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Truth be told, if we had our way, we'd do film review every day for every play and become a site full of screen grabs, circles, squiggly lines and interpretations of what we observed. Taking into account more than a player's production that highlights their statistical production or PFF score (would love to see their breakdown per play), breaking down plays gives you insight into little things that go unnoticed on a generic scale that foolishly concludes a player' being "good" or "bad" or whatever (aren't we past the stage of one-word descriptions?).
Reggie Nelson is one.
He's a fantastic player that makes the occasional play but rarely is he featured as one of the team's significant defenders. Adam Jones, Terence Newman and Vontaze Burfict get more play than Nelson, as does Michael Johnson, Carlos Dunlap and the excitable Domata Peko.
Pete Prisco with CBSSports.com features a brief film review on Nelson, starting with an introduction that beautifully summarized Nelson's transition from a disappointment in Jacksonville to a critical member on Mike Zimmer's defense.
I remember when a quarterback readying to face the Jaguars a few years back told me how excited he was to get Nelson on a double-move. And he did.
Nelson's tackling was bad in large part because he wasn't as focused on his craft. Poor recognition led to poor angles and missed tackles.
When he left Jacksonville, Nelson signed with the Bengals as a free agent in 2010. At about the same time, Nelson admittedly changed the way he did things. He became a student of the game and spent the offseason working on his body as hard as anybody in the league, a far different approach than early in his career.
Prisco would go on to break down two critical plays against the Cleveland Browns.