(PFF:) Teaching Tape: Aaron Donald is the exception to the rule

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-teaching-tape-aaron-donald-is-the-exception-to-the-rule

In the spring of 2014, no one knew what to make of one particular undersized defensive tackle out of Pittsburgh. To say Aaron Donald didn’t fit the NFL mold was an understatement. Measuring in a shade over six-feet and only 285 pounds, Donald was a good two inches shorter and 15 pounds lighter than the prototypical measurements at the position. Marcell Dareus, Gerald McCoy and Ndamukong Suh – the three defensive tackles prior to Donald to be drafted in the top-5 – were all at least 6-3, 300 pounds.

When it came to college production though, there were no question marks. Donald posted double-digit sack seasons twice in his four years at Pitt. As a senior, his 28.5 tackles for loss led the nation. While this was prior to our grading of college football, we did grade the 2014 Senior Bowl game where he was far and away the highest graded player there in 33 snaps.

Yet even with that elite level production, on May 8th of that year 12 players heard their name called before Donald. There were multiple teams in need of defensive tackle help running 4-3 schemes that passed on the Pittsburgh product. Heck, even the team that eventually drafted him, the (now) Los Angeles Rams, overlooked him initially in favor of Greg Robinson (who didn’t even finish his rookie contract with the team) at the top of the draft. The rest is history as Donald has become the single most impactful defensive player in the NFL.

While many basic scouting cutoffs of size/speed/length/etc. have come from legitimate concerns, any hard-fast rule will have its exceptions. And it’s difficult to find a bigger exception than Aaron Donald. That’s why this Teaching Tape is a little different than all the others in that usually I’m highlighting how a scheme conforms to talent. When talking about Donald, the scheme really doesn’t matter. The man could probably play off-ball linebacker at a high level. That’s how talented he is. What matters is how his immense skill set transcends all schemes and preconceived notions about how defensive tackle is supposed to be played.

The single biggest concern with Donald coming out was his ability to hold up in the running game – specifically against double teams. While one might have argued (correctly in my opinion) that it was 2014 and no one really cared about the running game anymore, but it was obviously a big deal. Nolan Nawrocki, who infamously gave Donald a 4th/5th round grade, wrote, “Overpowered in the run game and ground up by double teams. Gets snared and controlled by bigger, longer blockers. Not a two-gap player.” The majority of scouting reports on Donald echoed the same sentiments and read as if they were written solely by looking at his measurables. The fact of the matter is though that everyone cedes ground versus double teams. I could pull up five clips right now of Damon Harrison – the best nose tackle in the league – getting driven multiple yards off the ball. If one has a preconceived notion that a defensive tackle won’t be able to hold up versus doubles based on his size, then they are far more likely to notice the times he doesn’t.

Since entering the NFL, Donald has not only held up versus double teams, he’s also been able to make plays despite them. As with anything in football there are multiple ways to get the same job done. A couple months back I wrote about how Damon Harrison dominated doubles by attacking the point man then throwing him to the side. Donald often takes a different approach. With his size/speed combination, he has three things he can use to his advantage: quickness, leverage and lack of a strike zone. This allows him to knife into the sweet spot of a double team and not let either linemen engage him cleanly. On the play below you can see how it’s done.

I was told Aaron Donald would not be able to hold up to double teams in the NFL pic.twitter.com/Ntke7pIeVI

— Mike Renner (@PFF_Mike) July 19, 2017

Donald gets skinny from the snap, making the right guard’s contact inconsequential. It also leaves the right tackle a tiny area to engage. Combine that with the speed that Donald comes off the ball, and the right tackle has little to no shot of actually getting Donald cleanly. Nearly the exact same thing happens again in the play below.

pic.twitter.com/v6GZ5AEgyC

— Mike Renner (@PFF_Mike) July 19, 2017

This isn’t simply a case of highlight reel scouting though, Donald took only nine downgrades against double teams in the run game all season long. That’s a tiny bit more than one every two games. Compare that with the fact that Donald made 30 total stops against the run and you have one of the most complete run defenders in the game.

