Angry Pope
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Raiders need Kelly to let his girth do the talking
David White
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Tommy Kelly is big as an ox, but less chatty.
He stands 6-foot-4, weighs 300 pounds on the dot and starts at defensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders.
Let Jerry Porter decline speaking engagements one expletive at a time; Kelly takes the polite route in saying he has nothing to say about this, that and the other.
"Oh no, not at all," Kelly said when asked if he'd care to string together a few nouns and verbs in quotation marks. "But, you have a nice day, sir."
Rumor has it, Kelly was commanded not to give interviews by former teammate Ted Washington and current buddy Warren Sapp. He obeyed because this was three years ago, when Kelly was a rookie free agent from Mississippi State while Washington and Sapp were veteran starters who weighed a lot more than he did.
Washington, who wasn't a talker himself, was released by the Raiders in March, and Sapp doesn't extend the rookie treatment past the first year. Kelly is now free to speak his mind, except he doesn't want to.
So, there.
"I try to avoid that," Kelly said, not realizing he's doing an interview about not doing interviews.
If the Raiders have their way, Kelly will be forced to decline dozens of interview requests each week, the product of increased popularity that will come if Kelly becomes the run stopper Oakland needs him to be.
Defensive ends Derrick Burgess and Tyler Brayton are pass rushers. So is Sapp at defensive tackle.
Someone, anyone, in the front-four has to excel at impeding the run, and this is Kelly's chance to be that clog. There's no better time to start than Monday night's season opener against LaDainian Tomlinson and the San Diego Chargers.
To that, Kelly says ... (crickets chirping).
"He's the big, silent type," Burgess said. "That's just how he is, he's like that all the time. He's all about work, that's all."
It won't take long to see if Kelly suffices against the run. Nine of his 12 starts last year were at defensive end, where he had 4 1/2 sacks as an oversized quarterback chaser. As a rookie, he started three games at tackle and led the team with four sacks.
He's such a known quantity as a pass rusher, the Raiders refuse to slap a nose tackle label on him. Nose tackles, like the 365-pound Washington, have the girth to demand double-teams and fill running lanes, often without having to move.
Think of Kelly as a hybrid version of version of Washington. Less size, but far more mobile. Kelly might not outweigh many guards, but his quick move off the snap makes for good atonement.
"He understands one speed: just go," Sapp said. "The sky's the limit for that monster. And, when he gets his feet wet, he's really going to understand what we're going to ask of him this year, and he's going to be big for us."
Sapp, a chatterbox with a wonderful future in broadcasting, likes it when Kelly has nothing to say. Talking is bad when the ball is about to be snapped and Kelly is asking Sapp out loud what to do next.
As a rookie, Kelly struggled to identify a back set from a center set. This is someone who didn't play football until his senior year at Provine High in Jackson, Miss.
He'd often guess which guard was about to punch him in the face, and sometimes didn't find out for sure until he got smacked aside.
That wouldn't do, Sapp decided, so gave Kelly weekly pop quizzes at Thursday team meetings. He'd slip Kelly a piece of paper and tell him to draw up plays and schemes.
"It becomes second nature: He'll just look, and I'll look at him," Sapp said. "He'll nod his head, 'Yeah, I know.' It takes some pressure off of me having to say, 'Tommy, you go this.' Because, O-linemen can see that, when you're talking.
"It's knowing what you're facing, and knowing's half the battle. G.I. Joe said that."
To which Kelly says ... (bullfrogs croaking in the distance).
If Kelly doesn't pan out, the Raiders will have problems. His backup is Terdell Sands, who has more size at 6-7, 335 pounds but less speed. Sands has made one career start. The other backup tackle is Anttaj Hawthorne, a second-year project from Wisconsin who is 6-3, 310.
That's as deep as the depth chart runs. So, if the Raiders are going to stop teams from running up the middle all season, it will be because Kelly has last say in the matter.
"Tommy is doing pretty good," Raiders coach Art Shell said. "Tommy has a lot of talent, but talent has to play. I think he is really going to come into his own this year."
