The first video pretty much proves it, doesn't it?
Look at the o-linemen. They put a finesse, pass-catching TE on Zombo.
"Rockmolder" wrote:
And Zombo absolutely destroys him.
Second video, Ryan tries to step up and get away from Matthews and Raji, after which Zombo gets him down. Although that was an impressive rush.
Agreed. Impressive rush is what we are looking for, and there it was.
The last one has Woodson and Matthews showing some impressive skills with Zombo getting there eventually, together with half the D-line.
Watch it again, and tell me how Matthews' and Woodson's rushes are "impressive" compared to Zombo's. They are both rushing off the same side, making each other's jobs easier. Woodson is unblocked through the line, is picked up by an RB late, facemasks the RB, and gets good pressure but doesn't get there.
Matthews doesn't really beat the RT. They get close because Cutler rolls TOWARDS them, and away from Zombo, who is turning the corner on the LT. They do a good job spinning and flushing it back inside, but nothing special really. Capers overloaded that side, so they better at LEAST be able to do what they did.
Zombo drew the hardest assignment, beat the LT, got upfield as fast as, or faster than, a single blocked Matthews on the other side, flushed the QB, got HELD by the LT, and got to the QB along with Raji.
The only thing more impressive than Zombo about Matthews and Woodson on that play are the names stitched on the backs of their jerseys.
Of course, to get a sack, a couple of things have to happen. You're usually not going to get a sack because of one player doing his job. But in our case, I feel like the OLB opposite of Clay is usually the beneficiary of some good D-line play and Clay's pass rushing skills.
Everyone benefits from the good DL play, including Matthews.
And yes, you're right, you're not just going to get another Clay Matthews, but you can get another guy who can get to the QB consistently. It's how the Giants stay competetive, it's how the Steelers stay competetive, it's what carried the Ravens defense before they became mediocre...
Eight sacks from your weaker OLB position is very good, especially considering all the injuries at that position. It's very rare to get double digit sacks from both sides, which seems to be what you are expecting to get if you think that 8 isn't good production from that side.
The Steelers got 10 sacks out of Woodley and 10.5 out of Harrison. 8 sakcs out of our injured mess at ROLB is impressive. With a little luck/health, our OLBs should have more sacks than theirs again this year, just like they did last year.