Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Pro Bowl Predicament - Elvis Dumervil

In 2009 Mike Nolan brought the 3-4 defense to the Broncos, and moved Elvis Dumervil to Outside Linebacker. Up till that point in his career, Doom had played defensive end his whole life. It was a big change for Elvis, but he adjusted and thrived in the 3-4, as a pass rusher. Dumervil made the Pro Bowl for the first time after leading the NFL in sacks. But come Sunday in Miami, #92 won't be getting any sacks. The Pro Bowl has a few different rules such as; You must have a Tight End in every formation, you can't have trips WR sets, and you must play a 4-3 defense. The biggest killer -- you can't blitz. It is a rule that makes sense, it would be pointless for a Quarterback to get hurt in a "pointless" game. On NFL.com Dumervil is one of the "Three players to watch" come game day. But fans might be disappointed. Elvis has always been a pure pass rusher, and although he can play pass coverage and help in run support, he is not an all-around LB. The AFC's coach is Norv Turner, I'd suggest to him rotating Dumervil with Kyle Vanden Bosch at Defensive End. Bosch sacked the QB 14 times less than Doom this year, and it's just the Pro Bowl.

I'm probably making too big a deal over this because I've been a huge Dumervil fan since he was a rookie. It just seems sad to me that a player who made the Pro Bowl as a sack master won't get the chance to get any sacks in the Pro Bowl.

1 comment:

The Football Guy said...

The Pro Bowl is a joke of a game. It's gone down hill, fast.