Mike Green isn’t dwelling on his rookie sack total. Instead, he’s focused on how close he came to producing much bigger numbers. Appearing on The Lounge Podcast with Ryan Mink and Clifton Brown, Green discussed a film session that helped reshape how he viewed his first NFL season. Green said a cut-up tape highlighting plays where he narrowly missed sacks and other impact plays showed him that his performance was better than the box score indicated.
“When he made that cut-up of all these plays that I was literally just this close to making, it kind of made me realize I was playing a little bit better than I was, even though the stats didn’t necessarily show that,” Green said.
The film also reinforced that many of the traits necessary to become a productive NFL pass rusher are already present.
“I think that cut-up showed me a lot about myself,” Green said. “Even though I felt like I didn’t necessarily meet the standard that I wanted to meet last year, I came very close.”
When asked whether he believes he can become a double-digit sack producer, Green didn’t hesitate.
“Yeah, for sure,” Green said. “Every edge rusher is going to want to hit the double-digit sacks.”
Green explained that sacks often come in bunches once a player begins consistently affecting quarterbacks.
“Once you get a few under your belt, they all start to form in after that,” Green said. “It’s a lot of other things that go into sacks that I feel like a lot of people don’t really know.”
After recording 17 sacks during his final college season, Green understands expectations are high. But he believes patience and continued development will eventually lead to the production he’s accustomed to.
“It’s just a matter of time of when these plays are going to start to stack up on each other,” Green said.
This article originally appeared on Ravens Wire: Mike Green says sacks are only a matter of time after near-misses
