CB

All posts tagged CB

OUR CORNERBACKS DO NOT SUCK.

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/11/12
Posted in: Defense, Fans, Players, Rants, Roster. Tagged: , , , . 5 Comments

card-fletcher and williams

 LOOK up Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher. In fact if you go to the EAGLES website, and look up their profiles you’ll see that “physical” the first term used to describe Williams. It’s the second word in his profile . For Fletcher the second word is “tough”. “Physical” doesn’t appear in his profile  until word four.

First of all, when these guys were brought in they were brought in to play a style of ball that they excel at, but that NFL is trying to phase out. Across the board CB play in the NFL is “suffering”. When it’s not calls, it’s players trying not to draw calls. You’re now seeing WR’s (Brandon LaFell, Malcolm Floyd, and Julian Edelman for example) who once were disappointments, now posting respectable reception numbers and finding purpose in today’s game. That’s because the rules keep making it easier to play WR, while making it harder to play DB.

Secondly, I think fans here are just too damned hard on certain players. Think about how fans regarded our primary last 6 starting CB’s:

Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher: “Suck”

Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rogers-Cromartie: “Suck”

Asante Samuel and Sheldon Brown: “Suck”

Fans keep throwing the CB’s under the bus despite the fact that they knew the “Wide 9” system didn’t work. Despite the fact that Bill Davis’s “Multiple” or “4-3 Under” scheme has massive, obvious flaws in it. (Those are easy flaws to hide when an opposing head coach can’t tell that his own QB is injured (Looking at YOU Ron Rivera), but harder to disguise against a legitimate playoff caliber team.)

Look, the days of CB’s like Eric Allen and Ben Smith, Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor, Sheldon Brown and Lito Sheppard, are gone. The NFL no longer allows for a CB to control his side of the field. It makes it easier to get those big highlights, to sell more tickets and garner larger TV contracts. I mean, do you honestly think Riley Cooper could have started 10 years ago; or that Jeff Maehl would even be on an NFL roster? Come on. WR is easier because CB is harder.

Our guys don’t suck. They’re just caught between old expectations and the new way things are.

ARE THE EAGLES CORNERED?

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/03/06
Posted in: Defense, Players. Tagged: . 4 Comments

Image Courtesy of AP Photo (AJ Mast)

 

WHAT do you think? Should we kick the tires on Vontae Davis, or are we okay with Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher?

I’m seeing some grumbling about getting a CB early in the Draft, or maybe going after Alterraun Verner or Aquib Talib. For the record I like Davis far more than Verner or Talib as an option, but I think we’re good with what we have, for the moment.

Some fans are a lot harsher about the Eagles CB’s than I am, due to some of the metrics they read about which CB was rated above which other CB, in one of those publications that crunches such numbers.

Okay. I won’t argue that point. We all have our bibles. We all have our sacred sources of information on which we base many of our arguments, and use to solidify, even justify our opinions. (For me it’s Pro Football Reference.com, Eagles Salary Cap.com, and Spotrac.com; because I like being backed by facts that can’t be disputed.)

There are a few reasons I don’t get into metrics, but I won’t get into those now.

Overall, I think our CB play has gotten a raw deal for the last 5 years, due to spotty help from the Safeties. It’s hard to accurately judge an engine with a clogged and crusted air filter, and that’s what our Safety play has been like. Like an engine choking for a full breath of clean air.

Considering that many of the easy to complete passes were over the middle and in the flat, it’s hard for me to crucify Fletcher and Williams, so it’s hard for me to say they need to be replaced.

That said, if we’re going to kick anyone’s tires, I think it should be Davis.