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Poona Ford

Machinator

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Huckleberry
Huckleberry

Because the NFL is populated by a bunch of monkey see monkey do idiots. All they know are little pieces of conventional wisdom without knowing the reason for those tidbits. "Defensive tackles can

texifornia
texifornia
Walden Ponderer
Walden Ponderer

I would argue that the professional soccer leagues all squander insane talent even more.     They have them playing soccer.

Catdaddyhorn

Catdaddyhorn 3462

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 12/17/2018 at 5:05 PM, Walden Ponderer said:

The problem is that they looked at the numbers rather than asking what the numbers are supposed to represent. Height is only important because it usually correlates to arm length and therefore ability to create distance on the interior of the DL. Somebody with more than average reach who is also shorter would actually have even more leverage, so if they'd been paying attention to the why and not just the what, they wouldn't be looking so stupid right now.

Aaron Donald (currently the best interior lineman in the NFL) fits these specs to a tee. 6'0" with long arms for his height (arms that are actually shorter than Poona's).

Edited by Catdaddyhorn
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SDG

SDG 3335

Posted
Posted

In honor of Poona defending his first NFL pass with a break up.  

 

https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20181228/sports/312289898

Quote

RENTON, Wash. -- Poona Ford understood there was a reasonable likelihood that he wouldn't be drafted.

When you're a defensive lineman and you're not even 6 feet tall, it's difficult to buck perceptions that you're not cut out for the NFL. Even though he was the Big 12 Conference Defensive Lineman of the Year in 2017, Ford wasn't invited to the NFL Combine, only met with one team before the draft and has become used to people doubting his abilities.

"I knew I was going to get an opportunity and that's all I needed at the end of the day," Ford said.

That opportunity came when the Seattle Seahawks - the only team to have him in for a visit before the draft - offered him a spot as an undrafted free agent.

Ford is the only defensive lineman in the NFL - on an active roster, injured list, practice squad or otherwise - officially listed with a height of under six feet. He was measured at 5 feet, 11 5/8 inches at his Pro Day testing at the University of Texas in March.

Each team is allowed to bring up to 30 players to their headquarters for a personal interview. Seattle was Ford's only visit.

"That kind of said something to me too with the visit," Ford said. "They were the only team that wanted to meet with me so I just went with it."

Ford has done his best to show the Seahawks their decision to take a chance on him was worthwhile. He earned a spot on the team's active roster at the end of training camp and steadily made a case for more playing time. He played a season-high 50 percent of snaps in the loss to the San Francisco 49ers and responded with six tackles, including three for loss.

"He's been really aggressive," coach Pete Carroll said. "He's shown really good instincts to get a feel for taking advantage and making plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage. He's going to get some more playing time."

Against the 49ers, Ford stopped running back Jeff Wilson Jr. for a 1-yard loss in the second quarter defeating the block of center Weston Richburg, split a gap to drop running back Matt Breida for a 3-yard loss in the third quarter, then beat Richburg again in overtime to stop Breida for a 5-yard loss. He has also shown he can pursue laterally down the line of scrimmage, making a tackle of Marshawn Lynch of the Oakland Raiders in space in October.

"He's got a really good initial quickness and the ability to get off the ball," defensive line coach Clint Hurtt said. "Really good hands player and very, very strong and he has longer arms for a guy that is his height. So he has some unique traits to him."

After being inactive for five of the first 11 games of the season, Ford has been in the lineup for each of the last four weeks. He's recorded 12 of his 16 total tackles this season in the last four games.

"This year has been just really like learning everything," Ford said. "As far as studying film and as far as like practice habits and stuff like that. Just putting everything together and that's what I'm kind of doing now is just putting everything together that I learned throughout the season."

Ford still expects people to doubt whether he can continue to get things done. That doubt has continually fueled him to prove otherwise. He has a screenshot of a since-deleted tweet as the background for his Twitter page that says: "From what we're hearing Poona Ford is very unlikely to make the Seahawks roster."

He's still here and becoming a bigger part of Seattle's defense each week.

"A lot of people thought I wouldn't really do much in college. I've been productive there. And a lot of people have said I'm going to get cut and this and that. I use that to my advantage as much as possible," Ford said.

 

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MaybeACoordinator

MaybeACoordinator 8350

Posted
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As a former HS fullback, can verify that short, stout defensive tackles were nightmares, unless running into fire hydrants headfirst is your thing. Give me the tall dudes you could cut any day over that shit. 

And a fire hydrant with long arms is just ridiculous. Sometimes trying to block lanky DEs in the open field felt like tangling with an octopus. Poona seems to combine the fire hydrant with the squid. 

Edited by MaybeACoordinator
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Napoleon

Napoleon 8802

Posted
Posted
On 1/5/2019 at 9:57 PM, DeadArmadillo said:

How tall is he really? 5'11? Dude moves incredibly fast for a normal sized athlete, much less one that weighs what he does

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I believe that he was 5' 11 5/8"...

Three eighths of an inch kept him from being invited to the combine and being drafted.

It would really be nice to have people who follow college sports to get one team in the NFL and they get to manage it. It would probably win the Super Bowl within 3 years.

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Goo Punch

Goo Punch 4275

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 12/17/2018 at 8:48 AM, USMCHorn said:

Look I get it, you hate Charlie. But are you really saying he wouldn’t put in a word for Poona because he’s too dumb? You realize how ridiculous that sounds? Your extreme hate for a coach that’s no longer here makes you worse than these “apologists” you speak of. Calm the fuck down.

the original contention was that Poona might not have even been on Seattle's radar without Charlie Strong mentioning him to someone in the organization. That's crazy talk. 

also I might be late to this conversation, but yeah, ctj was right- Seattle knew all about Poona Ford without any help from Charlie Strong. 

