Criticism of Secondary Makes No Sense

[Pants]

I like your reply but turn overs are the new measuring stick for evenly matched teams to win. You call it the Kobayashi Maru, I call it violating them and he should arrested!

you get the like for the bolded refernce

...and, I like the direction of this secondary...we expected growing pains, and we have seen that...if marinelli could somehow cause pressure in the 2nd half of games, then the secondary will look MUCH better....

 

[Yakuza Rich]

To their credit, Byron was awful in the Broncos game. That poor of a performance is going to lead to a lot of criticism. And I don't detest talk of moving Byron to CB, but to think he's a bad safety...particularly after playing very well against the Giants, Cardinals and looking incredible against the Rams...is just silly agenda driven posts.

Essentially, I'm okay with Byron moving to corner if it creates the best 5 DB's on the field. But given how important the safety position is and Byron being clearly the best safety on the team...I'd rather keep him there. And any discussions about moving him to corner should be moved to next season.

I haven't been too down on the corner play. Brown has been okay. He doesn't get thrown at a lot, when he does it's usually due to a mistake, but he has the speed to make up for it. I'd like to see better defense from him against the run and shedding blockers, but I'm not too worried. Jourdan Lewis has been somewhat impressive thus far. And Scandrick is Scandrick...he's a known commodity.

The biggest issues I see on the defense is Heath, Jaylon, the weakside of the D-Line and Marinelli's struggles/unwillingness to send blitzes when the pass rush isn't getting there. This makes us suceptible against the run, allows too many underneath passes and you need to get pressure when you're playing zone in this league.





YR

 

[pitt33]

Smith is embarrassingly bad. Not his fault at all, on the coaches, but Hitchens should be a massive improvement (can't believe I said that)

Jaylon can hardly run for Pete's sake. He really has no business being out there on passing downs.

 

[pitt33]

To their credit, Byron was awful in the Broncos game. That poor of a performance is going to lead to a lot of criticism. And I don't detest talk of moving Byron to CB, but to think he's a bad safety...particularly after playing very well against the Giants, Cardinals and looking incredible against the Rams...is just silly agenda driven posts.

Essentially, I'm okay with Byron moving to corner if it creates the best 5 DB's on the field. But given how important the safety position is and Byron being clearly the best safety on the team...I'd rather keep him there. And any discussions about moving him to corner should be moved to next season.

I haven't been too down on the corner play. Brown has been okay. He doesn't get thrown at a lot, when he does it's usually due to a mistake, but he has the speed to make up for it. I'd like to see better defense from him against the run and shedding blockers, but I'm not too worried. Jourdan Lewis has been somewhat impressive thus far. And Scandrick is Scandrick...he's a known commodity.

The biggest issues I see on the defense is Heath, Jaylon, the weakside of the D-Line and Marinelli's struggles/unwillingness to send blitzes when the pass rush isn't getting there. This makes us suceptible against the run, allows too many underneath passes and you need to get pressure when you're playing zone in this league.





YR

Byron is good at covering TE's and receiver's around the end zone.

He gets in real trouble playing deep safety.

 

[Denim Chicken]

You can blame the secondary and/or the LBs, but we need to get better here:

 

[DogFace]

I thought the long Gurley pass was on Wilson??

I’m my defense I’m a drunk.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Byron is good at covering TE's and receiver's around the end zone.

He gets in real trouble playing deep safety.

I don't see it.

He's great at covering WR's and TE's everywhere.




YR

 

[The Natural]

I got some snow huts to sell you out in Miami if you think this year this can be a super bowl caliber secondary. Jeff Heath is awful in the open field, on the long Gurley TD we can pass the buck on to the LB's all we want but safety is the last line of defense and Heath gave up that score. The other safety what's his name, Byron, he doesn't want to hit anybody. And Awuzie we haven't seen anything from to project one way or the other.

There are a few positives: Woods/Lewis. I don't know what those guys broad jumped at the combine, I don't know their 40 times, or vertical leaps. All I know is they are bonafide football players, it's evident when you see their college tapes and when you see them on the field now. I'd like to see AB clean up his technique a bit, especially inside the 10, back should never be to the QB down near the goal line. If Awuzie proves to be a player and we get a real safety to pair with Woods next year then we might be talkin.

