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River, me, others, I think its time to man up and throw in the towel on BI. Was he a good 1st round pick?? I don't know, but he is a starter, making plays, we have had worse. Regardless of todays pick 6 he is turning into a good football player for us. It took a while no doubt, but its time to say Bruce, I am sorry man!!

I'M IN -POLI

Bruce Irvin has justified the confidence Pete had in him from the very start. He has earned that big pay day he is sure to get this off season.

As far as reaches, mistakes, & other GM areas of responsibilities, shortcomings included, I'm more than willing to allow the powers that be let their record speak for itself. I've repeatedly heard PC & JS refer to the big picture, or grand scheme of their plan. Bruce Irvin is another piece of the puzzle that makes the Seattle defense what it is. I've never been down on PC & JS for picking him in the 1st round, & then figuring out where he fits in. I think the Percy Harvin experiment was much more deserving of criticism than drafting Bruce Irvin too high. As most of you on this forum agree, the overall body of work from our mgt is how they should be graded. And my grade for them is A+.

Seahawks4Ever wrote:Bruce Irvin has justified the confidence Pete had in him from the very start. He has earned that big pay day he is sure to get this off season.

Could be wrong, but I don't think he can be extended next year, they can exercise his fifth year option at some point, but I think there are rules in place to limit extension talks?? Not sure how that fifth year option works though, can someone clarify it?

Obviously, a big game today for Bruce.

I wasn't big on the pick at the time, but his his development and upside has really shown this season.

He doesn't have to be a star for this defense, anyway, just solid. And that's becoming more evident in 2014.

obiken wrote:River, me, others, I think its time to man up and throw in the towel on BI. Was he a good 1st round pick?? I don't know, but he is a starter, making plays, we have had worse. Regardless of todays pick 6 he is turning into a good football player for us. It took a while no doubt, but its time to say Bruce, I am sorry man!!

Good idea on the thread, Obi.

I'll be the first, er rather the second, to admit my guilt. Particularly the last part of the season, Irvin has been tremendous. He's doing a commendable job of run stopping and he's been getting good, consistent pressure on the QB, nearly registering a strip sack yesterday. I'm impressed. On thing that's been missing the first part of our season has been a credible pass rush, and Irvin has really stepped up and filled the void.

He also gives a very intelligent and "TEAM" type interview. Like Russell and others, he's not into his accomplishments, but it always is the team. He's also articulate, which again, I just wouldn't of assumed. My bad.

On the field, I cringed at his 'around the world' pass rush, but knew that with time, he would be a good one for us and it's looking like that is coming out this year.
You can also tell that 2 years + in the weight room have vastly improved everything about him.

I hope his 4th year turns into a Pro Bowl type. His only fault is that he does seem to shy away from getting killed on the field, compared to, say, Bobby, Earl or even Sherm.

js

Hes justifying his selection with his play. He will only get better. Hes already forcing teams to adjust to his game. He may wind up elite before hes done.I was never a hater just glad to see there are fewer of them now.

I always thought that they loved what he could bring to the Defense, but the Defense was so solid, there wasn't much of a spot for him to get a lot of reps.
His first year, he was mainly put in on pass plays, but after he got used to the speed of the pro game, they found he was better as an OLB.
It might not be what Pete had originally envisioned, (or maybe it was) but it seems to be working out now for the most part.

My pick for that draft was Fletcher Cox and I still think he could have helped this Defense as he played DT on run plays and DE on pass plays in college.
He would have been the perfect replacement for Red Bryant should they have wanted to continue with that type of player on the DL.

Prolly not a good time to be talking Bruce up, obi my d-o-double-G. Not now, in the playoffs.

Either Bruce or his agent prolly occasionally drops in on this board to see what's being said, so IMHO the better thing might be for us to talk about the mistakes Bruce makes — purely in the hopes of pissing him off so badly that he'll be all-guns-blazing-batcrap-insane-mad at the first snap of the ball.

Players see enough ass kissers and crotch sniffers when they show up to sign autographs.

And it's more fun to piss them off, anyway.

You suck, Bruce.

Tired of seeing you missing tackles every other play because you can't control the C gap.

I don't even understand how the hell you're still in the frick'n league, holmes.

