So how critical should we be of Sheldon Rankins?

after listening to people say they made a focus to watch him, I did that yesterday. He eats double teams and if he's going 1v1 he causes pressure more often than not.

I think the issue is Davison/Onyemata aren't great pass rushers so they don't get that much respect.

reality is, he's not elite like Aaron Donald who eats double teams and still gets sacks.

Defensive Tackle is one of those positions where productivity and good play doesn't necessarily show up on the stat sheet

Teams aren't getting shite for running yards up the middle b/c of Rankins & Davison (also Onyemata some). Even though he's getting doubled a lot, I'd still like to see some sacks every once in a while. No complaints with his run defense though. For a 2nd year DT...he's doing a good job.

That one big run that Detroit had was the only big run we've given up in the last 3 games (not really sure about week 2, but I don't recall the Pats having a lot of success running either). Not sure who was responsible for filling that lane, but there wasn't a LB or Safety in sight. Somebody missed an assignment.

The Vikings were the only team to run on us, & their big runs were outside the tackles.

This.

If you want Rankins to stat produce he needs a better DT at running mate next to him.

Otherwise his production will show up like it did yesterday. With Cam and everyone else lighting it up.

Rankins IMO could be argued for being the 3rd best player on this team behind Cam and Lattimore.

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If you want Rankins to stat produce he needs a better DT at running mate next to him. 

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In all honesty Davison and Onyemata both look better to me. Rankins not making no interior push, Davison on the other hand has, and Onyemata has been real solid in relief

All I know is that we are playing better against the run and quarterbacks don’t have 2 minutes to sit in the pocket. Way better than it’s been in the past.

Bone beat me to it. We shouldn’t be very critical at all. No, he doesn’t have the stats that we’d like to see, but make no mistake; the man is absolutely making a difference. He is the reason our outside rushers and blitzes aren’t getting doubled or picked up immediately. He’s doing exactly what we drafted him to do: pick up double teams to free up our edge guys and help stuff the middle of the line. We’ve given up some big runs, but almost all are to the outside. And even with those big runs, I still think we are almost top 10 in run defense (don’t quote me on that). So while I understand being a little worried about lack of stats, stay patient. Teams will have to start doubling Cam or others when their numbers start to elevate and that will free up Rankins. Or, things will stay the same and Cam and Co. will continue to reak havoc. I’m fine with either.

Idk he’s supposed to be this big sack machine outta Louisville we haven’t seen it but it maybe because Fairley isn’t there to help with the initial push for him to get back there

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but honestly he's part of the reason Fairley had that success as Rankins was taking the doubles last year also.

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Fairley's 7 games of year without Rankins- 3.5 sacks
Fairley's 9 games of year with Rankins- 3 sacks


sorry, not buying that correlation bone. Rankins did have 4 sacks in 9 games last year when he kind of got off to slow start but i think Rankins was the one benefiting from playing next to Fairley.