Secondary Improving

[FinHopeful]

One of the keys to our recent success has been the improvements within the secondary. The play is not good, but there has been steady improvement. I pulled the ratings from Pro Football Focus to give a somewhat objective approach to illustrating the improvement. Some common themes jumped out of the numbers.

1. The safeties are playing significantly better than at the beginning of the season.
2. Sean Smith is struggling, and it appears he has hit the rookie wall.

It is important down this critical part of the schedule that they have improved. Weather for almost all of the remaining games favor a passing game. Only the game next week has potential for cold pass challenged weather.


Name ............ Falcons ..... Colts ....... Chargers
Y. Bell ............. - 1.8 ....... -1.8 ....... - 1.4
G. Wilson .......... -1.4 ...... - 2.3 ....... - 1.3
N. Jones ............ 0.3 ...... - 0.8 .......... 0.1
V. Davis ............ -0.1 ....... 0.1 .......... 1.2
S. Smith ............ 1.4 ........ 1.0 ........... 0.0
---------------------------------------------
Total .............. - 1.6 ....... - 3.8 ........ - 1.4


Name ............ Patriots ..... Bucs ..... Panthers
Y. Bell .............. -0.1 ........ -1.1 ........ 1.6
G. Wilson .......... -0.2 ........ 2.9 .......... 1.2
N. Jones ........... -2.5 ........ 0.7 .......... 1.7
V. Davis ............ 0.7 ......... 2.2 ..........-1.6
S. Smith ........... -1.6 ....... -0.7 .......... 0.4
---------------------------------------------
Total ................ -3.5 ....... 4.0 ........... 3.3

 

[Dredd1050]

I agree, but the loss of Ferg in the middle is really going to hamper the D. That's where I see the season being lost. Not with the opponents passing game, but the run.

 

[sharp]

Also over the past 2 games the QB's/WR's were not the NFL's Elite. Also we still managed to give these teams hope in the 4th quarter by letting them score late.

 

[oasis]

Smith needs to get off twitter and focus. He's starting to look rather iffy in coverage.

 

[SA_BUTTA]

Instead of starting a new thread, Ill just keep it here... Do we double TO this week??
I say man him up with Smith and just keep the saftey help deep.

 

[ArmyFin7]

man him up and blitz the safety too...their line is a rolling wreck....

 

[BenchFiedler]

2. Sean Smith is struggling, and it appears he has hit the rookie wall.

I remember everyone was praising Smith and dissapointed with V. Davis during training camp, but now its the complete opposite....

Davis is way more physical and will definitely be a star in this game.

Sean Smith reminds me of Travis Daniels who we had high expectations but never really stood out. I hope I'm wrong....

 

[zicofirol]

I remember everyone was praising Smith and dissapointed with V. Davis during training camp, but now its the complete opposite....

Davis is way more physical and will definitely be a star in this game.

Sean Smith reminds me of Travis Daniels who we had high expectations but never really stood out. I hope I'm wrong....

Wtf??? Smith has already been better than daniels was his best season...
I dont get the criticism against smith, he has had a couple of bad games, but he has been solid overall... especially considering the competition faced...

 

[miamiron]

I don't believe in there subjective ratings.
1.2-2.0-2.4

A good example of there nonsense is Nnamdi Asomugha is rated at #27 of all cornerbacks while Smith is 30th and Davis is #33.

Asomugha has played 562 snaps allowing 158 yards
Smith has played 558 snaps allowing 453 yards
Davis has played 400 snaps allowing 590 yards

Now Davis has played 162 snaps LESS THAN Nnamdi
but has allowed almost 4 TIMES as many total yards

All three were rated very close by profootballfocus...but
in all honesty which corner would you want if you could only have one out of the three????

Davis IS THE WORST CORNERBACK IN THE NFL AGAINST THE PASS...LET ME EXPLAIN BEFORE THE BALISTIC ATTACK

Davis...snaps 400 yards allowed 590
Johnson.snaps 604 yards allowed 604
McFadden snaps 617 yards allowed 601
Cox...snaps 562 yards allowed 593

How can you consider what Davis has done as a cornerback
anything but crap versus the pass...Make no mistakes these corner backs above are very poor and Davis with 162-204 snaps less with almost the same amount of yards allowed is
just plain BAD VERSUS THE PASS...

