Something we could see from our secondary?

[BradfordPatsFan]

In the 03 and 04 playoff games with the Colts, I seem to remember some of the Pats' safeties lining up at or near the line and bumping the wr and then handing off the wr's to the db's who were playing back a bit. This was particularly effective with Marvin Harrison. It reall threw off the timing of the wr's and qb.

Could we see this strategy this Sunday?

 

[soxpatsbscs]

Perhaps you are not familiar with the train wreck DB's we have now. Hobbs is OK but short, Asante is horrific and small, and Wilson is fragile while Rodney is very very slow post injury. The 03 and 04 crew included Law for most of the season. That shut down corner is what we lack and so desperately neeed. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

 

[zippo59]

Perhaps you are not familiar with the train wreck DB's we have now. Hobbs is OK but short, Asante is horrific and small, and Wilson is fragile while Rodney is very very slow post injury. The 03 and 04 crew included Law for most of the season. That shut down corner is what we lack and so desperately neeed. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

And sometimes you need to get a clue.

Hobbs handcuffed Evans in the first game against Buffalo. Evans is a pretty good receiver.

Samuel is a big play tank, who played great in the playoffs last year, and in my opinion is underrated.

Wilson is fragile? I don't understand the basis of these comments.

As for Rodney, I don't know what people are seeing when they say he is really slow, because I'm not seeing it. Naturally, he is not fully recovered from his injury but this will probably get better in time. Besides, the leadership, intelligence, and swagger he brings to the secondary is invalueable.

Law is a great player, no doubt about it, but the Pats didn't need him when they embarrassed the Colts in the 2004 playoffs with scrubs at CB. In my opinion, a shutdown corner is like a pro bowl wide receiver, they're nice to have but are not necessary for the good teams. And by the way Belichick himself said he could see Hobbs developing into the shutdown corner you speak of.

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

Perhaps you are not familiar with the train wreck DB's we have now. Hobbs is OK but short, Asante is horrific and small, and Wilson is fragile while Rodney is very very slow post injury. The 03 and 04 crew included Law for most of the season. That shut down corner is what we lack and so desperately neeed. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

Kevin or Carl Poston? I can't tell which one you are. Please specify.

 

[pats1]

Perhaps you are not familiar with the train wreck DB's we have now. Hobbs is OK but short, Asante is horrific and small, and Wilson is fragile while Rodney is very very slow post injury. The 03 and 04 crew included Law for most of the season. That shut down corner is what we lack and so desperately neeed. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

Since when is September and October "most" of the season?

 

[cstjohn17]

In the 03 and 04 playoff games with the Colts, I seem to remember some of the Pats' safeties lining up at or near the line and bumping the wr and then handing off the wr's to the db's who were playing back a bit. This was particularly effective with Marvin Harrison. It reall threw off the timing of the wr's and qb.

Could we see this strategy this Sunday?

I think we may be able to mix and match things together for the odd game here and there but ultimately the secondary will be much the same as last year where we finished 31st in the league in pass defense. The recent events on WRs etc. has deflected the focus from the front office's inability to improve our secondary. If healthy Hobbs and Samuels, Harrison and Wilson are a slighty above average group. If injuries set in it goes downhill fast from there. The team will be playing a lot of cover 2 trying to avoid 1:1 coverage forcing the front 7 to create pressure, this limits play calling and makes the D very vanilla. Sounds just like last year... I hope I am wrong.

 

[Wotan_the_Wanderer]

In the 03 and 04 playoff games with the Colts, I seem to remember some of the Pats' safeties lining up at or near the line and bumping the wr and then handing off the wr's to the db's who were playing back a bit. This was particularly effective with Marvin Harrison. It reall threw off the timing of the wr's and qb.

Could we see this strategy this Sunday?

Against the Colts in '03 at least, I saw Vrabel and Willie obliverate the slot receivers also. Hope the Pats get back to that. However, this being '06, I'm not so confident given that the league's outlawed hitting from the game of football altogether.

 

[mgcolby]

Can someone please tell me who our starting corners were in our last SB?

Nevermind they were samuels and Gay. Who are our starting CB's now?Samuels and Hobbs.

Who is better between Gay and Hobbs? Hobbs

So can someone tell me WTF SOXalphabet is talking about?

Thanks.

 

[soxpatsbscs]

Let me clarify: Wilson is fragile because he left the game vs. Denver and is questionable. I do not mean in his career, because he has only missed one game in 04. So as of now, he is injured and not 100%. Perhaps fragile wasn't the right word. As for Rodney, he does bring a lot of swagger and intelligence/experience to the field, and last year without that they got torched, but I am not seeing much so far to think this year yet to think things have turned around. Perhaps teams have realized our CB size is a weakness and are exploiting it.. They do not intercept (Asante has 6 in his career, Law had 10 last year), and to bring up SuperBowl in 04 is not so great as far as the secondary is concerned. TO murdered us. I like Hobbs and I'm sure he'll develop, but right now our secondary is a weakness as was proved in 2 straight games with the big play. I am all Pats through and through, but to deny we have problems in the secondary is foolish. Big playmakers have smoked us so far this season and we are going against a big playmaker team. And as for Ty Law, he only played 7 games in 04. I realize that. But I think if we kept him for 05, it is the difference. If he had 10 picks for us, imagine the difference in the win loss collumn. We didn't and we suffered for it. Asante did play well in the playoffs but he got torched quite a bit last year.

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

TO had a great game in SB39. I have no problem with that. He did that to far better corners than Randal Gay during the course of the season.

BTW, you also consistently mention the heights of the Pats' cb's, Law is also only 5-11. That is a whole inch bigger than Assante, and a whopping two inches more than Hobbs. It is the same height as Wilson and Gay; and two inches below Harrison and Scott.

Height isn't everything. As Charles Barkley once proved, positioning and desire are just as important.

 

[soxpatsbscs]

Ty Law is an exceptionally rare corner, as Barkley was an exceptionally rare basketball player. Law had an uncanny knack of knowing where the ball was going which made up for any size disadvantage (he also weighs a solid 15lbs. more, but whatever). These corners do not have that knack and although I think Hobbs will keep improving, Asante is not getting any better. I also think when you are dealing with mediocre (for NFL starters) CB's, height is a huge factor. A CB with 2" more can make a huge difference. Our guys are small and get beat against tall receivers. I know you can't expect corners to shut down guys like TO or Steve Smith, but you can also not tolerate them getting beat week in and week out.