McCourty Sophomore Struggles

WhiZa said:

So he's not a shutdown corner. I suppose it could be worse. One thing is for sure that he is one of the hardest working players on that defense. Now many #1 CBs lead the team in tackles on a regular basis?

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He was absolutely key in that 4th and goal stoppage too.

patsfan-1982 said:

theres really no way of sugar coating it McCourty has sucked the first two games of the season but so has the rest of the pats pass defense, the LB's cant cover and they have the worst Safety's in the NFL and all of the corners can't hang with the NFL's top WR's but Bottom line is they are 2-0 not 0-2 and as long as Tom Brady gets time to throw the ball no one is going to stop him

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Apparently, there are plenty of ways to sugar-coat it from reading the majority of the posts in this thread.

Generally leading and with a potent offense, this team plays vanilla defense. If you only rush four 80% of the time, DB's are going to have a hard time.

patsfan-1982 said:

theres really no way of sugar coating it McCourty has sucked the first two games of the season but so has the rest of the pats pass defense, the LB's cant cover and they have the worst Safety's in the NFL and all of the corners can't hang with the NFL's top WR's but Bottom line is they are 2-0 not 0-2 and as long as Tom Brady gets time to throw the ball no one is going to stop him

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The Purdue OWL: Grammar

He's getting smoked like a pack of cigarettes. It's not exactly being hidden, because he's a corner and the opposing teams are making it obvious that he's struggling by successfully targeting him so often. Hopefully he'll turn it around by next week.

During the week, he practices against the Brady/Patriots offense that ...A) doesnt have a big WR target to challenge (not since Moss left) ...B) doesn't use the over the top, deep sideline pass (not since Moss left).

Look at McCourty's matchups so far. He's definitely played below expectations, but it's not time to push the panic button or anything, imo. Eventually, purely as a matter of size, I think Dowling will end up covering the Marshalls and Jacksons of the NFL anyways. Probably not this season, but hopefully in the future.

Ahh, the latest patsfans punching bag. The guy is covering 2 semi all-world WR's with zero help from our incredibly bad safeties in weeks 1 & 2. Also, every OC on planet earth has been studying film on this guy for the last 6 months. He's light years better than Bustler and will be just fine before season end. Please don't drink the haterade.

Pretty heady play on Wilfork's int, though. He saw that the Chargers player was going to try to strip Wilfork, and took the block in the back penalty to prevent a fumble.

crowell33 said:

New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

Reiss listed McCourty as one of the three negative players from the Dolphin game as well, after week one.

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He'll get it together. He didn't look good when he played in the preseason either. I'm hoping this is just a matter of him getting up to speed. I sure hope so.

Sergio Brown shut down Gates, at the expense of more 1-1 coverage for McCourty... this team, like the Pats, has a lot of offensive weapons.

But am still concerned about what looks like some mediocre play..

DarrylS said:

Sergio Brown shut down Gates, at the expense of more 1-1 coverage for McCourty... this team, like the Pats, has a lot of offensive weapons.

But am still concerned about what looks like some mediocre play..

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I don't think it is as much mediocre play as his failure to make a play when he is in position to do so. The guy has been in position most of the time and is very rarely beaten outright, but he just fails to turn his head, make a play on the ball etc.

Some of the issues like the TD in the back of the end zone are the fault of the front 7 not getting to the QB. A DB can only be expected to cover a guy for so long then you anticipate the the rushers have gotten to the QB.

IMHO this secondary will get exponentially better once the pass rush starts getting to the QB and forcing passes.

Rob0729 said:

McCourty wasn't nearly as bad as people are making it. He had great coverage on some of catches he gave up, but rivers made good throws and the receivers made great plays.

I still blame the pressure for a lot of the problems with the secondary. On that TD pass that McCourty gave up in the back of the endzone was clearly the lack of a pass rush fault because there is only so long you can cover guy in the endzone.

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Rewatched the game on NFL Rewind

Jackson's first half catches were actually on Arrington. A top 5 receiver on our #4 CB is a mismatch.

The first TD was after Rivers had 5 seconds.

The second Jackson TD should have been broken up by Arrington. It's obvious by the replay, Arrington thought he had an INT. If he had played the receiver, that's an incompletion.

