Because it requires putting a lot of cap space into two edge players on the defense which deprives the middle of the field and the trenches of the talent needed to shut down a good versatile offense in crunch time. The Steelers destroyed the Jets in the 2010 AFC championship game by running two plays over and over again in the first half. A simple off-tackle run to the left and a linebuck over the RG and C. Neither of the Jets corners had anything to say about the result in that scenario and Mendenhall had 95 yards by half time and the Jets were down 24-0. The Steelers did have Ben Roethlisberger on the field, they just chose to attack the part of the Jet's defense that didn't have $22 million worth of talent.
Actually, Revis had a lot of NOTHING to say even on run downs. Hines Ward took him out from the bunch formation so Revis was never in proper position to tackle Mendenhall. Even the NFL crew warned the Jets about the possibility of Mendenhall running from the single back/bunch formation, that is about good 5 days prior to the game (meaning, Rex and Co. must have known how strong that threat was, based on the game films from that season) yet failed to stop that. Worst part was how Roethlisberger sealed the game - Steelers D was beat up at the end of the game, and so when Jets D stopped the Steelers O on the 3rd down, Roethlisberger goes for the 4th down - and converts it. TE received that pass (from what I remember) - so where was Revis to stop that?
We did have like 14 missed tackles in that half. That was VERY uncharacteristic of that D. You are talking about one half. That same D shut down that same running game that you are assuming to be supreme. The Steelers were shut down in second half. Its not a coincidence that all of a sudden, their running game vanished. Jets missed tackles in the first half, made some adjustments, and totally shut own their offense in the second. I understand the point you are making, and maybe there were better examples to pick from, but the one you picked doesn't support the claim. If Steelers had run for more than 25 yards in the second half, say even 50 yards, I would agree with you. But to call the #3 run D a weak point of the team is extreme, very extreme. And from I remember, we had a ton of cap space in the MIDDLE of the field as well, not just the edges. Moot point.
You can say that about EVERY position in the NFL except QB. Where was the safety? Where was the DL to sack Ben? Where was the LB. I'll tell you what happened on that ONE play you picked to degrade Revis' importance. The LB slipped, else its game over. And Revis shadowed his one on one assignment and shut him down. The only player that can control the entire field is the QB. After him, its all one on one assignments for the most part. When Tom Brady threw that pass to Wes in the 4th quarter in the SB, and Wes dropped it, does it mean Tom Brady is useless cuz his receiver dropped the pass? No, even Brady has limited control, just like Revis. Some of these arguments are very childish. You can't blame Revis when the LBs and DL misses tons of tackles, or when a LB slips and lets the TE get away for a short FD to seal the game.
A good cover safety is integral to our success with Revis. Look at 2009 and a good portion of 2010. We had decent coverage from the safety position, and it really locked down our D. In 2011, our safety coverage wasn't that good and got exploited constantly. Despite it we still finished 5th in the league on overall D. If we can lock up that good coverage safety and add a young explosive pass rusher from the draft, our D will have the potential to go back to #1, provided the young guys like Wilkerson and Ellis keep developing and we keep Pouha, and add another late round ILB to develop for next season.
Nice post, and I agree with you. I don't understand those who want to denigrate the importance of the CB position. You have a lousy CB out there, and any team with decent wideouts and a Qb will take your team apart. The simple fact of the matter is no D is perfect. Any D will have a relative weakspot. That's not only a function of the rules favoring the O, particularly the passing game. It is also a function of the cap. You choose to put your money in one place, you have less in others. Another thing those here who ignorantly run down Revis's value ignore is he is perhaps the best tackler on the D. Funny Brad mentioned the Steeler game, since I don't know how else to understand the results there other than it was a result of very poor tackling. But this whole notion that somehow having two cb's who can play man coverage as being a BAD thing for the D is just plain ignorant.
