Our 06' starting secondary... please read...

[paskerbrandon]

Ok, im truley sick of people bashing our secondary... Im going to say here what I have thought since the start of traning camp and will continue to think until I get proven wrong...

Ok, so as I figure it our starting secondary will looking something like this...

FS: Hill

Hill started 13 games in 05' for Oakland.... He racked up 89 tackles, 75 of which were solo.... In 03' for Arizona he had 5 picks.... He has skill, thats obvious... The only thing that concerns me is his speed... Is he fast enough to play FS?... Truthfully, I think he can get it done...

If he beats out Hill:

Bell is the definiton of an athlete, just look at him, just look how he played last year... He did not start a game in 05' and managed to compile 35 tackles, 3 sacks, and one pick.... he is one hell of an exciting player... I would love to see him at FS and Tillman at SS but from the looks of it Hill will be at FS, due to experience and his Michigan State ties...

If he somehow lights it up the last 2 preseason games and beat out Hill and Bell:

Allen held out.... the kid isint a rocket scientist... he needs time to learn the plays, learn the system... he has skill... Saban wouldent have took him there if he didnt see something in him... he obviously sees something we havent thus far and, from what I know, he knows a little more than us... Allen will be a great Saftey in this league.....

SS:

Tillman excites me... I really dont understand why people wouldent feel safe with him at SS... Tillman did an awsome job last year filling in... In 10 games starting he racked up 51 tackles 3 INT's and 5 passes def.... He basically ressurected his career with us last year, I have alot of faith in him and i'm looking forward to seeing more of him 06'.....

RCB:

Will Allen will be fine... even Giant fans have said he is great at covering however dosent have the hands to come up with the big pick... 5 years in the league and he has 61 passes def.... I am comfortable with him starting... with the help of Saban he can be turned into a Pro Bowl caliber player....

LCB:

Daniels is another exciting player... in a starting role last year, in 14 games, he managed to rack up 61 tackles, 1 INT, and 13 passes def... Now, IMO, he was overrated last year and got beat alot more than he should have... however, he was a rookie in a very complex defensive scheme... this season he will have one year under his belt and im sure Saban has big plans for him....

If Daniels can not start the season:

Goodman started only 8 games for DET last year and still managed 47 tackles, 3 INT's and 8 passes def.... with Daniels injury this may open up a spot for him to prove himself... He constantly proved himself in DET but was stuck behind the likes of Fernando Bryant (Whom DET was VERY high on) and Dre Bly in 04' and RW Mcquarters and Bly in 05'.... When he has the chance to prove himself he has shown that he can do it... He has shown it thus far in the preseason and I expect him to do if he does in fact get a starting job in the regular season...

Our secondary isint as bad as it seems... Leftwich, one of the most herald QB's in the league went 6/12 (50% completion) 100yds 1TD with 1INT... Chris Simms could only manage 2 completions in 7 attempts for 27yds.... Now, granted, Garrard and Gradkowski lit us up... but, correct me if im wrong here, they did it against our 2nd and 3rd stringers, some of whom wont even be on this club when the season opens and all of whom will NOT BE STARTING....

If I could sum up our secondary in one word it would have to be, no doubt in my mind, underrated... If you look at each and every starter they have been overlooked their entire careers... I think Saban know this.... I think we do not...

 

[Slappy8800]

people can type whatever they want....their play more than speaks for itself....and i dont like what its saying

 

[paskerbrandon]

people can type whatever they want....their play more than speaks for itself....and i dont like what its saying

I dont see how you can say that... they held down Leftwich just fine and basically made Simms look like a schoolgirl...

I really think that your basing what you just said on how our 2nd and 3rd stringers have played... which, in my mind, makes no sense...

Even if I cant explain this to some people, please realize, that blitzes and our front seven applying pressure will take ALOT of pressure off of them....

 

[nikeair497]

some people don't know the difference between 1,2,3rd stringers and some refuse to understand players capabilitys. These guys have a good track record and it's preseason.

 

[LarryFinFan]

The individual players we have in the secondary, particularly the top 5 or 6 that you mentioned are fine. The issue, again this year as last year, is when will they gel together. If you remember correctly, it took a very veteran group 6-8 games to really gel into an OK secondary the second half of the year. I also believe that we have better athletes and skilled secondary this year than last, but it may take them some time to figure out what Saban is asking each individual player to accomplish on each formation...how long that takes will be a critical part of our success this year....

 

[SCall13]

I dont see how you can say that... they held down Leftwich just fine and basically made Simms look like a schoolgirl...

I really think that your basing what you just said on how our 2nd and 3rd stringers have played... which, in my mind, makes no sense...

Even if I cant explain this to some people, please realize, that blitzes and our front seven applying pressure will take ALOT of pressure off of them....

100 yards and a touchdown is pretty good for one quarter of play. Not bad at all. So that's not a really a solid defense of our pass defense. However, I think the secondary will be a great deal better than we have seen, partially because, during the preseason, we haven't really gotten after the QB yet. When we get more pressure, it will cover up for a lot of our secondary problems. I really don't think our DBs are as bad as they have looked, but there is certainly room for improvement.

