Carlos Dunlap

[Sea Ray]

During yesterday's radio broadcast, Lap said he met Carlos Dunlap's dad in the workout room at their hotel in Tennessee. Lap said he asked Carlos' dad what Dunlap was like as a kid (Dunlap's dad coached him in youth football).

The answer? "You have to keep your foot on his neck all the time. You give him a little love, he goes south on you."

That's from his own father.

I get the feeling Marvin and Zimmer are well aware of this fact.

Lap asked Marvin about the Dunlap's hamstring injury after the game, and Marvin laughingly said "He's probably just trying to get out of practice."

Carlos does seem to show up on the injury list a lot so Marvin has a point. He also doesn't seem to play the entire game like he does in closing time so I think there is a lot of merit to what Mr Dunlap says but I'm not complainin'

[HairOnFire]

Lap asked Marvin about the Dunlap's hamstring injury after the game, and Marvin laughingly said "He's probably just trying to get out of practice."

FWIW this is the very first time I've been online since Friday and this was the very first thread I've checked.

Nutshelled, almost nothing in life means as much to me right now as the fate of Carlos Dunlap's hamstring.

[derekshank]

Nutshelled, almost nothing in life means as much to me right now as the fate of Carlos Dunlap's hamstring.

Mostly agreed. Dunlap will be very important to taking advantage of a below average O-Line.

On the other hand, the D-Line rotation is the best in the NFL, with multiple players fully capable of effectively rushing the passer.

I'm at least equally concerned about Maualuga's return. The LB depth is not where I would like it.

[TJJackson]

Lap asked Marvin about the Dunlap's hamstring injury after the game, and Marvin laughingly said "He's probably just trying to get out of practice."

FWIW this is the very first time I've been online since Friday and this was the very first thread I've checked.

Nutshelled, almost nothing in life means as much to me right now as the fate of Carlos Dunlap's hamstring.

What about if your 1 kilo package from a "Jeromi Sampson" does not arrive in the mail on time?

[Sea Ray]

More often than not, Dunlap shows up on the injury report and doesn't practice fully so I don't think we'll know 'till gametime if he's really playing

[HairOnFire]

What about if your 1 kilo package from a "Jeromi Sampson" does not arrive in the mail on time?

Well, I guess if that happens I'd be forced to take a 20 minute car ride through the beautiful Malibu canyons to the ocean-front collective where I would make a legal purchase of the very same stuff that buckeyes can't buy without the threat of being jailed.

[Spor_tees]

Nutshelled, almost nothing in life means as much to me right now as the fate of Carlos Dunlap's hamstring.

Mostly agreed. Dunlap will be very important to taking advantage of a below average O-Line.

On the other hand, the D-Line rotation is the best in the NFL, with multiple players fully capable of effectively rushing the passer.

I'm at least equally concerned about Maualuga's return. The LB depth is not where I would like it.

If you watched this week's game then you saw how important Dunlap was to the defense as a whole, not just the defensive line. In the first half, it was as if Dunlap was a zombie running into a wall over and over. He made zero impact, and it showed. Chris Johnson ran for 50+ yards and Hasselback was picking the corners apart while he could stand forever in the pocket. Then as if he was touched by a magic wand, Dunlap woke up in the second half and the defense played like a Champion. His ability to rush the passer helps the DBs by cutting the time they have to cover, and his run defense pushes the runner back inside to the beef of the defense.

This might be crazy to say, but right now Dunlap's play (when he gives full effort) makes as much difference to the Bengal's defense as Lawerence Taylor did with the Giant's defenses in the 80's. Yeah, seriously.

[derekshank]

If you watched this week's game then you saw how important Dunlap was to the defense as a whole, not just the defensive line.

I did watch the game... and if you look just a few posts back you'll see that I argued that Dunlap is playing as well as any DE in the entire NFL.

