Keith Rivers... (1 Viewer)

cdogg

THE WOOD WAS BROUGHT
VIP Contributor
Joined
Aug 22, 1997
Messages
23,806
Reaction score
12,408
Location
Ft. Collins, CO
Offline
Man, he looks like the perfect LB out there. Perfect size, good speed, looks good in pads.


Seems weak to me though. Fools gold perhaps? Didn't do anything against Illinois, Rey sure did though, nothing in this game. Seems to me like a player with all the physical attributes, but none of the playmaking abilities. Just my opnion. Rather take a LB in the 2nd like Mayo or Highsmith, and a CB, DT (only Ellis or Dorsey), or Ghoulston (sp), out of OSU because we desperatly need a passrush!
 
I'm not sure where all the hype for him came from. You literally never saw his name mentioned on here until senior bowl practices started. Now everyone has him slated as our pick at 10 all the sudden.

I don't think he'll be a great MLB. He is a natural OLB, has the size for that, and while he seems like a decent player, I wouldn't take him 10th unless he blows up at the combine.
 
I'm not sure where all the hype for him came from. You literally never saw his name mentioned on here until senior bowl practices started. Now everyone has him slated as our pick at 10 all the sudden.

I don't think he'll be a great MLB. He is a natural OLB, has the size for that, and while he seems like a decent player, I wouldn't take him 10th unless he blows up at the combine.


Highsmith had a better game... but I'd still prefer Rivers... as a WILL...
 
Highsmith had a better game... but I'd still prefer Rivers... as a WILL...

Do you go after someone who shows up every game and may lack in certain attributes (weight, size, etc) or do you take someone because he looks the part but plays inconsistently?

I have watched many games with USC and Rivers never did anything special and some games he even looked like he was just going through the motion especially tonight. He isn't even the best LB. I am still trying to comprehend where all the hype has come from.

Dan Connor looked pretty good tonight. He showed intincts and got up into the hole and made plays. I wouldn't mind drafting him at ten or even sliding back a few and picking him up.

Same for Highsmith. He also is heavier than people think and has intincts and playmaking ability. Depending on how things go if he was around in the 2nd I would be estatic for him or Curtis Lofton.

But as for Rivers, I can give two craps about whether some one is a physical specimen or looks the part. A LB must have INSTINCTS and make plays and every game i watched (8 games) he was nothing special and definitely not worth a top ten pick.

This is just my untrained eye giving thoughts and I am no GM or scout... but I did sleep in a holiday inn last night.
 
Highsmith is just to small imo he is going to have problems playing and covering TE's as well
 
I'm not sure where all the hype for him came from. You literally never saw his name mentioned on here until senior bowl practices started. Now everyone has him slated as our pick at 10 all the sudden.

I don't think he'll be a great MLB. He is a natural OLB, has the size for that, and while he seems like a decent player, I wouldn't take him 10th unless he blows up at the combine.

Keith Rivers' name has been on the map for a long time.
 
Highsmith is not that much smaller then some of the top tacklers in the NFL and all are middle LBs.

1" 10lbs. lighter the Pat Willis

Same Height and 8lbs lighter then Jon Beason

2" and 3lbs. lighter the Nick Barnett

1" and 8lbs lighter the Demeco Ryans

You know how easy it is for a player to put on 10lbs in a pro strength and conditioning program.
 
I know how easy it is in the casino buffet program! :p
 
Keith Rivers' name has been on the map for a long time.

Precisely. And the notion that he has been inconsistent is ludicrous. In fact, he has been way more consistent than the other USC player cited here--Rey Maualaga, who is a tremendous talent but is overaggressive, tends to overrun plays and must improve his coverage skills. Do not get me wrong, Rey is a top talent but I would argue, and I am sure that Mike Detellier would even agree with this, that Rivers has been a consistent performer. Is he perfect? By no means. He has areas to improve on. On that touchdown run by Mendenhall, Rivers was out of position and that allowed Mendenhall to make the play. It was a rare case of Rivers being a bit too overaggressive in cheating up to the line of scrimmage. But Rivers has great sideline-to-sideline speed and tackles very well, specifically in the open field. And I do not understand how anyone can call him soft. The hit that knocked the ball loose from Matt Forte came from Rivers. Ask Forte if Rivers is soft.
 
Precisely. And the notion that he has been inconsistent is ludicrous. In fact, he has been way more consistent than the other USC player cited here--Rey Maualaga, who is a tremendous talent but is overaggressive, tends to overrun plays and must improve his coverage skills. Do not get me wrong, Rey is a top talent but I would argue, and I am sure that Mike Detellier would even agree with this, that Rivers has been a consistent performer. Is he perfect? By no means. He has areas to improve on. On that touchdown run by Mendenhall, Rivers was out of position and that allowed Mendenhall to make the play. It was a rare case of Rivers being a bit too overaggressive in cheating up to the line of scrimmage. But Rivers has great sideline-to-sideline speed and tackles very well, specifically in the open field. And I do not understand how anyone can call him soft. The hit that knocked the ball loose from Matt Forte came from Rivers. Ask Forte if Rivers is soft.

I don't think that Rivers is soft but even in this game he was not making plays at the line of scrimmage. I want to see a guy blowing plays up at the line. Rivers was good but not half of what Pat Willis was.
 
I don't think that Rivers is soft but even in this game he was not making plays at the line of scrimmage. I want to see a guy blowing plays up at the line. Rivers was good but not half of what Pat Willis was.

Exactly, well put Conrad...

Not making plays at the LOS is what the Saints have now.
 
I don't think that Rivers is soft but even in this game he was not making plays at the line of scrimmage. I want to see a guy blowing plays up at the line. Rivers was good but not half of what Pat Willis was.

I strongly disagree. I watched Rivers in this game. He was disruptive. I think there is a tendency to look only at statistical production as a measurement of a guy's success. Sometimes, you have to look beyond stats. There were many times in which a play broke down for the South team because of a play made by Rivers that won't show up in the stat book. It's kind of like looking at DT. Sometimes, you see a DT collapsing the pocket, which allows other guys to make plays. I saw the South running Choice and Forte away from Rivers side. I also saw Rivers forcing the action on the outside, which caused the South team's runners to cut plays back inside that should have been taken outside. In doing this, this allowed guys like Adibi and Connor to make tackles. I saw Rivers constantly around the ball and he was the LB that hustled to make the play on Forte that forced the fumble. The amazing thing about that is the 90-flip play that the South team ran to spring Forte loose went right. Rivers was lined up to the left side over the TE and was able to get across the field and not only make the tackle on Forte but force the turnover. He made plays. And I will say this. Pull out the tape from last year on Patrick Willis. He finished with 11 tackles last year, 7 solo. But it was mainly the way that he was able to control what the North was able to do running the ball that made you know he could be a player. I mean, even with Tony Hunt winning MVP last year, you knew that Willis was able to keep things in front of him and that was without a good supporting cast at LB. In Rivers tonight, you won't see a guy who left the field with 10 tackles but a guy who just seemed to be on top of the action much like Willis last year. That's what you expect from a player with the type of talent that Rivers possesses and I would be delighted to have a guy like that on our team. In the final analysis, much of the evaluations by teams take place during the week of practice. While you want to see the week of practice culminate in a solid game by each player, there's only so much you can take from an all-star game. For emphasis, the South's entire gameplan was altered by the presence of Sedrick Ellis. So you saw them focus on other things. That does not mean that Ellis was not effective. He was quite effective. You just won't see the totality of his effectiveness all on paper.
 
Last edited:

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom