Sanders vs. Meriweather?

[eom]

help me out a little -- who played ss after harrison got knocked out?
I'm wondering how these 2 cover the safety positions going fwd.

 

[slash83]

Re: sanders vs meriweather?

I think Sanders is more of a in the box run supporter where as Meriweather has the great range and ball hawking skills to make plays covering the middle of the feild.

 

[spacecrime]

Re: sanders vs meriweather?

sanders vs. meriweather?

I'll take Sanders in the 7th by a TKO.

 

[pats1]

Meriweather was weak, Sanders was strong.

 

[eom]

cool -- thx.

kind of figured it would shake out like that, but you never know.
now to decide who to pick up in my idp fantasy football league.......

 

[sebman2112]

Meriweather's role will likely stay pretty similar, but he should get more snaps. I'll say that he has the ability to be more of a complete safety, but that will come with time, and development. Sanders hasn't ever been a great coverage Safety, and seemed like a better fit behind Rodney. Now we'll actually get to see how well he fits the role.

Since I've been quite busy lately, I'd also like to give Brandon props for recording his 3rd INT against the Broncos. He's currently on pace for 8 INT's this season, and I hope he keeps it going, while developing further in other areas of the game.

 

[AzPatsFan]

James Sanders has been forced to play out of position as a Free Safety while Rodney has been there. Meriwether is a natural FS type and has been platooning with Sanders at FS.

Now Sanders goes to his natural position at SS. Meriwether becomes the starter at FS, where he too belongs.

The Pats lose leadership but gain athleticism, youth, and speed with the change, Rodney's injury has forced.

Only Bruschi remains of the real old-timers and he is platooning more often with Mayo and UDFA Guyton. It appears that Guyton is playing because he has earned the playing time, but it may simply be that Tedy's play has fallen off so much that it makes Guyton's play look all right.

Overall it appears the transition to a new generation of LBs is proceeding.

 

[KillEM]

Meriweather will be the leader of that secondary.

He already has 3 INTs and hasn't even been starting.

 

[VJCPatriot]

That's kind of an inane question considering that Rodney is out. The better question is, who do you think will be a better option at safety OTHER than Meriweather and Sanders? None roll off the tip of my tongue. Both of them will be in there for the rest of the season now. PS The Pats don't play SS/FS they play L/R safeties. It's a small technicality but I believe that's how it is.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

Overall it appears the transition to a new generation of LBs is proceeding.

Which of course is GOOD news.

 

[Batman]

That's kind of an inane question considering that Rodney is out. The better question is, who do you think will be a better option at safety OTHER than Meriweather and Sanders? None roll off the tip of my tongue. Both of them will be in there for the rest of the season now. PS The Pats don't play SS/FS they play L/R safeties. It's a small technicality but I believe that's how it is.

I thought it was more S/LB hybrid and S. With Harrison out I think we could see a more traditional safety role from Sanders on the left with Meriweather still ball hawking on the right.

 

[pats1]

That's kind of an inane question considering that Rodney is out. The better question is, who do you think will be a better option at safety OTHER than Meriweather and Sanders? None roll off the tip of my tongue. Both of them will be in there for the rest of the season now. PS The Pats don't play SS/FS they play L/R safeties. It's a small technicality but I believe that's how it is.

In preseason they did, but with Rodney he was usually strong (or, more recently, as a hybrid safety/nickelback with Meriweather and Sanders deep). We'll have to see more of the two playing together to get a real handle on it, but I think we're going to see more of Meriweather weak.

 

[condon84]

Sanders takes too many bad angles. Even against the Broncos, there were a couple of times that the Broncos were running wide and Sanders had an opportunity to tackle for minimum gain but his angles were awful. He's misjudging the speed of the play and misses a lot of tackles. He's also awful in the open field covering or making one on one tackles.

I think the guy is a tough guy and plays hard, but athletically, he's outmatched against most of the skill players out there. I think he'll be better off now though that he'll take Rodney's place and play closer to the line of scrimmage where he can use his toughness and not rely on athleticism (which he lacks). The question is, is he big enough to handle it?

 

[Leave No Doubt]

James Sanders has been forced to play out of position as a Free Safety while Rodney has been there. Meriwether is a natural FS type and has been platooning with Sanders at FS.

