Jeff Heath Finally Benched (update: injured with stitches)

Beaker42

Beaker42

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Runwildboys said:
The Giants and Dolphins probably aren't the best measuring sticks by which to judge the play of a safety.
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Maybe now but both had good safeties that are now with different teams while we’re stuck with the best to never play the position well.
 
Beaker42

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Aviano90 said:
You go, Nostradamus! Bold prediction you made there.
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He’s he proven me wrong? I’ll hang up and listen, Mr. Heath. It’s obvious the Fo is finally realizing he sucks or we wouldn’t be linked to Adams or Fitzpatrick.
 
Beaker42

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Aviano90 said:
How about you take some initiative, review the posts, and see if you’re bright enough to figure it out? It’s really not that difficult.
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Not gonna bother. You know I’m right and my reading comp is fine.
 
Aviano90

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Beaker42 said:
Not gonna bother. You know I’m right and my reading comp is fine.
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Of course you’re not. So let me explain. I addressed one play with you and how you characterized it. You claim Heath rode AD into the end zone. I disputed that with video. I mentioned you can hate Heath all you want but you should embellish to do so.

From that point you’ve moved the goalposts claiming he the tackle still should have been made and you knew he would only be average at best, mentioned something about Goff.

I then commented about what a bold prediction you made about Heath being average at best in which you wanted to know how Heath has proven you wrong.

I never claimed Heath to be better than average at best. I simply made a comment that your comment Heath rode AD into the end zone was incorrect.

You’re welcome.
 
Runwildboys

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gjkoeppen said:
If you knew why did you say Heath was benched when you now say you knew?
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I think he said that because he'd been told by several posters by the time you replied. I don't think he's claiming to have known when he wrote his post.
 

buybuydandavis

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Sydla said:
Actually an average to below average starting safety should see a lot of criticism.

This whole logic that we can’t criticize average to below average players because it’s not their fault is idiotic.
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Live it up ranting about 75% of the league's starters.
 

buybuydandavis

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xwalker said:
If those are PFF stats, then they're meaningless.

They played primarily 2-deep with Thompson. They played primarily single high with Heath in the game. I think that was because of 1st half vs 2nd half with a lead, but it put Thompson in a completely different situation from a pass defense perspective than Heath had been in.

During this off-season I posted several times about Thompson as a player that might have something. I was probably his top "fan" at CZ during the off-season. He had started 16 games at FS for the Giants in 2017 and was not terrible but looked like his limitations in coverage could be rectified by moving him to Strong Safety. He has the size at 6-2, 215 for SS. Unfortunately, the preseason games showed that he probably wouldn't be a good fit at SS. His tackling was mediocre at best.

The coaches put Heath in difficult situations. Heath was in an impossible situation in the game where Awuzie fell down and allowed the 92 yard TD pass. They had Heath over the top on the side with 2 WRs and nobody covered the slot WR forcing Heath to stay over the top of the slot WR. Heath was going to transition towards Awuzie's side about 5 yards earlier but when he saw that literally nobody was covering the slot WR, he turned back to continue in his back-peddle. I think the coaches are over-reliant on Heath's speed. I don't think they would put Thompson is those situations because they know he has limited range.

Somebody posted a video of the Giant QB running on the left and claimed that Heath was at fault.

On the first defensive snap by Thompson, the QB Jones had a similar play running to the left and Thompson was in position to have stopped him, but Thompson had started running downfield after Jones had started rolling out. There was nobody within 15 yards that Thompson could cover. I have no idea what he was doing.

People that hate Heath obviously don't study game footage or the coaches film. When I'm studying other Cowboys defensive players, it's surprising how often Heath shows up making a good play.

The unfortunate issue is that it's impossible to have a legit discussion here about players like Heath because people that have never reviewed 1 minute of game footage constantly whine and post "he sux".

A couple of people have posted their theory that Heath lacks lateral agility. That might be true to an extent but I don't think it is a big problem for him.

My theory is that Heath has a peripheral vision issue. There was that play in a recent game where he collided with a WR or TE and appeared to almost knock himself out. There was the play earlier in the season where he was watching the WR and the ball hit Heath in the side of the face-mask. There have been a least 2 other plays where he almost collided with a WR/TE. He has been relatively good a getting INTs over his career which indicates his primary vision must be OK, but I really think he has a peripheral vision issue.

It was very obvious in the Giants game that the Cowboys game plan was to over-focus on stopping Barkley in the first half. That is why Jones had some success running the ball. It's a common defensive game plan against a RB like Barkley. Stop the run in the 1st half then focus on the pass in the 2nd half, especially if leading on the scoreboard.

I would love to see an upgrade to Heath at SS. I see Derwin James as the prototype of a modern SS. He had 3 INTs and 105 tackles in 2018.

The problem is that most NFL teams won't draft a Strong Safety with a top 20 pick. The Cowboys are not alone in that regard.

I'm not certain that I see the infatuation that some people have with Jamal Adams. Obviously he would be an upgrade, but for a 1st round pick (or more) I would want a SS that has elite coverage ability and I just don't see that with Adams. He has 2 career INTs. For a 2nd round pick, I would have been ecstatic to make that trade.

The bottom line is that Heath is better than many players that have played Safety for the Cowboys like Pat Watkins, etc.. Heath is better than J.J.Wilcox and I was a fan of Wilcox as a draft pick. He had really good physical ability to both play the run and cover but he never had any consistency from the mental aspect of playing Safety. Fans loved Barry Church but the defensive coaches had to really work to hide him in coverage because he had no range whatsoever. He put a strain on other players to compensate for his lack of range in coverage.

The Cowboys primary problems on defense during the losing streak and in the playoff game against the Rams was NOT the Safeties. The root of the problems were the DLine scheme. They tried to compensate for the DL and front 7 issues against the run by taking risk in coverage which resulted in coverage players being put into difficult situations.

In the Eagles game they finally made some adjustments to the DL scheme/assignments and were able to go back to their preferred method of playing coverage. I posted before that my theory is that Kris Richard finally took complete control of the defense including the DL scheme/assignments.

The DL scheme/assignments change continued in the Giants game. Instead of repeated putting Awuzie into situations with no help or forcing a LB to cover a pass catching TE all the way down field, they just sacrificed defending QB runs in order to over-focus on stopping Barkley.
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The QB ratings yielded when thrown on are *stats* from Pro Football Reference. Naturally there's some question about who gets assigned the *thrown on*, particularly with safeties. I guess Pro Football Reference must be in on the Hate Heath Conspiracy too.

Heath's lateral agility is most clearly seen when he ends up falling on his as and letting a player run free as he tries to make a cut near the LOS. It happens a lot. To Heath. But no one else I can think of but LVE when he's been diagnosed with Vertigo. This goes back *years*.

Absolving Heath on the 90 yard play shows a lack objectivity when it comes to watching tape on Heath. All Heath needed for his defense of the free running slot WR was an *angle* on him. He didn't need to stand *directly* downfield from him. He could have easily had an *angle* on both the slot WR and the guy Awuzie was playing outside leverage on. He didn't. Gave up a 90 yard td because of it.
 

Sydla

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buybuydandavis said:
Live it up ranting about 75% of the league's starters.
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I don't care about the other league's starters. I care about ours. And Heath is arguably the worst starter on defense.

It's downright bizarre that so many people actually get their panties in a bunch over criticism of Jeff Heath.
 
cowfan

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Jeff Heath is not a great player, but he's become a solid player. He's made some big plays for the Cowboys. I admire him for working hard and becoming a solid player.
 
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