Saints Maintain Confidence in Stephone Anthony (1 Viewer)

[Crush]

I'd forgotten about Hicks. Seeing all these 2nd and 3rd rounders make it, while our 1st rounder sits on the sideline, is bumming me out.

I wanna be in a good mood today. It's Friday! But I'm on call, there's a hurricane coming, our 1st round pick is sitting on the sideline.

Somebody give me some good news.

That's the thing... The Op intended for this thread to be good news regarding Anthony! It's just so easy to see through the garbage that it became clear that Anthony is going nowhere fast with the Saints. Then seeing all of the other guys from the same draft (that were picked AFTER Anthony) are getting better while Anthony is being phased-out in favor of 2 journeyman special teams LBs.

 

[Goatman Saint]

Everyone simply assumes the young man knows how to play the professional game. In high school and for those with great talent, which Anthony has, they don't really have to learn the ins and outs and mental game of football as they can physically dominate the game on sheer athletic ability. It is why your great athletic talents make poor coaches, and your generally poorer athletes who have to learn all the ins and outs to be successful succeed.

It was obvious last year he had the talent, yet couldn't get guys lined up, or knew where he was supposed to be at. So this year is a teaching year to get the mental part down. If he can, then he will be a very valuable addition. If not he is just a great athlete. For someone who has never had to study and learn it's actually quite difficult

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Everyone simply assumes the young man knows how to play the professional game. In high school and for those with great talent, which Anthony has, they don't really have to learn the ins and outs and mental game of football as they can physically dominate the game on sheer athletic ability. It is why your great athletic talents make poor coaches, and your generally poorer athletes who have to learn all the ins and outs to be successful succeed.

It was obvious last year he had the talent, yet couldn't get guys lined up, or knew where he was supposed to be at. So this year is a teaching year to get the mental part down. If he can, then he will be a very valuable addition. If not he is just a great athlete. For someone who has never had to study and learn it's actually quite difficult

When we nabbed him...Sean talked about during the draft process he appeared to digest what they were giving him. I know we do extensive test to determine the learning speed of a player and I assume they felt comfy with what he was able to show.

You are likely right its possible he's coasted on athletic ability without ever really knowing "how" to play the position.

Again we do have a 5th year option on him and there is time for him to learn and he fits the scheme. Laurinitis is only a stop gap and Robertson is more of a Hawthorne/Sub package player. He's a little light for me to think they'd want him there moving forward in a division predicated on establishing the run.

He's still in the plans and still has the highest ceiling of all the backers drafted.

 

[SammyDaLoon]

Confidence but not playing?

Listen, when coaches have TRUE confidence in players they PLAY on the field.

DA was quoted the following, "I think we still have confidence in Steph and we have to continue developing him."
Notices how DA says "I think".....pretty lame way to express confidence in a player.....He didn't say, "I know".....

flame away....

 

[Goatman Saint]

Listen, when coaches have TRUE confidence in players they PLAY on the field.



DA was quoted the following, "I think we still have confidence in Steph and we have to continue developing him."

Notices how DA says "I think".....pretty lame way to express confidence in a player.....He didn't say, "I know".....



flame away....

It could also be coach speak. If they are fighting to get him to be motivated that direction then to say they have all the confidence in the world may sabotage what they are doing. Without knowing the player and what they are doing, it's hard to say.


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[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Listen, when coaches have TRUE confidence in players they PLAY on the field.

DA was quoted the following, "I think we still have confidence in Steph and we have to continue developing him."
Notices how DA says "I think".....pretty lame way to express confidence in a player.....He didn't say, "I know".....

flame away....

It's a light bulb situation. You are just waiting for the (ding). So it makes sense to say I think in this regard. I think Trust and confidence are two diff things. They clearly don't trust him to do what he's being asked but i "think" they have confidence he'll eventually get it.

Perhaps he'll have a similar moment as he did in College.

 

[B_doggman47]

That's what I believe happened, Anthony has been going off of athletic ability and failed to learn the position. He has a plethora of knowledge and experience to learn from now in Laurinaitis, Robertson and Ellerbe to learn from. When the light come on for him, I believe he will be one of the best LB's in the league, he will have the combination of knowledge and athleticism.

 

[Swampy Saint]

That's what I believe happened, Anthony has been going off of athletic ability and failed to learn the position. He has a plethora of knowledge and experience to learn from now in Laurinaitis, Robertson and Ellerbe to learn from. When the light come on for him, I believe he will be one of the best LB's in the league, he will have the combination of knowledge and athleticism.

