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http://www.pressboxonline.com/story.cfm?id=2087
Winfield may or may not be a victim of Minnesota's defensive woes, considering he and Smoot were both on that list...then again.Recently, defensive coordinator Rex Ryan defended cornerback Samari Rolle's inconsistent play last year by saying, "It's obvious when a corner gets beat. Champ Bailey gets beat."
That's beacuase, despite Bailey's perennial Pro Bowl credentials, teams aren't shying away from throwing at him. According to a recent survey on ESPN.com, Bailey - who was the NFL's co-leader with 10 interceptions last year - was targeted 65 times last season, an average of just over four attempts per game.
The Ravens' duo of Rolle and Chris McAlister was attacked even more. Rolle had 83 passes thrown his way a year ago (14th in the league) while McAlister was spotlighted a whopping 97 times, second in the league only to Dallas' Anthony Henry (100).
Also in the top 10 around the league behind Henry and McAlister in targeted attempts were Chicago's Charles Tillman, Washington's Carlos Rogers, Jacksonville's Rashean Mathis, San Diego's Quentin Jammer, Minnesota's Antoine Winfield, Atlanta's DeAngelo Hall, Arizona's Antrel Rolle and Minnesota's Fred Smoot.
What is also telling is the yards-per-attempt on each throw aimed at a certain cornerback.
The passes aimed at Bailey's coverage targets averaged only 4.7 yards per attempt. However, McAlister was picked on by passes averaging 7.3 yard per throw and Rolle had to face passes that averaged a whopping 10.1 yards per try.
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