Cowboyszone Report Card... Gerald Sensabaugh...GPA = 1.99

Well, he sucked, but not as much as the other safety sucked. So I guess that's something.

Otherwise he seemed out of position a lot. And I don't think he was very good at tackling. He is one of many reasons our defense was atrocious last year.

D.
 
He was all over the place, in a bad way. It's not something I can confirm, but I feel like he's a guy that goes off of the reservation and into business for himself. When it works, he makes awesome plays and when it doesn't he's looking like a fool.
 
I'm actually gonna give him a B, I think he was one of the better secondary players, especially considering he was playing next to an F- like Ball.
 
Sensabaugh's Defensive Passer Rating
47.0
24 of 42, 57.1% 292 yards, 7.0 ypa, 1 td, 5 int

Sensabaugh's 5 picks ranked him 3rd in the league among safeties behind only Reed and Polamalu. What's more, of the 26 touchdowns surrendered by the five Dallas DB's, Pro football Focus (in this excellent piece by One.Cool.Customer at Blogging the Boys) says Sensabugh was responsible for only one TD. Naturally, a 5-to-1 INT to TD ratio is outstanding. His defensive passer rating (again, based on PFF's interpretation of who was covering who) was an unbelievably low 47.0. I figured this number must have been the result of Sensy playing so shallow (which would certainly give you lower yardage and TD numbers). Then I looked at the throws by distance at Elias Sports Bureau (ESPN) and found that Sensabaugh led the defense in passes defended 21-30 yards beyond the LOS. This was an eye-opener.

Passes Defended or Intercepted
More than 10 (20) yards Downfield
Sensabaugh 10 (6)
Jenkins 8 (6)
Scandrick 7 (3)
Ball 6 (4)
Newman 6 (4)

Some caveats remain, of course. Sensabaugh was still responsible for a much smaller portion of the field than Ball was, so the sample size of Sensabugh's plays farther downfield (while he did make the most of them) is still small. The fact that Ball failed at his responsiblity on such a grand scale didn't make Sensabaugh's role any bigger, and actually meant Sensabaugh was thrown at less (because the underneath was exploited less) than he might have been if the deeper coverage had been halfway decent. And the subjectivity involved in deciding who was covering the targeted receiver on a given play can always be brought into question. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the TD's attributed to other Dallas DB's were at least partially Sensabaugh's fault (or Ball's).

Also, when comparing Sensabaugh to the other defensive backs on the team, there's the fact that safeties have built-in advantages over cornerbacks in these stats, because they're able to play the ball more. Some of those interceptions didn't necessarily prevent completions, for example. My own impression based on memory tells me Sensabaugh was inconsistent. He plays a position that often allows him to get the credit for a pass breakup (or interception), without the blame (or the yardage against him) if that pass is completed. IOW, defensive passer rating doesn't mean the same thing for a safety that it means for a cornerback.

But I don't think there can be any question that Sensabaugh's season ranks somewhere between pretty decent and great (until I see FO's numbers, I'll lean toward the former), and he only needed an average year to beat the other DB's.

Pass Defense: C (weighted)
Run Defense: B
Big Plays: B

Overall: C
 
B. He was much better this year than he was last year. I attribute a lot of that to him actually getting to play with two hands this year.

Covered tight ends and backs well, tackling was decent, but he didn't do anything markedly different tackling than any other NFL players (they just love the "shoulder block" tackle in the NFL!)

Overall, I would not be upset if he were back, because I think he's the best guy we've had at SS since the pre-Parcells Roy Williams days. If his position can be upgrades (and it can, if we get Deunta Williams) then I say let him walk, though, because he'll likely demand more than his worth at least on this team.

Definitely an area of need, one way or the other though. We can't go letting decent secondary guys walk when there's no suitable replacement already in place...even if I believe Barry Church is that guy!
 
D. Another guy without a clue in coverage. Inconsistent tackler. His play would be better with a better safety alongside him, but his position would be better filled by a replacement. Given a choice between Sensabaugh and Ball, I would keep Sensabaugh, but there would have to be a real strong option next to him.
 
Some of you are delusional if you think hes awful. The Stealers lost Polamalu and their 'vaunted' defense was completely different. The impact of not having a good (just good, never mind HOF caliber) is pretty dramatic. In spite of that, Sensi played well above average.
So ****
 
From what I saw in games, Sensabaugh was sometimes decent to fairly good and sometimes kind of ugly, i.e. I thought he was pretty inconsistant. Still, I think he could be more consistant at SS if the Cowboys had even a decent FS playing next to him.

I'm giving him a C.
 
Poor effort, random *** tackler, always seems to get in a fight w/ Newman about responsibilities and Im assuming Newman was right
 
I thought he came on a little stronger after Garrett took over. I'll give him a C for the year. I think a big part of his problem, in all honesty, was having such trash to work with at the other safety position.
 
He gets a "C" from me. Nothing special, nothing horrible.
 
Couldn't decide between a B and a C. Went with the C, but it's a high C/low B grade.
 
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