Desmond Bishop

Is Bishop considered yet to be a solid starter? Is he going to be fully back from his injury? Since being drafted in 2007, he has played only one full season as a starter. So far in his career he has only one interception and 9 sacks. The main criticism of his earlier play was that he often played out of position and was overly aggressive. He seemed to be improving when he had the season-ending injury last season. Sure hope he will be a solid and consistent force for our somewhat shaky D.

One year ago I was Des' biggest detractor. He folded when Barnett went down with his ACL, and AJ was forced to move inside, to a position he hadn't played in college. In 2010 when Barnett went down with his wrist, Bishop was better, but to me, at that time Hawk was still 'the guy' in the middle. Now last year as a starter, and the team's leading tackler, he's shown production that I didn't know he was capable of. I would go so far as to say he's probably the best pure linebacker we have as a starter as Matthews is better at the pass, and AJ is useless in coverage, and the run game.

What season ending injury ?

Yeah, what season ending injury?

His calf injury?? He came back from that.

I think he is a sure bet in the middle of the D. Tackling Machine, hes pretty good when he gets a decent blitz lane, hes not excellent at getting off a block, but he fills the holes and makes tackles when he gets the chance. Precisely what we need from an ILB. The only knock on the guy is he isnt great in coverage. Im not working with him every day or watching tape everyday so the exact reasons why and what he can work on are a little blurry for me. If he shows up in 2012 and provides a repeat performance from last year I don't think anyone should be disappointed.

I like Bishop and have been pulling for him, but am not sure that he'll ever be Pro Bowl caliber. His tenacity is always appreciated on the field. It's time for him to show what he can do on the field.

Just a question. What do you think he could do better to elavate himself into pro bowl (if there ever is another ) status?

he's defiantly better over all than Hawk, and his emergence was the reason TT let Barnett go after last season. (after Hawk's lackluster play I would have done the reverse). Everyone that I read leading up to 2010 season (and during before Barnett's injury) was asking how he would get on the field or if he ever would. He's always been one of the teams best pure tacklers and is almost always around the ball.

To my eye, Bishop looks worse than he is due to Hawk's short-comings.

Bishop is the more complete player. He's the better blitzer and should be used more as such. Unfortunately, Hawk is rather terrible in coverage, so Bishop has to do it. Not that it's his strong suit (it's not), but he's better than Hawk.

I am a fan. He is better than hawk but not a superstar. A solid starter who I trust. Hopefully he will continue to get better to the point where we can dump hawk if we find someone who also can play inside

Played way faster in 2010 than he did in 2011.

only played slower because coverage was so piss poor last year and he had to do more in coverage which really slows a guy down

There's plenty of blame to go around. Bishop was bad because of coverage. Coverage was bad because of no pass rush. Pass rush was bad because of terrible coverage. And round and round it goes. Truth is, pretty much every player took a step back in 2011. Including Desmond Bishop.

Manning supposedly has good cover, and Bishop seems better suited to play sam anyway. So, what round do we ask to trade for Hawk in this the year of undervalued trades.

In 2 years I can see DJ Smith and Manning the starting ILBs unless Bishop shows hes better then 1 of then and comes fairly cheap on his next contract.

I wouldn't say he's the surest tackler on the team.. Especially after last year. I wouldn't know who to vote for as the surest tackler on the team

Bishop is a top 10-12 ILB. He's one of the Pack's most sure guys on D.

I'm sure they're going to work on tackling drills as we sucked last year when it came to tackling. I got SO tired of ESPN showing Blount running through our D w/about 6 missed tackles on that 1 play

That play is mixed for me. As much as I hated seeing our entire defense get thrown around like a peewee team, the football fan in me truly appreciates the brute power and the center of gravity LeGarrette Blount runs with. Dude has tree trunks for legs and those things kept churning. He was helped out by all the DBs going for the strip instead of the legs. Coulda stopped him a couple times downfield.

There's no way you tackle Blount w/1 hand. Both of my thighs make up 1 of his. You gotta wrap him up. Just like Jacobs

Name two guys who you saw tackle better than Bishop the last two seasons. You'd be hard-pressed to do so.

You know who the most sound tackler on the team was last year? It was Charlie Peprah.