Samuel... then Hawkins

[drew4008]

I know we were all trashing on Samuel for being so inconsistent and having an off year, but in his 2 passes to Coles, he picked one off, and made a great play on another, wheras Hawkins looked obviously out of position at CB and got burned for 2 TDs. Hopefully Samuel will be back soon, and Hawkins can move back to safety. And get Sanders in there too for some plays.

 

[italian pat patriot]

i totally agree with you.
Samuel surely has not impressed this year but i think we are better with him then without him...

so i hope he will be ok for the play-offs together with Tedy and Bethel

 

[bosfan]

He just lost the fight for the ball on Vinnies TD and the other corner job was simply a perfect pass play - hard to stop those.........

 

[oldrover]

Samuel looked good, and Hawkins did get burned twice, but not for lack of effort/positioning. Secondary looked good until the Pats stopped rushing the passer in the second half.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Hawkins was still playing S on those TD passes to Coles, he had good position, but just lost the height battle - happens. Poteat was Sante's relief, he still took the slot WR in the nickel, with Hawkins picking up the wideout. I'm not sure yet who they brought in, maybe Sanders to play some S. In the first series they were in nickel against a 4 wide with Hobbs and Poteat on one side, Samuel and Hawkins on the other. Probably had to be Sanders coming in on the nickel after Samuels got dinged, then Wilson could play like a corner if needed.

 

[hwc]

He just lost the fight for the ball on Vinnies TD.....

Yeah. I'm not an expert, but it looked like the coverage was as good as it could be on that TD catch. It was a jump ball scenario and the receiver won the battle.

Vinnie certainly wasn't throwing to a wide-open receiver. It was one of those close-your-eyes-and-heave-it-downfield throws.

 

[drew4008]

Hawkins was still playing S on those TD passes to Coles

I was pretty sure he was playing corner, man to man, both plays. Can anybody confirm this?

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

I was pretty sure he was playing corner, man to man, both plays. Can anybody confirm this?

In Nickel and Dime packages he is the coverage S, leaving Geno or Geno and Sanders to be the help over top. He was man in both situations (you are correct) and was out-jumped by Coles, you could call him a Corner, but I saw him as a S with different responsiblities from say Hobbs (in the dime we play with three S and three CBs, since Hawkins is now a primary S that affects how I perceive him even when he's in man coverage on a WR).

 

[HoyaPats]

I know Hawkins isn't loved on this board, but I think he's actually done a pretty decent job. In man situations he sticks to the reciever pretty well when I've seen him (including on the Coles touchdown...it wasn't really bad coverage that was the problem, it was height).

I'm more worried about Stone myself. He's played well on special teams but he's made a number of mental errors where he should be playing up top on a reciever (the Bills game comes to mind) and he doesn't.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Vanilla Defense

After the Pats long drive to start the third Quarter, the Pats played a very vanilla defense for the rest of the game.

I was surprised they left Hawkins out there man on man with Coles, I don't think they do that in the regular season without help coming from somewhere else.

I was very surprised they didn't give Poteat a chance to see what he could do with Coles.

Judging by the way Samuel fell, I think he got a concussion or one of those nasty neck stingers (the kind where you lose felling in your arm for a while) Even if BB "rests him for the Miami game, if I'm right he should be fine for the playoffs.

 

[T-ShirtDynasty]

I know Hawkins isn't loved on this board, but I think he's actually done a pretty decent job. In man situations he sticks to the reciever pretty well when I've seen him (including on the Coles touchdown...it wasn't really bad coverage that was the problem, it was height).

I don't think Hawkins has had much greif on this board, matter of fact, prior to the forum crash, there were quite a few threads on what a pleasant surprise he's been. That being said, I'm more a fan of his at the Safety position than at a Corner spot.

 

[spacecrime]

I know we were all trashing on Samuel for being so inconsistent and having an off year, but in his 2 passes to Coles, he picked one off, and made a great play on another, wheras Hawkins looked obviously out of position at CB and got burned for 2 TDs. Hopefully Samuel will be back soon, and Hawkins can move back to safety. And get Sanders in there too for some plays.

WRs sometimes earn their money, you know, and jus because a WR gets a TD doesn't mean a defender was burned. Sometimes it was a good throw, a good catch, a good job of manipulating the defense with pass routes or even pics

 

[BionicPatriot]

I give Hawkins a pass for that. There was no rush called at all pretty much in the 4th quarter. So they pretty much played a vanilla D giving up a free score. No biggie at all, D played fine. I just think alot of people are still on high alert because of the early season defense.

 

[Joker]

WRs sometimes earn their money, you know, and jus because a WR gets a TD doesn't mean a defender was burned. Sometimes it was a good throw, a good catch, a good job of manipulating the defense with pass routes or even pics

exactly...Hawkins was right there, Coles made a great play...the game was over in the 1st quarter.Hawkins et al played well enough to COMPLETELY stymie the Jet offense in the first half and effectively end the game.

 

[marty]

I don't think Hawkins has had much greif on this board, matter of fact, prior to the forum crash, there were quite a few threads on what a pleasant surprise he's been. That being said, I'm more a fan of his at the Safety position than at a Corner spot.

That's just what I would say! I think there's been some very postitive comments on Hawkins by players, coaches and many posters here. He's picked up the playbook pretty quickly and has helped bring more confidence to the secondary.

 

[JR4]

If Hawkins had tried out to knock down the VT pass instead of trying to
catch it there would have been no TD. The problem looked like he was
trying to catch even though the WR was very much in the play.
He should have batted it away. IMO.

On the other pass Coles was a little to fast or Artrell looked around too soon.
Also Hawkins played Coles up close to the LOS but it didn't look like he
bumped him at all, Coles just flew pretty much free from the LOS.

These are things that I think are correctable. He has the tools to do the job
just needs to play a little smarter.

I like his speed and abilty. It looked like Coles musceled that pass away but
really Coles had the leverage coming down that made it easy to pry the
ball lose.

I am not as concerned today having watched those two TDs in slow motion.
Hawkins was in the play right to the end.

 

[PatsSaintsSox]

Coles is one of the fastest guys in the NFL when he doesnt have turf toe...

 

[ilduce06410]

i totally agree with you.
Samuel surely has not impressed this year but i think we are better with him then without him...

so i hope he will be ok for the play-offs together with Tedy and Bethel

i agree. team does seem to play better defense when asante is out there.
i have high hopes for this kid. he was drafted in the same class as geno, but in the mid-to-late 4th round. in other words about the same place as dexter reid.

i've posted this before, but in samuels' rookie training camp ty law said he was a "ball magnet" and he seems like one to me. this year he's looked worse than his rookie year.

but he'll come up with an INT or two this playoffs, and he may get his hands on the ball a few times. if he plays the ball he will look bad a number of times. who knows what the safety's assignment is on those plays. of course, if asante knows he's got no help coming he's got no biz playing for the ball. IMHO, every time he gets a hand on a pass, and it scares the $h!t out of QBs. i'm obviously a fan..

 

[Patti37]

Hawkins has been doing a decent job at safety. Since he switched from corner to safety, the secondary has played better.

Despite the fact that Asante has been inconsistent thisyear, I want him back at corner and Hawkins to stay at safety.

I know injuries may not make that possible.