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Would the Patriots defense be better with Devin McCourty at safety?
By: John Morgan

One issue with the Pats pass defense is the weakness of the linebackers in pass coverage. Moving Devin McCourty permanently to safety could help the team in that area of the field by allowing for...

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PATRIOTSFANINPA

Since McCourty blows at corner,the obvious answer is YES

PatsFan2

Good idea on playing Free Safety that way McCourty can rome and more times that not he'll be facing the play...rather than playing with his back against the ball.

PatsFan2

I am one of his critics too but McCourty doesn't blow as much as Kyle Arrington!

yukon cornelius

a good safety can make a corner better


a bad safety can make a good corner worse



if you are going to give dowling and dennard a shot on the outside, with arrington in the nickel on the slot, i say go for it


gregory & his health fits into this as well....a healthy gregory, and i'd like to see mccourty stay at corner

Rob0729

I am still in the camp that McCourty is a far better CB than people have given him credit for. I think he does give up one or two big plays a game, BUT is solid for the most part for the rest of the game most weeks.

I still think this team is best with him at LCB and Dennard at RCB. Unfortunately, with both Chung and Gregory out, the safety position is an even bigger mess than the CB position. Until at least one comes back, he has to stay at safety. But this team is better with him at CB.

This team made Sanchez look like Aaron Rodgers at times with McCourty at FS with the Jets picking on Dennard, Dowling, and Arrington. The week before , Wilson got big plays on everyone other than McCourty except for one play where McCourty had pretty good coverage, but the ball was just perfect.

He is easily the best player in the secondary. He should be at the LCB because of that alone.

aluminum seats

I'm pretty much an agnostic on this point right now, but I wonder if your point here is true.

If McCourty is the best player in the secondary--and if that remains true if he plays CB or safety (which I think is an important if, correct? The skill sets at the two positions are different)--then maybe he would be better off at safety.

Here's why. Thought about this on Sunday. A graphic showed the Steelers' record with Troy Polamalu was 28-9, without him 7-9. I remember the Pats with and without Rodney Harrison was pretty much the same. A dominant safety made a HUGE difference. Really striking.

Now, I'm not saying that McCourty is/would be a dominant safety like that, I'm just wondering if that kind of huge disaparity is reflected elsewhere, on other teams, at any other position.

__________________
"So I'm going to throw myself against the wall...
'Cause I'd rather feel bad than not feel anything at all."

Deus Irae

I don't know. I'm worried that McCourty would have a Eugene Wilson sort of career, where injury would dramatically curtail his effectiveness over time.

On the other hand, Chung has been stinking out the joint and McCourty hasn't been getting it done at CB. I suggested a starting 4 of

Dowling
Dennard
Wilson
McCourty

for the Rams game in another thread. I still think that's worth a shot.

__________________
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

Rob0729

Both Polumalu and Harrison were rare, elite players. McCourty may be the best player in the secondary, but he is not anywhere near the class those two are.

Unless the Pats are going up against a team with a really good TE or slot receiver, McCourty's best spot is at LCB assuming the safety position is healthy. Him playing safety on Sunday did nothing to fix the secondary woes. In fact, it made the right side of the field more vunerable and Sanchez doesn't like throwing to his left a lot.

Kenneth Sims

It makes sense to move McCourty to safety where his speed, toughness and tackling skills could make him an above-average deep safety.

I'm a devout pessimist when it comes to this team's pass defense. But, I could get a little excited if the Pats made the changes suggested by the author of this article. But, I'd play Tavon Wilson rather than Chung as the "big" safety because I think he's a more versatile player capable of playing better man coverage against both a TE and a slot receiver.

Then, if they could run some games upfront improving the pass rush, we might actually be on to something. It will not always be pretty and Dowling and Dennard will get more than their fair share of holding penalties at first, but can it be any uglier than what we've seen so far?