Charlton Keith to OLB

Pending Mariuz's performance tomorrow, I think it would be a good idea to replace him at OLB with Charlton Keith. Keith is rather skinny for a defensive lineman at 6'5 and 240 pounds, and that is the reason I think he is not getting the push he needs at defensive end. However we know he is fast, and maybe he would be able to make more plays from the OLB position, where instead of going up against 315 pound tackles, he is going up against 200 pound slot backs and running backs, or at worst a 240 pound full back. I noticed he lined up from the stand up position a few times last game, and maybe it is a transition that won't be that hard to make. Maybe this is a terrible idea, maybe it isn't such a bad idea, what do you think?

Charlton Keith is an American.

Pick somebody from the back up linebackers.

They are all Canadians this week.

click here

Who knows. I think our first problem is that we went into the season with Mariuz as a starting LB. IMO, he's a great special teams player and a good backup, but not a starter. (And I've said this all offseason, not just after a pretty bad opening week.)

Hopefully he can develop into the position quickly because I think our options are pretty thin at LB this year. Combine that with a week DL and we'll have trouble stopping the run all season.

You would need to add an NI at another position. Mariuz is more than fine.

Yes but we are now starting Pat Woodcock at WR, so that gives us a little more flexibility.

He certainly wasn’t last week…but I hope he can be.

Well I think the unit as a whole performed weakly…even Moreno.

p.s. same numbers as Armour in week one.

Numbers as in tackles? I think it matters a little more where the tackles were made as opposed to how many.

And there are no numbers to describe the lack of pressure Mariuz got when blitzing or the two yard dump off pass to his side of the field that turned into a 20-yard gain.

I'm not talking about numbers, I'm talking about what actually happened on the field.

Now I will agree with you about the whole unit.....I actually thought Knowlton was alright by Zeke wasn't really himself, so lets give them another week. I wasn't the one who started this thread about replacing Mariuz....so like I said, I hope he can play better and I hope our entire group has a better game tomorrow.

The Als played away from Moreno all game (I would too, he's a stud)and killed the D with the flat pass when Mariuz blitzed or was lined up over the slot. Maybe we should wait for the guys to get some real time experience with the system before we talk about sending them packing. They'll figure it out fast.

I agree.....I don't think we should send Mariuz packing....that's not what I was implying.

We made the commitment to him as a starter so I think we need to give him at least a few games. There is no question about that.

He gets another game...but if gets driven off of the ball 5-7 yards every carry like last week, then it's time for the Hulk, or like the thread suggests...move someone back to that spot.

Except that we’re also starting a 3rd import offensive lineman.

8) I think the biggest problem Mariuz has is he is too light in weight for his height. If he can put on 15 or 20 lbs. that could be the difference for him in his starting position !!!!

Mariuz may be too ligh tbut I belive tha Keith is too heavy to move back for the wide field.

comparing him to Armour. Armour was 6 feet and 225, Keith is 6'5 and 240 pounds.

Centering-out Mariuz as somehow the weak link out there is a bit of a joke.

They had sucess running and passing the ball just about everywhere, underneath, between the tackles, around the edge, you name it.

Everybody was getting it handed to them out there.

Tie the can to the defense if you like but everybody was worthy of being the goat out there Moreno, who's supposedly the leader and difference maker, included.

Armour would have scarcely made a diff.

Keith is too slow for OLB. In the CFL an OLB absolutely has to have good speed for pass cover.

Maybe he could be used as a second MLB beside Moreno.

I’m not so sure I agree. Robinson was solid and I’m very happy we picked him up…Bradley made some big hits and I thought he looked good…Knowlton was all over the ball and had a great game…Moreno still did a good job, he just didn’t make any big plays like we’re used to. Some of the guys individually played well, so I wouldn’t say “everybody.”

There were a few that were consistently getting beat and out-played. Mariuz falls into this category but I’m not trying to lay all the blame on him. I’m just saying if you watch the video (which I do because I’m obsessed) you’ll see him getting pushed around on running plays, not getting any pressure on any of his blitzes, and often being out of position especially on the screen passes and the flat passes to his side. I don’t know what else to say other than he needs to be individually better for this LB unit to succeed.

Even Gordon, who at first glance would appear to be awful, wasn’t even that bad. Other then the TD pass to Watkins that he fell on, he was right with his man all night…he just didn’t make any plays. Yes he was beat way too many times, but it looks like he’ll have better days because he was close all night, just not close enough. I’m not so sure it’s going to come against Bruce tomorrow night, but I think he could work into a pretty good player and I did see some positives.

Anyways, I like the fact we are keeping a similar lineup for tomorrow night and I’m excited to see what will happen.

After watching the video, it seems that if Gordon could have kept his feet on that TD play, he may have had a pick. It was a poorly under-thrown ball and, until he tripped, Gordon was in perfect position. We may have been having a different discussion about him if he had picked that ball.