Throwing at Revis – paradox of CB stats

This great article speaks to the paradox of cornerback stats. Last season QBs only threw at Revis once every 15 snaps, only Sherman who QBs threw at once every 17 snaps saw less targets his direction. Revis makes the entire secondary better because of his deterrent value. This leads to more passes being thrown at lesser WRs and in situations that generally the QB would be going to his #1 WR.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/darrelle-revis-and-the-paradox-of-cornerback-stats/

Revis was in a zone scheme last year in prior years, he was targeted by QBs once every 20+ times. McCourty, Browner, Dennard, and Ryan are all going to benefit from Revis being here.

Brady6 said:

Revis was in a zone scheme last year in prior years, he was targeted by QBs once every 20+ times. McCourty, Browner, Dennard, and Ryan are all going to benefit from Revis being here.

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So will the DLs and LBs.

What is the paradox?


edit: nm, I read the article; it's that interceptions go down if you're great cause you don't get thrown at

voluntarysaftey said:

What is the paradox?

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I'm assuming that less passes defensed or ints isn't quite so bad if u never get a chance to make those plays because you're avoided outright

ALP said:

I'm assuming that less passes defensed or ints isn't quite so bad if u never get a chance to make those plays because you're avoided outright

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It's worth pointing out that Devin McCourty had more INTs his rookie season as a Patriot than he did in his entire Rutgers career, and yet he was an All-Big East first teamer his senior year.

Brady6 said:

This great article speaks to the paradox of cornerback stats. Last season QBs only threw at Revis once every 15 snaps, only Sherman who QBs threw at once every 17 snaps saw less targets his direction. Revis makes the entire secondary better because of his deterrent value. This leads to more passes being thrown at lesser WRs and in situations that generally the QB would be going to his #1 WR.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/darrelle-revis-and-the-paradox-of-cornerback-stats/

Revis was in a zone scheme last year in prior years, he was targeted by QBs once every 20+ times. McCourty, Browner, Dennard, and Ryan are all going to benefit from Revis being here.

Click to expand...

McCourty will be the one that benefits the most from it, as he'll shade over to Browner's or Dennard's side of the field to provide help. This should give him much more of an opportunity to make plays where, in previous years, he was trying to cover up for a good amount of deficiencies in the secondary that simply aren't there anymore (outside of the other safety position).

KontradictioN said:

McCourty will be the one that benefits the most from it, as he'll shade over to Browner's or Dennard's side of the field to provide help. This should give him much more of an opportunity to make plays where, in previous years, he was trying to cover up for a good amount of deficiencies in the secondary that simply aren't there anymore (outside of the other safety position).

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I agree, I said in another thread recently that I thought McCourty could potentially have an Ed Reed type season in terms of interceptions (6+). McCourty’s greatest strength is playing the football, in recent years even when at the safety position he has been forced to play the wide receiver.

ctpatsfan77 said:

It's worth pointing out that Devin McCourty had more INTs his rookie season as a Patriot than he did in his entire Rutgers career, and yet he was an All-Big East first teamer his senior year.

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McCourty was an excellent CB in a zone scheme, it worked toward his strength of playing the football, he struggled to cover the receivers 1on1 in man coverage often times getting beat at the line of scrimmage and then having difficulty recovering. If McCourty played in a zone scheme like Tampa Bay he would be an all-pro CB every season, here his talent fits best as a centerfield safety. I think the paradox is a little different in zone schemes and in safety play, I think interceptions and things like that are a bigger indicator to those types of players because they are not taking a man away they are playing the football.