Quote:
Originally Posted by A8bil
Agreed. When both are healthy -- which I think both are for the SB -- the impact as a pass rusher is much closer, however. Would you agree?
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Dee Ford has noted that he's not healthy.
He's simply at a spot where practicing on it won't make it worse. He's been talking about his knee giving him fits for a few weeks now.
As for the hamstring, it appears that's probably good to go. But the knee issue is just something he's gonna have to work around and with something like tendonitis, it's gonna keep him on a snap count.
The difference in Ford and Clark as pass rushers is versatility. Ford over 16 games will be a more productive pass-rusher than Clark because he'll face enough teams/Tackles that simply can't handle his speed to build a healthy lead over Clark.
But in a game-specific review, Clark will oftentimes be
significantly more valuable. And there will be no better demonstration than what Ford did vs. NE in the AFCCG last year vs. what Clark did to TN. NE handled Ford's speed and in so doing Clark was NOTHING. He contributed absolutely zero to that game. The Chiefs might as well have sent
you out there.
Meanwhile Clark went against a damn good set of tackles and played a great game. Because he simply has more ways to beat you.
So Ford, when his primary attack is working, is more dangerous than Clark. But when it isn't, he's not even NFL caliber. He's effectively worthless.
A boom/bust pass rusher sounds wonderful because he can occasionally single-handedly destroy a gameplan. But the problem comes with the bust part. Ford's floor is just so damn low that Clark's the preferable option and by a pretty fair amount.
And this is from the guy who was arguably Ford's loudest defender here and the person most critical of the Clark move. On balance, Ford's just too damn easy to remove from a game outright.