Does Devin McCourty belong at FS?

[Rob0729]

The Simple and short answer on whether McCourty is a decent cb is answered repeatedly by opponents.When Flacco needed plays he went after McCourty not Arrington even though he is bad as well.This was the situation the whole of last season.How this is not obvious to all is beyond me.His rookie season is irrelevant because the Nfl history is filled with players that had flukey great seasons never to be repeated so stop with rehashing that season. His first two games this season were against a green Qb and in the Arizona game he had safety help over the top against Fitzgerald the whole game so please stop with the he has played great this season. McCourty against decent QB = disaster for patriots .

I wanted to stay out of this, but I do have to clarify one thing. With the Ravens needing to score quickly, why would Flacco pick on Arrington who was playing the slot?

Also, typically when a team needs pick up a lot of yards quickly, they put their best receiver on the QB's strong side and go to him. That is probably why they picked on McCourty. You don't usually design plays to the QB's weak side in that situation. Maybe one or two here and there. People are overblowing the picking on McCourty thing.

 

[Sicilian]

Good god, McCourty had a rough game but it wasn't his coverage skills where he failed. He had one PI penalty (legit anyway, the one was bogus), he failed to reel in two should-be INT's, and he tackled poorly. That's a bad game, but you're all acting like he got beat consistently and doesn't even belong on the field.

Between the facts that...

1) McCourty had two good games (along with the rest of the defense) against the Titans and Cardinals (including being part of holding Larry FREAKING Fitzgerald to 1 damn catch!).

2) The front seven got NO pressure all night.

3) The refs turned the game into football's version of Blernsball.

...I think we should maybe hold off on looking to dump this guy.

 

[yukon cornelius]

McCourty's ball skills are never going to be a strength, but from a cover standpoint he's been very, very solid so far this season.

Corners are going to get beat. One glaring phantom call and one glaring PI at the end of the game aside, McCourty was excellent against Baltimore.


Tom Curran is still an idiot.

 

[JackBauer]

We didn't lose to the Ravens because of McCourty or anybody in our secondary for that matter. We lost to the Ravens because Mayo, Spikes, Hightower and Ninkovich were no where to be found.

Ninkovich got shut down by a rookie RT and our entire Linebacking corps didn't make a play all game.

The linebackers certainly sucked, but a big reason for that was the entire line sucking ass as well.

 

[crowell33]

The Simple and short answer on whether McCourty is a decent cb is answered repeatedly by opponents.When Flacco needed plays he went after McCourty not Arrington even though he is bad as well.This was the situation the whole of last season.How this is not obvious to all is beyond me.His rookie season is irrelevant because the Nfl history is filled with players that had flukey great seasons never to be repeated so stop with rehashing that season. His first two games this season were against a green Qb and in the Arizona game he had safety help over the top against Fitzgerald the whole game so please stop with the he has played great this season. McCourty against decent QB = disaster for patriots .

This. 10 char.

 

[crowell33]

Pats must decide what to do with Devin McCourty - BostonHerald.com

IMHO, I thought he was decent at safety last year.

 

[Deus Irae]

He’s just not getting his hips around, and he isn’t keeping up with receivers when he’s with them at the line. It always seems like he’s behind, and his technique is still lacking. He’s not a prototypical hard-hitting safety, but he seems to play better with the play in front of him.

Pats must decide what to do with Devin McCourty - BostonHerald.com

Karen must be another hater who's just making stuff up....

 

[Rob0729]

BTW, I looked it up and the probable reason why Flacco picked on McCourty on the last drive is because Flacco sucks at throwing to his left side. Here is his splits for the season:

Right Side: 7 for 10 (70%)
Left Side: 11 for 18 (61.1%)
Left Sideline: 10 for 21 (47.6%)
Right Sideline: 11 for 15 (73.3%)

Joe Flacco Stats, Splits - Baltimore Ravens - ESPN

And based on the stats by Ian, he was near perfect to the left and about 60% to the right on Sunday night.

I can't believe I got sucked into this conversation again, but it seems like in crunch time they went with Flacco's comfort zone of throwing to his right rather than picking on a certain receiver.

Now I am done with this stuff.... At least until I get sucked in again.

 

[randomk1]

Who would actually take McCourty's spot if he's moved? It's not like we have talent at the position.

So far in the year it's been Arrington that has moved into my **** list. He is getting beat constantly and i just don't understand why on earth he is playing on the outside.

 

[JoeShmoe]

The main issue is, as Karen Guregian notes, that Fitzpatrick and every other QB will throw in his direction constantly as he is obviously viewed by opposing teams / QB's as not very good. Whether thats him directly or a function of a poor secondary overall doesnt really matter he's going to get abused week after week

Does BB continue to let that happen or do you give Moore or Dowling a chance?

 

[State]

Did you see the drunken attempt he made at trying to tackle Pitta while Gregory did his step stool impersonation?

I disagree. It was more of a flag football attempt.

That one play forever emblazoned on my mind that McCourty is and always will be a CB.

And his confidence went to the toilet when we needed him to show up the most.

Even though he's athletically better than Arrington, he's not the ballhawk he should be.

The problem is we have no interior rush and Ninkovich was a nonfactor. And Michael Oher dominated Chandler Jones, a veteran grabbing and tugging, over a rookie learning the ropes.