Well, suckers, suck on this.

At his first VMAC session with fans allowed in, my sweetie and I had seats right next to where the players came on and off the field (it ain't like that no mo).

My partner went over to Earl Thomas the 111, as she has parents living in his hometown in Texas, to get his autograph.

I was gonna try to get by "O Schmidt" jersey signed by a high draft choice ... it was unsigned by anyone at the time ... and decided that since both O. Schmidt and Bruce Irvin had attended West Virginia (and Schmidt is now running a bar there in Morgantown) so I spoke with him briefly.

He was very shy.

He had led a tumultuous life and was obviously shy around strangers, especially in that strange new environment. No one else, either fan or media member, even approached him before he skedaddled into the training room and onto a weight machine.

And I had a signiature with "51" added to my jersey.

That first year, he rushed 95% from the outside on the great circle route ... and was still fast enough to get some sacks and rushes and create other havoc.

Yeah, the opposing DC's just had their outside guys keep pushing him to the outside.

I don't think we saw more than a dozen moves tot he inside, and only a couple swim moves, all season.

So the coaching staff, led by a guy who is now trying to coach in Jacksonville, screwed around with Mr. Irvin. Perhaps it was PC who directed Gus Bradley to try to keep changing instructions on how to play exactly what position I could not comprehend. Nonetheless, his production plummeted.

Perhaps Dan Quinn figured it out, maybe it was coach Ken Norton Jr. who figured out how to implement the hopes of those above.

They had him goin up, goin down, goin all round ... baby what you want me to do?

And thety confused the hell out of him and his production made him look like a first round catastrophe.

But, this year, he has blossomed.

His play is far more effective.

His media skills are better, I'm guessing, because of settling into a comfort zone on mic as well as on the field ... so, he appears far more articulate.

But, he is still the same guy.

He's made some mistakes this year, but his coverage skills have greatly improved as his instinctive anticipation is showing rewards.

Yeah, Nanook of the North, I was actually yelling when Fletcher Cox was still available at 14 in that draft ... and shen the Hawks traded it to Philly, which promptly selected Cox, I was more than dismayed.

Then, the Hawks picked a workout warrior who nearly no one had mocked as a first rounder.

Oh, I know, the Jets said they would have taken Irvin, but they are known for their failure to tell the truth, among other things.

Nearly everyone's accusing finger was pointed at the failure of JS/PC with that selection.

But, look at me now, sez they.

Guaranteed, Mr. Irvin will blow some plays, and make spectacular amends for those.

I've argued each year with the Dog in the River and one other Hawkshacker about number "51".

Dog disliked him almost as much as he disliked Carpenter (in which we are still in agreement).

But, I secured the signature I wanted among the two high draft choices at that VMAC practrice of yore.

I don't know what ever happened to the guy I ignored to get Irvin's signature.

Some midget 3rd string 3rd round QB pick from Wisconsin and the Carolina's who looked better than the other QB's in that practice.

But, he was gone further into the depths of the training room before I could run him down.

zoom

I enjoyed your post, Bird.

Yea, Bird is a fantastic personality, there's never a dull moment when he's in the Shack, or the pub, or the Clink, and he's absolutely right: Him and I have argued over Irvin for 3 straight seasons, from draft day where I still think we could have gotten him for a 2nd rounder to the PED suspension to the under utilization of him in the playoffs last season while watching the number of snaps diminish to a fraction of what we were told we could expect for even his rookie season, let alone Year 2.

A person has to be big enough to admit when you're wrong if you want any kind respect from your brethren, and I was dead wrong on this one. Irvin is no one trick pony. He's a 3 down player and a key contributor to our defense. He might not ever be a Pro Bowler, but he is a solid player that has been playing extremely well the past couple of months and came up big time for us last Sunday.

Now, can we change the subject to Harvin so I can wipe the egg off my face?

Thanks, Longly.

And Riverdog came around early this season, not just two weeks ago.

zoom

Pete might not have seen as a LB, but I certainly did, and said so the day he was drafted, I am happy that some have seen what they wanted out of the guy, and hopefully everyone understands how big of a learning curve he has overcome to get to this point. Whether he fully realises the incredible athletic gifts he has or not, he is a solid, solid performer.