Return of Burfict looking bigger and bigger

[McC]

(10-03-2015, 11:08 AM)BoomerFan Wrote: This article from early last month has some good info: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/10/vontaze-burfict-vows-to-be-ready-come-nov-1-steelers-game/

he’s confident the microfracture surgery he had to combat persistent knee problems will enable him to be back on the field by their Nov. 1 game against the Steelers.

“I feel good,” Burfict told Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I feel better than when I had the first ‘scope. That’s why I had to get the microfracture. But now I feel better than when I did before. So just keep going day-by-day and try and get to 100 percent.”

Burfict injured his knee last October against the Ravens, and had an arthroscopic procedure soon thereafter. But it didn’t respond, and he finished the year on IR. After undergoing microfracture in January, there have been persistent questions about when or if he’d return.

“I was just going to focus on my lower body, and I’m just putting everything together now, and in seven weeks he thought it was going to be practical for me to get back on the field. Now I’m going through my own little training camp you could pretty much say.”

Burfict can return to practice following the Oct. 18 game against the Bills, allowing him a chance to prove he can hit his new timeline, which will be impressive given what he’s been through.

Emphasis mine.

Thanks for posting this.  Nice to get an update.  I can understand all the trepidation about his return and subsequent level of play for the rest of this year, but i feel the will of the player is the great equalizer.  As long as the huge hunger that has to have been building in him all this time won't make him too manic when he does get back out there.  Imagine the lift his return will give the whole team.

[samhain]

With the tackling issues we're seeing in our linebacking corps, it makes me wonder what the deal is with Dawson.  As much as I want Burfict to return ASAP, my expectations are tempered even if he does.  We could see a Geno 2014-like shell of his former self type of performance until he gets his confidence/football strength back.

All the descriptions of Dawson suggest a sure-tackling, smart, instinctive LB that fills gaps and is always around the ball.  His performance in preseason did nothing to dispel those descriptions.  Sounds like just what the doctor ordered for this defense.  If the guy is as advertised, then what are they waiting for?  

Is the guy such an absolute dud in practice that the staff can't play him in good conscience?  I can't imagine.  Is he just not that good?  Was his preseason performance simply inflated because he played against 2s and 3s?  It's baffling to me.  

Even is you don't want to start the guy, he should be seeing some time.  I mean, Christ, have you seen Lamur try to tackle people?  The guy sucks. He slides off of ball carriers.  I realize he's valued for his coverage skills, but dawson is allegedly a good cover LB as well.  

Only thing I can think of is that the team views PJ as a WLB and wants to leave the spot open for Burfict instead of giving it to a rookie.  Maybe they're deciding where to play the guy if Vontaze does come back and play effectively.  No idea.

[Anderson HOF]

(10-03-2015, 10:43 AM)HarleyDog Wrote: I challenge you to pay special attention to him against chiefs. Dont lookonly at what he does do, but pay attention to what he doesnt do.many times he quits on the play when a ball carrier get behind him or latteral to him at 5yds away. Your vision will be restored.

my vision is fine, i suggest you buy some glasses  and if you already have them.. please wipe the bias from them

[BengalFanInNJ]

I think the best we can reasonably hope for is for Burfict to be 85-90% by late December. If he does indeed play on November 1st, there will be a few games he will need to knock the rust off. As long as he's healthy and is out there, teams will have to account for him.

[Daddy-O]

(10-04-2015, 09:57 AM)BengalFanInNJ Wrote: I think the best we can reasonably hope for is for Burfict to be 85-90% by late December. If he does indeed play on November 1st, there will be a few games he will need to knock the rust off. As long as he's healthy and is out there, teams will have to account for him.

I'd gladly take 85-90% Burfict.  His presence alone will lift the others around him, plus teams will have to account for him which will open thing up for others.  Can't underestimate the "attitude" part of the game. 