When we talk about Aaron Donald though, much like in the pre-draft process, his ability in run defense should be an afterthought. The man gets to quarterbacks more often, and with more speed, than any other interior defender in the NFL. And it’s not even close.

The same traits that Donald uses to his advantage against double teams are also his calling card as a pass rusher. He’s always the low man and with his speed and small stature, offensive linemen struggle mightily to land a meaningful punch. Because of all that, no one in the league has more decisive pressures.

Aaron Donald plays football with the difficulty set to easy pic.twitter.com/OEGQ0qnnAC

— Gordon McGuinness (@PFF_Gordon) May 3, 2017

Look at the immediacy with which Donald wins in the video above. It’s almost difficult to believe that he only collected eight total sacks a season ago.

With Wade Phillips coming over from Denver to take the job as defensive coordinator with the Rams, it doesn’t look like Aaron Donald’s dominance is going to end anytime soon. Phillips has excelled at scheming his talent one-on-one’s over the years, a situation in which Donald is nearly unblockable. After being ranked the number one player on our preseason PFF 50, don’t be surprised if he tops the list at year end as well.

Security robot ‘drowns itself’ in office fountain

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/07/18/security-robot-drowns-office-fountain/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_fb

It probably wasn’t what the proud makers of this robot had in mind when they promised to build a machine that could replace human security guards.

An autonomous security robot designed to patrol car parks and buildings appears to have taken its life into its own hands by driving into a fountain in an office building in Washington DC.

The Knightscope K5, an rocket-ship shaped droid that stands aroud 5-feet tall, is fitted with GPS, lasers, sensors and cameras that are meant to help it monitor its surroundings.

The robot is meant to spot misdemeanours and parking violations and identify known criminals, moving at around 3 miles per hour and avoiding law-abiding citizens.

But this particular robot, for reasons as yet not known, appears to have driven down the steps of the fountain in the middle of the office and ended up floating sideways, rendering it immobile. It was removed, although is likely to have been permanently damaged.

Knightscope, the company behind the droid, said it was investigating the incident and that it was an isolated event.

But that didn’t stop people drawing comparisons to Marvin, the paranoid robot from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy series, and speculating that things might have just become too much for the K5.

It is not the first time that the robot has found its way into trouble. Last year, it knocked over a toddler at a shopping centre in California, leaving them bruised, but carried on as if nothing had happened.

The AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR footage is even bigger and more badass than you imagined

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/78179

Today Disney held their live action panel and showed off a ton of stuff, but we gotta talk about their big closer: a sizzle reel from Avengers: Infinity War.

The footage opened with the Guardians of the Galaxy cruising through a debris field, Quill saying they had to be careful… this was dangerous. “Let’s put on our mean faces.” And then something hits their windshield. That something ends up being Thor. “Hit the wipers, hit the wipers! Get it off!” says Rocket.

He’s unconscious, they bring him in and Mantis wakes him up. “Who the hell are you guys?” he asks.

The focus of the footage was showing the sense of doom as Thanos approaches. We see Loki holding the tesseract. We hear Thanos talking. “Fun isn’t really something one considers when balancing the universe, but this does put a smile on my face. I know what it’s like to lose, to feel so desperately that you’re right, but to fail all the same.”

Thanos himself appeared, gauntlet on, walking out of some kind of black portal. I only glimpsed 2 of the stones in the gauntlet. I know for sure one of them was was purple and I think the other was blue, but don’t quote me on that.

Spider-Man is well-represented in this footage. Remember all that talk about him not having Spider Sense in Homecoming? Not so much. First thing we see of Parker in this footage is him on a school bus and the hairs on his arm stand on end, his Spidey Sense tingling as a giant ship comes into our orbit.

We also saw him in action in his big Avengers suit from the end of Homecoming, but I don’t know if that’s going to help him much. Thanos seemed to be kicking everybody’s ass, including Parker’s. One of the quick shots was of Spidey with his mask off. He was holding back tears, Iron Man holding him as he says “Tony, I’m sorry.”

One of the action beats showed Peter Quill and Doctor Strange attacking Thanos at once, Quill shooting his little plasma step things and running on them. Later on we saw Quill falling in slow motion, hitting the ground. We saw Thanos straight up punching Iron Man like he was nothing and all before he even uses the power of the gauntlet for the footage’s final Holy Shit moment.

This shot showed Thanos, standing tall, holding up the gauntlet, making a fist and, with a great deal of personal strength, tearing what looked like chunks of the moon behind him off and bringing them down on our heroes. The crowd went ape shit. It’s a big comic book moment and done in a way that no kidding gave me goosebumps.

Now, I don’t think this was Earth they were fighting on. The colors were definitely more sci-fi-y and the moon was way larger on the horizon than our own. In short, that just made everything feel even more Jack Kirby.

One other very notable thing from this footage: Captain America with a full beard stepped out of the shadows. The footage happened as Tony Stark’s voice over was saying something like “We’ve got homefield advantage. He’s coming to us, so that’s what we use,” implying they might be putting aside their differences for the greater good.

Oh, I should also mention there was a kick-ass shot of Black Panther at the head of a Wakandan army, so Thanos has that to deal with, too.

Of course it’s early footage. Of course it’s going to be the studio’s best foot forward, but I gotta tell you that as much as I was looking forward to this it seems to be even bigger than I imagined. The way the Guardians seamlessly connected to the great MCU universe and how natural Spider-Man fit in already… it just seems like it’s gelling in a way that defied even my most optimistic expectations.

Thanos actually looks menacing. His powers are massive, his personality even bigger. If they get this right they’ll once again make history. I can’t wait to see if they stick this landing. It feels like they are.

Saw it. This was a good one. Not spectacular. But no eyeroll moment either. The best bit involves Clegane. But you have to remember past episodes to know what’s happening in that scene.

wv wrote:

I suspect the facts are a bit worse than Higbee is saying.

Well for one thing he ran away from the cops and hid when they arrived.

But I agree with you. And I am also surprised that some out there think the judge’s ruling was harsh. He got a guy hospitalized. You don’t get to go around doing that, unless I suppose it’s in direct self-defense in response to an actual physical assault.

wv wrote:

I read Higbee’s version of what happened. I’m a bit skeptical. If it had happened exactly the way Higbee told the story
one would think he would have taken it to trial, and won a jury verdict or at least gotten a hung-jury.

I suspect the facts are a bit worse than Higbee is saying.

w
v

Here’s some more on that.

…

waterfield wrote:

I have yet to find a state where it’s legal to send someone to the hospital with an Intracerebral hemorrhage because they insulted your girl. Moreover the fact he plead guilty to a “felony” aggravated assault speaks volumes. In this State that means prison time not just a jail time for a misdemeanor. Remember the Brian Stowe case at Dodger stadium where Giant and Dodger fans were insulting each other resulting in a Giant fan severely beaten up by a Dodger fan resulting in a severe and permanent brain injury. That resulted in severe prison sentences where the Dodger fans may never get out.

If the judge was NOT going to incarcerate Higbee he had to sentence him to some pretty severe probation terms. Otherwise he would not be doing the job he was elected to do. IMO Higbee’s defense attorney did a pretty good job keeping him out of prison.

Redskins’ playcalling will change with new coordinators

Jan 28, 2017
John Keim

http://cdn.espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/229903/redskins-playcalling-will-change-with-new-coordinators

The Washington Redskins will have a new playcaller on both sides of the ball — well, coach Jay Gruden used to call plays on offense and will again next year after not doing so the last two years. And defensive coordinator Greg Manusky has called plays, just not in Washington. What changes might we see? That’s the topic of the mailbag.

Guapo @HolaDaps
with the coordinators being promoted from within how much can we expect to change from a play calling standpoint. #jkmailbag

John Keim: There obviously will be differences because no two people call the same game and some have a better feel for the rhythm of a game and when to be aggressive, etc. I will say, defensively at least, for those who think it was all about playcalling, you’re just a bit off. That said, I do know at least some people in the building wanted a more aggressive approach defensively. (That can be with blitzes or how coverages are played, so it’s not just about sending extra defenders.)

