Fairley Says He and Suh the Best

[Microwahevo]

Nick Fairley says he and Ndamukong Suh are the best defensive tackle tandem in league

Now while it can be argued whether they're the best or not, I love to hear that Fairley has been working out all offseason and keeping his weight in check and his strength up. If they both stay healthy it will only help out our young DEs.

 

[Vader]

Fairley Says He and Suh the Best

they are

 

[jdwills126]

Ngata and Cody are not to be dismissed so quickly.

If Suh plays like the SUh of two years ago and Fairley puts together a whole season not short stretches then maybe I can entertain that argument. They are good but to be the best you have to have a body of work to point to. Potential is a dirty word and I have grown tired of it when used in a sentence about Lion players.

 

[tpaulus_2]

I agree with Nick the Nerf. There's not a better pair in the league, not even really close...

 

[broncosmitty]

The athleticism if the two is absurd at the defensive tackle position. Couple that with Cliff Avril getting the fuck out of town and we could finally be seeing the line (different dudes, but Im talking results) we had hoped for two years ago. The first sentence of the article is my favorite, btw. Way to be Nerf, way to be!

 

[RobBase]

Ngata and Cody are not to be dismissed so quickly.

I was under the impression Cody was borderline bust. 0 sacks in 3 seasons and he only started 3 games last year. The Ravens also play a 3-4 so I'm not sure how often those two are even on the field together? But I don't really know.

Suh and Fairley are by far the best DT combo in the NFL. This is the year to prove it. Fairely is actually more athletic than Suh imo. He has a burst off the line like no other DT in the NFL. Suh is like no one else. Just a pure terror. His only weakness is the limp wrist of Roger Goodell and his overpaid zebra's.

 

[bamabear82]

I was under the impression Cody was borderline bust. 0 sacks in 3 seasons and he only started 3 games last year. The Ravens also play a 3-4 so I'm not sure how often those two are even on the field together? But I don't really know.

Suh and Fairley are by far the best DT combo in the NFL. This is the year to prove it. Fairely is actually more athletic than Suh imo. He has a burst off the line like no other DT in the NFL. Suh is like no one else. Just a pure terror. His only weakness is the limp wrist of Roger Goodell and his overpaid zebra's.

Cody has never been one to roam the backfield and get sacks. He's really never been much more than a run stopper which is why he fit in so good at NT at Bama. Teams didn't run up the middle on Bama.

 

[RobBase]

Cody has never been one to roam the backfield and get sacks. He's really never been much more than a run stopper which is why he fit in so good at NT at Bama. Teams didn't run up the middle on Bama.

I know he was good at Bama for sure. I was under the impression he wasn't really cutting it in Baltimore, but maybe it was more of a conditioning or injury thing.

 

[jdwills126]

Cody is a space eater t takes two guys to move him. He has a simple job clog the middle and he does that well.

The problem in looking at Ngata and Cody vs Suh and Fairley they are 3-4 guys and have different jobs.

You can't argue the Ravens results though. The consensus best DT is Ngata. Suh IMO is in the ballpark. Cody is a complement to Ngata but he does that very well. Fairley shows flashes but I would not call him as a top guy yet not even close.Put up the stats stay healthy and stay out of trouble.

The Lions need Fairley and Suh to be what they were advertised when drafted to make the defense take the next step. A strong push up the middle will make the DEs better and put less pressure on the DBs.

 

[broncosmitty]

I'll take Suh and Fairley all day, anyday, over any other combo. Nicky said it himself, can't be double teaming guys now that we actually have DEs. (he didn't say that last part, but that's what he meant)

 

[RobBase]

Nicky said it himself, can't be double teaming guys now that we actually have DEs. (he didn't say that last part, but that's what he meant)

I don't mean to kick them now that they are out of town but I feel the same way. I felt like KVB was kept around longer than he should have been basically just because he is Schwartz's boy. All he did was get pushed out the way or get to the QB 2 seconds late. Avril was the ultimate opportunist, cleaning up messes made by Suh. That's how he got all those fumbles, strips etc...catching the QB who Suh pushed out of the pocket. It should be fun seeing what Suh and Fairley can do with a true pass rushing DE (Ziggy) playing next to them now.

 

[Mebert]

It is a bit ealry to be calling Ziggy a true pass rushing DE, I think it will take a few years to get to that point for him.

 

[tpaulus_2]

I was under the impression Cody was borderline bust. 0 sacks in 3 seasons and he only started 3 games last year. The Ravens also play a 3-4 so I'm not sure how often those two are even on the field together? But I don't really know.

Cody is very good at what he does- and that's stuffing the run and occupying blockers. He's by no means a playmaking DT like Ngata, Suh, Fairley or Geno Atkins. He plays NT when Ngata slides out to DE, so he never really gets any starts. I wouldn't call him a bust, mostly because of what he's asked to do, but he's certainly not a stud DT either...


I really can't think of any teams with two DTs as good as ours. Lots of teams have one good DT, but not an elite pair...

 

[RobBase]

It is a bit ealry to be calling Ziggy a true pass rushing DE, I think it will take a few years to get to that point for him.

That's what he is though, good or bad. Avril should have been drafted as a 3-4 DE and played like one out of position the whole time he was here. He was never a "true pass rushing DE".

 

[tpaulus_2]

You can't argue the Ravens results though.

No, but I'll argue that just because the Ravens are the reigning Super Bowl champs doesn't automatically make all their players the best at their respective positions.

Call it the "Champions Effect" or whatever you want, but good team's individual players are almost always over-valued by other team's fans based on the overall success of that team.

Don't get me wrong, Cody is good at his role, but he's just not in Suh and Fairley's league...

 

[tpaulus_2]

The consensus best DT is Ngata.

Who's consensus? Yours?

Ngata is a beast and certainly a top 3 DT, but I wouldn't go calling him the "consensus" best DT. Imo, Geno Atkins is the best DT in the NFL right now. For me his 20 sacks in the last two seasons is outstanding for a DT. Others (like you) may like Ngata for his play in the run game, where he excels.

Basically, I think the top 3 DTs- Ngata, Suh and Atkins are all very close and are all head-and-shoulders above the rest right now...

 

[Mebert]

That is a fair argument RobBase, I guess I was thinking of "true" s "elite". Not the same.

 

[Mebert]

I would choose Ngata as the best DT myself, but he is not so far above everyone else to be the unanimous "best" You would need to seperate yourself like Calvin Johnson does for that. I imagine that kind of seperation is very hard for a DT, where a lot of what they do is not noticed by casual fans.

 

[RobBase]

That is a fair argument RobBase, I guess I was thinking of "true" s "elite". Not the same.

Right. Like when some Lions fans (no one here of course) wanted to draft OLB Aaron Curry and move him to MLB. He would not be labeled a "true MLB". I never felt like an undersized Avril was a true pass rusher. KVB def was but he was far past his prime by the time he was a Lion. Ziggy is the first true pass rusher this team has had since Robert Porcher.

 

[broncosmitty]

Yeah, yeah, nobody here could have thought Curry was the safer pick! (my head hung low in shame). I loved the KVB signing. And liked him a lot for a year. But last season I can only think he was still getting all those reps on account of loyalty. Which I understand to a point. But I'm really excited to see what Jones and Ansah (I've calmed down on that front) can do in comparison to the non impact guys we ran out there last year. Hard for me to even describe how much I hated Avril for racking up numbers by diving after a sliding Rodgers a yard behind the line, getting two sacks on Mighty Joe Webb(who is finally, officially not a QB) and picking up CW and Suhs scraps. Cliff hurt the team by being the most block able DE this side of the end of Lions line.