[Savagehenry54]

(10-02-2015, 11:33 PM)Sled21 Wrote: And he can't practice, so add 3 weeks of practice to get back in form to that....

Whoa, that's avi infringement pal!  Jk man lol

Per Burfict, at lb I think he's more likely to be able to perform close to his optimal level than Atkins was coming off major surgery.

He's off the ball, an instinctive player.  His ability to diagnose plays and blow them up is what makes him special.  Easier and more likely he will be able to resume at a high level than a DT like Atkins who has to immediately engage massive Olinemen at the snap of the ball.

With Atkins back in top form, Burfict at the second level behind Geno and Carlos could very well end up being friggin beautiful coming down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Cant wait!!

[fredtoast]

(10-04-2015, 09:57 AM)BengalFanInNJ Wrote: I think the best we can reasonably hope for is for Burfict to be 85-90% by late December.

That bwas what everyone was saying about Whitworth in 2013 when he missed all of training camp, yet he plaayed in the first game of the year and went on to have one of the best seasons of his career.

I realize every injury situation is different, but I am not writing off this whole season for Burfict until I se what he does on the field.

And although none of us want to admit it Burfict may not even play this year.  Just because we put him on PUP instead of IR is no guarantee he will return

[fredtoast]

(10-03-2015, 05:32 PM)samhain Wrote: With the tackling issues we're seeing in our linebacking corps, it makes me wonder what the deal is with Dawson.  As much as I want Burfict to return ASAP, my expectations are tempered even if he does.  We could see a Geno 2014-like shell of his former self type of performance until he gets his confidence/football strength back.

All the descriptions of Dawson suggest a sure-tackling, smart, instinctive LB that fills gaps and is always around the ball.  His performance in preseason did nothing to dispel those descriptions.  Sounds like just what the doctor ordered for this defense.  If the guy is as advertised, then what are they waiting for?  

Is the guy such an absolute dud in practice that the staff can't play him in good conscience?  I can't imagine.  Is he just not that good?  Was his preseason performance simply inflated because he played against 2s and 3s?  It's baffling to me.  

Even is you don't want to start the guy, he should be seeing some time.  I mean, Christ, have you seen Lamur try to tackle people?  The guy sucks. He slides off of ball carriers.  I realize he's valued for his coverage skills, but dawson is allegedly a good cover LB as well.  

Only thing I can think of is that the team views PJ as a WLB and wants to leave the spot open for Burfict instead of giving it to a rookie.  Maybe they're deciding where to play the guy if Vontaze does come back and play effectively.  No idea.

The onlyproblem is that so many people hyped Dawson around here that people treat him like he was taken in the first round instead of the fiurth.

I like Dawson and think he could develope into a very good player.  But I did not expect him to be a major player this year.

[SFmajor]

(10-02-2015, 12:58 PM)djs7685 Wrote: I'd like to see his missed tackles and stops in comparison to other MLBs around the league. It is sort of silly to compare him to guys that don't even play his position, it would be difficult to assess how good he is at MLB compared to how good another player is at SLB for example. Different roles, not really fair to compare.

If someone could post his MTs and stops compared to other MLBs, then I could make the decision whether the stats say if he's mediocre or not. Until then, I'll go with what my eyes have told me and they're saying that he has played well at times, but has seemingly missed a lot of tackles so far this year (more so than his peers around the league in comparison to snap counts). I'd like to see if the stats back that up though, because I could be wrong.

I know in college FB, tackles vs. snaps by LB's as a percentage are kept by some teams to determine effectiveness on the field.  I may be wrong, but I've never seen the percentage of Missed tackles vs. Snaps.  The problem may be that a missed tackle can be subjective.  This is because a play made or missed can be determined by a fraction of a second in where the defensive player was in respect to where the ball carrier was at that time.  A defensive player may have been out of position due to a block or covering a gap that did not give him the best angle to make a tackle. 

