Of course, some of his production can be attributed to the situations in which he is taking the field, but production is production. The Lions had 21 pressures on the day, Okwara had the most with four but he rushed the passer 35 times. Davis was second on the team and got his three on just six pass-rush opportunities.

Davis has shown more patience in coverage, has done a nice job squaring up for tackles, and discovered a couple of pass rushing moves for his toolbelt. He is still earning back his playing time, and while the Lions waited until they were up three scores before deploying him on the field, he is proving he deserves more playing time.

Notre Dame NCAA Tournament Hero Inks Pro Deal

Notre Dame NCAA Tournament hero Rex Pflueger has signed a pro basketball deal.

Rex Pflueger, Notre Dame’s all-time leader in games played for the basketball team, has inked a professional deal with the Newcastle Eagles of England.  Newcastle plays in the BBC, the British Basketball League.

Pflueger chose Newcastle in part, due to his late mother who was English by birth.

Pflueger said in the team’s official release:

“It feels great knowing that I will be starting my professional career in a country that I am very much familiar with”, he said.

“My mother was born and raised in Andover before eventually meeting my father in the US and moving out here full time.”

Notre Dame fans remember Pflueger for being a leader, leaving his heart on the floor nightly and for battling back from a knee injury.

Pflueger’s tip-in with under two seconds remaining against Stephen F. Austin in the Second Round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament helped send Notre Dame to the Sweet 16 and eventually the Elite 8 for the second year in a row.

Presidents Cup ‘advice giver’ can change when Tiger Woods tees it up

The burden of providing advice can be passed off (and reassumed) by Tiger Woods next week during his role as Presidents Cup playing captain.

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Tiger Woods has so far been coy about the number of matches he intends to play at next week’s Presidents Cup. Considering the form he has displayed at the Hero World Challenge – particularly in firing a bogey-free 66 in the second round – the playing captain would be wise to slot himself into the lineup frequently.

Woods is the first man to take on the role of Presidents Cup playing captain since Hale Irwin did it in 1994, the year of the inaugural matches. For the record, Irwin played three times that year, appearing in the foursomes lineup each of the first two days before going out in the lead singles match against Robert Allenby on the final day. His record was 2-1 (which included a singles victory over Allenby).

“I’m playing a minimum of two [matches],” Woods said Thursday with a smile. “Does that help you?”

There’s obviously much more to it than that, though.

Hero World Challenge: Best photos from Bahamas

Woods has brought on three assistant captains in Fred Couples, Steve Stricker and Zach Johnson (the former two being past Presidents Cup captains themselves). The question is how, exactly, they’ll fill in when Woods is on the course competing, particularly when it comes to giving advice.

The Presidents Cup rulebook states that when it comes to “any counsel or suggestion that could influence a player in determining his play, the choice of a club or the method of making a stroke, each team may appoint one person who may give advice to members of that team. Such person must be identified to the committee before giving advice.”

These stipulations reflect the wording in the Rules of Golf section that covers team competition (Rule 24) and the procedures regarding the creation of a local rule that allows for an “advice giver.”

A report by Golf Channel has cleared up some of the details about how much (and when, exactly) Woods’ assistant captains can take over while he’s competing. The PGA Tour sent this response to a Golf Channel inquiry:

“The captain needs to advise the chief referee before the start of each round who has the advice. The captain may switch the person during the round. For example, if Tiger is planning to play, he would need to advise rules before the matches start who has the advice. After he finishes, he could switch back if he wanted.”

Add those particulars to a long list of other details Woods must address as the captain.

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Terrell Davis will serve as a team captain for AFC at 2020 Pro Bowl

Former Broncos running back Terrell Davis will serve as one of the AFC’s team captains at the 2020 Pro Bowl.

The NFL announced Monday that former Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis is one of four legends who will serve as team captains at the 2020 Pro Bowl.

Davis and former Buffalo Bills defensive end Bruce Smith will serve as captains for the AFC and former Washington Redskins cornerback Darrell Green and ex-NFL quarterback Michael Vick will serve as NFC captains.

Davis earned three Pro Bowl nods and three first-team All-Pro selections during his time with the Broncos and he earned league MVP honors after rushing for over 2,000 yards 1998. Davis helped Denver win back-to-back Super Bowls in the late 1990s and was named the MVP of Super Bowl XXXII.

A member of the NFL’s 1990s All-Decade Team and the Broncos’ Ring of Fame, Davis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

The Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, January 26, 2020 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The game will begin at 1 p.m. MT and will air on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ABC and Disney XD. Tickets start at $45.

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