Colts defensive line the fourth best in football?

Even a broken clock is right twice a day?

Hell, I’d almost rank the Rams d-line ahead of the Giants. At least the Rams hustle.

Rankings are stupid – they don’t hold any value because everyone can interpret them different ways. They’re just there b/c everybody loves to see who is going to be #1 this week, month or year.

The Giants had a bad year, doesn’t mean they won’t bounce back and be good this year? I don’t think they’re better than the Colts but they’re not going to be as bad as they were last year.

I also have no problem with the 3-4. 4-3 distinction. If he’s being consistent with it, what’s the problem?

He rated the Pats 10th and then as much as said, that Wilfork will be bloated, Warren was “aging” and the line is in serious decline. Not arguing the rating (what’s the point?), just arguing that with all the bad things he said, he rated them tenth.

Seriously there are 22 worse lines than one with a bloated NT and a support staff that is aging and in decline? Man, must suck to be them if the Pats are so bad. He made 29 year old Ty Warren sound like he was on geritol. Find me a football player that isn’t aging. Ok, I know – when they’re under 25 they’re “maturing”, when they’re older they’re “aging”.

Comparing a 30 line to a 40 line without looking at the rest of the front seven is asinine. Most, but not all, 30 lines are two gap with no penetration. Most, but not all, 40 lines are one gap – those guys get better stats. That still doesn’t tell the whole story because a porous secondary and a QB with a quick release will negate a good pass rush (see Manning, Peyton) leaving good players without good stats.

Cole spewed some words, got his paycheck, and moved on. Move along; nothing to see here.

With so many teams switching to 3-4 and with all of the hybrid looks and zone blitzes, I think it would be better to compare front 7s.

When he said defensive line, the first thought in my head was Defensive Ends and Defensive Tackles, but then again, I am sort of a nub like that. You did bring up a good point though, any 4-3 “defensive line,” is going to be more effective than a 3-4 scheme because they’ve got an extra player, and in a 3-4 it tends to be more of 3 DTs and 2 standing Ends, and DTs tend to have lower sack totals than the ends.

I can’t really say much about other teams because my time really was not such that I could objectively look at many other teams during the season, but I would say this. Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis…. I know alot of media types don’t have a high opinion of Mookie or Muir, but they were very stable and solid at DT last year, and when you combine Solid DTs with THE BEST DEs you are gonna have a great line overall. That would be my only reasoning for putting our front 4 higher up.

All that said though, Mathis and Freeney do very little against the Run, especially Freeney, and our DTs can’t get after the QB, so we have a tale of two sides here. Our DTs provide nearly all of our front 4 run support, and our DEs provide nearly all of our QB pressure, and that is why a wildcat offense can control the ball 45 minutes during a game.

That this is strictly dead-time internet-fill, with Cole just throwing something out there because there is NOTHING going on. It will be long forgotten by Training Camp (what, 4 more weeks?)

Don’t think you’re one to be criticizing other writers.