But it wasn't just Dunlap that made the difference in the second half. It was Zimmer. The Bengals were blitzing a lot in the first half... very ineffectually. Hasselbeck was reading the blitz pre-snap and was getting rid of the ball quickly to the empty areas of the field where the blitz was coming from. You can read more about it here.

In the 2nd half, they stopped blitzing. Instead of trying to get to Hasselbeck as quickly as possible by bringing extra guys, they relied on the D-Line to do what it does best, and asked the secondary and LBs to play coverage. Hasselbeck was no longer able to make his pre-snap decisions based on reading the blitz.

So... yes. Dunlap was a big part of that. Because most teams don't have players on D-Line that can get consistent pressure on the QB without the help of the blitz. But it's not just Dunlap doing the job either. He might be their best player... but Atkins and MJ are bringing the heat with regularity as well.

[Spor_tees]

If you watched this week's game then you saw how important Dunlap was to the defense as a whole, not just the defensive line.

I did watch the game... and if you look just a few posts back you'll see that I argued that Dunlap is playing as well as any DE in the entire NFL.

But it wasn't just Dunlap that made the difference in the second half. It was Zimmer. The Bengals were blitzing a lot in the first half... very ineffectually. Hasselbeck was reading the blitz pre-snap and was getting rid of the ball quickly to the empty areas of the field where the blitz was coming from. You can read more about it here.

In the 2nd half, they stopped blitzing. Instead of trying to get to Hasselbeck as quickly as possible by bringing extra guys, they relied on the D-Line to do what it does best, and asked the secondary and LBs to play coverage. Hasselbeck was no longer able to make his pre-snap decisions based on reading the blitz.

So... yes. Dunlap was a big part of that. Because most teams don't have players on D-Line that can get consistent pressure on the QB without the help of the blitz. But it's not just Dunlap doing the job either. He might be their best player... but Atkins and MJ are bringing the heat with regularity as well.

In the game thread I made mention of the fact that the Bengals got better pressure on the QB the less they blitzed which seems extremely odd. Is it maybe that the offense keeps more guys back for pass protection, or is just as you said, the QB can read the blitz presnap and chose a hot route? One thing I also made mention of in the game thread, was that the defense had less DB blitzes, it was mostly all LB blitzes, and none of the blitzes were really disguised. If there is a downfall of Zimmer, it's that he doesn't really have very many exotic blitzes, and they are rarely disguised. In fact most of the blitzes that worked effectively, were mostly because the blitzing player (Brandon Johnson did it once), was able to time the snap count and break through the line untouched.

[derekshank]

Dunlap not practicing today. Hopefully he's just needs a bit of rest and will be ready tomorrow.

[volcom69]

If you watched this week's game then you saw how important Dunlap was to the defense as a whole, not just the defensive line.

I did watch the game... and if you look just a few posts back you'll see that I argued that Dunlap is playing as well as any DE in the entire NFL.

But it wasn't just Dunlap that made the difference in the second half. It was Zimmer. The Bengals were blitzing a lot in the first half... very ineffectually. Hasselbeck was reading the blitz pre-snap and was getting rid of the ball quickly to the empty areas of the field where the blitz was coming from. You can read more about it here.

In the 2nd half, they stopped blitzing. Instead of trying to get to Hasselbeck as quickly as possible by bringing extra guys, they relied on the D-Line to do what it does best, and asked the secondary and LBs to play coverage. Hasselbeck was no longer able to make his pre-snap decisions based on reading the blitz.

So... yes. Dunlap was a big part of that. Because most teams don't have players on D-Line that can get consistent pressure on the QB without the help of the blitz. But it's not just Dunlap doing the job either. He might be their best player... but Atkins and MJ are bringing the heat with regularity as well.

That was the biggest thing i saw, for some reason Zimmer in the first half was blitzing a ton, and Matt was getting the ball out so quickly. Second half he stoped the blitz as much, and let the front line start rushing, and i think that helped him out alot.

As far as Dunlap i thought he did practice just on the side, so i hope that means he will be back soon.