Meriweather: A Little Noticed Play

[maverick4]

I've recently called Meriweather the leader of the secondary and a possible pro bowl caliber safety

Mayoclinic I think you're one of the best posters on this board, and definitely know your stuff, but no offense, can you stop starting every post with "I recently said [x, which makes me smart]", or "I've been saying for [time period] that [y, which makes me smart]"?

 

[sebman2112]

i would like to see some evidence of this where long balls dont go his way...

only b/c at some point today i started thinking that our secondary as good as its been playing, still doesnt have an interception....

however, i have seen meriweather play that troy polomalu role real well....and i thought he was a FS

I've noticed this for most of the first 3 games. You don't see many pass attempts aimed toward his immediate area, especially when he drops deep. Generally when he makes a tackle it's either close to the LOS (they bring him on Safety blitzes, and play him in the box), or after he's noticed the ball head in another direction, and broken coverage to stop the ball carrier. Going back to his play at the LOS, whenever NE plays him in the box, Brandon seems to have strong instincts against the run, and either makes the tackle, or gets part of it. He's dished out some pretty good hits to both ball carriers and O-linemen, as well.

 

[SeymourTrophies]

Somewhat off-topic: Does anyone remember those draft commercials where they talk about how Brandon Jacobs was a late-round pick and turned out to be great, and then they show the Meriweather-Jacobs clash in the Super Bowl?

Brandon Meriweather, in all of his 200-pound glory, brings a 260 pound running back to a dead stop. I've liked him ever since (even though that commercial twists what actually happened on that play). I worry about his ability to stay healthy though, based on the fact that he is much smaller than he plays. Polamalu doesn't obliterate people like Meriweather does; he's just darn good at tackling and covering ground.

 

[pencilneckgeek]

I've noticed this for most of the first 3 games. You don't see many pass attempts aimed toward his immediate area, especially when he drops deep. Generally when he makes a tackle it's either close to the LOS (they bring him on Safety blitzes, and play him in the box), or after he's noticed the ball head in another direction, and broken coverage to stop the ball carrier. Going back to his play at the LOS, whenever NE plays him in the box, Brandon seems to have strong instincts against the run, and either makes the tackle, or gets part of it. He's dished out some pretty good hits to both ball carriers and O-linemen, as well.

He does have strong instincts and hits hard, but I'd like to see Merriweather work on his tackling fundamentals a little bit. He doesn't always wrap up and that's going to come back and bite him and the team at some point in time. There was a play on Turner yesterday where Merriweather brought the wood, but Turner didn't go down, and Merriweather ended up grabbing him upside down (with Turner on his right hip and his right arm around Turner's back), so he ended up getting dragged for five yards. That was the only play that stood out yesterday, but it is symptomatic of something that I'm sure he's working on, but doesn't quite have down yet.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

He does have strong instincts and hits hard, but I'd like to see Merriweather work on his tackling fundamentals a little bit. He doesn't always wrap up and that's going to come back and bite him and the team at some point in time. There was a play on Turner yesterday where Merriweather brought the wood, but Turner didn't go down, and Merriweather ended up grabbing him upside down (with Turner on his right hip and his right arm around Turner's back), so he ended up getting dragged for five yards. That was the only play that stood out yesterday, but it is symptomatic of something that I'm sure he's working on, but doesn't quite have down yet.

Nice post.

My thinking after yesterday's game was that tackling is really key to whether this defense lets up the big play or not. Turner's longest run yesterday was 7 yards, which says to me the Patriots were doing pretty well with gang tackling even if he made it past the line of scrimmage. I also observed that the Falcons didn't have much in the way of YAC yesterday, which is a big positive in any game, in my opinion.

 

[italia44]

In a way,I'm glad that the pats primarily use Brandon as a Free Safety in coverage.For all their talent,the psycho-safeties(compliment),like Bob Sanders and Troy Polamalu seem to blow themselves up with their full-speed blitzing.The riskl/reward is just too great,imo.

I like the straight up safeties,like Kerry Rhodes and Ed Reed,better.......they don't burn-out.

 

[SidelineSid]

People, people, come on. I like Meriweather a lot - I was going to say, "as much as anyone," but clearly that's not true - but to say he "should've been all pro," if not for Polamalu and Reed? Get a grip. He had a decent season last year, definitely improved, became a bit of a leader, and had two big plays at the end of the year. Bob Sanders says hi. So does Kerry Rhodes. And probably some others.

Meriweather's doing a really good job, he's improving at a steady rate. Don't go all "jet fan" on us now. That makes us all look silly.

I've gotta agree with you. I think Meriweather is doing good so far, but lets not go overboard. Also, lets give some credit to Mr. James Sanders and Mr. Brandon McGowan. All three of our safeties did a very good job of shutting down the Falcons short passing game (especially Tony Gonzalez).