Edited by Goo Punch
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gmr548

gmr548 16681

Posted
Posted
As a former HS fullback, can verify that short, stout defensive tackles were nightmares, unless running into fire hydrants headfirst is your thing. Give me the tall dudes you could cut any day over that shit. 
And a fire hydrant with long arms is just ridiculous. Sometimes trying to block lanky DEs in the open field felt like tangling with an octopus. Poona seems to combine the fire hydrant with the squid. 

This is spot on. I am 6'2", played center in HS, and was "205" pounds on the roster, which meant 190-195. Obviously at that size I relied on technique. I could hold my own against guys 75-100lbs heavier than me by getting under them, but we played a couple of NTs that were something like 5'10" and about 230. They just whipped me. You can't get under them and you can't move them. It was demoralizing. Add Poona's quickness and arm length? Goddamn nightmare.

I've airways chucked when peoole dismiss him or any other DT based on height. Clearly they have never attempted to block anyone.

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Tex Pete

Tex Pete 21394

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, gmr548 said:


This is spot on. I am 6'2", played center in HS, and was "205" pounds on the roster, which meant 190-195. Obviously at that size I relied on technique. I could hold my own against guys 75-100lbs heavier than me by getting under them, but we played a couple of NTs that were something like 5'10" and about 230. They just whipped me. You can't get under them and you can't move them. It was demoralizing. Add Poona's quickness and arm length? Goddamn nightmare.

I've airways chucked when peoole dismiss him or any other DT based on height. Clearly they have never attempted to block anyone.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

Nakia Whitlock (Wylie) may be the most dominant DL I have ever seen play in HS. He was all of 5’8” or 5’9”. He destroyed opposing O-lines. Seriously, he would easily wreck 2 or 3 people. 

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futureman

futureman 22664

Posted
Posted (edited)
11 hours ago, Tex Pete said:

Nakia Whitlock (Wylie) may be the most dominant DL I have ever seen play in HS. He was all of 5’8” or 5’9”. He destroyed opposing O-lines. Seriously, he would easily wreck 2 or 3 people. 

nikita. 

he played fullback in the NFL. 

and he was 5’10” not all of 5’8” or 5’9”

Edited by futureman
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SpiralOut

SpiralOut 1954

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, gmr548 said:


This is spot on. I am 6'2", played center in HS, and was "205" pounds on the roster, which meant 190-195. Obviously at that size I relied on technique. I could hold my own against guys 75-100lbs heavier than me by getting under them, but we played a couple of NTs that were something like 5'10" and about 230. They just whipped me. You can't get under them and you can't move them. It was demoralizing. Add Poona's quickness and arm length? Goddamn nightmare.

I've airways chucked when peoole dismiss him or any other DT based on height. Clearly they have never attempted to block anyone.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

Amen.  Height does matter somewhat.  At QB.  At WR.  It sure as fuck don't matter if you're an interior D-Lineman.  Leverage, power, and technique are what matters. 

Ask Casey Hampton.  Dude was all of an inch taller than Poona and he dominated the NFL for years.

Do these NFL mouth breathers even watch fucking tape on these guys they're drafting?  Or do they just have a checklist of physical attributes that a player has to mark off to be worthy of getting drafted?

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Napoleon

Napoleon 8802

Posted
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On 1/17/2019 at 3:54 PM, Jkwellborn said:

Once the ol got stood up he was fucked.

Looked like Mahomes tripped over him. In a few years, that’s a flag.

The problem with trying to block Poona is that usually OLs hold like motherfuckers, but with Poona, you can't get close enough to him to hold him. That OL was trying, but he just couldn't get to the inside of his sleeve to hold him.

 

29 minutes ago, Chad said:

I know Poona didn't have ideal measurables, but it blows my mind he went undrafted. Seahawks got themselves a steal.

That 3/8" that kept him from being 6'0" obviously meant that he just wouldn't be able to compete in the NFL.

Basically 1 centimeter. (Actually 0.9525 cms) It's amazing how stupid the NFL can be and then the next year they think that Kyler Murray is plenty tall enough to be a first round draft choice.


The positive for Poona was that it was much better for him to go undrafted than for him to be drafted in the 7th round. (Or probably even the 6th.) This way he could select his team AND he'll get to his second contract one year faster. He will be getting paaaaaiiiiiiiiidddddd!

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runthebone

runthebone 8322

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Poona made a guy cry

https://www.ninersnation.com/2019/4/14/18309454/quinton-jefferson-weston-richburg-comments-poona-ford

“I remember we were playing San Francisco, I hear the center, literally, like, crying because he couldn’t block ‘em [Poona Ford]. There was nothing he could do *laughs*. Poona was whooping him.”

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KYHorn

KYHorn 17567

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Posted
2 hours ago, runthebone said:

Poona made a guy cry

https://www.ninersnation.com/2019/4/14/18309454/quinton-jefferson-weston-richburg-comments-poona-ford

“I remember we were playing San Francisco, I hear the center, literally, like, crying because he couldn’t block ‘em [Poona Ford]. There was nothing he could do *laughs*. Poona was whooping him.”

Here's the audio- he starts talking about Poona at 22:40

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/59-the-chuck-puck-show-27459121/episode/seattle-seahawks-defensive-lineman-quinton-jefferson-30818454/

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49910

Posted
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6 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I just hope he stays healthy through this first contract and can get paid more closely to what he’s worth. Maybe the Seahawks will extend him a year early. He deserved much better than the nfl gave him in draft season, as he’s already proven. 

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