Davis by far has a worse yards per reception of any corner back with 200 receptions 19.7 yards per reception allowed or LAST OUT OF 104 CORNERS RATED @profootballfocus.
Guess who was NEXT TO LAST or #103...SEAN SMITH with a 18.1 yards per reception allowed

How bad are these numbers 19.7 and 18.1 yards per reception...VERY BAD LET ME SHOW YOU

2009 LAST AND NEXT TO LAST IN YARDS PER RECEPTIONS
ALLOWED #104 AND #103

2008 LAST AND NEXT TO LAST IN YARDS PER RECEPTIONS
ALLOWED #114 AND #113

2007 DAVIS IS STILL LAST IN YARDS PER RECEPTIONS ALLOWED #96 WHILE SMITH WITH HIS 18.1 WAS THIRD WORSE OR 94TH OUT OF 96

So in three years V Davis has the worst yards per reception of over 314 corners rated...LAST...#314

Smith in three years is #312 out of 314 in yards per receptions allowed

I'm just tired hearing how good and how great these two corners are and will be when in actuality they are just NOT THAT GOOD RIGHT NOW...Who knows what the future holds

One of the keys to our recent success has been the improvements within the secondary. The play is not good, but there has been steady improvement. I pulled the ratings from Pro Football Focus to give a somewhat objective approach to illustrating the improvement. Some common themes jumped out of the numbers.

1. The safeties are playing significantly better than at the beginning of the season.
2. Sean Smith is struggling, and it appears he has hit the rookie wall.

It is important down this critical part of the schedule that they have improved. Weather for almost all of the remaining games favor a passing game. Only the game next week has potential for cold pass challenged weather.


Name ............ Falcons ..... Colts ....... Chargers
Y. Bell ............. - 1.8 ....... -1.8 ....... - 1.4
G. Wilson .......... -1.4 ...... - 2.3 ....... - 1.3
N. Jones ............ 0.3 ...... - 0.8 .......... 0.1
V. Davis ............ -0.1 ....... 0.1 .......... 1.2
S. Smith ............ 1.4 ........ 1.0 ........... 0.0
---------------------------------------------
Total .............. - 1.6 ....... - 3.8 ........ - 1.4


Name ............ Patriots ..... Bucs ..... Panthers
Y. Bell .............. -0.1 ........ -1.1 ........ 1.6
G. Wilson .......... -0.2 ........ 2.9 .......... 1.2
N. Jones ........... -2.5 ........ 0.7 .......... 1.7
V. Davis ............ 0.7 ......... 2.2 ..........-1.6
S. Smith ........... -1.6 ....... -0.7 .......... 0.4
---------------------------------------------
Total ................ -3.5 ....... 4.0 ........... 3.3

 

[FinHopeful]

I don't believe in there subjective ratings.

Fair enough. There is no point in arguing a belief

How can you consider what Davis has done as a cornerback
anything but crap versus the pass...Make no mistakes these corner backs above are very poor and Davis with 162-204 snaps less with almost the same amount of yards allowed is
just plain BAD VERSUS THE PASS...

The pick versus Brady's pass was pretty good. I liked the anticipation for the pick 6. That pick of the 2 point conversion was outstanding. At least those 3 plays were not crap. I think you are allowing your frustration to lead to over stating your case. Further, I never said that Davis was great. I said that the secondary is playing better. As a matter of fact, I did not praise any individual player. My opinion is that Davis is playing well for a rookie, but this is the first time I stated my opinion.

 

[miamiron]

My points were to prove that the ratings by profootball focus are crap..it has nothing to do with what you said

You think Davis is playing good for a rookie and I think versus the run and his hitting is very impressive but his pass defending skills are the worst in 3 years...of ANY CORNERBACK

If he continues to allow huge plays and massive yards maybe his true position is at safety where he can lay the lumber rather than getting torched for big plays over and over

Fair enough. There is no point in arguing a belief



The pick versus Brady's pass was pretty good. I liked the anticipation for the pick 6. That pick of the 2 point conversion was outstanding. At least those 3 plays were not crap. I think you are allowing your frustration to lead to over stating your case. Further, I never said that Davis was great. I said that the secondary is playing better. As a matter of fact, I did not praise any individual player. My opinion is that Davis is playing well for a rookie, but this is the first time I stated my opinion.

 

[Nawledge]

how good was Will Allen doing before he got hurt with those ratings?

 

[oasis]

I don't have anything to back this up, but I feel like the scheme may have changed a bit in the secondary.

It might be as simple as the positive effects of cycling players in and out more often (Culver, Clemons, Jones), but I really feel like there were some strategic adjustments as well. Were we doing the 2 deep man under stuff all season?

 

[Nawledge]

i was shocked Bell caught D. Williams down the sideline the other night, he kicked it into another gear for that one. I dont think theyve been playing all that good but i have noticed it has been a little better lately.

 

[ITS!MATEO]

We have 2 rookie corners starting, and stats don't prove anything!! I have watched tape of davis and smiths matchups to see how they did and I gta say davis is by far the better cover corner, smith bites way too much and gets burned a lot but those are things the FO can fix.. Believe it or not Davis has won more matchups than he has lost but Smith not so much.