David White
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Tommy Kelly is big as an ox, but less chatty.
He stands 6-foot-4, weighs 300 pounds on the dot and starts at defensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders.
Let Jerry Porter decline speaking engagements one expletive at a time; Kelly takes the polite route in saying he has nothing to say about this, that and the other.
"Oh no, not at all," Kelly said when asked if he'd care to string together a few nouns and verbs in quotation marks. "But, you have a nice day, sir."
Rumor has it, Kelly was commanded not to give interviews by former teammate Ted Washington and current buddy Warren Sapp. He obeyed because this was three years ago, when Kelly was a rookie free agent from Mississippi State while Washington and Sapp were veteran starters who weighed a lot more than he did.
Washington, who wasn't a talker himself, was released by the Raiders in March, and Sapp doesn't extend the rookie treatment past the first year. Kelly is now free to speak his mind, except he doesn't want to.
So, there.
"I try to avoid that," Kelly said, not realizing he's doing an interview about not doing interviews.
If the Raiders have their way, Kelly will be forced to decline dozens of interview requests each week, the product of increased popularity that will come if Kelly becomes the run stopper Oakland needs him to be.
Defensive ends Derrick Burgess and Tyler Brayton are pass rushers. So is Sapp at defensive tackle.
Someone, anyone, in the front-four has to excel at impeding the run, and this is Kelly's chance to be that clog. There's no better time to start than Monday night's season opener against LaDainian Tomlinson and the San Diego Chargers.
To that, Kelly says ... (crickets chirping).
"He's the big, silent type," Burgess said. "That's just how he is, he's like that all the time. He's all about work, that's all."
It won't take long to see if Kelly suffices against the run. Nine of his 12 starts last year were at defensive end, where he had 4 1/2 sacks as an oversized quarterback chaser. As a rookie, he started three games at tackle and led the team with four sacks.
He's such a known quantity as a pass rusher, the Raiders refuse to slap a nose tackle label on him. Nose tackles, like the 365-pound Washington, have the girth to demand double-teams and fill running lanes, often without having to move.
Think of Kelly as a hybrid version of version of Washington. Less size, but far more mobile. Kelly might not outweigh many guards, but his quick move off the snap makes for good atonement.
"He understands one speed: just go," Sapp said. "The sky's the limit for that monster. And, when he gets his feet wet, he's really going to understand what we're going to ask of him this year, and he's going to be big for us."
Sapp, a chatterbox with a wonderful future in broadcasting, likes it when Kelly has nothing to say. Talking is bad when the ball is about to be snapped and Kelly is asking Sapp out loud what to do next.
As a rookie, Kelly struggled to identify a back set from a center set. This is someone who didn't play football until his senior year at Provine High in Jackson, Miss.
He'd often guess which guard was about to punch him in the face, and sometimes didn't find out for sure until he got smacked aside.
That wouldn't do, Sapp decided, so gave Kelly weekly pop quizzes at Thursday team meetings. He'd slip Kelly a piece of paper and tell him to draw up plays and schemes.
"It becomes second nature: He'll just look, and I'll look at him," Sapp said. "He'll nod his head, 'Yeah, I know.' It takes some pressure off of me having to say, 'Tommy, you go this.' Because, O-linemen can see that, when you're talking.
"It's knowing what you're facing, and knowing's half the battle. G.I. Joe said that."
To which Kelly says ... (bullfrogs croaking in the distance).
If Kelly doesn't pan out, the Raiders will have problems. His backup is Terdell Sands, who has more size at 6-7, 335 pounds but less speed. Sands has made one career start. The other backup tackle is Anttaj Hawthorne, a second-year project from Wisconsin who is 6-3, 310.
That's as deep as the depth chart runs. So, if the Raiders are going to stop teams from running up the middle all season, it will be because Kelly has last say in the matter.
"Tommy is doing pretty good," Raiders coach Art Shell said. "Tommy has a lot of talent, but talent has to play. I think he is really going to come into his own this year."