Was Our Secondary That Bad?

[jamesdojr]

I know it's kind of a strange concept. But, how about we just draft a really good safety to replace Woodson instead of continuing to plug someone in every 2 or 3 years?

Yes, Jeff Heath please. Jeff Heath is the biggest playmaker in our secondary. Start Heath and sign Eric Berry.

 

[ilykdrama]

Exactly. All if them can go... Carr, Claiborne, Wilcox, Jones, Church, Scandrick all can go. I know Dallas can't cut all of them but any of them could go and itd be a great move.

The only one who balled was Jeff Heath. And Anthony Brown gets a rookie pass.

Bring in Eric Berry or Dre Kirkpatrick. Stephon Gilmore would be great too. But Eric Berry is my top target this offseason. I like JPP, Michael Brockers, and Dontari Poe on the Dline.

YES... I know we can't sign them all. I'd just be happy with any 1 or 2 of them.

Same here. I'd like a big FA on defense and draft all defense.

 

[Blackspider214]

And the calls. Why rush only 3 on 3rd and 20, giving Rodgers plenty of time to perform yet another miracle?

I'm always the first to criticize crappy play calling but this is the right call here and most teams do that. Especially on 3rd and 20. You don't blitz there. What if it's picked up and you get some guys running free down the field with Rodgers back there? Disaster. Now it ended up being disaster anyways but there is no reason for our secondary to let someone get free that far down the field in that situation when you know they are going to want to look for something in that range of the field. Inexcusable. Plus, our blitzes are usually pretty lame and ineffective. GB has a great pass blocking OL, too.

 

[Blackspider214]

Wow, Carr, Mo, Claiborne, Church, and Wilcox all free agents. I bet someone will say all of them can go lol.

Mo and Carr need to go. They are useless and some of the biggest spares in football. Their whole "No Fly Zone" was the biggest joke as it turned out. I'd like to see the total number of picks they had as a duo their entire career here. I can't imagine it's a big number.

When Jeff Heath leads the team in picks 2 years in a row, you know your secondary lacks any playmakers. And he had 2 this year. TWO! That led our secondary.

 

[bsbellomy]

Exactly. All if them can go... Carr, Claiborne, Wilcox, Jones, Church, Scandrick all can go. I know Dallas can't cut all of them but any of them could go and itd be a great move.

The only one who balled was Jeff Heath. And Anthony Brown gets a rookie pass.

Bring in Eric Berry or Dre Kirkpatrick. Stephon Gilmore would be great too. But Eric Berry is my top target this offseason. I like JPP, Michael Brockers, and Dontari Poe on the Dline.

YES... I know we can't sign them all. I'd just be happy with any 1 or 2 of them.

I'm sure Berry is a very good player, but KC has one of the best pass rush in the league. I'm kinda thinking our DB would look a lot better if they didn't have to cover all day.

 

[haleyrules]

Good questions.

Church is steady but is limited due to a lack of speed. They have to be careful, because they could end up with a worse player if they move on from Church and depend on a young guy. On the other hand, it would be helpful to have a Strong Safety with more range. Ideally you would like to be able to have the Strong Safety occasionally cover the TE in man coverage, but Church can't do that. The Cowboys have some LBs that are likely faster than Church. Another thing to consider is that as speed limited players age, they don't have much margin before they are just too slow. The super fast guys can lose some speed as they age and often still be OK.

Wilcox has played quite a bit even when Church was not out. When they play the 3-2 package, that has 6 DBs on the field. The Dime defense is a 4-1-6 which again has 6 DBs on the field. I have not really studied Wilcox much this season but from what I have seen he has been much better than in past years. It's odd because he was his absolute worst ever this preseason. I think in retrospect, that the new DB coaching hierarchy must have been forcing him to learn to play 'their" way and to unlearn what the previous DB coach had taught him. The Cowboy would be OK if he replaced Church but he would likely be a player that you would want to upgrade if possible. His role this season as a 5th or 6th DB was ideal for him, IMO.

Carr is a difficult decision and it obviously depends on the cost. He has never missed a game or start in the NFL. There is value in that even if he is just a mediocre player. He is another speed and athletically limited player and he is 30 which means that he will just get slower as the months pass. Also Carr has said he is considering retirement.

Claiborne is another difficult decision. He played really well in the first 7 games before being injured. He has never played a full season and has only played about 3 of 16 possible preseason games. Even at his very best, he is not a ballhawk (He was in college but not in the NFL). I expect them to sign him to another 1-year, 3M deal.

Scandrick is showing signs of decline and might be approaching injury prone. He is under contract, but these issues just add to the need for more talent to be added at the CB position. Scandrick has the worst hands that I can remember seeing for a starting NFL player.

Brown was terrific considering that he was a rookie. Some people will complain about a few bad plays, but he played well over 700 snaps as a rookie and only had a handful of bad plays.

Leon McFadden is the last CB on the roster. They didn't even have a CB on the practice squad. He did OK in very limited action. I can't really blame him for giving up a TD to possibly the best WR in the league on a trick play. He is smallish and not overly fast and this is his 3rd season of hanging around the NFL so his upside is limited.

Summary: They could stand to both sign a quality free agent CB (maybe Trumaine Johnson) and to use a premium pick on one in the draft. I doubt if they use a premium pick on a Safety but if the right opportunity comes along, I would do it.