And now that you mention it, maybe that's why the defense was always out of alignment last year. Maybe he just didn't get it.

I think they'll get him coached up enough in his new position and when they feel confident enough in his ability to play fast, he'll play more.
Seems like common sense anyway.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Here's an old article that almost directly spell out what his issues were from his own mouth.

Quite simply he's working on his FB Awareness.

"I don't quite know what it looks like yet but hopefully it looks good when it comes to gametime," Anthony joked about his improvement. "But I think my biggest growth right now is my knowledge — understanding down and distance and formations."

Saints' Stephone Anthony enjoying move to strong-side linebacker | NOLA.com

 

[Eman5805]

Listen, when coaches have TRUE confidence in players they PLAY on the field.

DA was quoted the following, "I think we still have confidence in Steph and we have to continue developing him."
Notices how DA says "I think".....pretty lame way to express confidence in a player.....He didn't say, "I know".....

flame away....

You might also be very much overanalyzing that quote.

How many times do people say words in speech that mean nothing to what they're saying? Like "You know" or "Feel me" or "I think"?

I haven't heard the quote, but I bet he said it in a tone of voice where you could eliminate it from the sentence entirely.

 

[crosswatt]

It's not that I am down on Anthony, but I don't see how he's going to become a factor this year. I'm sure you are probably tired of us having this discussion, so lets phrase it another way... whose snaps do you take away to give to Anthony?


Stupar? Doesn't make much sense to reduce his role following a good showing. I'd expect for him to become more involved given the success he had last game.

Ellerbe? If he is healthy, he should be a starter at OLB and play the nickel as well. Dude might never come back healthy, but I think there's a good chance he is back after the bye week.

Robertson? He has been the MVP of the linebacker corps so far, played 100% of the snaps against the Chargers. There is not much chance that they will take Robertson out to play Anthony.


The Saints play a lot of nickel, which means there is often only 1 OLB on the field. There's 3 guys that seem firmly ahead of Anthony at OLB (4 if you count Mauti, who's gotten more snaps than Anthony at OLB in all but 1 game). I don't think they can justify playing Anthony ahead of any of the other linebackers right now. It's going to take multiple injuries for Anthony to get playing time.

It may not be this year. That's just a stark possibility that can't be explained away. We can debate the why's of it all day, but the simple fact of the matter is that he's not where any of us thought he'd be at this point.

But I think the Carolina game will call for more linebackers in the game at the same time, so, if he gets the opportunity to play meaningful snaps, it may jumpstart his confidence a bit, which I think would be helpful.

 

[crosswatt]

Mauti had better pass-rushing snaps than he did week 1 or 2 If I'm not mistaken.

They are going to just have to slow feed him and give him time to develop. We nabbed him in the 1st so the 5th year option is on the table should he suddenly "get it".

A lil time and patience. As another poster said he's got Ellerbe and Laurinitis in the room with him so he just needs to soak the game up and translate it to the practice field. Once they start seeing it there then we'll start to see him in the games more. The aim still has to be MLB for him though....he's the prototype for that role in an Over Front.



Pure speculation here but his role could shrink even more if we try to make the 3 Safety set our base. SP spoke on getting Bell, Byrd, Vaccaro on the field more and in that role Vaccaro is basically the SAM LB replacement.

Weirdly, he's not the only highly pedigreed Clemson defender to not make the impact people were thinking they would.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Weirdly, he's not the only highly pedigreed Clemson defender to not make the impact people were thinking they would.

Beasley...


It's gone un talked about but he got moved to Sam as well because he wasn't cutting it as the primary rusher. After 1 year they knew what they had. It doesn't take NFL teams long to realize if players have "it"

 

[crosswatt]

Beasley...


It's gone un talked about but he got moved to Sam as well because he wasn't cutting it as the primary rusher. After 1 year they knew what they had. It doesn't take NFL teams long to realize if players have "it"

Others from that defense as well. Bashaud Breeland has struggled this season. Grady Jarrett is just starting to flash. The Saints even have another linebacker from the Tigers on their IR in Tony Steward, after he didn't cut in in Buffalo.

You've really got to go back to DeAndre Hopkins to find a player who is, at the moment, not suspended and living up to expectations on either side of the ball.

 

[Yeti]

"I think we still have confidence in Steph"

Think? Really. That pretty much sums up that it's not looking good for him.