 

[paskerbrandon]

The individual players we have in the secondary, particularly the top 5 or 6 that you mentioned are fine. The issue, again this year as last year, is when will they gel together. If you remember correctly, it took a very veteran group 6-8 games to really gel into an OK secondary the second half of the year. I also believe that we have better athletes and skilled secondary this year than last, but it may take them some time to figure out what Saban is asking each individual player to accomplish on each formation...how long that takes will be a critical part of our success this year....

Very good point... the way it seems now, 3 of the 4 starting secondary players are new to the team, the only exception being Tillman and possibly Daniels if hes healthy and if he does in fact start... it may take some time to gel, but this is Sabans specialty and I think he will have them ready come gametime...

 

[PhinsRock]

I too believe we have the talent, and skills. But what worries me is these guys have been injury plagued in TC and haven't gotten much playing time together. And that worries me as I see it taking 5-6 games before they "get it" like they did last year. I think we will have an "ok" secondary for the first 5-6 games, then a good one once they gel.

 

[Shawn-l]

Our secondary isint as bad as it seems... Leftwich, one of the most herald QB's in the league went 6/12 (50% completion) 100yds 1TD with 1INT..

That's incorrect to your advantage. Against our "first team" defense, Leftwich was actually around 2 of 7 for about 26 yds and an INT. The touchdown was when they substituted in some second stringers at various positions.

 

[772finatic]

I am not to worried about the secondary i think we got a ton of talent and they will do fine. Once the real season starts and we are sending our full blitz packages at teams the db's are not going to have to cover them guys for 6 seconds b/c there will not be enough time. We have a ton of talent out there and when you mix in one of the best dlines who like to get pressure with athletes bawl hawking lots of good things can happen. I am more concerned with o line than i am the secondary.

 

[larfo2224]

I have said it before, I think they will be fine given time to gel. Some of the big plays also came as our backup defensive lineman and LB's were not in the game. Their absence allows the QB more time to go through his progressions. When our starting defense is in the game, we will dominate.

 

[twg76]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't remember reading a lot of people bashing Miami's secondary. It is the backups in the secondary that are questionable. It is the guys that would be in on nickel and dime packages. The "Howard" look-a-like's.

Unfortunately, Jason Allen looks like a Howard look-a-like right now. He is getting burned and popped out there. I re-watched the Tampa game and saw Allen get popped on his back twice. It was flashbacks of that video that keeps showing up here where Ronnie popped him on his back in college.

The starting secondary looks pretty good. Daniels needs to come back though.

 

[MDFINFAN]

Very good point... the way it seems now, 3 of the 4 starting secondary players are new to the team, the only exception being Tillman and possibly Daniels if hes healthy and if he does in fact start... it may take some time to gel, but this is Sabans specialty and I think he will have them ready come gametime...

Wasn't it a vet group last year that took 6-8 games to gel? Now that's Saban with a vet group...now this saban's specialty thing with a young group and their going to look better,, oh yea, their more atheltic, faster, aggressive...etc, etc.. Right now our secondary isn't very good, 1st - 4th strings..our front 7 will have to cover for them...I'm not sure how long it will take for the secondary to "gel" as you guys note all the time. This part of the team has been my #1 concern all offseason...primarily because of what happen last year with a vet group..who if not faster, are generally smarter about how they play and compensate for what they may lack....i.e, Schulter jumping on that int in the Carolina game, because his guy didn't come out..will our young guys have that same savy??? It's the little things that vets know and have experience that help make up for their age.. I'm not saying this will happen, but this secondary will probably be the difference in beating good teams..i.e., Brady will have a field day if they don't get it together, and brady doesn't need pro bowl recievers to get it done.

 

[lotion]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't remember reading a lot of people bashing Miami's secondary. It is the backups in the secondary that are questionable. It is the guys that would be in on nickel and dime packages. The "Howard" look-a-like's.

Unfortunately, Jason Allen looks like a Howard look-a-like right now. He is getting burned and popped out there. I re-watched the Tampa game and saw Allen get popped on his back twice. It was flashbacks of that video that keeps showing up here where Ronnie popped him on his back in college.

The starting secondary looks pretty good. Daniels needs to come back though.

I noticed JA getting laid on his back a couple of times during the Tampa game and too had flashbacks of RB running his arse over.
Hopefully he pans out, I would love to have a punishing safety on our D like Oliver or Lynch or Atwater...
Lets hope this kid's nuts drop soon.

 

[Crzynick25]

The main thing to look at here which has been touched on only a little is the front 7, right now the front 7 is playing a very basic scheme, once saban and Capers ( who is the key guy here) get the blitz happy schemes in with all the talent of out front 7 its gonna make our secondary look real good. Take the Pats from the last few years, they have been decimated in the secondary the past few season so bad there were picking guys up off the street and starting them and they actully look pretty decent considering, and that is cause of the play and scheme of their front 7.