2007 CB Tandems - KC Joyner - 6/6/08

[dcfanatic]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/columns/story?columnist=joyner_kc&id=3425488

Denver's dynamic CB duo never materialized

By KC Joyner
ESPN Insider

Updated: June 4, 2008

For the final installment of the "best of/worst of 2007" series, I'll be taking a look at which starting cornerback tandems had the highest and lowest YPA (yards per attempt) allowed.

Glossary of terms

The word "tandem" technically means this should include only two players per team, but in a number of cases, injuries forced more than two players to split the starting spots. Because of this, I set the qualifying mark for this analysis at eight starts.

This did mean that in a couple of instances, a team had a nickel cornerback who started a few games at the nickel spot and a few others at one of the standard spots and accordingly ended up being listed as a starter. However, this beat the alternate method of using the attempt mark, as that would have included many more nickel backs as starters and, if the bar were set high enough, might have excluded some starters such as Nnamdi Asomugha (who had only 35 passes thrown his way).

As was the case in the rest of this series, the yardage totals include "pass in the air" penalty attempts and yards (i.e., penalty yards from pass interference, defensive holding, illegal contact, etc., have been added to each player's yardage stats).

Now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, let's take a look at the starting cornerback tandem YPA rankings from 2007:

Now let's take a closer look at some of the best and worst:

The best

Ronde Barber/Phillip Buchanon: Barber had a fantastic 2007 season with a 4.9 YPA and a 44.9 percent success rate, but it's not like Buchanon simply rode on Barber's superb metric coattails. Buchanon posted a terrific 6.4 YPA and nearly matched Barber's success percentage with a rate of 44.8.

To put their success marks another way, consider that there were only 64 successful plays against Barber and Buchanon all season. That means that, on average, the other team's offense could expect only two positive plays to each of its wideouts on any given Sunday.

Trumaine McBride/Charles Tillman: As good as Nathan Vasher is, this combination's No. 2 showing in this metric illustrates that Chicago did not miss Vasher nearly as much as is generally thought. If Vasher comes back fully healthy this year, this cornerback trio could make a strong case for being the best in the NFL.

Jabari Greer/Terrence McGee: This tandem's statistics provide some proof that the Bills are quietly building one of the best secondaries in the league. If Buffalo can at the very least develop Leodis McKelvin, Reggie Corner and/or Ashton Youboty into an effective nickel/dime duo, there won't be a real coverage weakness for any offense to target.

The worst

Champ Bailey/Dre' Bly: The buzz going into the 2007 season was that Bailey and Bly might be the best starting battery around, but it didn't turn out anywhere near that way. A lot of this poor performance was on Bly's shoulders, as evidenced by his 8.8 YPA, but Bailey has to take some of blame as well. His 7.8 YPA was his worst since 2005. Both will have to improve if Denver's defense is going to see a turnaround in 2008.

Al Harris/Charles Woodson: Harris landed a starting spot in the Pro Bowl, and Woodson had a lot of support for a Hawaii trip as well, but their combined totals placed them 27th in this category. Most of that showing was the result of Harris' 9.7 YPA, a number that begs the question as to why he was given that starting Pro Bowl spot in the first place.

KC Joyner, aka the Football Scientist, is a regular contributor to ESPN Insider. His core coverage metrics for all skill-position players and cornerbacks will be available in the ESPN Fantasy Football Magazine, which will be released this summer. His 2008 releases, "Scientific Football 2008" and "Blindsided: Why The Left Tackle is Overrated and Other Contrarian Football Thoughts," are available for preorder. For more, check out KC's Web site, www.thefootballscientist.com.
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Very surprised to see the Cowboys ranked high on any kind of 'statistical report' when it comes to the secondary. KC Joyner does some odd stuff with his work and half the time you wonder if it's really relevant. But I do like seeing the Cowboys in the top ten anyway.

Very surprised at the 'worst' tandems.

 

[Real1st]

majooorr heeaddd acheeee

 

[dcfanatic]

majooorr heeaddd acheeee

Can a brother get a second to fix his post?

Geeesssshh.

:laugh2:

 

[Real1st]

Can a brother get a second to fix his post?

Geeesssshh.

:laugh2:

:laugh1:

thanks for the post btw

 

[BuckyG]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/columns/story?columnist=joyner_kc&id=3425488

Denver's dynamic CB duo never materialized

By KC Joyner
ESPN Insider

Updated: June 4, 2008Very surprised at the 'worst' tandems.

Interesting article. However, and maybe I'm not understanding this list correctly, but shouldn't the amount of attempts and yardage allowed count for something? Packers corners get slagged, but it appears that hardly anybody every threw at them, relatively. Cowboys corners rated highly, but they were thrown at a lot. Shouldn't the fact that much of the time teams threw away from a team's corners count for something? And in this regard, the less times a tandem is thrown towards, the more a big play or two tends to skew the averages.