Now Sanders goes to his natural position at SS. Meriwether becomes the starter at FS, where he too belongs.

The Pats lose leadership but gain athleticism, youth, and speed with the change, Rodney's injury has forced.

Only Bruschi remains of the real old-timers and he is platooning more often with Mayo and UDFA Guyton. It appears that Guyton is playing because he has earned the playing time, but it may simply be that Tedy's play has fallen off so much that it makes Guyton's play look all right.

Overall it appears the transition to a new generation of LBs is proceeding.

Nice post I'm looking forward to seeing Sanders and Meriweather contribute from their natural positions,and it's definitely sounding like the Pats have handled the transition phases so that the rookies and new guys get as much exposure as possible, but get it from veterans of Bru's and Rodney's caliber.

 

[BradyManny]

That's kind of an inane question considering that Rodney is out. The better question is, who do you think will be a better option at safety OTHER than Meriweather and Sanders? None roll off the tip of my tongue. Both of them will be in there for the rest of the season now. PS The Pats don't play SS/FS they play L/R safeties. It's a small technicality but I believe that's how it is.

I think it depends, they don't just do one or the other. When they are in the base 3-4 D, you'd often see Rodney on the strong side coming up into the box. That means Sanders probably covered the deep middle.

If you notice in the Miami game, they were moving the TE right before the snap a lot and moving the strong side over, Sanders would come up and Rodney would move back, so Sanders does have experience coming up into the box.

When they are in nickel packages, Rodney was coming up into the box or in the slot, covering the slot WR or a TE. Meriweather has been excelling covering the deep parts of the field, so I don't see why they'd move him from there. If anything, Sanders and Meriweather will stay in their current roles in the passing packages, and someone else will fill Rodney's role, Wilhite, Richardson, Spann, etc.

 

[maverick4]

Let Meriweather play center field most plays and put Sanders in the box.

Sanders was one of two defensive players to play every snap last game, which says a lot.

 

[JSn]

Bill's talking about these two at length in the PC right now. Hopefully we get a full transcription later. Excellent football talk.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

James Sanders has been forced to play out of position as a Free Safety while Rodney has been there. Meriwether is a natural FS type and has been platooning with Sanders at FS.

Now Sanders goes to his natural position at SS. Meriwether becomes the starter at FS, where he too belongs.

The Pats lose leadership but gain athleticism, youth, and speed with the change, Rodney's injury has forced.

Only Bruschi remains of the real old-timers and he is platooning more often with Mayo and UDFA Guyton. It appears that Guyton is playing because he has earned the playing time, but it may simply be that Tedy's play has fallen off so much that it makes Guyton's play look all right.

Overall it appears the transition to a new generation of LBs is proceeding.

Good post. As to Bru vs Guyton, if Bru had really fallen off badly we'd have had a call to Seau. I think that BB adapts to reality and is uncharacteristically accelerating his move to a younger, faster, and physically stronger LB corps, taking advantage of unanticipated good fortune in the 2008 kids.

 

[JSn]

Good post. As to Bru vs Guyton, if Bru had really fallen off badly we'd have had a call to Seau. I think that BB adapts to reality and is uncharacteristically accelerating his move to a younger, faster, and physically stronger LB corps, taking advantage of unanticipated good fortune in the 2008 kids.

Exactly right. Bru's actually been moving well, imo. Love to see him being able to rest more, have a nice wrap-up season and go out on a high note.

That Guyton snag was just awesome awareness. Mayo laying on that ball instead of trying to six it, same thing. That sort of stuff bodes really well for the future of our ILB position.

 

[condon84]

Sanders takes too many bad angles. Even against the Broncos, there were a couple of times that the Broncos were running wide and Sanders had an opportunity to tackle for minimum gain but his angles were awful. He's misjudging the speed of the play and misses a lot of tackles. He's also awful in the open field covering or making one on one tackles.

I think the guy is a tough guy and plays hard, but athletically, he's outmatched against most of the skill players out there. I think he'll be better off now though that he'll take Rodney's place and play closer to the line of scrimmage where he can use his toughness and not rely on athleticism (which he lacks). The question is, is he big enough to handle it?

Bump.