Is McCourty going to be a full time Safety in 2012?

[NEPettyOfficer72]

With Devin McCourty you could move him at free safety. Although outside from last season, I think we all seen his full potential at Cornerback during his rookie season. And I would put that potential up against many cornerbacks in this league. Now from a versatility standpoint you have many options.

- Patrick Chung/ SS/ CB Experience/ Blitzer
Steve Gregory/ solid Safety
Devin McCourty/ CB/ Safety/ Blitzer
Ras-I Dowling/ CB/ Safety
Kyle Arrington/ CB/Nickelback
Sterling Moore/ CB/ Safety/ Blizter
Julian Edelman Slot CB/ Blitzer
Will Allen/ CB/ Safety & Slot Experience

 

[Fantomex]

Sorry for the obligatory attack on Arrington, but he really is the weak link on the defense. Hopefully he will be gone by September. It does appear as if Belichick is aware of the problem and is bringing in several DB's for look sees It will, also, be interesting to see if, and when, he drafts one, or more.

If Arrington hadn't changed his jersey from 27 to 24, people would have thought that they brought Hobbs back. Maybe thats why Arrington wanted the change.

Wow. So this is where NEM turned up? You never fail to bash Arrington, NEM, even when you've been proven wrong.

 

[Nomma]

Wow. So this is where NEM turned up? You never fail to bash Arrington, NEM, even when you've been proven wrong.

At least someone else noticed that it was very obviously NEM. Was he banned here too in addition to ?

 

[BradyManny]

I think the chance is exactly 0.
The difference between McCourty 10 and McCourty 11 was less than a dozen plays that he played excellently in 10 and awfully in 11, on deep routes or double moves. You don't move a probowl caliber to corner because he struggles one season with one technique/aspect of his game.
That is my opinion at least.

The difference between McCourty's 2010 and 2011 was that in 2010 he made the Pro Bowl, and in 2011 he gave up over 1000 yards, and had one of the worst seasons ever by a cornerback.

The truth on McCourty is his 2010 season wasn't as good as it looked, and his 2011 wasn't as bad.

 

[Deus Irae]

The difference between McCourty's 2010 and 2011 was that in 2010 he made the Pro Bowl, and in 2011 he gave up over 1000 yards, and had one of the worst seasons ever by a cornerback.

The truth on McCourty is his 2010 season wasn't as good as it looked, and his 2011 wasn't as bad.

His 2011 season was as bad as it looked.

 

[Mystery Pats Fan]

His 2011 season was as bad as it looked.

Well put. He did begin to make improvements as the season moved on, though. He may not be as good as he was in 2010 but overall I believe he is worthy of being a starting db.

 

[Mystery Pats Fan]

I think we could see the reverse of late last year.

Our 4 best DBs are likely going to be Chung, McCourty, Dowling, and Arrington, so it would be nice to play those 4 in the base package.

On the other hand, McCourty is likely to be one of the 3 best guys to man up with a WR, so in sub packages he may be a CB.

Be prepared for Arrington not making the 53 man roster this season. And this is based on how BB seems to be bringing in DB's and if he does the same in the draft, it will be a telling moment.

 

[JackBauer]

There is no chance Arrington is not on the roster this season.

 

[patsfan13]

How often are we in sub packages due to the amount of passing? Perhaps in the nickle it make sense to have 4 cb and 1 S as the best package to defend the pass. We want to get the best pass D on the field not sure BB cares about how players are labeled, put them in position to make plays.

I could certainly see scenarios where the 5 DB's would be , McCourty, Dowling, Arrington, Moore & Chung.

 

[Ring 6]

The difference between McCourty's 2010 and 2011 was that in 2010 he made the Pro Bowl, and in 2011 he gave up over 1000 yards, and had one of the worst seasons ever by a cornerback.

Thats a ridiculous statement.

[/quote]The truth on McCourty is his 2010 season wasn't as good as it looked, and his 2011 wasn't as bad.[/QUOTE]
Agreed but he is closer to the perception of 2010 than 2011.

 

[BradyManny]

Thats a ridiculous statement.

That was a statement of fact. In 2010, he had a Pro Bowl season. In 2011, he had one of the worst statistical seasons a cornerback has had, and gave up over 1000 yards.

I omitted the word statistical, which is an error on my part.

How bad his season truly was is debatable. I will say, I think the injury woes he had are unfairly ignored - and that he's obviously better in zone and the early emphasis on man screwed him up.

But the fact that he was switched to safety at the end of the year - and it resulted in a street-free agent we'd cut as a safety and turned into a cornerback covering Mario Manningham on the single biggest play in the biggest sporting stage America has to offer certainly says something. And what it says is not "Devin McCourty played cornerback effectively this past year."

 

[BradyManny]

His 2011 season was as bad as it looked.

Well, that might be true - but there were circumstances that suggest he's not as bad as his production was (again, injuries were a factor). Maybe that is a more accurate statement.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

The difference between McCourty's 2010 and 2011 was that in 2010 he made the Pro Bowl, and in 2011 he gave up over 1000 yards, and had one of the worst seasons ever by a cornerback.

