RealGM

this thread is not about bashing Urlacher. i always find it weird that people say Brian urlacher is one of the most overrated players in the NFL right now. however, he's still a top linebacker. why is brian urlacher overrated? or how is brian urlacher overrated.

Monkeyfeng06 wrote:this thread is not about bashing Urlacher. i always find it weird that people say Brian urlacher is one of the most overrated players in the NFL right now. however, he's still a top linebacker. why is brian urlacher overrated? or how is brian urlacher overrated.

I can't give you a solid answer. I think he's a really good player that makes a lot of good plays and anyone would be crazy to not want him on their team. But to the credit of the people that say he's overrated, he very well could be considered so. He makes a lot of tackles, but very few are for a loss and he don't put up a whole lot of numbers in the sacks category. So he's good at reading defenses to make a play and he definetly makes the Chicago defense that much better, but at the same point you can't really expect him to make too many plays that will be for a loss of yardage.

The only reason is because he has a lot of good defenders around him. I can still see the play of him stripping the ball from Edge in that MNF game against Arizona. That was a man play.

I get the feeling, from limited viewings of it, he has a hard time shedding O-Linemen and Bigger backs.
But, I also get the feeling that he is more of a prevent MLB, than an Aggressive one that we are accustomed to seeing. He plays very well in coverage (Hence his relatively high PD and INT numbers), and can run sideline to sideline with the best of the league. But, because we are accustomed to seeing MLBs stuff runs and shed blockers with ease, I think a lot of people, seeing Urlacher go out in coverage instead of stuffing runs, think he's overrated because he's often not in proper position to stop the run.

J.Kim wrote:I get the feeling, from limited viewings of it, he has a hard time shedding O-Linemen and Bigger backs.
But, I also get the feeling that he is more of a prevent MLB, than an Aggressive one that we are accustomed to seeing. He plays very well in coverage (Hence his relatively high PD and INT numbers), and can run sideline to sideline with the best of the league. But, because we are accustomed to seeing MLBs stuff runs and shed blockers with ease, I think a lot of people, seeing Urlacher go out in coverage instead of stuffing runs, think he's overrated because he's often not in proper position to stop the run.

Yup, that's exactly why I say he is overrated.

It's not that he isn't probably the top LB, it's just that he isn't nearly as good as some of the legends he is compared to.

NO-KG-AI wrote:Yup, that's exactly why I say he is overrated.

It's not that he isn't probably the top LB, it's just that he isn't nearly as good as some of the legends he is compared to.

He's a top LB, but hes not the top LB. I would have to say the top LB has to go to Merriman. He played a short season last year and still put up some very respectable numbers. Either way, they are both awesome to watch play.

NO-KG-AI wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Yup, that's exactly why I say he is overrated.

It's not that he isn't probably the top LB, it's just that he isn't nearly as good as some of the legends he is compared to.

I have never seen him compared to any legends. I thought he was just considered one of the best LB in the game today.

PistonFan4Life wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


He's a top LB, but hes not the top LB. I would have to say the top LB has to go to Merriman. He played a short season last year and still put up some very respectable numbers. Either way, they are both awesome to watch play.

Shawne Merriman is a pass rusher. I'd like to see Shawne Merriman actually post respectable tackle numbers, or play on a defense that doesn't have a stacked defensive line to relieve all pressure.

Until then, he's a pass rusher in my book.

Put Shawne Merriman in a defense where he can't pin his ears back and rush the passer on every play, and he isn't all that valuable.

I still have an image of the bus running over him into the end zone. Outstanding LB nevertheless.

^ what about tom brady scrambling in the middle and brian urlacher miss tackle?

Monkeyfeng06 wrote:^ what about tom brady scrambling in the middle and brian urlacher miss tackle?

that was the most hilarious moment in football that i have seen. brady is so slow and has no agility what so ever but was still able to fake out urlacher.

He isnt overated idiots. Everybody gets juked out in thier career. I remeber in the playoffs when eddie george carried ray lewis ten yards down the field a couple of years ago. And i also remeber the bus running over lewis and throwing his body in the air near the sidelines a couple of years ago at hinze field. Secondly, Urlacher has had one down year for his sack totals. Before this year he was consistantly averageing 3-4 sacks a year. Everyone has a slump in every sport no one is perfect, doesnt mean that they are ****. Thirdly, i think most of you Merriman fans forget the fact that he CHEATED. and i dont care what excuse he uses, because if you want to say barry cheats then so does merriman, and he is one dimensional. With the exception of his zero sack year, last year, Brian Urlacher is the most complete and best linebacker in the game today. No one is close in coverage, i would like to see merriamn split out to the wide reciever position and cover reggie bush downfield like Brian did in the nfc championship game, no one is as fast, hes one of the best tacklers, and usually has better sack totals, but one year does not define a career, or else i can say look at his rookie year when he had 8 sacks. Lastly, Brian is compared to these guys by analyst, its not his fault that people make these comparisons, its not like he goes around and says hes the best ever.

