DC.COM: Blog: Don't Blame Pacman For Driver Catch

[Cbz40]

Don't Blame Pacman For Driver Catch
Posted by jellis at 9/22/2008 4:13 PM CDT on truebluefanclub.com


When Donald Driver hauled in a 50-yard catch and run in the third quarter Sunday, most people's instincts suggested cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones was to blame. After all it was Jones trailing a good 10 yards behind Driver on a stop and go route.


After a look at the film and conferring with Jones, it appears safety Ken Hamlin was actually at fault. The Cowboys were in their dime package with Hamlin the deep safety in a cover two shell. Jones did his job by guarding the right flat, but Hamlin was out of position. Head coach Wade Phillips attempted to take the blame, however, saying "It's my responsibility overall to get them in the right places and we didn't do that on that play."


"For people who don't know, or can't evaluate, the long pass was not Pacman's," Phillips said. "All I can tell you is what it is. If anybody knows anything about cover two you don't have to cover a guy thirty yards down the field. When a guy gets criticized for something that wasn't his responsibility at all I just wanted to bring that up."


-Josh Ellis

 

[theogt]

That much seemed obvious from the get go.

 

[Frozen700]

exactly what i thought

therefore pacman had a great game

 

[AbeBeta]

OMG Donald Driver got loose. He'll do that. Guy has been very good for while now.

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

The safties have to do a better job of getting deep...

 

[cowboys2233]

OMG Donald Driver got loose. He'll do that. Guy has been very good for while now.

Agreed, it was a great stop and go route, both Driver and Rodgers disguised it very well. Let's give the Pack some credit, they're not a bunch of hacks.

 

[FCBarca]

From what I could tell, at least PacMan was the only player out there actively looking to strip the ball on plays...Where has that lost art gone to??

 

[cowboys2233]

From what I could tell, at least PacMan was the only player out there actively looking to strip the ball on plays...Where has that lost art gone to??

Chicago.

But quite honestly, I've seen too many times where players are more focused on stripping the ball and less focused on actually getting the guy down. Besides, I expect a lot of that is just showboating, making a dramatic rip at the ball.

 

[Canadian BoyzFan]

I agree that it was Hamlin's fault, however, I also thought Jones played too shallow in the zone and should have dropped deeper.

 

[Goldenrichards83]

I wonder if it was Roy who blew that coverage how different this thread would be.

 

[cowboys2233]

I wonder if it was Roy who blew that coverage how different this thread would be.

Eh, it's not like "Roy sucks in coverage" stuff came out of the clear blue sky.

He does. And I still saw him getting worked by run blocking early this season. I'm not missing him, truthfully.

 

[AdamJT13]

I wonder if it was Roy who blew that coverage how different this thread would be.

If Roy had been the deep safety on that side, Jones never would have been blamed in the first place.

 

[sago1]

Hamlin is a good FS and has played well for us. But the reality is that with all the CBs we've got & when Henry, Watkins or Brown play the SS position, then Hamlin is the slowest player in the secondary.

 

[TwentyOne]

IMO this long play was really well executed.

There was nothing Pacman could have done. To me he played his short zone very well. You can't even give him the blame for covering grass and not staying with the receiver. because just short before the throw there was coming one packer on a crossing route entering his zone. Pacman had to wait just one step before rodgers decided to throw. because of that he was beaten.

there was another packers WR who Tnew was covering. He ran a post route over the middle. That was very well designed because hamlin had to decide between 2 options stay inside and give newman help over the top or cover grass on the outside. he stayed inside also because Tnew looked a bit beaten on that play. Hamlin had no chance coming back.

To me this was just a good play and well executed. rodgers got away from the pressure and found the soft spot in the zone coverage. You can't even blame Jones for not bumping the WR or playing the outside because the Wr ran initially a comback stayed in jones zone and then decided to turn upfield.

nice play as i mentioned before ;-)

the only question i have here is why haven't we put jones in man coverage on that play ? i just don't understand why we are not using our cbs to their abilities especially when we are able to give them help over the top with our safties.

 

[CF74]

Sorry for calling you "Rusty" Mr Jones..

Hamlin has been out of position and it's gone un-noticed, till now...:whip:

 

[Doomsday]

That much seemed obvious from the get go.

Yep, I thought it was Watkins who was back there. Either way it seems like once a week we have some type of issues with the cover 2.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Either way it seems like once a week we have some type of issues with the cover 2.

So far it hasn't cost us a W. Let's hope WP can get this addressed before it does.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

That much seemed obvious from the get go.

I wish that were the case, but many folks were eager to blame Jones for the Driver catch.

 

[TEK2000]

I wonder if it was Roy who blew that coverage how different this thread would be.

Oh man... imagine Roy in Hamlin's spot.

Being out of position and THEN completely missing the tackle and diving at AIR without even attempting to wrap-up.

Thank goodness it was just Hamlin though.

 

[BigDinAZ]

It's only week 3... I am confident that the DB's will get there coverages right soon. I think we are seeing a lot of improvment week-to-week!!!