 

[Sicilian]

The main issue is, as Karen Guregian notes, that Fitzpatrick and every other QB will throw in his direction constantly as he is obviously viewed by opposing teams / QB's as not very good. Whether thats him directly or a function of a poor secondary overall doesnt really matter he's going to get abused week after week

Does BB continue to let that happen or do you give Moore or Dowling a chance?

Maybe, but as Rob's numbers above show, it's just as likely that (like in Flacco's case) right-handed QB's are just more comfortable throwing to the right side of the field. When it comes down to making a much needed conversion, you want your QB running a play he has a high amount of confidence in. Now that doesn't excuse McCourty for the instances where that happens and he doesn't defend it well, but it means it's not quite so obvious that they're "going after him".

 

[kudzif]

BTW, I looked it up and the probable reason why Flacco picked on McCourty on the last drive is because Flacco sucks at throwing to his left side. Here is his splits for the season:

Right Side: 7 for 10 (70%)
Left Side: 11 for 18 (61.1%)
Left Sideline: 10 for 21 (47.6%)
Right Sideline: 11 for 15 (73.3%)

Joe Flacco Stats, Splits - Baltimore Ravens - ESPN

And based on the stats by Ian, he was near perfect to the left and about 60% to the right on Sunday night.

I can't believe I got sucked into this conversation again, but it seems like in crunch time they went with Flacco's comfort zone of throwing to his right rather than picking on a certain receiver.

Now I am done with this stuff.... At least until I get sucked in again.

Did you watch patriots games last season? .This is not merely some Flacco statistical aberration this is a continuation of a a trend that started last season.By the way your stats are useless without context with regards to the personnel he was facing in those situations.

 

[Rob0729]

Did you watch patriots games last season? .This is not merely some Flacco statistical aberration this is a continuation of a a trend that started last season.By the way your stats are useless without context with regards to the personnel he was facing in those situations.

Every time I try to get out, they pull me back in!!!

What does last season have to do with anything?

All you have to do is look at last game and see that the entire game Flacco completed most of the passes thrown Moore (actually completed every pass in his direction) and Arrington's (5 of 6) way and was 50% throwing in McCourty's direction (6 of 12) prior to the last drive. So what does that tell you. (Note: Numbers are based on Ian's breakdown of looking at the tape).

Also in the war of media people, here is Mike Reiss' take on McCourty. From his chat yesterday:

Question: Mike,Any thoughts on McCourty? He seems to be a liability out there. It brings back memories ala Ellis Hobbs. With the Pats front seven being a stronger group I was hoping he would play a bit tighter....unlike Revis Island McCourty Island is a place receivers want to visit.

Reiss' response: Scott, specific to Sunday night, I thought McCourty was one of their better defenders through three quarters before having the major breakdown in the fourth quarter with the pass interference penalty and before that, the dropped INT. I thought his overall coverage was competitive, but you have to be able to finish the job and he didn't. That's the difference between a good cornerback and an elite one.

Chat: Chat with Mike Reiss - SportsNation - ESPN

Of course Reiss will be dismissed as a poor analyst along with Bedard's biased agenda (because they say McCourty wasn't nearly as bad as people say and was for a large part very good) while Curran and SMY are excellent analysts who know their stuff (because they suck).

Now I am really going to try to stay out of this argument.... Until the next time I am sucked out. Maybe it would help to not look at this thread

 

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

he couldn't nail a sale to save his soul....

...FutureShop...HELLO, where are all the canucks...geee whiz eh?

 

[Deus Irae]

...Of course Reiss will be dismissed as a poor analyst...D

Reiss has been dismissed as a poor analyst for a long time. It has nothing to do with this particular instance.

 

[Rob0729]

Reiss has been dismissed as a poor analyst for a long time. It has nothing to do with this particular instance.

And when has SMY ever been considered a good analyst?

 

[makoute]

Maybe, but as Rob's numbers above show, it's just as likely that (like in Flacco's case) right-handed QB's are just more comfortable throwing to the right side of the field. When it comes down to making a much needed conversion, you want your QB running a play he has a high amount of confidence in. Now that doesn't excuse McCourty for the instances where that happens and he doesn't defend it well, but it means it's not quite so obvious that they're "going after him".

If there is a stat that states that, then it should be easier to defend him, right?

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

The biggest problem with Mccourty is that you can't trust him on any given sunday ....it could be a bad,bad performance or it could be a solid one,its usually one of the two and usually nothing in between.

You can't trust that he will make plays or stop big plays so you hold your breath when the QB goes back to pass.

I would kill to have a reliable CB on this team who you know will be consistent while maybe faltering a bit on some plays which is to be expected,but not inconsistent like Devin is.

 

[Sicilian]

The biggest problem with Mccourty is that you can't trust him on any given sunday ....it could be a bad,bad performance or it could be a solid one,its usually one of the two and usually nothing in between.

You can't trust that he will make plays or stop big plays so you hold your breath when the QB goes back to pass.

I would kill to have a reliable CB on this team who you know will be consistent while maybe faltering a bit on some plays which is to be expected,but not inconsistent like Devin is.

Again though, so far this year you've had two good games, and one bad, where the bad was on a few plays, in a game where the front seven didn't do it's job, and the refs made it tricky to know what you could and couldn't do in coverage. After the phantom call in him earlier, McCourty was probably hesitant to play as aggressive at the line, which may have led to being out of position on the legit PI call. Who knows. That Ravens game almost has to be treated like a preseason game when it comes to evaluating players, because there were too many factors that (in theory) won't apply once the officiating is stabilized.