Getting Ziggy with it?

by acrollet on Oct 16, 2009 8:22 AM EDT Comment 22 comments

Dagger from Post Game Heroes did an excellent job creating a video showing every snap that Ziggy Hood played in Detroit. I thought about embedding it in this post, but he went to a lot of effort and deserves the traffic - you can see it here. I'm really curious to hear what people think of his performance. In my inexpert opinion, he's really close, and just needs the game to slow down for him. (to wear out a cliché) He's giving tons of effort, occupying his man, and pushing the pocket on passing plays. He had a couple of "almosts" on two big plays for Detroit:

*just* misses an ankle tackle on a 13 or 14 yard run for Detroit. He had gotten well behind the LOS, and looked surprised to see the ball carrier going just as fast the other way.
was a split second away from shoving his man right into Daunte Culpepper's face mask on the late TD pass.

#96 played at every position on the line, including nose on at least one passing down that I saw. I think that as he gets more comfortable with his assignments and plays more snaps, we're going to start seeing some big plays from him. That doesn't mean that he won't give up a few during his on the job training, of course.

via blackamarillo.us

What did you all see?

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Looks GREAT>>>>>>>>

Dude that was great.. He looks good/great(for a 1st yr) Really clogged things up on the run and had a lot of pressure form either side.. Looked the best in LDE spot, really consumed the OL guys and filling gaps..

After reading all the press and remembering 2007, when AaronS went out with Bicep tears..I was worried and dreading the Vikings and Denver games.. But after watching that footage, I dont feel as worried.. I mean he aint a “like kind” exchange for AaronS, but man he looked like he could hold his own and not pull down the rest of the D-line.. (Only if we could get the “WOOD” started)..

Cant wait to see La Shon get some work down the road, cuz he looked a lot better then Ziggy in the Pre-Season..

Good Post – in the picture it looks like that poor QB just dissed Ziggy’s mom…

Oh yeah GO STEELERS, btw what is the average age of our D-Line now.. hehehehehe

by BigDaddyTat2boy on Oct 16, 2009 9:08 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Not great, but not bad by any means...

He kept his feet moving (good motor), and seemed to use his hands a bit beeter than he did in the few preseason games I saw him in, so I’d qualify that as progress, no doubt. He’s learning, and raw still, so the sky is the limit. I didn’t like the lack of a great bullrush, but what he showed of one is still not too bad (again this falls under room for improvement). Still a litltle more finesse type play than I’d like to see, but he’ll get better. I think he ended up getting pushed around a bit on a few plays, but other than that I liked what I saw. He’s definitely got great potential and great work ethic, and seems to be learning to play the position, we’ll see first hand on Sunday.

by NYSteelersFan4 on Oct 16, 2009 9:52 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I seem to remember

Sunny Harris being stronger against the run and Ziggy being more of an overall defender – kinda like Smith and Kiesel. But my memory isn’t what it used to be….

Um, what was I saying?

My heros have always been Steelers...

by wozzle on Oct 16, 2009 12:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

nananana nananana

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

by PixburghArn on Oct 16, 2009 12:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hey Hey Hey

by StoneColdSteel on Oct 16, 2009 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wanka wanka wanka!! ? : )

Ron Paul was Right.

by Steelchamps !! on Oct 16, 2009 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hood

should improve as the season goes along, but I don’t expect him to make a big impact this year though. He is a rookie and so I am just hoping for the best and hope he can just hold his own. Sure glad that Kirschke and Eason are there to fill in as well to make sure the pressure isn’t resting squarely on the kid. I imagine in the years to come he’ll be a monster. If guys such as John Mitchell,Aaron Smith and Mean Joe sing his praises you know he is a going to be a cornerstone for the defense. As for Rashon Harris, he is more raw than Hood. He only started one year in college so he still has a lot to learn. A ton of upside though that kid has. I doubt he’ll dress this year but hopefully next year he will have learned enough to be a good fill in on the line. He’ll still need a couple years to grow to max out his potential. If there is anybody that can make him a solid lineman though it is John Mitchell the best d-line coach in football.

by BubbyBrister6 on Oct 16, 2009 1:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Review of the tape

Wow, I’m amazed at how much he’s improved since the preseason. Coming out of college, the biggest knock on him was that he played high, and you can see that in the preseason tape – he kind of flops around and gets into a shoving match with the OL’s. In this video, he is getting much better leverage and holding his ground. It’s night an day. The only negative play I saw him make in the running game was on the stretch play around 1:30 where he lets himself slide to his right too much and opens up a huge cutback lane that would have gone for a decent gain if not for a heads up play by Ryan Clark. He has to learn to trust his teammates and do his job.