You can dial up a certain blitz and wow everyone. But really, it’s about being prepared, playing disciplined, doing your job and executing properly. Do that more often than not and you’ll be fine.

But don’t forget: The Redskins were like that under Jim Haslett, too. How you disguise a coverage or blitz matters; the timing of the call matters. But if a guy executes improperly or if there’s confusion, it’s not about the call. It might be about the teaching — that’s on the position coaches. It might be about ever-changing rules (a complaint I heard several years ago), which leads to confusion and then big plays. It might be about the talent.

The funny thing is, one person who likes the Manusky promotion and worked in the same organization as him in the past said he skewed conservative. But I know one appealing thing about him before this process started was the expectation that he’d be more attacking than outgoing DC Joe Barry — and Manusky promised that’s the sort of defense he wanted during an interview on ESPN 980 (I would love to ask him myself more about it so we all could learn more; requests have been declined).

From 2010-14, the Redskins averaged 205.8 blitzes per season, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Manusky’s last defense, the Colts’, averaged 204.5 per season. In the last two seasons, the Redskins called for 117 and 182, respectively.

I know the question was about playcalls, but usually for a defense that means how aggressive it is, which is why I bring up blitzes. I’d be more concerned about what’s being taught on the back end as far as coverages, so there’s less confusion. That was an issue last year. I know there’s been a belief that the Redskins have good corners who can play more press coverage.

Also, this is true: If the Redskins improve their defensive personnel, Manusky can call a different and more effective game.

Offensively, Gruden has helped shape the game plan the last two years even though he wasn’t calling plays. It’s also hard to compare what Gruden called three years ago to what he might call in 2017. In 2014, he used three quarterbacks and the offense never quite found a consistent rhythm. Now he’ll be calling plays for a more evolved offense. Outgoing OC Sean McVay, now the Rams’ head coach, was continuing to evolve as a playcaller, too (and was a very good one). Gruden is further ahead in that development.

I also think Gruden tended to have less predictable personnel groupings and formations. But in talking to some players, they didn’t think a whole lot would change because the philosophy will be the same. Both McVay and Gruden, one player said, know how to use their personnel. For what it’s worth, it wasn’t just a matter of McVay running Gruden’s offense. They incorporated some of what previous Skins OC Kyle Shanahan used to run, and Bill Callahan was/is in charge of the run game.

The game plan also will depend on what happens at quarterback and with the receivers in the offseason. I do think the Redskins would like more balance than they had this season: 607 pass attempts, 379 runs. While McVay liked play-action, Gruden has used it more. The Redskins used it on 127 dropbacks in 2014 compared to 101 and 103 the past two years, according to ESPN Stats & Information. They averaged 11.98 yards per play-action attempt in ’14 compared to 10.42 the past two years combined. Make of that what you will.

McConnell’s Latest Health Care Bill Is Even Worse, Gutting Coverage and Raising Costs for Tens of Millions

Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet | Report

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/41273-mcconnell-s-latest-health-care-bill-is-even-worse-gutting-coverage-and-raising-costs-for-tens-of-millions

The latest Trumpcare bill released by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is a political dealmaker’s version of putting lipstick on a pig — taking a colossally destructive bill hurting tens of millions and dressing it up so it can win enough votes to pass.

A side-by-side comparison of the text reveals that the GOP hasn’t budged an inch in its intention to cut federal subsidies of state-run Medicaid by one-third, which will severely hit the poor, single mothers with children and seniors in nursing homes.

For those buying private insurance, in addition to ending federal Obamacare subsidies, by incorporating more deregulation from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, anyone who is not youthful and naturally healthy will see premiums rise while what is covered in those plans will shrink. That translates into a double hit, on employers buying coverage for employees and on families and individuals facing higher out-of-pocket costs in emergencies.

McConnell’s new bill still ends Obamacare’s provisions that stopped insurers from rejecting people with pre-existing conditions, which is almost everybody over age 50. It reinstitutes lifetime coverage caps for insurers, which will leave people exposed to medical bankruptcy. And it eliminates Obamacare’s requirement that commercial insurance policies cover essential benefits, like maternity care.