 

[big dog cowboy]

No offense to KC Joyner, but if AdamJT13 came up with a CB tandem ranking, I'd bet it would be better and more reflective of how they honestly perform.

Also any ranking for Dallas in the future will be skewed because we don't have a "tandem" at CB we have a "CB Patrol" back there now.

 

[THUMPER]

Interesting that he skipped over the Commanders who were ranked 2nd and gave props to the Bears and Bills instead.

It is not a bad ranking as YPA is a decent stat for comparing CBs but it doesn't take into account a lot of other factors that go into making a successful CB. Those things would be tough to quantify in most cases though and a team's defensive style plays a lot into it as well.

It was also telling that two of the most overhyped duos were ranked near the bottom. :laugh2:

 

[sago1]

I think the Cowboys offense can take a lot of credit for the poor stats the Packer CBs put up--at least Al Harrison who frankly I didn't think rated a trip to the pro bowl. Woodsen couldn't play but really doubt he'd have done any better.

 

[dargonking999]

I think the reason you can't use attempts is because, a team like the cowboys, who were constantly in front made the opposing team pass more, so we of course would have alot more yards. Where a team maybe like the Bills, and Jags who played tough physical football, didn't force the team to pass alot, so they won't have as many attempts toward them. The bottom line is, its hard to judge CB's, but i'd say he did a fair job

 

[Disturbed]

Can we get the stats that include our safeties? The weak link to our secondary....this would move us way down the list if we include Roy's coverage ability.

The good news is that our CB will be even better this year. And if Hamlin moves to SS and Henry/Watkins to FS we will have one of the best secondaries in the game.

 

[THUMPER]

Can we get the stats that include our safeties? The weak link to our secondary....this would move us way down the list if we include Roy's coverage ability.

Hey now, none of that, none of that! Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

The good news is that our CB will be even better this year. And if Hamlin moves to SS and Henry/Watkins to FS we will have one of the best secondaries in the game.

I like that Henry was not opposed to moving to safety so long as we made that decision soon so that he can spend time learning the position.

If Adam Jones and Jenkins can both play significant minutes this season then we will have a very deep and talented secondary indeed!

 

[AmishCowboy]

Hard to Believe we ranked that high with the injuries to Newman and Henry, all I remember is Reeves getting burned all the time.

 

[Disturbed]

Guys, I read that Kevin Burnett even wanted to play some Safety. At first I laughed but then after thinking about how big the TE are getting and the mismatches they create -- I started to like the idea. Burnett is 6'3" and a better tackler than some of the other options. This would get him on the field more and it would potentially help us with the bigger TE in the league.

I think Burnett is hungry and he could make a difference. Okay, tell me why this is a bad idea....anyone.

 

[Disturbed]

So our secondary could look something like this --

Jenkins CB
Watkins FS
Hamlin SS
Newman CB

Pacman CB (rotating in as needed, also playing ST & some offense)
Burnett SS rotating in on passing downs to cover TE

RW -- not needed, trade away...

 

[burmafrd]

How in the world did the Browns CBs rate highly=their whole D sucked.

 

[Disturbed]

One very telling stat is the attempts....Dallas had more attempts than anyone in the league. Why? Well, teams were behind when playing us but that doesn't fully explain it. I mean look at New England, they had significantly less attempts against them...

I think this illustrates the weakness of these two teams -- New England was weaker against run and Dallas was weaker against pass. The question for this year will be has the teams addressed these issues. Dallas has taken a good first step on the CB front, but it is not resolved until the safety play is improved significantly.

 

[Disturbed]

How in the world did the Browns CBs rate highly=their whole D sucked.

Teams probably just ran over them....no need to pass when you can just hand it off and get first downs.

 

[TheCount]

How in the world did the Browns CBs rate highly=their whole D sucked.

You don't win as many games as they did with an entire defense that sucks. They had problems getting pressure and their front seven wasn't exactly stellar. They've done a lot to address that this off season.

I know we're used to saying the Browns suck, but they made a huge leap last season. They've got some real playmakers on offense (including a top 5 TE and top 10 WR), they've improved their o-line, made moves in the offseason to address their D. They've made all the right moves.

It might be temporary like the Bengals resurgence, but for right now, it looks like their arrow is pointing up.

 

[Manster68]

Let's take a look at the starti...a very good position as a previous 13-3 team.

 

[TheCount]

Guys, I read that Kevin Burnett even wanted to play some Safety. At first I laughed but then after thinking about how big the TE are getting and the mismatches they create -- I started to like the idea. Burnett is 6'3" and a better tackler than some of the other options. This would get him on the field more and it would potentially help us with the bigger TE in the league.

I think Burnett is hungry and he could make a difference. Okay, tell me why this is a bad idea....anyone.

Because he's a linebacker, not a safety?

I'm sure Burnett has "wanted" to do a lot of things in his life, that doesn't mean they were all good ideas. The fact that he's 6'3" means nothing really, Watkin's is 6'5" and isn't a better safety than Hamlin.