In the passing game, he almost looks scared to go after the QB – I have a feeling that he’s trying to unlearn his 3 technique penetrating background and be a proper 3-4 end, but he’s overdoing it. He looks content to keep containment on Culpepper – which has some value as we found out, but he has some chances to close the deal and hesitates.

In short, I’m more convinced than ever that he will be an anchor on our DL for a long time. The question never was his physical ability, it was his technique, which I think is dramatically improved since just a few weeks ago. He’s still making some mental mistakes and those will occasionally lead to some big plays or missed plays, but once the game slows down for him, watch out. After seeing this video, though, I understand why he’s behind Eason and Kirschke for now. Hopefully by the end of the season he’ll be starting and putting everything together.

charity standing orders

by BadMaafala on Oct 16, 2009 4:17 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

He gets to far out on a lot of the blockers to drive them, I think he’s hesitant because he doesn’t read the offense fast enough.

That will come with time.

I’d feel a ton better about that video if Aaron Smith was still playing. As it is you don’t need to double Ziggy to take him out of the play. That’s a big drop off from Aaron.

by Phantaskippy on Oct 16, 2009 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

True, but we’ll be able to get through the season now that Troy’s back. Our rush defense isn’t what’s killing us. Hampton’s playing well and if Ziggy can be an upgrade over Eason/Kirschke by the end of the season, we’ll be acceptable in that phase. If Ben keeps tossing the ball as well as he has, though, it’s our pass defense that will be the bigger factor.

charity standing orders

by BadMaafala on Oct 16, 2009 9:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

good stuff

glad to hear you say that there’s been big improvement. If he can just keep getting better every week, watch out for the end of the season…

by acrollet on Oct 16, 2009 7:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You're right

He’s improved but still has some ways to go. He seems more comfortable playing 3 technique but seems to struggle with separation from the block when the RB gets close to him. Looks like a newbie as a 5 technique, hands and takeoff are subpar. Guess we’ll see how he does down the road but if his progression continues, my guess is he’ll do fine.

by Steelfrog on Oct 17, 2009 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, he definitely doesn’t have the shedding part down yet, but just standing his guy up (which he wasn’t doing at all in the preseason) is a big help to the LB’s.

charity standing orders

by BadMaafala on Oct 17, 2009 10:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

On one of those plays the highlighted players wasn't Ziggy

On the number ten play, the incompletion to #80, The player was a white guy. look at 2:9-10

by Steel in FL on Oct 16, 2009 8:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah I noticed that. I’m pretty sure that was Keisel.

charity standing orders

by BadMaafala on Oct 16, 2009 8:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

+1 for the title

-1 for getting that song stuck in my head now…….im sure it will never leave

by shleeve on Oct 16, 2009 9:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

hahahaha sorry

actually I didn’t have it in my head until Arn put the ‘na na na na na nana’ up there

by acrollet on Oct 16, 2009 9:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yes! I hate that song

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

by PixburghArn on Oct 17, 2009 9:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ziggy needs to turn it up a notch

This guy has excellent quickness for a big man, but he seems to be a bit awestruck by the level of play in the NFL. He seems like he’s trying the same stuff that worked for him in college—only it’s not too effective in the big time. But he’s definitely learning the ropes and he’ll improve with more playing time.

by Billy52 on Oct 16, 2009 9:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Thrown into the fire......

…he’ll get burned a few times, but you can’t make Steel without fire….

He’ll be fine…..he’s adjusting to the speed and power of the pro game…
working his ass off…..learning….improving….He’s the golden boy of this year’s terrific pledge class….

He’s gonna be around here for a LOOOONG time!

I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer.
- Homer J. Simpson

by Homer J. on Oct 17, 2009 10:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs