Rate Ellis Hobbs

[mgteich]

It is quite reasonable to be worrying about the corner position going into 2008. Both Samuel and Gay are free agents. Hobbs and a late round draft pick from last year's aweful draft is all that is left.

I expect that the front office will do all it can. One key componenet is indeed the quality of Hobbs. For me, my priorities would be
1) re-sign Gay
2) draftee #1 (round 1 or 2)
3) draftee #2
4) jag free agents

While there are possibilities that Meriweather could play some corner and Wilson could be re-signed as a corner, I would consider those choices unlikely. I also consider a top free agent as unlikely. We know what they cost, and we aren't willing to pay.

 

[sebman2112]

I play football in college (fine, fine... only intramural flag football), so if you don't mind elaborating more on this I don't think I would be the only one who would appreciate it.

I won't go into any fine details here, but I'll at least try to give you some really basic info about zone defenses.

Coaches tell you how far off they want you to line up depending on the particular zone defense you're in. This distance isn't the same in every system, and within your own system these distances can change from week to week.

For instance, in certain zone coverages you're starting 2-5 yards off, while in other zone coverages you're generally lining up 7-12 yards off. With In-game adjustments your coach might tell you to increase, or decrease this cushion depending on what they're noticing.

If you're playing Man coverages this cushion can be more dependant on the particular WR you're playing, and much more fluid.


Basically, it all depends on what the coach believes, and how he's instructed you. Coaches also adjust this distance to fit their players particular abilities, and according to feedback from said players.

Trust me, if BB & Pees didn't want Hobbs lining up that far off the LOS they'd have benched him, and he wouldn't be starting every game. This is why I can't understand someone trying to use Hobbs distance from the LOS as an arguing point. It's also not a secret that NE started using more cushion and soft zones after the rules changed (IE: The Ty Law rule).

 

[wpdougie2180]

I think he's mediocre it's not a coincidence every time a play is made it's on him. After reading all 9 pages one of the points that keep coming up is he's a better Man CB than Zone CB I don't agree with this. Every time you see him in Man to Man coverage they are completing a pass on him. I think that play the Zones to protect him it's not because Asante' is a better Zone CB than Man CB. If anyone needs examples all you have to think about is every time the Patriots bring a heavy blitz who is the long passes completed on?

Examples: this week for a TD against the Dolphin by Camirillo sp?, Last week against the Jets on 3&18 against Cotchery, The week before that against Davenport although this looked to not be his fault, Against the Ravens on 3&19 completed to Mason in front of Hobbs, he played ok in the philly game, Parrish in Buffalo I could give you at least 2 to 3 plays like this every game and it's not because teams target him because if he was good or average( which he may be since there are alot of bad corners out there) he at least make one or two these plays and when he so calls makes a play it the Receiver mess up not any the he does(Wayne dropping a sure touchdown, Evans dropping one in the first Buffalo game, and Ginn being overthrown in the first Miami game). You can count on one hand the number times the rest of the secondery has been beat for these of types plays.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

For his stage of development (3rd yr.), he's sligthtly better than average I'd say. Show's flashes of brillance along with bonehead lapses in coverage. I think what most of us are seeing as regression is that he's much more exposed this year because AS is feared by opposing QB's and Hobbs is targeted much more often as a result. He's a good #2 right now. I'm a big Blue fan too, but even I have to say, Hobbs is a better #2 right now then Gay is. I feel confident saying that too, since BB obviously agrees with me too.

That said, in order to step into the (what will be) vacated #1 spot, he'll have to continue to develop and really step it up next year. I HOPE (with a touch of doubt) he is ready for that. I think we'll re-sign Gay to be the #2. AS sadly has priced himself out of NE with his play.

Judge him against his peer at similar stages of development, not CBs as a whole. It's like saying Bledsoe's better then Brady cuz he has more TD passes in his career. For a 3rd year guy in THIS system, he's doing okay. Hopefully he'll progress like AS did.

 

[sebman2112]

I think he's mediocre it's not a coincidence every time a play is made it's on him. After reading all 9 pages one of the points that keep coming up is he's a better Man CB than Zone CB I don't agree with this. Every time you see him in Man to Man coverage they are completing a pass on him. I think that play the Zones to protect him it's not because Asante' is a better Zone CB than Man CB. If anyone needs examples all you have to think about is every time the Patriots bring a heavy blitz who is the long passes completed on?

