One In a Million, Brother Mayo!! :rocker:
:youtheman: :youtheman: :youtheman:
Mind you: I wouldn't've traded for this guy in a
billion years, but it's certainly not because I don't think he can be an extraordinary ~ even All Pro ~ PressMan Corner. This lunatic has
Verticity up the WAZOO!! Hah!!
God, I love the
FootBall player we just snagged. To pull in a truly physical Corner, one who gets great accolades for'is Run Defense and clearly enjoys contact...and actually boasts such phenomenal
Verticity when he Flips the Hips and runs, and who is young and healthy ~ physically, anyway ~ is nothing short of
thrilling.
And if this
does portend a permanent move of
Devin McCourty to Free Safety, and a shift back towards more of a One Deep set, color me
giddy.
I've always considered Free Safety to be the most critical position in the Secondary ~ and nothing has supported that Philosophy more that the horrifying pyrotechnics of the last one and an half nerve-racking Seasons ~ but that doesn't mean that it requires the rarest SkillSet, or that your "best" DBack ought necessarily man the position.
Indeed, if it were possible to
quantify "Talent", I expect we'd pretty much all agree that
Aqib Talib has significantly more'f it than
Devin McCourty.
Frankly, superior
Verticity ~ the ability to Flip Hips and Turn & Burn well enough to stay even in the same
Zip Code as Wide Receivers who have the advantage both of knowing what Play is called
and of
running forward ~ baffles and amazes me: I can generally run forward and in a straight line for 5 or 10 yards without falling down, most days. Ask me, on the other hand, to run backwards or sideways, while trying to rapidly react to the redirecting and hornswoggling Wide Receiver I'm trying to cover, and I assure you that I will break
both ankles.
And that, of course, is why I
treasure that attribute.
Well, plus the fact that I consider it the aspect of any Corner's Game ~ especially a Press Corner, of course ~ that is more essential than all other aspects
combined.
I believe that
Devin McCourty actually possesses that attribute in significant quantity, and that he's been playing pretty well, this year. But I believe ~ as you clearly and eloquently do, Brother Mayo ~ that as a CornerBack he makes one
Hell of a fine Free Safety. Haw.
A Free Safety, in my view, needs, above all else, superior
Processing Speed, Diagnostic Acuity, and
Burst ~ Short Speed ~ and I believe that
Devin McCourty commands those in
spades.
Aqib Talib, on the other hand, boasts a
spectacular combination of
Verticity and beautifully brutal physicality, both in Press and in Run Support.
In a word: He was born to play PressMan Corner, and McCourty was born to play Free Safety, a position I consider even more vital to our Championship Quest than Corner.
And if this acquisition portends a division of the Safeties' responsibilities into more of a classic Free Safety/Strong Safety division, allowing
Pat Chung to play far more of the latter, we have substantially upgraded
three Positions.
And not just three.
It seems highly likely that allowing
Pat Chung and
Tavon Wilson to play more "downhill" spreads the joy to the MidFielders, as Hill also points out: if Chung actually returns to making most'f'is plays in front'f'm ~ now possible with a potentially All Pro Caliber Free Safety in McCourty now behind'm, which in turn is possible because of the arrival of an equally potentially All Pro Corner in Talib ~ then
Brandon Spikes' job suddenly become significantly easier: He, too, is freed, to a greater extent, to play less reactively and more "downhill." And that, of course, plays to'is considerable strengths: Brandon Spikes, freed to simply react and attack what's in front of'm, is
terrifying.
Yes. We are talking about significantly improving
four positions.
And that, of course, should enhance the freedom of movement of
everyone out there, right down to the Tackles.
Imagine ~ I'm quite sure that you already have ~ what
Chandler Jones might accomplish with a drastically improved Pass Coverage behind'm??
Of course, the Pass Rush as well as the Run Defense of the
entire Front 7 will benefit...and that's without accounting for the exceptional
psychological boost that this move is going to give everyone, the Impact of which can, in and of itself, be
spectacular.
The
2006 Colts ~ sorry, this is the best example that I know of!! ~ were burdened by an
historically horrible Run Defense all season long...And yet when
Bob Sanders rejoined them just in time for the PlayOffs, the
entire unit was transformed, and they played
extraordinary Run Defense.
The potential
Ripple Effect of acquiring the services of
Aqib Talib, combined with the accession of
Alfonzo Dennard, and what I already fully expected would be a
tremendous second half surge by our Defense ~ helped in no small measure by an anticipated tremendous second half surge by our
Offense, allowing for many "Pin Your Ears Back" Sets for our D!! ~ can best be put in the fine words of our man Brother Mayo:
"Super Bowl, Baby!!" :rocker:
Now we just need to remember to
frisk the guy before he enters the locker room.