 

[jday]

This week I've seen stinging criticism of Heath and Jones. Earlier in the season I've seen posters belittle Scandrick and Brown.

One guy dedicates a post to convey we need another round of secondary upgrades.

It's a mountain of ignorance because our secondary has played pretty well despite youth, inexperience and widespread injury.

Some folks around here flat can't analyze football. Case in point? What would you think of a secondary that permitted 14/26 for 161 yards. Not bad eh? Especially if we are talking about a young, injury depleted secondary behind a d-line that wasn't getting to the quarterback.

If you subtract what Gurley was able to do as a receiver when attacking Jaylon Smith and look at what the Rams did against the secondary? 14/26 for 161 yards.

That's good stuff, folks. With the additions of Woods, Awuzie and Lewis--especially as they heal up and get some experience--to Scandrick, Jones and Brown...this can be a Super Bowl caliber secondary.

We have problems on this team: linebacker, outside receiver, tight end, left guard, right tackle...but our secondary is going to be sexy this year...and for years to come.

I agree with most of what you said here, but Heath is woefully inept in coverage. Woods is ideal as a FS, but I think he is less of a liability at SS than is Heath. Just my non-expert opinion. Heath seems to be responsible for a coverage-lapse in just about every game.

 

[risco]

To amplify:
Gurley was targeted 8 times...7 catches 94 yards. Most all of that was when L.A. got Gurley matched up with Jaylon.

The one time Dallas had Woods cover Gurley...the play only gained two or three yards.

Jaylon needs another year...good thing Hitchens is coming back. The biggest improvements we can get in pass protection is to add Irving to the pressure and to get Jaylon off the field. DBs are fine.

 

[TheHerd]

I thought the long Gurley pass was on Wilson??

I’m my defense I’m a drunk.

He beat Wilson for the first 25 yards, then Heath for the TD.

 

[Supercowboy1986]

Same.

I am not a stats guy, but I will admit the only relevant stat to me are points scored and points scored against. Games are played on the field not the stat sheet.

The only reason I say that points scored and points scored against are the only relevant stat is because games are solely decided on which team scores the most points at the end of regulation.

Games are not solely decided on total yards, sacks, time of possession, and yada yada.

All of those other stats are broscience and bar room talk. None of which I have any interest in.

I'm no expert on this, nor will I act like I am.

However, I think most of the stats aren't eye popping, because of our bend don't break defense.

What people get angry about, and what I do as well, is the stoppin on big 3rd downs and the receivers running wide open.

 

[visionary]

Jaylon can hardly run for Pete's sake. He really has no business being out there .

You could have just stopped there
These days most RBs are good pass catchers and can run pretty fast
Jaylon cannot keep up with these guys
Putting him out there is yet another failure of our FO that first wasted a second round pick on a player who would not see the field for 2 years and then compounded the problem by putting him in before he was ready to try and justify the pick

 

[CowboyRoy]

This week I've seen stinging criticism of Heath and Jones. Earlier in the season I've seen posters belittle Scandrick and Brown.

One guy dedicates a post to convey we need another round of secondary upgrades.

It's a mountain of ignorance because our secondary has played pretty well despite youth, inexperience and widespread injury.

Some folks around here flat can't analyze football. Case in point? What would you think of a secondary that permitted 14/26 for 161 yards. Not bad eh? Especially if we are talking about a young, injury depleted secondary behind a d-line that wasn't getting to the quarterback.

If you subtract what Gurley was able to do as a receiver when attacking Jaylon Smith and look at what the Rams did against the secondary? 14/26 for 161 yards.

That's good stuff, folks. With the additions of Woods, Awuzie and Lewis--especially as they heal up and get some experience--to Scandrick, Jones and Brown...this can be a Super Bowl caliber secondary.

We have problems on this team: linebacker, outside receiver, tight end, left guard, right tackle...but our secondary is going to be sexy this year...and for years to come.