“I knew this bill was unfixable. What I didn’t count on was that it would get worse,” tweeted Andy Slavitt, who ran Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act for President Obama. “There is an even bigger endorsement of higher deductibles with new catastrophic plan provision.”

Digging deeper into McConnell’s bill, one finds apparent giveaways to try to wrest votes from Republicans who are on the fence for completely different reasons. On the furthest right, the inclusion of Cruz’s amendment will create two risk pools — one for regular policyholders and another for the very sick. People who want wide protection against chronic, catastrophic and life-threatening illnesses will be priced out of the market under the far right’s fictitious banner of giving people more “freedom.”

Also pandering to the tax-cutting and make-the-rich-even-richer wing of the party is the fact that McConnell’s latest bill preserves 80 percent of the taxes that earlier versions were going to repeal. That’s being portrayed in some mainstream media accounts as an improvement and something less than an outright giveaway, which is ludicrous. The hundreds of billions that will be taken away from Medicaid will offset these taxes.

The bill also seeks to win the support of senators from Ohio and West Virginia by putting in more money for opioid addiction treatment, and boosting state subsidies for Florida, Louisiana and other red states. It also creates a $100 billion tax break for people who open health care savings accounts, enlarging the role for those fee-skimming middlemen with an option that only people with high enough incomes can afford to establish and use. And the McConnell bill also creates another industry giveaway, a $70 billion account to shore up insurers against the economic turbulence the rest of this bill will create.

The national trade association for insurance companies is not impressed by any of this, realizing that the GOP’s “fixes” are going to turn them into the most hated industry in America — as if multitudes from coast to coast hadn’t already lost their patience with rising premiums, co-pays and deductibles before 2016’s “repeal and replace” charade. Their lobby group, AHIP, or America’s Health Insurance Plans, railed against Cruz’s proposals in lobbyist-speak earlier this week, in a press release with the sub-heading, “Policies that increase uncertainty or threaten instability should be avoided.”

AHIP concluded, “The individual market faces well-documented challenges to stability, including higher premiums, lower-than-expected enrollment, fewer plan choices, and risk pool problems in certain states and markets. Policy solutions exist to create more stability in the market by reducing premiums and attracting enrollment of younger and healthier individuals. In this context, it is important that policymakers avoid policies that threaten to further increase uncertainty or threaten stability. Such policies include opening up non-compliant plans to new enrollees, bifurcating the risk pool, or allowing plans covered by different rules to compete in the same market.”

This isn’t Bernie Sanders; this is the insurance lobby. As for Sanders, he posted a video on his Twitter page saying this GOP-created frenzy is making the strongest possible case for a national singer-payer, Medicare-for-all system. “The UK can do it, Canada can do it, France can do it, Scandinavia can do it,” he said.

Meanwhile, other Washington-based health consumer lobbyists said the time has come to trash the GOP and start bipartisan talks about creating a system that meets people’s needs. How that will happen, when the GOP wrote this bill in secret and ducked meetings with their constituents is anybody’s guess. But that is the line being offered on Thursday.

“Today’s release of the updated Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) confirms what we already knew: this broken bill can’t be fixed,” said Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center. “This tweaked BCRA still ends Medicaid as we know it, and it still yanks health coverage out from under millions of Americans, including older adults, people with disabilities and those with pre-existing conditions.”

“Most Americans oppose the BCRA’s untenable cuts to Medicaid and its disregard for the families who need guaranteed, affordable health coverage,” Baker continued. “In drafting the BCRA, Senate leaders have avoided public debate, hearings and even their own constituents… The American people have asked for, and deserve, an open, bipartisan approach to making health care more affordable for everyone.”

What comes next in this process? The Congressional Budget Office will score the bill, meaning it will say how many people will be hurt by the cuts in government subsidies and coverage cuts, and how many will benefit from tax cuts and other giveaways. Then McConnell will try to bring the bill to the floor, where if necessary, he will introduce more vote-getting amendments that will not be reviewed by the CBO.