I don't buy into this at all. 2-3 just got lucky interceptions, maybe. But not 7. I read takes like this all the time about players and it makes me wonder where people have the time or ability to watch every play of every game of so many different college players. Maybe you did but then it just seems odd that you would unless you are a ND fan.
You misread what I mean. LB's get INT's. Sometimes they ebb and flow naturally. Look at his INT stats from previous years. I was very fair with my assessment. I don't care if he went to Notre Dame. I actually rooted for them against Alabama. I'm not Catholic. Not anti-Catholic.
I've seen a decent amount of him. The INT's I saw weren't of the DWash variety. Now THOSE are INT's where SKILL made them INT's. You don't need to watch 'every play'. Watch a few games. Watch some highlights, and really you can see what a player is from that.
Most of what you need you can figure out in five minutes of highlights. It helps to keep a player, in this case I use DWash in mind, when you are looking at what you want out of the guy. Relationally you have in your mind what a good NFL pro will do and what the hell is x player doing compared to it. Is he as fast. In various ways. Burst. Change of direction. straight line speed. closing speed. So on and so forth.
Is Te'o capable of keeping with an NFL receiver on an out route and beat him for an INT? Not even close.
You will not get INT's like DWash from Te'o. If DWash is the type of player you want, or a little bit less, why is Te'o even being mentioned? We watch guys like Willis and Bowman, and we're talking about Te'o?
It's like saying a guy with 15 TD's is a good rb. When all he need to of had is 30 attempts from the 1 yard line. Just because a guy has 7 INT's, doesn't make him a good LB.
That's why stats can mean nothing.
It means....he can catch....if the ball is close to him. But with his lack of speed, it isn't him, tracking the ball down in the air while running with a receiver/te.
That's what our LB's in the NFL are going to. That's guys like DWash.
Te'o can't do that.
No one said Dwash is a cornerback. But he CAN do it. Especially against TE's.
You only NOTICE usually when it's bad. But he does it, and sometimes just being close, keeps a throw from being thrown.
Te'o can't run with them at all. They'll get wide open and, those throws WILL be thrown.
Remember in the NFL you only have so much time to throw, so if you have a LB that can run with the receiver or TE for an additional second or two, that's a BIG deal.
So on pass plays you don't get that. On run plays you have a guy who has shown he has trouble with any blocker that gets to the 2nd level. In the NFL alot of them are going to be about as fast as him too.
Here's this shows at least 5 of those INT's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWxIUeZKPmc
As you can see they are thrown right at him or within a step and a lunge. One where he goes to the ground.
Here shows some more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M6q_A33HAU
Again, where was the athleticism on these INT's? They WERE basically thrown right at, or right near him. A couple were tips. A couple were good defensive scheming which had him run to certain areas only to WOW here's the ball. He can be Johnny on the spot.
Again, good for him to catch it when it got there. I've never said otherwise. But in the NFL it doesn't happen as much. He's going to need speed to cover guys. He has the skill of catching balls and being able to be johnny on the spot on tips. That's a skill.
I hope the guy proves me wrong. But we're talking about guys like this and guys that look like Calais Campbell or Adrian Wilson. Starting rb's. Starting receivers. Rush linebackers. He so is not in the same league imo.