He's not overrated. Also, I'm not sure where this stuff about him not taking on blocks effectively is coming from. The few Bears games I caught last year he looked very strong, even against O-lineman. But who knows, maybe I just saw his best games.

Also, he is critisized because he plays in the cover 2. In this system he does not play the traditional Ray Lewis/Dick Butkus style of middle linebacker. He doesnt play the traditional style becuase hes speed allows for him to excell in coverage and in the cover 2 thats where his attributes are best used. Not many linebackers are fast enough to cover reggie bush from the wide reciever position, or keep mike vick in check all night. And he does get juked out (brady, bettis) but like iu said before everyone does in their career more than once, and they probably will, watch week one bears vs. chargers, im sure brian will get juked by L.T, but who doesnt, you know what i mean, and if he does, it doesnt mean hes a **** player, because many great linebackers have been juked before.

URLACHER54 wrote:He isnt overated idiots. Everybody gets juked out in thier career. I remeber in the playoffs when eddie george carried ray lewis ten yards down the field a couple of years ago. And i also remeber the bus running over lewis and throwing his body in the air near the sidelines a couple of years ago at hinze field. Secondly, Urlacher has had one down year for his sack totals. Before this year he was consistantly averageing 3-4 sacks a year. Everyone has a slump in every sport no one is perfect, doesnt mean that they are ****. Thirdly, i think most of you Merriman fans forget the fact that he CHEATED. and i dont care what excuse he uses, because if you want to say barry cheats then so does merriman, and he is one dimensional. With the exception of his zero sack year, last year, Brian Urlacher is the most complete and best linebacker in the game today. No one is close in coverage, i would like to see merriamn split out to the wide reciever position and cover reggie bush downfield like Brian did in the nfc championship game, no one is as fast, hes one of the best tacklers, and usually has better sack totals, but one year does not define a career, or else i can say look at his rookie year when he had 8 sacks. Lastly, Brian is compared to these guys by analyst, its not his fault that people make these comparisons, its not like he goes around and says hes the best ever.

Don't call anyone names or antagonize people. It doesn't add anything to the discussion.

And to respond to your point, it seems like you're confusing overrated with flat out sucking. I don't think anyone on this thread is saying that he sucks, but that he doesn't deserve some of that all-world accolade that he gets from the media.

Now, as for my opinion, I don't necessarily think he's overrated, and that scope and environment has a lot to do with how people perceive him.

PistonFan4Life wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


He's a top LB, but hes not the top LB. I would have to say the top LB has to go to Merriman. He played a short season last year and still put up some very respectable numbers. Either way, they are both awesome to watch play.

This is a popular opinion for some reason. Out of all the good/great LB's in the league he is the most incomplete of them all. He is great at getting to the QB, and getting sacks, but he is terrible when you look at the rest of his game, reading defense and actully making plays. He is not top 10 in my book. You take his pass rushing ability away, and you have what we saw in that New England game last year, a guy who really dosent do anything, but yell and do a stupid dance.

Urlacher is the best in the league at the moment, imo. He is a great all around player. I would love to have him on my team.

He is the most complete linebacker in the league, by far. Brian Urlacher has holes in his game as every player does. Merriman and Ware cant cover, but they can get to the quarterback, ray lewis dominated but doesnt cover that well anymore, vilma doesnt get to the qb and cant cover that well, Urlacher didnt get to the qb for one year and no he stinks but everyone around him has gotten better, how does that work. People who dont like are just blinded. Its like the people who hate floyd Mayweather Jr., they dont like cause they hate him so much, and there hate blinds them to realize that he is a good boxer, same with Urlacher, the media says hes the beat and all this stuff, then he has one average year and everyone hates him and calls him overated,
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Edit: You can always stop insulting and antagonizing others? How about you start from there?[/color]

^ what an angry little boy!

Monkeyfeng06 wrote:^ what dumb angry little boy!

For my own take, I think he's a sort of odd combination of mostly strengths, with a few unexpected weaknesses.

For one thing, he doesn't operate in space like you'd think he would, or when they run him outside/off an edge. He seems to have better traffic instincts than spatial anticipation, though again, it's inconsistent. His trouble with shedding blocks looks to me about anticipation and taking them too low...I think he anticipates flow well, in space, so gets into the right position re: where the offense is going, but his head doesn't swivel enough, and thus leaves him with blind spots re: blockers, so he will be in the right spot but get taken out a lot, if you get me.

Someone called him the most complete backer in the game, but to me a complete backer is a guy you can run out into any slot, and that's not Urlacher. (Not Merriman either, btw.)

IF he had that aspect, he's Seau, imo. That edge ability plus space read thing...add that, and he's one of the best ever.