Seattle Seahawks ~ Im just a nobody, Brandon Mebane. What an unselfish and humble player we have in Brandon the man! Go Hawks!!! :) Teammates and coaches concur: Brandon Mebane is the man! In examining Brandon Mebane’s impact on the Seahawks’ No. 1-ranked run defense, you have to look past the nose tackle’s numbers to those statistics he helps his teammates collect. Asked about teammates and coaches singing his praise all week, Brandon Mebane answered by breaking into a song: “I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody, about somebody, who could save anybody.” It’s the chorus from “I’m Just A Nobody” by the Williams Brothers and, yes, it could be Mebane’s theme song as the do-so-much, get-so-little-credit nose tackle in the Seahawks’ No. 1-ranked run defense that will be tested on Sunday by NFL rushing leader DeMarco Murray when the Dallas Cowboys visit CenturyLink Field. “That’s it, man, I’m just a nobody,” Mebane said. His teammates and coaches are singing a different tune when it comes to the 330-pound Mebane and all the havoc he can unleash. There are several verses, but the chorus of what could be called “Mebane’s The Man” always gets back to the same theme: “He’s all we got. He’s all we need.” Mebane, a third-round draft choice in 2007, is the longest-tenured Seahawk – one of only three players remaining from the team coach Pete Carroll inherited in 2010, along with center Max Unger and punter Jon Ryan. And there reasons almost as big as Mebane that he’s still around. “Come on, that’s probably three years running Pro Bowl snub,” All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman said when asked how well Mebane has played during the team’s 3-1 start. “Brandon Mebane is like the engine that helps our defense go. “Brandon Mebane does not move. He is an immovable object out there.” Second verse plays off the first, as defensive coordinator Dan Quinn offered this assessment of why Mebane handles double-team blocks so well, “One of the things he has for being a big guy is his balance. So when you get two guys on you, a lot of times somebody can push on you on your hip and you get movement and you can be on the ground. So that’s one of the things that’s so remarkable for a 330-pound guy, that he’s not on the ground and he has great leverage. He’s built that way, but he uses it to his advantage. For his size, the thing that we always admire about him, we rarely see him on the ground. It’s the leverage that he plays with that he can get underneath the blocker.” And that prompted another solo of praise by Sherman: “He does a fantastic job with his hands. He’s an incredibly technical player in his movements and everything he does. He’s rarely out of position. He’s rarely out of the play. And he does a great job running to the ball. You rarely see a D-tackle making tackles on the sideline or tackles on a screen play, and he does all that. But once again, he’s overlooked because I guess his stats aren’t there. He’s not a big sack-total guy. He’s just a guy who does his job incredibly well week in and week out.” No one benefits more from Mebane’s presence and performance than Bobby Wagner, the Seahawks’ middle linebacker and leading tackler. So of course he had a verse to contribute. “He’s the reason why I play as well as I play,” Wagner said. “He’s done a great job keeping guys off me. I’m surprised that nobody has noticed how great he’s been playing. I’m trying to tell you, he’s been doing great. And for him to not get the recognition (makes me perturbed) for him.” But the leader of this team, and in this choir that’s singing the praise of Mebane, is Carroll. “Brandon is maybe playing the best he’s played,” Carroll said. “He might be at the top of his game right now.” Regardless of what his statistics might try and tell you about Mebane: six tackles and no sacks. Numbers like that lead to no recognition from those who watch Mebane from afar. But he handles that with a no-worries attitude. “It’s all good,” Mebane said. “I don’t need all that.” He’s too busy giving the Seahawks everything he’s got on every play. seahawks
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 22:25:07 +0000
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