I think HMT made some good points. rMageddon & Byz backed it up by stating Cro @ S would be situational, again when the D addresses the TE as a receiver. I think the points made were good on both ends of the argument. We should all take a wait and see attitude because we have a draft coming up in less than 2 months and there are still a ton of cut & UFAs, and UDFAs that will be through the Jets' revolving pesonnel door...
That made me laugh. How did you notice I posted at 4:20 haha Serious question for Abyz: In essence what would be the difference between calling him a "CB treating the TE as a WR" and playing "safety covering a TE" ? Either way they'd be lining up wherever the TE is. I just think that Cromartie would be a better fit than Smith in the role Rhodes played against Gonzo, Gates, and Clark.
The formation and the on-field personnel are the difference. When Revis was covering Gates, Rhodes and Leonhard were on the field performing their duties as safeties, with Lito and Lowery assigned to the wideouts. Just because a player is covering a TE doesn't make them a safety, unless you are thinking that a linebacker becomes a safety whenever they cover a TE.
Exarctly. Cromartie's height and long arms make him potentially a very good matchup against guys like Witten and Gates who use their big frames to box out defenders, but that in no way makes Cromartie a safety. And for that matter, Eric Smith did some great work manned up against TEs in the early half of the season. There's this growing conventional wisdom on this board that Eric Smith can't cover, but it's based on nothing. He doesn't have the range of a guy like Rhodes, he's not an ideal player to be a single high safety, but he's got plenty of range and ability for split safety looks, and plays man coverage better than a whole lot of safeties in the league. Given the speed and ability of our starting corners, he might even be a viable centerfielder, given that Revis and Cromartie aren't in tremendous need of deep help. Rhodes getting back on the field and being named a starter to keep his trade value up is entirely plausible, although it didn't work all that well. If Brodney Pool comes in and plays well in minicamps and shows no lingering health problems, he could very well be our starting FS next season, with Smith continuing in his third safety/nickel/utility dude role as well as playing heavy special teams. How he looks could have a pretty big impact on the Jets draft strategy, as there are a lot of talented safeties in this class. I couldn't begin to guess who our starting FS will be in 2011, but for now, I think the Jets have a lot of talent at safety, and I guess we'll see how it shakes out going forward.
I wasn't very high on Eric Smith going into the preseason last year, but after I saw how Rex was using the guy, I changed my tune on him quickly. He wasn't being used in the right situations/capacities by Mangini, that became pretty clear pretty quickly. The beauty of Eric Smith's game is that while he doesn't fit the cookie cutter mold of a safety or a corner or a linebacker, he can be used in formations where his versatility can be used to shift him into any of those positions with a single audible, depending on where the matchups suit.
Eric Smith is a decent 46 safety when the Jets are in that mode. It's kind of hard to find somebody who fits that role well because they have to be a hard hitter who also has the quickness to get a hand on an outlet pass over the middle. Speed is not strictly speaking necessary but quickness and reaction time is. I'd be really surprised if Smith was the starting safety next year to replace Rhodes but I think he's very likely to be a big part of the pressure the Jets bring off the 46 look.
I remember watching Eric Smith under Mangini and there were plenty of plays where he looked lost on the field. This past season, I watched more than enough games to let me know that Eric Smith won't stay on a TE for too long. The times that he was able to makes plays on the ball was when the QB was under heavy pressure (and you can see this in the Pats game). When Rhodes was given the task of covering someone like Tony Gonzalez 1-on-1, he was able to shadow him well for longer periods, even as the QB went thru his progressions. He was practically shut down most of the game. But since you've brought this point up, it does make me realize that maybe Smith won't be so bad covering TE's because we're going to blitzing from all angles and with guys like Revis and Cro on the outside, opposing QB's won't have as much time to wait for their routes to develop or get open. Possibly making Smith more than capable of covering TE's. We have a lot of versatile players on this D that Rex can mix n match.
True. I assume whenever we are treating a TE as a WR we will be in nickel. If we are in nickel and Cromartie is covering the TE we would still have Smith and Leonhard (or whoever our 2 safeties are) on the field with Lowery or whoever covering the #2 WR as the nickelback. In that case Cromartie would definitely be a CB treating a TE as a WR rather than playing S. I grew up playing ice hockey not football so sometimes it takes me a while to wrap my head around the X's and O's. After thinking about this some more, my original post should have made the point that Cromarties size should allow him to cover pass catching TE's thus making up for Eric Smith's major flaw at S. And I'm not down on Eric Smith at all, it's just that at 5'11, 198 lbs you are not going to fare well against TE's that are like 6'5 245. At least Cromartie is closer in size and can make up the size difference in pure athleticism and cover skills.
I like Eric Smith the dude hits people hard and does not shy away from contact. Also the OP who said he thinks Cromartie who is an outstanding cover corner but is softer then Rhodes as a safety is retarded.
The playoffs are too fresh in peoples heads and forget that most TE arent dallas clark and antonio gates. Scott is fine covering TE. He was also injured in the playoffs.