Nice post. Thanks. It seems to me that if the FO goes to work and improves the DL with some passrush heat that would go a long way to make the secondary look better. QB's just have too much time to work. Still, the club needs some fresh blood at corner and strong safety. Trumaine Johnson would be a good pickup. Keep Mo on the cheap as a rotational, off the bench, type player..just not reliable as a starter. Carr is OK but just slightly above average. Draft DL players at the top end of the draft and look for some DB gems later or in FA.

 

[haleyrules]

There should be C on heaths jersey for the way he played last night. That's the real captain of the secondary.

Agreed. Heath played a real solid game.

 

[visionary]

Somebody may have to correct me here, as I started drinking heavily as this game unwound, but I remember Rodgers just being stupid accurate the whole game. We all know he is a damn good QB but he just seemed so on-point last night. How do you defend against that?

I know I know, a pass rush. Still, the guy was impressive. I just seem to remember some tight coverages but he just puts it right on the mark.

The problem is that the people in charge of personnel decisions on this franchise have been trying to use smoke and mirrors with this defense for years

They refuse to get a wide body at DT
They don't have a good DE to speak of and have wasted resources of garbage the hardy and Gregory for years
They refuse to upgrade at MLB taking wild shots
They have frick and frack at the safety positions

Great defences are built on front 7 and good safety play and we refuse to accept that instead wasting resources on CBs

As they say, it is not 'rocket surgery'

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

Mo and Carr need to go. They are useless and some of the biggest spares in football. Their whole "No Fly Zone" was the biggest joke as it turned out. I'd like to see the total number of picks they had as a duo their entire career here. I can't imagine it's a big number.

When Jeff Heath leads the team in picks 2 years in a row, you know your secondary lacks any playmakers. And he had 2 this year. TWO! That led our secondary.

Lol, in the past three seasons the "No Fly Zone" tandem of Claiborne & Carr have combined to snag a grand total of just 3 interceptions...

Let me repeat...three seasons and just three (3) interceptions...combined!

We have to do better at the CB position.

 

[Ren]

Get a good DL and the rest will fall in place

 

[haleyrules]

The problem is that the people in charge of personnel decisions on this franchise have been trying to use smoke and mirrors with this defense for years

They refuse to get a wide body at DT
They don't have a good DE to speak of and have wasted resources of garbage the hardy and Gregory for years
They refuse to upgrade at MLB taking wild shots
They have frick and frack at the safety positions

Great defences are built on front 7 and good safety play and we refuse to accept that instead wasting resources on CBs

As they say, it is not 'rocket surgery'

Yep. The FO focus has always been Offense. They need to bring in and/or listen to some hardcore defensive thinkers. Jerry will always look for the sizzle and has always wanted to recreate the triblets of the 90's clubs. Forgetting, just how important a great defense is in the Playoffs.

 

[visionary]

Yep. The FO focus has always been Offense. They need to bring in and/or listen to some hardcore defensive thinkers. Jerry will always look for the sizzle and has always wanted to recreate the triblets of the 90's clubs. Forgetting, just how important a great defense is in the Playoffs.

This is not hard core though, this is football 101
Look at the great defences recently, Baltimore, Seattle, Denver, Carolina, and on

All built on a mix of great front 7 and safety play

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Except for Church, our DBs are very athletic. The main issue with our secondary is that most of them came from small schools and lack experience against high level competition.

Carr athletic? Really?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I know it's kind of a strange concept. But, how about we just draft a really good safety to replace Woodson instead of continuing to plug someone in every 2 or 3 years?

I've got no issue with that.

 

[Cowboy89]

Atlanta and NE would've did the same thing had they advanced. Elite QB's will expose a week D. In other words.....we weren't gonna win the SB had we advancedo past GB. The reason we got back in the game is because GB's secondary is worse than ours.

 

[Don Corleone]

Byron Jones had a disastrous game.

If you go back a few weeks he has struggled to cover the TE on the sideline. If you want an easy completion you simply get Byron Jones to try to cover your TE on the sideline.

 

[Don Corleone]

Something I have been thinking about. I really like Jones and I think he was solid for much of the the year, but it seems like he struggled as the year wore on. What if we moved him back to CB? He has the physical traits to be a Sherman type CB and generally Safeties are generally a relatively cheap buy in FA. The fact that Heath has led our team in interceptions that last two years tells me a ball hawk safety would be really help out and it would give us Jones, Scandrick, and Brown at CB heading into the draft.

Something has to be done. Position aside this dude has ZERO instincts. Landon Collins was picked after him and is outplaying him by light years.

They need to do something with Jones. He is shaping up to be a bust so far. He certainly doesn't seem worthy of a 1st round pick.

 

[Zman5]

Carr athletic? Really?

Maybe not as much as he was few years back but coming out of the draft, he was considered athletic. Just like many of our DBs , he was considered more of an athlete than a good football player and needed experience.

Not surprising considering he too came from a small school.

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

How was he lucky?

That one pass that leaked between Lee's helmet and hand...yes. Other than that?

well, you just answered your own question.

 

[SlammedZero]

Lol, in the past three seasons the "No Fly Zone" tandem of Claiborne & Carr have combined to snag a grand total of just 3 interceptions...

Let me repeat...three seasons and just three (3) interceptions...combined!

We have to do better at the CB position.

Wow! That's sobering.