Safety

All posts tagged Safety

MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/06/01
Posted in: Defense, Players. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment
Image courtesy of gcobb.com

Image courtesy of gcobb.com

FOR now it’s only OTA’s so I won’t get too ahead of myself here, but FS Malcolm Jenkins has caught the eye of his Head Coach in a good way. The exact word Chip Kelly used was “Outstanding”.

This is what I was talking about months ago when I was hoping that we would grab Jenkins if we didn’t get Jairus Byrd. The guy is just a solid ball player. Nothing flashy, just a pro’s pro.

If we can manage to shore up the middle of our Secondary, we can put a bullet in a problem we’ve had now for a half a decade now. That in itself will help the pass rush, and maybe allow Defensive Coordinator Bill Davis to be more creative with how he calls coverages on routes to the flat and on crosses. Those routes killed us last year, and artificially inflated opposing QB completion rates. Take a look:

RG# vs NFL 60% vs Eagles 61% and 48%

Philip Rivers vs NFL 60% vs Eagles 76%

Alex Smith vs NFL 60% vs Eagles 62%

Peyton Manning vs NFL 68% vs Eagles 82%

She-li Manning vs NFL 55% vs Eagles 46% and 64%

Mike Glennon vs NFL 59% vs Eagles 60% (Rookie)

Tony Oh no! vs NFL 63% vs Eagles 59%

Terrelle Pryor vs NFL 57% vs Eagles 53% (Back-up)

(Scott Tolzien) vs NFL/Eagles 61% (3rd string)

Carson Palmer vs NFL 63% vs Eagles 58%

Matt Stafford vs NFL 58% vs Eagles 40% (Blizzard hampered both teams passing attack)

Matt Cassel vs NFL 60% vs Eagles 74% (Back-up)

Jay Cutler vs NFL 63% vs Eagles 57%

Kyle Orton vs NFL 64% vs Eagles 65% (Back-up)

That’s 9 games where we gave up completion percentages of at least 60%, and every QB who would go on to reach the playoffs, looked better against us than they did against the league in general. You can’t live like that and have deep playoff hopes.

Jenkins will be key in fixing that. His ability to play CB and cover slots man-to-man, will free up the DC to dial up all sorts of things that we couldn’t dare try for the last 6 years. As I figured Nate Allen is ahead of Earl Wolff  for the moment for the SS spot, but I don’t expect that to hold up too long at all.

I’m excited!

THIS PISSES ME THE F#@% OFF!

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/03/17
Posted in: Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Players. Tagged: , . Leave a comment
Image courtesy of Fansided.com

Image courtesy of Fansided.com

NATE Allen got a 1-year extension today, and at first it pissed me off a little. Then I gave it some thought.

At which point it pissed me off a lot.

Keeping around a guy who’s been a sub-par NFL Safety for the last few years now, is bad enough; but what message does it send to young players like Earl Wolff or free agents who don’t know the team culture? How do you tell THEM that that they have to elevate their play, if you keep shelling out for what you brought them in to replace? 

Did Allen get an extension to sit the bench? Likely not. If he starts and we still suck vs. the pass, worse still if it costs us games, many fans will blame Allen for that. Not me. 

This one is squarely on the narrow little shoulders of Howie Roseman. He talked a big game about getting a player at that position this off-season, and to be fair he got us a decent cover Safety in Malcolm Jenkins, but when the moment came to do something big, he bitched out. Now we have this crap load of back-up Safeties. These Special Teamers with “upside”. Man fuck outta here! MAKE AN EFFORT! 

Special Teams hurt us in the game against New Orleans, no doubt. But you know what hurt us more? Getting the ball run down our throats, by a PASSING TEAM! Having the league’s leading rusher fairly bottled up by a defensive front that pushed our Offensive Line around. Having the NFL’s Most Over-paid Player blanketed by a 3rd round draft pickalready on his second team. THAT’S what hurt us.

We need some NEW STARTERS. Notice the capitalization of the words “new” and “starters”? That was not a mistake.

This signing on the other hand, is.