BJ Raji overrated?

[Chillarfan54]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mu.../1210/nfl-most-overrated-poll/content.11.html

 

[ivo610]

Hasn't produced as he did in 2010. He is what he is. He is a need on the team tho.

 

[weeds]

Well....he's in some pretty good company there

 

[ivo610]

Well....he's in some pretty good company there

To be overrated you have to be rated lol. So it's not a bad thing I guess

 

[GeeDogWarrior]

Any list that has Urlacher as overrated is a list I disagree with....
I hate the dude, but Him and Briggs been ballin' and carrying crap (rex grossmen) to winning records and playoff appearances in the last decade.

Holy Crap, Eli is on this list....

 

[El Guapo]

I refuse to read the list, but if Urlacher is listed then it's as bad as I figured. Who have to have green and gold glasses glued to your face to think he's not great. As for Raji, I agree with ivo610. Was he ever rated very high? He had one good season out of 3.5 so far. He plugs the holes well these days but seems to have lost his step, his shiftiness, and his power. He's the one guy who misses Cullen Jenkins the most.

 

[bozz_2006]

Polamalu #17 (Does injury-ridden mean over-rated now?). Eli at #15. Urlacher at #12. Brady at #9. Romo at #3. Yeah.... seems legit.....

Honestly, I do think Raji is over-rated. Not by much. But a little. Wish he'd go hard every play and anchor the line when it makes sense for him to anchor the line, instead of busting his *** upfield every snap.

Maybe he just likes the sound of a RB whooshing past his earhole? I kid! But seriously, a little more hustle, a little more discipline, he could be great.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Hate to say it, but the D looks better without him.

Finley not on the list?

 

[Southpaw]

Nose Tackles have a thankless job. They aren't going to rack up stats. They eat up blockers, that's their job and once in a while they'll get a rush but are too slow to get to most QB's.

He's not overrated, unless you are a person who uses stats to define a player.

 

[burt packerack]

that was a terrible list. I would take some of them on the packers minus tim tebow. urlacher, paulamalu (sp?), rivers, eli, and roddy white. Jesus these players have had huge impacts on their teams.

 

[TJV]

I don’t know if Raji is overrated since it depends upon who is “rating” him and how they are rating him. But I don’t think there’s a correlation between Raji’s absence and the D playing better - IOW, I don’t think there’s a causal relationship. BJ was fantastic in 2010 but IMO BJ’s play since then has been negatively affected by a couple of factors: First over the course of his relatively short career he has played a ton of snaps – particularly for a big man who is frequently the target of double teams. The Packers just haven’t had the depth on the DL to avoid playing their best D lineman a lot. That can lead to a couple of things like taking plays off and injuries. One of Lombardi’s many memorable sayings was ‘fatigue makes cowards of us all’ and while that applies to all players it’s more applicable to players in the middle of the DL than any others IMO. This a round-about way to say I do think Raji takes some plays off but I don’t think it’s entirely his fault. Injuries are the second factor negatively affecting Raji’s play. Remember he injured his ankle in the last preseason game. Still he played about 79% of snaps in the opener and against the 49ers and according to McGinn, “at least he threatened the pocket.” McGinn characterized Raji’s play in the next two games as “both stout and explosive” vs. the Bears and that he “gave great effort this week and was solid” against the Seahawks. McGinn criticized Raji for not splitting double teams often enough vs. the Saints and then Raji injured his ankle early against the Colts and hasn’t been back since.

The good news is the Packers have some depth on the DL this season. Once Raji returns, that should mean his snap numbers should decline and a consistently fresher Raji should have more impact. Pickett is as stout against the run as Raji and Worthy is quicker. Neal (if he can stay healthy) probably comes as close to matching Raji’s combination of strength and quickness. Neal may be stronger in the weight room but I think Raji is stouter on the field and until Neal stays on the field for several more games it’s difficult to compare their quickness. But at this point IMO no player on the DL matches Raji’s strength and quickness and that makes him the best DL on the team. Is he overrated league wide? I don’t know and really don’t care since its how he impacts the Packers’ D that matters.

 

[Forget Favre]

They are just jealous of him because he caught that one INT and ran it back in for the TD and his dance.
And because of that, he gets an endorsement deal with State Farm to be with Rodgers in an ad.
(Since when do guys in his position get an endorsement?)
Gotta love the pic that accompanies his entry.

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[Oshkoshpackfan]

I just want to know how a NT becomes overrated? Does he do his job? Yes. He helps to stuff the run and most of the time is double teamed so that ties up 2 offensive people.

Maybe they rated him like that because his first season he had 6.5 sacks ( I think) and that is very good for a NT. Hence the reason he now draws a lot of double teams.

That rating was garbage, pay no attention to it.

 

[Forget Favre]

I just want to know how a NT becomes overrated? Does he do his job? Yes. He helps to stuff the run and most of the time is double teamed so that ties up 2 offensive people.

Maybe they rated him like that because his first season he had 6.5 sacks ( I think) and that is very good for a NT. Hence the reason he now draws a lot of double teams.

That rating was garbage, pay no attention to it.

I think it has to do with all the attention he gets.
There's like 50 shots of him on the sidelines in the last couple games.
Other injured unsung heros of games just WISH they could get that much exposure.

 

[Darth Garfunkel]

Mainstream media outlets like to troll too.

 

[Alex]

How is Ray Lewis #5? They lose him and get stomped. Yeah maybe he's not what he used to be but he brings that defense to a different level. This list is dumb.

 

[ivo610]

How is Ray Lewis #5? They lose him and get stomped. Yeah maybe he's not what he used to be but he brings that defense to a different level. This list is dumb.

I'm guessing that a response to him being rated the past two years very high on the list of top 100 players on NFL network.

At this point he isn't elite but by no means does that diminish his career. Most great MLBers were retired at his age.

 

[BorderRivals.com]

I have a buddy in Vikings country that has sent me endless emails with articles pointing out Raji's shortcomings. I believe most stem from profootballfocus or profootballoutsiders. I don't go to those sites, so don't know. But, one of those sites listed Raji as the worst NT last season, citing to the complete lack of production - i.e. few pressures, few tackles, hardly any sacks, etc. The article pointed out how often he played in relation to this lack of production. Now, I don't remember whether it accounted for how often he got double- or triple-teamed, or how porous the rest of the line was last season. Still, as best as I could recall, the conclusion was reached upon sound logic and arguments. Have any of you seen these articles before? When I have time, I might try to poke around in my inbox to see if I can find them because they were interesting reads.

I always find this discussion about Raji interesting, though, because he hasn't flashed like many think he should. But, he's a NT and that kind of production is tough from the position. It's hard for the lay person to judge his value to the team. Most reports indicate he's part of the future and deserves a large pay-raise. Whenever there is a discussion about upcoming contracts, it's Rodgers, Clay, and Raji. You'd think if he truly was playing as poor as those articles suggest, he wouldn't be included in those discussions.

 

[12theTruth]

Something was missing last year in Raji's game. It seemed he lacked explosiveness and couldn't occupy double teams as well as he did the year prior. Having a marginal CJ Wilson line up next to him now doesn't really help him much though either.

 

[Oshkoshpackfan]

sundays Jags game proves that rating is BS. I focused on watching him. He was pushing his man around like it was nothing, and even pushed gabbert out of the pocket when he was double teamed. He help stuff the run up the middle like crazy too.......article = crap.

 

[rodell330]

Yes he is. He hasn't had nearly the impact he had in 2010...sometimes you don't hear his name mentioned for long stretches of the game. He's a poor mans Hiloti Ngata