Secondary Is A Place Of Optimism

[Travis34]

From the limited amount I've seen of Ballage, he seems to have an "upright" running style. He doesnt lower his frame going into contact the way most power runners do.

Some backs, like Dickerson, can get away with it because, unlike Kalen, they have tremendous "vision".

Unfortunately, niether running style, or vision are coachable, IMO.

I'm not saying there isn't a place for him. If he can improve his pass pro, he can contribute a lot, but I don't see him as a "workhorse" guy.

After watching his college tape after we drafted him, the first player I thought of was Daniel thomas. Talk about impersonating a power back... yikes. Ballage is obviously much faster. But that upright style and lack of vision remind me of DT. Would be nice if he was more of a Ronnie Brown but probably not in the cards.

I am Intrigued to see what gaskin can do in a couple of years though

 

[Mach2]

After watching his college tape after we drafted him, the first player I thought of was Daniel thomas. Talk about impersonating a power back... yikes. Ballage is obviously much faster. But that upright style and lack of vision remind me of DT. Would be nice if he was more of a Ronnie Brown but probably not in the cards.

I am Intrigued to see what gaskin can do in a couple of years though

I'm intrigued to see what Gaskins can do this year.

That kid has great vision, and plays off his blocks like a veteran back.

I've seen reports that question his speed, but I question the "reports".

I watched some of his collegiate tape as well, and didn't see many times he was caught from behind.

40 times, and "football speed" are not the same thing.

 

[phin1984!]

40 times, and "football speed" are not the same thing.

This is something I don’t understand. Why don’t they do 40 times with full gear on?

 

[djphinfan]

No, Ballage got tackled on first contact something like 43 times out of his runs.

He's far from physical.

Yeah that was one of the issues in college..lateral agility is not a strong trait in his skill set.

 

[royalshank]

While rule changes have affected things to the offenses benifit, I would point out that between 2009, and 2015, Revis went to six pro bowls.

Rules haven't changed substantially in that time.

Guys like that take their man, 1 on 1, and shut them down. Period.

IMO, it has nothing to do with rules. They are just very rare.

I understand your point. I’m just suggesting everyone is beatable - even Tedd Ginn beat Revis badly on a bomb for a TD during that span. In other words, I don’t think you have guys that can lock down one side of the field week in week out to the extent that you used to. Now some guys are better than others and take care of business over on their side and go to pro bowls for it - no argument there. Simply suggesting everyone is beatable now - exceptions being when a guy has a ridiculous season (Sherman had 1, Norman had 1) but they don’t seem to be able to repeat those each year like Revis did.

 

[Digital]

The OP might be putting an overly rosy spin on the situation, but he's absolutely right that we have a good secondary and that it has exceptional potential. Unfortunately, a secondary depends upon its pass rush. A good CB can maintain coverage for 3-4 seconds and after that it's a bit of a crap-shoot. Maybe half the time, the WR is going to shake free eventually. With a decent pass rush, the QB usually only has 3-4 seconds unpressured, so the secondary can show their prowess and lock down receivers. But when you give a Tom Brady 10 seconds to throw, every secondary is going to be exploited.

My thought is that since we can't fill all the holes in one year, we've intentionally avoided going after pass rushers, which may cripple our defense no matter how well everyone else plays. So even if our defense does 80% of what it needs to do well, our lack of a pass rush assures we draft high in 2020. Then, if we add legitimate pass rushers in 2020, our defense takes a huge leap forward in 2020.

No disrespect intended for Van Ginkel, I like the person, and the athlete tests very well. But, watching his film at Wisconsin, where he was an older kid, I just didn't see natural pass rush skills. He was either schemed to get pressure, or he rarely generated any pressure. It will be interesting to see how much consistent pressure we can generate through scheme alone.