[Quesadilla Joe]

A nice little writeup about how much of a monster Robert Ayers is in the run game.

My Twitter follower Bryce Schray asked me for an evaluation of Robert Ayers the other day, because he’s been perceiving a lot of hate toward Ayers, with people even saying that Ayers has been a bust. I’m happy to oblige, because I’ve watched Ayers closely for two years now, so I feel very confident in what I am going to say.

Ayers has not been a bust at all. He has done exactly what he was hired to do, which is to set the edge in the running game, and to generate some pressure in passing situations, as a strongside DE/OLB. The key point with him has always been what he does in the running game, though, and he’s been outstanding in that area.

Now, I understand why people who haven’t studied his play say that he’s a bust. The metric that they’re measuring him on is sacks, and Ayers only has 1.5 in his NFL career. The average NFL writer doesn’t know how to evaluate Ayers with their eyes, so they rely only upon statistics. Remember, though, that Ayers only had 8 sacks in four years at Tennessee, and that he was only a starter for his senior season.

He did lead the SEC in tackles for loss that season, though, and that profiled well for the role he was drafted to play. I’ve always thought that Ayers is a natural Left Defensive End in an even front, and I think he’s going to find a lot of success at that position in 2011, if he’s able to stay healthy. He plays with outstanding leverage and lower-body strength, and by having a shorter distance to travel in getting into the offensive lineman’s body, he’ll be able to dominate even more on the edge.

Believe me - the job that Ayers did last season was thankless and went unnoticed by most, but he did it very well. Offenses did not often get his edge when they ran the ball. I thought Mario Haggan had an outstanding season in 2009, but Ayers was even better in 2010. Jeff Legwold says Ayers is a run-down only player, but he leaves out the part about how excellent he is as a run-defender, and the tone seems to imply that being better against the run than the pass right now means that Ayers is valueless.

As a pass rusher, Ayers is a work in progress, but he improved a lot in his second season, and he got more pressure than his numbers showed. Offenses focused on Ayers, because the Broncos utterly lacked anybody else who could get pressure, unless it was a blitz. I don’t think that Ayers is likely to ever be a double-digit sack guy, but I think he’ll always be dominant against the run, and that he’ll get to being a 7-8 sack guy while playing opposite Elvis Dumervil. That’s not a bust, when you realize that that’s exactly what Ayers projected as, coming out of college.

http://www.itsalloverfatman.com/bron...erved-02-15-11