The bad: Terrence Wheatley.

 

[pencilneckgeek]

The bad: Terrence Wheatley.

Don't judge too much by an ugly pre-season. Against the Falcons, he was in for 16 plays, and got beat once on a 3rd and 3. That's a pretty good performance, especially considering that he was pretty much alone on the outside, while the safeties were primarily playing the middle of the field covering Gonzalez. (He may have had help over the top on some plays. It's hard to tell from the television broadcast.) Given that the kid was out for much of his rookie year, I'd say we've seen some considerable development from him this season. I'd take him over Hobbs now.

 

[Bostonian1962]

Very observant on your part.

Let me throw one back at you, as far us being a "little noticed play".

Late in the game, the Pats had the lead and the ball. It was then, all about running clock. S. Morris had a catch and a nice gain, out by the left sideline. Just before he went out of bounds, he quickly kneeled in bounds, so that the clock kept ticking after the play was over.

Nobody doing the game noticed it, or said anything about it, but it was so heads up, just like the play you mention.

 

[pencilneckgeek]

Very observant on your part.

Let me throw one back at you, as far us being a "little noticed play".

Late in the game, the Pats had the lead and the ball. It was then, all about running clock. S. Morris had a catch and a nice gain, out by the left sideline. Just before he went out of bounds, he quickly kneeled in bounds, so that the clock kept ticking after the play was over.

Nobody doing the game noticed it, or said anything about it, but it was so heads up, just like the play you mention.

That's a completely different play. Merriweather risked injury by diving under two huge offensive linemen. Morris risked injury by going out of bounds. BB would have ripped him a new one. Still, it was a heads-up play to pick up the extra yardage by the sideline and then sit down before he could get pushed out.

 

[Synovia]

Polamalu doesn't obliterate people like Meriweather does; he's just darn good at tackling and covering ground.

I think Meriweather is actually better in coverage than Polamalu at this point, he probably won't have as many picks because Polamalu has better hands, and gambles more, but teams still throw at Polamalu. They don't seem to throw at Meriweather.

 

[fourthandmiles]

I cringe when I see him throwing his body around. I always expect somebody to break in half. I love the physical game but sometimes it looks like the pain is self inflicted.

 

[Bostonian1962]

I've tried to pick my words carefully. I've said that I see Meriweather as the leader of the secondary and possibly a pro bowl caliber safety. I think that's reasonable.

Was Meriweather a pro bowl caliber afety last year? No way. But he made tremendous strides, and looks to be improving this year.

Will he ever be as good as Troy Polamalu or Ed Reed? Probably not, but for me those are the 2 best safeties since Ronnie Lott. Bob Sanders is fabulous at times but is too frequently injured and isn't great against the pass.

I agree that Meriweather can probably be about as good as anyone other than Polamalu and Reed. I tend to set the bar at Michael Griffin, who was taken 5 picks before Meriweather in 2007 and who a pro bowler alternate last year in place of Ed Reed.

Ty Warren's never been voted to a pro bowl, but he's been a pro bowl caliber 3-4 DE for us for several years now. Meriweather may not make many pro bowls behind Reed and Polamalu. But I think he's capable of playing at a consistent pro bowl level, sooner rather than later.

This post summed up my feelings on the situation exactly. Even the part about Ty Warren. I appreciate that Meriweather apparently worked on his open filed tackling issue (remember him bouncing off several players last year), and has become such a tremendous player. Kudos to his work ethic, and his desire to get better, because clearly he has.

 

[shakadave]

I think it's pretty OBVIOUS that he's the leader of the secondary now. If anyone can't see that, they might want to go get their eyes checked because I do believe that they are legally blind. quote]

I guess I'm blind because I still see Bodden as the stud in the secondary. But if there's room for two, great!

 

[Lockdown06]

I think it's pretty OBVIOUS that he's the leader of the secondary now. If anyone can't see that, they might want to go get their eyes checked because I do believe that they are legally blind. quote]

I guess I'm blind because I still see Bodden as the stud in the secondary. But if there's room for two, great!

I could be wrong, but I believe when he says "leader of the secondary" he's not simply talking about who's making plays.

Bodden is a very talented player, but given his position, and relative inexperience in our system, he doesn't make the calls for the secondary - I belieeeeve (but not positive) that Meriweather is now the one making the calls - although it could fall to Sanders, I'm definitely not positive on this.

But in either case, at least to my eyes, Meriweather appears to be the emotional leader back there - he gets in the face of whoever he hits, tries to amp the crowd up, that kind of stuff, whereas Bodden, while definitely studly, doesn't really engage in that kind of activity (yet)