So looking at Snaps vs. Tackles might be a better ways of determining effectiveness on the field by a player.  Again, if there is other data out there, I would like to see it posted.

[fredtoast]

(10-04-2015, 12:02 PM)SFmajor Wrote:  The problem may be that a missed tackle can be subjective.  This is because a play made or missed can be determined by a fraction of a second in where the defensive player was in respect to where the ball carrier was at that time.  A defensive player may have been out of position due to a block or covering a gap that did not give him the best angle to make a tackle. 

Very subjective.

Many times you see defensive players that take bad pursuit angles and never get a hand on a player, yet they are never considered to have "missed a tackles".

then you have other cases where a ball carrier is running toward a tackler in the open field and when he makes a move the defender is charged with a "missed tackle".  the fact is that if a ball carrier is running straight at you in the open field he has a tremendous advantage over a defender.  The ball carrier knows which way he is going to fake and which way he is going to run.  It is actually very difficult to NOT get deeked by a ball carrier and miss the tackle.

[barkerja]

What's been the case with Hawk? Why haven't we yet seen much of him; is it because of the schemes we've been playing, or ..?

[CornerBlitz]

(10-02-2015, 12:39 PM)Anderson HOF Wrote:   Sorry but the only thing "BULLSHIT" is your post.  Rey Maualuga is 3rd on the team in tackles with 17 (puts him in top 50 of linebackers of NFL) in 3 games.. He also plays about 60 percent of the snaps not on the field 40 percent of the time. 
He is not a all pro.. but to say he is mediocre is not backed up by the stats for the three games played this year.  
Here are the links I used
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/snapcounts
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/defense/sort/totalTackles/qualified/false

Mediocre means average....and that is pretty much what Rey M is. With that said he does have some good games but then there are other games where he gets exposed. As long as you play him in certain down and distant situations, i suppose he's solid.

[Anderson HOF]

(10-04-2015, 05:32 PM)CornerBlitz Wrote: Mediocre means average....and that is pretty much what Rey M is. With that said he does have some good games but then there are other games where he gets exposed. As long as you play him in certain down and distant situations, i suppose he's solid.

 he played well again today.. also he is not the middle backer .. he is strong side backer and played very well against the run today...  so sorry no way he is playing mediocre ( of only moderate quality; not very good) he is a solid run stopper... 

[samhain]

(10-04-2015, 11:21 AM)fredtoast Wrote: The onlyproblem is that so many people hyped Dawson around here that people treat him like he was taken in the first round instead of the fiurth.

I like Dawson and think he could develope into a very good player.  But I did not expect him to be a major player this year.

I think he'll play sooner rather than later.  The likelihood of the LB corps staying healthy all year is small.  Could it happen?  Sure.  I just see it as unlikely.  I think he'll get his chance as the year wears on and injuries take their toll.

I don't think his draft position makes any difference.  They've sat first rounders for a couple of years, given undrafted rookies plenty of snaps, and vice versa.  Linebacker in particular is a position group where this team has been comfortable letting rookies play in year one, and as you know he's our highest drafted LB in quite some time.

[*Synric*]

Burfict was on the rehab field today. That's a good sign for a week 8 return vs the Steelers.

[bengalsboy]

Burfict will be back on the field in week 7.

[Eraserhead]

The return of a superstar talent like Burfict will be great. However i think Nugent is the weakest part of this team...

[Utts]

I sure hope he comes back smarter than we was... Leading with the head, twisting legs and such.

[Bigsmithin]

Burfict needs to learn how to tackle correctly. Until he learns this he will always be in and out of the lineup. It's a double edges sword as we don't want him to change how he play's.

[fredtoast]

(10-08-2015, 08:24 PM)Bigsmithin Wrote: Burfict needs to learn how to tackle correctly.  Until he learns this he will always be in and out of the lineup.  It's a double edges sword as we don't want him to change how he play's.

He has only had problems with injuries one season.

It is not like he was "always" in and out of games before last season.