The most amazing part of this post is there were actually 13 people so far that agreed with you and liked your assessment.

 

[CowboyRoy]

It's not entirely that simple. When we were in zone the Rams were getting Gurley into Jaylon's zone. Linebackers aren't going to defend wide receivers...you can't hide guys out there. Offensive coordinators are really good at attacking the weakest link.

so which one is the weakest link? There are soooo many candidates. Can we just call them a bag of broken links?

 

[CowboyGil]

You could have just stopped there
These days most RBs are good pass catchers and can run pretty fast
Jaylon cannot keep up with these guys
Putting him out there is yet another failure of our FO that first wasted a second round pick on a player who would not see the field for 2 years and then compounded the problem by putting him in before he was ready to try and justify the pick

They put him in because they had to (Hitchens injury and Durant is worse).

 

[TheCount]

This week I've seen stinging criticism of Heath and Jones. Earlier in the season I've seen posters belittle Scandrick and Brown.

One guy dedicates a post to convey we need another round of secondary upgrades.

It's a mountain of ignorance because our secondary has played pretty well despite youth, inexperience and widespread injury.

Some folks around here flat can't analyze football. Case in point? What would you think of a secondary that permitted 14/26 for 161 yards. Not bad eh? Especially if we are talking about a young, injury depleted secondary behind a d-line that wasn't getting to the quarterback.

If you subtract what Gurley was able to do as a receiver when attacking Jaylon Smith and look at what the Rams did against the secondary? 14/26 for 161 yards.

That's good stuff, folks. With the additions of Woods, Awuzie and Lewis--especially as they heal up and get some experience--to Scandrick, Jones and Brown...this can be a Super Bowl caliber secondary.

We have problems on this team: linebacker, outside receiver, tight end, left guard, right tackle...but our secondary is going to be sexy this year...and for years to come.

I'm not as down on the secondary as most, but since when is looking at total yards against minus whatever inconvenient plays you don't want to count considered "analyzing football"?

 

[Toruk_Makto]

I like the young secondary guys. I just wish we would have kept one or two of the older guys to bridge the gap. Especially with the injuries that have wrecked the group.

This is revisionist history.

Meanwhile I pounded the table on keeping Mo. Smh

 

[DandyDon1722]

This week I've seen stinging criticism of Heath and Jones. Earlier in the season I've seen posters belittle Scandrick and Brown.

One guy dedicates a post to convey we need another round of secondary upgrades.

It's a mountain of ignorance because our secondary has played pretty well despite youth, inexperience and widespread injury.

Some folks around here flat can't analyze football. Case in point? What would you think of a secondary that permitted 14/26 for 161 yards. Not bad eh? Especially if we are talking about a young, injury depleted secondary behind a d-line that wasn't getting to the quarterback.

If you subtract what Gurley was able to do as a receiver when attacking Jaylon Smith and look at what the Rams did against the secondary? 14/26 for 161 yards.

That's good stuff, folks. With the additions of Woods, Awuzie and Lewis--especially as they heal up and get some experience--to Scandrick, Jones and Brown...this can be a Super Bowl caliber secondary.

We have problems on this team: linebacker, outside receiver, tight end, left guard, right tackle...but our secondary is going to be sexy this year...and for years to come.

Although prior results mean nothing now - our Pass Defense Rating has been consistently bottom ten for 12 years and only one QB has EVER won a SB with a bottom ten PDR - Aaron Rodgers. In fact, if you look at the best five teams and the worst five teams consistently over the years they almost always correlate to PDR.

I'm not sure I'm buying an argument that takes away any player (the "yeah but") from total yards and uses Jarod Goff as the example of shutting somebody down.

That said I'm with you on the potential of our secondary and I sincerely hope you're right, but we will only become a Super Bowl-caliber secondary when we address the safety position - something we have not had an interest in doing for since Roy WIlliams.

 

[visionary]

They put him in because they had to (Hitchens injury and Durant is worse).

Yes but he should but have been the back up
In the NFL you are 1 play away from starting
It is called poor planning