Steal This Thread - Nose Picking Edition

By now you know the drill:

This thread (named in dubious honor [or honour for Comedic.Sans] of a book titled Steal This Book) is a thread that was designed to be stolen.  Random thoughts, check.  Inane observations, perfectly fine.  Multiple segues, the more the merrier.  Goofy pictures, haiku, whatever.  If the thread gets unwieldy, I'll create a new sandbox for us to play in.  Feel free to jump in, the water's fine.

Ron Brace is trying to step up his game by looking over the rather large shoulders of Vince Wilfork.  How sincere is Ron's desire to get better?  Let's see. 

1. Vince is one of the best 2 gap Nose Tackles in the business. 

2. He just got paid quite well for that particular skill set.

3. More and more teams are switching to 3-4, therefore more teams will have need for talented noses.

4. Ron was underwhelming his first season, and is now considered more of a project player.

5. Vince sits next to Ron and WANTS to teach him.

Motivation now, can turn into serious cash down the road.  I'd say for no other reason than that, he wants to get better.  Sweat is the investment that can pay BIG dividends down the road.  For that reason alone, I think his desire is sincere.

The bigger question is can he step into Vince's oversized cleats?  For us, I hope the answer is a resounding yes.  Earlier in the aughts, King Richard of Seymour held his Nose position.  Seymour did favorably there, but really excelled when pushed out to the End.  Last year, Wilfork was slid out into the End spot to gain some pressure, and Wright picked his Nose position.  Now if we could clone the Vince, we'd have him out there in all three spots for 2 out three downs.  Ron is virtually the same body size.  If he can become as potent as Vince or close to it, it gives us many defensive options.

First is Vince holding the Nose, while Ron slides out and dominates an end spot.  Warren's no slouch either so we'll be back to Seymour days on the inside.  With the OLB's I hope we find doing the edge work.

Second is Vince and Ron on the outsides with Wright in the middle (a heavy three package).  I have to believe that the pocket would close pretty darn fast in that instance.  Following Wright could be a blitzing Mayo and nightmares for some poor QB.

Third is the 4 man front with around 700 lbs of Wilfork and Brace at Tackle saying, "Thou shalt not run through here".  With some hand in the dirt edge rushers (Tully - weak side and Warren - strong side) providing headaches on the Ends.  Add in an additional corner/safety blitz and you have major headaches for offenses.

Here's hoping Ron's teachable, Vince can teach, and opposing QB's are very uncomfortable this year.  Oh, and all RB's are tackled for loss.  A guy can dream can't he?