Mark Herzlich Looking to Restore Passion in the Defense This Year

[Mr. P]

Middle linebacker Mark Herzlich understands the difference between the Giants when they play well and when they do not play well, and it is not what a strategic or physical problem.

The third-year linebacker was quick to point out that during the 2011 Super Bowl run, the defense was simply just having more fun. “You can see that when we play really great defense,” he said. “You saw at the end of (the 2011 season), everyone was bouncing around. When someone made a great play everyone was congratulating them.”

He later said that the defense was missing that sometimes last year and, “We need to have that camaraderie, that passion, that sense of having fun on the field come back to our defense.”

Though he preached having camaraderie on the defense as a whole, Herzlich understands that the Giants linebackers have a lot of responsibility and is the core of an NFL defense.

“We know that things start in the NFL at the linebacker corps, and its very apparent,” he said. “We make the first call and the last call, so its on us.” But he would later mention that he and his fellow linebacker are not talking about the overall uncertainty of the group, which is largely unproven in the NFL and is viewed as a glaring weakness on this Giants team.

Herzlich is in a training camp battle with free agent signee Dan Conner, who last month was arrested in a Philadelphia airport for carrying a knife in his luggage. With the Conner situation seemingly in the past and with the competition ratcheting up today with the first day in uppers, Herzlich knows exactly what he has to show the coaching staff in camp.

“I think they want consistency. That’s something Coach Coughlin talks a lot about, consistency. And that’s consistency physically and mentally,” Herzlich said. He also hoped he can take over more of a leadership role, which is something he has made a point to convey to his teammates since the voluntary camps earlier this summer. “I know that we have had great leadership at the linebacker position in the past and we have been a little inconsistent lately.”

To assume the leadership role, though, Herzlich knows he has to the best understanding of the playback out of anyone on the defense, and he embraces his teammates coming to him for help on and off the field.

He’s using this ability to help to teammates as a gauge of how well of an understanding he has of the playbook, saying, “People will look for me for a call or a question, and that’s really my thing: if I can answer everyone’s question about what they’re supposed to be doing each play, then I know that I know the defense well.”

Though he is focusing on the questions his teammates have for him, Herzlich will ultimately have to answer the concerns that the outsiders have, and that is if an unproven linebacker corps can bounce back from a season that many players, coaches, and fans alike would like to erase.

 

http://insidefootball.com/blog/2013/07/mark-herzlich-looking-to-restore-passion-in-the-defense-this-year/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really rooting for him to win a starting job.

[gmenroc]

Hope he maintains the positive attitude, because if it ever goes negative...I'd hate to see him referred to as a cancer on this team....

 

too soon?

[Nas]

Hope he maintains the positive attitude, because if it ever goes negative...I'd hate to see him referred to as a cancer on this team....

 

too soon?

 

lol

[Sephiroth]

Those Inside Football guys need a grammar lesson, huh?

[NightFire]

In training camp all players are all stars.

[Herc]

i'd settle for him being a serviceable player first. one step at a time