The truth on McCourty is his 2010 season wasn't as good as it looked, and his 2011 wasn't as bad.

".......had one of the worst seasons ever by a cornerback."

".......his 2011 wasn't as bad."

"Statistical" does provide clarity.

 

[Ring 6]

That was a statement of fact.

If you think that then you have no idea what a fact is. Oneof the owrst ever, is an opinion.

In 2010, he had a Pro Bowl season. In 2011, he had one of the worst statistical seasons a cornerback has had, and gave up over 1000 yards.

I omitted the word statistical, which is an error on my part.

I wasn't aware that they have kept statistics on how many yards a corner gives up, not to mention that there has been an established method of charging yards to a defender. Again, OPINION.

How bad his season truly was is debatable.

Wait, you said it was a fact.

I will say, I think the injury woes he had are unfairly ignored - and that he's obviously better in zone and the early emphasis on man screwed him up.

He thrived in man when asked in 2010.

But the fact that he was switched to safety at the end of the year - and it resulted in a street-free agent we'd cut as a safety and turned into a cornerback covering Mario Manningham on the single biggest play in the biggest sporting stage America has to offer certainly says something. And what it says is not "Devin McCourty played cornerback effectively this past year."

He played safety at the end of the season in sub packages. If you paid attention during the season you may understand that this was most likely an attempt to fix the safety problem than an attempt to upgrade corner. If it were, why was he playing corner in the base?
Manningham caught a pass on the right side of the defense. McCourty plays LCB.
Pretty much nothing in your post is correct. Thanks for playing.

 

[BradyFTW!]

That was a statement of fact. In 2010, he had a Pro Bowl season. In 2011, he had one of the worst statistical seasons a cornerback has had, and gave up over 1000 yards.

I omitted the word statistical, which is an error on my part.

How bad his season truly was is debatable. I will say, I think the injury woes he had are unfairly ignored - and that he's obviously better in zone and the early emphasis on man screwed him up.

But the fact that he was switched to safety at the end of the year - and it resulted in a street-free agent we'd cut as a safety and turned into a cornerback covering Mario Manningham on the single biggest play in the biggest sporting stage America has to offer certainly says something. And what it says is not "Devin McCourty played cornerback effectively this past year."

Pretty much. McCourty was not a good CB last season. I dunno how anyone can deny that, when it was pretty obvious from the preseason onward. I still hold out optimism, based on his rookie season, that that was an aberration.

"One of the worst seasons ever" is a pretty big stretch, IMO. Even with the 'statistical' qualifier, if only because CBs are notoriously hard to evaluate statistically. He was bad at cornerback, but he was still decent enough (or the alternatives crappy enough) that he started and played a ton of snaps there until the safety situation got so bad that he was forced to situationally move.

Agreed, though, that he was pretty bad.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

That was a statement of fact. In 2010, he had a Pro Bowl season. In 2011, he had one of the worst statistical seasons a cornerback has had, and gave up over 1000 yards.

I omitted the word statistical, which is an error on my part.

How bad his season truly was is debatable. I will say, I think the injury woes he had are unfairly ignored - and that he's obviously better in zone and the early emphasis on man screwed him up.

But the fact that he was switched to safety at the end of the year - and it resulted in a street-free agent we'd cut as a safety and turned into a cornerback covering Mario Manningham on the single biggest play in the biggest sporting stage America has to offer certainly says something. And what it says is not "Devin McCourty played cornerback effectively this past year."

Do you think that the fact Bodden and Dowling were lost during the course of the year had anything to do with a street-free agent?

BB does adhere to the "you can never have too many good CB's" concept. However, losing 2 of the 3 top CB's is excessive even with this concept.

 

[Sciz]

Can I offer the simple solution of starting him at CB and moving to FS if he doesn't show drastic improvement from last season?

 

[BradyFTW!]

Can I offer the simple solution of starting him at CB and moving to FS if he doesn't show drastic improvement from last season?

I do believe that that's why we have a training camp and preseason.

 

[BradyManny]

He played safety at the end of the season in sub packages. If you paid attention during the season you may understand that this was most likely an attempt to fix the safety problem than an attempt to upgrade corner. If it were, why was he playing corner in the base?
Manningham caught a pass on the right side of the defense. McCourty plays LCB.
Pretty much nothing in your post is correct. Thanks for playing.

Can I ask you, do you honestly believe McCourty's switch to safety had nothing to do with his play at corner?

Because I'm willing to admit that obviously the safety play of Ihedigbo had something to do with it. And both issues were factors. And that McCourty might even be a good fit for FS going forward.

I'm not arguing that charting CB stats is a science, and things like FootballOutsiders (and especially PFF) need to be taken with a grain of salt. But when charting stats point to him sucking, and it looked like he sucked on tape, and he played less corner at the end of the year - I think we can come to a certain conclusion.

 

[patsinthesnow]

IMO Mccourty needs to fix more than just the deep ball/trail technique, he sucked last year. He improved somewhat in the playoffs, but still gave up 7 catches for 60 yards in the SB, alot of them on slant routes.