Examples: this week for a TD against the Dolphin by Camirillo sp?, Last week against the Jets on 3&18 against Cotchery, The week before that against Davenport although this looked to not be his fault, Against the Ravens on 3&19 completed to Mason in front of Hobbs, he played ok in the philly game, Parrish in Buffalo I could give you at least 2 to 3 plays like this every game and it's not because teams target him because if he was good or average( which he may be since there are alot of bad corners out there) he at least make one or two these plays and when he so calls makes a play it the Receiver mess up not any the he does(Wayne dropping a sure touchdown, Evans dropping one in the first Buffalo game, and Ginn being overthrown in the first Miami game). You can count on one hand the number times the rest of the secondery has been beat for these of types plays.

The examples you just used actually go against your stance.

NE was in zone coverage on that Davenport TD.

This I'm not sure of (didn't rewatch the game), but some posters have claimed Hobbs was supposed to have some form of help on that Camarillo (SP) TD.

Hobbs actually had good coverage most of the way on that TD to Parrish, but slipped and fell down as the ball was arriving. That obviously isn't a good thing, but you can't use a slip to judge someones coverage ability, as he doesn't usually slip in those situations.

Randall Gay gave up two easy TD's against Philly, and Samuel gave up a few easy TD's during the early part of the season (when he was still a little rusty). Does that mean Gay can't improve, or that Samuel isn't as good as most of us claim? I've said before I thought Hobbs could have played better this season, but I don't think he's a bad CB either. I also think he has room to grow, but we'll see what the future holds.

 

[wpdougie2180]

I think he's mediocre it's not a coincidence every time a play is made it's on him. After reading all 9 pages one of the points that keep coming up is he's a better Man CB than Zone CB I don't agree with this. Every time you see him in Man to Man coverage they are completing a pass on him. I think that play the Zones to protect him it's not because Asante' is a better Zone CB than Man CB. If anyone needs examples all you have to think about is every time the Patriots bring a heavy blitz who is the long passes completed on?

Examples: this week for a TD against the Dolphin by Camirillo sp?, Last week against the Jets on 3&18 against Cotchery, The week before that against Davenport although this looked to not be his fault, Against the Ravens on 3&19 completed to Mason in front of Hobbs, he played ok in the philly game, Parrish in Buffalo I could give you at least 2 to 3 plays like this every game and it's not because teams target him because if he was good or average( which he may be since there are alot of bad corners out there) he at least make one or two these plays and when he so calls makes a play it the Receiver mess up not any the he does(Wayne dropping a sure touchdown, Evans dropping one in the first Buffalo game, and Ginn being overthrown in the first Miami game). You can count on one hand the number times the rest of the secondery has been beat for these of types plays.

The examples you just used actually go against your stance.

NE was in zone coverage on that Davenport TD.

This I'm not sure of (didn't rewatch the game), but some posters have claimed Hobbs was supposed to have some form of help on that Camarillo (SP) TD.

Hobbs actually had good coverage most of the way on that TD to Parrish, but slipped and fell down as the ball was arriving. That obviously isn't a good thing, but you can't use a slip to judge someones coverage ability, as he doesn't usually slip in those situations.

Randall Gay gave up two easy TD's against Philly, and Samuel gave up a few easy TD's during the early part of the season (when he was still a little rusty). Does that mean Gay can't improve, or that Samuel isn't as good as most of us claim? I've said before I thought Hobbs could have played better this season, but I don't think he's a bad CB either. I also think he has room to grow, but we'll see what the future holds.

I did say the Davenport TD may've not been his fault the others are his fault he was completely turn around on the Camarillo TD just like he's always turned around on the playes I mentioned. A famous TD comes to mind when thinking about the Parrish TD since I live in Nashville(never been a Titans fan) the TD to Issac Bruce in the Super Bowl 2 defenders was there but Issac made the play in the end no one remembers that there was 2 defenders therer only the he made the play and that what it boils down to either you make the play or you don't and usually he doesn't make the play as was the case here.

 

[Seels]

People think Hobbs has regressed? He was below average last year at best. This year the worst you can really say about him is he is inconsistent. He's great at times, beat at others.