Does Anyone Else Think it Would be Best if We Left Meriweather at Safety??

[Brady'sButtBoy]

Before I offer my OPINION, I ask if we can PLEASE cut the crap from all the 'smart' posters bashing all the stupid, uneducated, uniformed, (etc.) posters for having a little fun and having their say. Some good natured ribbing is one thing, but are the snobby, self-righteous, man-you-don't-have-a-clue-you-dimwit post really necessary? I love this board because it aspires to be well informed but let's keep that as an asset not a personality defect.
Anyway...

Unless I don't count well, Meriweather had 7 INTs total for college; not many for a guy who played as much as he did and, whenever I watched him, always seemd to be around the ball. (He had good passes defended/broken up numbers).

Maybe his hands can be improved - for a gifted athlete, catching the ball on a level acceptable for a DB is mostly a matter of concentration - according a coaching aquaintance of mine - better catching skills can be taught to good athletes. So maybe BM can improve a bit there.

OTOH, BM is a tackling machine and maybe this is the skill that will keep him at safety more than anything else when you consider one of the core intentions of the Pats Defensive scheme is to avoid giving up big plays. If BM's speed, cover skill, and sure tackling can keep the Pats from allowing many deep plays then BB might see BM as a key to working his schemes. Sanders (nor Wilson after his first 2 years) seemed adept at preventing the big plays down field. Remember the bad positioning, poor tackling?

 

[Ring 6]

A differing opinion...

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?t=77078

Remix' post:

"The safeties: The FS and SS have very different roles. FS is the deep cover guy, allowing the SS to come forwards make plays, be it pass rush or TE press coverage, without a gap left in the secondary. Sanders, the FS, should be playing Harrison's role, which makes his play this year more impressive than first thought. But i do wonder how well Sanders could play SS compared to Harrison. Sanders can play in the box against the run well, but i've never really seen him pass rush enough or press cover TE's enough to comment on how well he would do it. BTW, Meriweather screams FS to me. A deep cover guy who has the speed to not get beaten behind him, and who can 'lay the wood' on guys coming over the middle. Eugene Wilson should've been a superstar, but his injuries hampered his deep coverage skills, and eventually made him damaged goods. He won't be back next year. (Sources: General observation, Spush)"

I agree with the above, fits with everything else I've heard and seen in my own observations. Pats employ cover 3, FS is the deep guy, SS can come in the box or cover TEs. Meriweather is the ideal FS, Sanders was playing out of position most of the season. Thats why Meriweather started the SB and will likely continue to start at FS.

Sorry, but that is incorrect.
The strojng safety plays on the STRONG side. The Free Safety plays on the weak side. Since we do not switch our safeties from strong side to weak, we, therefore have left and right safeties who each play both the strong and free role depending upon the formation.

 

[Ring 6]

we defenetely DO have an SS and an FS....

SS is the playmaker who either helps with the run, takes a slot wr or a TE, or blitzes the QB

the FS for 95% of the time, just takes his zone....

we need a playmaker at SS now that rodney is getting older and more and more innefective....hopefully Sanders can be that guy

but each position has a very defined role in the pats scheme

Nothing you are saying is specifically wrong. On each play we have a free safety and a strong safety. But our safeties line up on the same side of the field each time, so which is strong and which is free depends upon how the offense is aligned.