Patspsycho said:

For instance, the 26 yard one hand catch by Jackson- McCourty is in trail tech and Barrett is the single high safety and Arrington is the NB, and you can watch this highlight on NFL.com (if you can tolerate the 30 seconds ad every other freaking highlight) or on TV. What you'll see is Arrington cradling his arm for a hopeful INT., instead of delivering a massive hit on Jackson, and Barrett is very late to the play. That's been symptomatic of the safeties situation- and McCourty being "abused" is, I think, more of a byproduct of the opposing OC recognizing that he is not getting competent help over the top. Also two straight games against pro-bowl caliber WRs are not helping him.

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And it seemed to me that V Jackson directed a stiff arm to McCourty around mid field that caused some separation.

Some of these passes are being defensed well, but he's covering guys that are 5 inches taller than him and they are making athletic leaps to get the ball. It'd be interestign to see how many YAC his receivers are gettign as well (that could be an indication if his coverage is close. It's not always close enough for him to make the hit to jar the ball loose.) Still, it seems there are some big yardage receptions to the men he's covering. half a second of getting more pressure on the QB could do wonders.

I think he's going to work hard and he'll turn it around. give hi ma receiver hat's 6'1" and we'll see how he does. Plus, he's been more on an island than most and the game plans are calling for him to be isolated so they don't get killed by others (see Gates with 1 target that resulted in an interception).

He'll look a lot better when we start activating the D-Line for games...

Sciz said:

Covering guys that are 5 inches taller than you is one thing. Trying to jam those same guys who are also 30 pounds heavier is another. Trying to do that without decent safety help is hopeless, and we've seen that.

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Exactly. Thats the biggest thing here: The safeties are terrible. Chung is good, but over the top coverage isn't exactly his strong suite.

McCourty has basically been one-on-one against guys much bigger than him, and in cases like that, if the QB makes a good throw, there's nothing you can do.

There was a play where McCourty, Arrington, and brown(I think it was brown) all got to Jackson before the ball got there, and it was still a completion.

patsfan-1982 said:

theres really no way of sugar coating it McCourty has sucked the first two games of the season but so has the rest of the pats pass defense, the LB's cant cover and they have the worst Safety's in the NFL and all of the corners can't hang with the NFL's top WR's but Bottom line is they are 2-0 not 0-2 and as long as Tom Brady gets time to throw the ball no one is going to stop him

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Lets See, as of week 2 total defense rankings

#1 Texans
#30 Packers
#31 Patriots ( #14 in total points allowed)
#32 Dolphins

so, basically the Packers and Fins which were top 5 defense in 2010 might as well give up on their defenses too. Now, Texans, going from #32 defense to #1 so far, are surely headed to the SuperBowl babeeeeee!

I think you left out slamming our D Line, just so you know give everyone a fair shake, since you already slammed the crap out our DB, LB's. Yea our corners ought to shutdown every WR every week because you know the rest of the league is chopped liver and can never figure out a BB defense, you know like we played 4-3 for like you know last 10 years. Yea, that's it you know two games into a season that had shortened preseason, and one in which Pats switched from 3-4 to a 4-3 we should be playing like the second coming of the 85 Bears defense right from game 1 onwards.

Glad you're not the motivational speaker anywhere soon. Unreal ! :bricks:

DarrylS said:

Sergio Brown shut down Gates, at the expense of more 1-1 coverage for McCourty... this team, like the Pats, has a lot of offensive weapons.

But am still concerned about what looks like some mediocre play..

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When you play 1 on 1 and only rush four to me it's a recipe for disaster.

patsfaninpittsburgh said:

Rewatched the game on NFL Rewind

Jackson's first half catches were actually on Arrington. A top 5 receiver on our #4 CB is a mismatch.

The first TD was after Rivers had 5 seconds.

The second Jackson TD should have been broken up by Arrington. It's obvious by the replay, Arrington thought he had an INT. If he had played the receiver, that's an incompletion.

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Yes N.Turner talked about how they moved V.Jackson to the slot to counter coverages vs Gates.

Hey ..don't you know...stats are for losers. ...

even the best cornerbacks cant stop a ball....to a taller wide receiver when its in an optimal spot for the receiver...not matter how close he is.....
thats why pressure is so important..on a QB..making him release to early and disrupting his ....mechanics...

You have to give kudos when they are earned....