Word is he's been taking some first team reps these last couple days. He did say the other day that he thinks he's been playing well enough to play with the 1st team offense. I'm glad he's taking advantage of his shot. I think we can all agree that he has all the physical tools to be successful in this league, he just needs to put it together and apparently he's been doing just that.
Hopefully this has more to do with Ducasse developing than it does to do with our shaky guard situation.
Isn't he taking 1st team reps because one of the guards was banged up? I seem to remember someone being removed from Saturday night's game but I was at a bar and can't recall the name.
Peterman has been taking reps at c. so they moved ducasse in to lg. I think we see winters and Peterman as the reserves this year. ducasse has been playing 3 different positions so between him Peterman and colon we have guys who can slide all over the line in case of injury. the biggest worry is lt if fergie ever goes down
He played well on Saturday with the ones and twos. Put men on the ground on more than one occasion. He's gotten a bad rap with Jets fans, but he looks to be turning into a decent player.
Peterman went down early, but came back shortly after. It can't be that injury though since Peterman is still taking reps as Mangolds back-up. Best case scenario is Vlad plays well, takes the job and starts week 1, then Winters sits for the year learning behind Colon and takes over next year.
Yeah me too. Winters can start at RG next year or if Colon gets injured then. I always thought Vlad got a much worse rep then he deserved. I remember LTJF wrote up a thread on him last year. This is about when a project pick needs to start to pay off. If he doesnt earn a starting job now he wont be resigned next year.
Anyone with the name 'Vladimer the Impaler' should be starting, in the pro bowl, hall of fame, and the nearest pawn shop hawking is SB rings.
Dude's a beast and has the physical tools to dominate if he can lock down his mental game. He's been slowly improving. Peterman scares me, I'd rather see Vlad out there becoming a force in the run game so Powell & Ivory can blast through.
I give him much credit also for continually working his butt off since his 1st season. He has shown marked improvement & his play on the O-line vs JksnV'll was d@mn near surprisingly decent. IMHO, the most important & gratifying aspect about V.D. (V.D?....let me kill that...make it just plain VLAD), is that he can ONLY get better!
Peterman looked good despite his injury last game I thought. He looks like our best Guard right now. I wish we had Brandon Moore back.
I can see the starting oline next year being. Brick, Vlad, Mangold, Winters, Howard. That's pretty decent. He's slowly progressed every year. I expect him to be good this year.
I would really like that. That would make our line both experienced with good veteran leaders, and young strong potential filled guys.
If anyone thinks back, or just does typical online research about Vlad (wiki) this kid was extremely raw coming out of college. More than that, he was raw as they can possible come. He may have been selected and drafted as a 2nd rounder (61st overall) along with being rated as the highest offensive lineman still on the board but this doesn't change the fact that he was drafted as a prospect. Due to his untapped and very high potential. 2nd round draft pick or not, everyone within the orgination not only knew but also understood that we just drafted a project type of offensive lineman with great physcial size at 6'5/325 lbs. Although very raw. There's a reason why he's still on the roster heading into his 4th NFL season of development under our coaching staff. It's because he's only 25 years of age and entering the years (3-5) in which we'll truly find out what we draftred back in 2010. Because anyone with any type of insight with regards to Vlad Ducasse knew (at the time) and still (currently) that he wasn't going to happen 'over night'. This is no Vernon Gholston situation. Vlad was drafted in order to be developed under veterans such as Ferguson and Mangold along with being coached up by our coaching staff, before ever being asked to impact. Now he's being asked to impact as a 4th year player with 3 offseasons under his belt. Now the pressure is on the player and/or ball in Vlad's court. This is the year where as a fan, I begin to anazlize and observe this 25 year old who's built like a monster when on the football field. If he breaks out, our offensive line is set for quite some time with Ferguson, Mangold and Vlad holding it down at the LT, G and C positions.
Yea, I'm actually impressed with his mobility... seeing him pull and actually holding down the position nicely. That said, Ducasse has been a pleasant surprise and I've been critical of Vlad... Hope they keeps it up...
Very good points and a solid perspective. It's easy to forget that he's just 25 years old and that he did come in very, very raw.
