For all the dismissals Georgia’s inside linebackers received about their tackle stats last season, it’s worth pointing out that after his monster game on Saturday, Amarlo Herrera leads the SEC in tackles (12), tackles for loss (3.5) and is tied in sacks (two).
I had no idea Georgia’s defensive line played so poorly.
Get The Picture 
Even Ramik was still a distant second with 7 tackles.
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Reserves have to stay in their place. Back of the bus please.
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Herrara was a beast all game.
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He really did look like a different player from last year. I remember one play where Stoudt checked down to a running back in the flats and Herrera closed in from his zone with great burst to tackle him for no gain. I assumed it was one of the safeties at first.
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Turns out that when LB’s are instructed to face the line of scrimmage instead of a gesticulating lunatic on the sideline, they get more tackles.
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I really really like that word….”gesticulating.” I can’t wait to use it!
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Gesticulating….Isn’t that when the egg drops from the ovary?
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Don’t blame me if a girl slaps your face when you ask her if she’d like to see you gesticulate.
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For all the deserved love heaped on Leonard Floyd, Herrera outplayed him.
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maybe on the stat line, but Floyd was disruptive as hell. In fact, you could say Floyd was part of the reason Herrera had X tackle or Y sack.
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And that is why too much emphasis is placed on individual stats. Football is the ultimate team where results are interlinked in multiple ways. Much more so than other teams sports like baseball, basketball, hockey, etc.
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Don’t tell Vegas.
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Exactly right. Chuck may or may not be right and is certainly entitled to his opinion based on his observations. But if one simply concludes that X outplayed Y because he had more tackles than than Y….well that is kind of silly. Tackle numbers ARE overrated without some amount of nuanced analysis. MLBs will almost always lead teams in tackles against any type of normal offense.
Herrera did have a great game, of course.
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Good post.
Yeah, most of the time it’s not good when a Safety is the leading tackler(s). Unfortunately, we’ve seen our share of that.
Numbers don’t determine who plays the best, but Chuck has a point, IMO. Herrera had a great game, as did Floyd. And Herrera might have been a little more consistent, IDK.
~~~
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Herrera had a monster game. He has always played at 100%. He just didn’t have a great captain of the ship the last few years. I hope that he and Ramik will be tackling players in front of them rather than having to chase them down all season as in the past. However, Carter and Kimbrough earned some more PT with their performances as well. Let’s keep this unit fresh for once please.
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Herrera was all over the place on Saturday night. He’s a really good inside blitzer and was out on the edge taking on running backs in space when Clemson would throw the swing pass. I think he put in the hard work this summer to improve while Ramik was getting his deserved preseason hype. Herrera is a tough hombre and has played a lot of snaps over the last 4 years.
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They’re not as overrated as YPP.
A&M – 6.87 YPP
SCU – 6.98 YPP
Wait….Whhhhhuuutttttttttt…
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Nice catch. It’ll be interesting to see if that holds up for all teams playing D-I or whether it represents an anomaly that we should pay close attention to next week.
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Likely from the two long bombs.
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A stat not determining the winner 100% of the time is just the nature of reality, not a sign that the stat is overrated. Of course we don’t want to rely on just one stat, but if for some reason we had to, YPP would probably be the best one as far as telling you usually-accurate information about the strength of a team relative to others.
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Senator, we need a “Herrera Day” on here to show all his stats for the last three yrs. Let’s just look at his good stuff and laud him for the Dawg Power that he is. He has been my favorite for longevity, health and hits for some time.
It will be interesting to see if Wilson gets into a contest (unintentionally, of course) to see who can hit the mostest and hardest. They both may be using up their alloted concussions just for us. Has anyone ever thought that way concerning player output and loyalty?
Damn Good So Ga Dawg!
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I’m just hoping that our linebackers are not falling victim to the dreaded “Stat Bomb”!
Just kidding Ivy. 😉
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LOL. It can’t be avoided, I’m afraid. It’ll be worse this year than ever, since the playoff has amped up the whole hype business.
But if Herrera keeps playing this way, it’ll be harder to overhype him. And he’ll be likely be deserving of whatever he gets (not that Ramik didn’t deserve credit for what he did last year). I’m happy for him. He’s always given everything he’s got and now, with some quickness and speed, he has more opportunity than ever to reach his full potential.
Looking forward to watching him play and get better as the season moves along.
~~~
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He’d have had more if Grantham were still here 😉
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I told you Herrera is the heart and soul of this D. Has been…
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and the hair…the hair-ar-a
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