Well obviously if you're having a tackling problem you pay people closer to the line of scrimmage more money to get better tacklers there. Name the guy in the Jets front 7 who scares opposing defenses. The answer is nobody. Now on each Super Bowl winner going back to 2002 (a decade's results) name the player(s) in the front 7 who scares opposing defenses: 2002 - Simeon Rice, Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks 2003 - Mike Vrabel, Richard Seymour 2004 - Mike Vrabel, Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork 2005 - It's the Steelers man, I'm not even going to list them 2006 - Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis 2007 - It's the Giants man, I'm not even going to list them. 2008 - Steelers again, there's a reason they keep getting here 2009 - Will Smith, Jonathan Vilma (the weakest bunch but better than the Jets in terms of impact) 2010 - Clay Mathews, B.J Raji (6.5 sacks out of a NT!) 2011 - It's the Giants, man...
You can also look at a team like the lions this past year who had a great pass rush, but their secondary totally stunk and were knocked out of the playoffs. I think a little too much credit is being given to the giants model this year. I know they won, but they also had a huge turnaround in their pass defense in the playoffs as opposed to the regular season. That usually doesn't happen. It's not like having a corner occupy so much of your cap was that bad for the Texans this past year. They might have won it all if they were healthy. It didn't seem so bad for the Jets the last two years when they went to the AFC Championship games. It's not like Revis's cap number ballooned by 6 million. At the end of the day the biggest problem isn't with revis, its guy like Pace and Scott who are occupying 13 million of the salary cap and don't match that level of production. You could also throw Sanchez if you want just based on last year. Right now the Jets need to replace Pace and Scott with more effective players and get more bang for their buck. If they do that and Sanchez improves they are fine. If you are going to make this argument with Revis about him being too expensive, why not make that argument with David Harris while you are at it. At the end of the day, its never going to be perfect value for peformance and position, but to trade pro bowl type players for draft picks just based purely on economics is ludicrous. Draft picks are at the end of the day draft picks until shown otherwise.
Detroit is a bad example of value inside vs value outside because their defense was bad all over. 22nd in pass defense, 23rd in rush defense, 23rd overall. That's just a bad defense. The only teams they shut down all year were the Chiefs when the Chiefs stunk early on and the Chargers who were doing their best to get AJ Smith fired late.
The Giants have 4 players in their secondary who were 1st round draft picks. Webster, Ross, Phillips and Amukamara. They have always put a premium on secondary. They have had a lot of bad luck in keeping their guys healthy but they have a ton of talent in their secondary. The turnaround in their secondary wasn't all DL it was alot about getting healthy and having talent. What they aren't is a one man secondary.
The Giants defense last year had a 1st or 2nd round pick from every season since 2005 with the exception of 2009 when they spent 1st and 2nd on Nicks and Beatty on the offensive side. The Giants are much better than the Jets at turning the draft into value and maintaining that value over a period of years. The current Giants defense has 4 Giants 1st round picks on it and 2 Giants 2nd round picks. The current Jets defense has 2 Jets 1st round picks on it (assuming Bryan Thomas is gone) and 1 Jets 2nd round pick. That's just pitiful. It's like giving up on everything but the season right in front of you.
The Jets actually did not have much trouble tackling in 2010. They didn't even have trouble tackling in the second half of the Pitt game. I have no idea what was going on with them in the first half, but these things happen. Imo the Jets WERE paid enough to tackle. They just didnt do their job in that first half. Ftr I find your agenda of dumping on the CB's importance to be inexplicable. Thank God Ryan does not agree with you.
I would trade Revis for a top 5 pick this season and a first round next year plus 2 second rounds. Give me that and u got a deal.
It's 5 first round picks and 2 2nd round picks and Tuck went in the third. They have been stacking up in the draft for years.
My agenda of dumping on the CB's importance is supported by the facts. Teams that build around a CB tend to be among the left-outs over time. Don't confuse the fact that Deion Sanders chose to go to teams that had already won Super Bowls so he could be a crowning piece in another with the CB's overall importance in the scheme of things. If CB's were key to winning it all then the Atlanta Falcons would have won a Super Bowl after drafting Deion Sanders. The Washington Redskins would have won a Super Bowl after drafting Champ Bailey. The Oakland Raiders would have won a Super Bowl after drafting Nnamdi Asomugha and the NY Jets would have won a Super Bowl after drafting Darrelle Revis. That's the 4 best CB's of the last 20+ years right there and none of the teams that drafted them got to a Super Bowl let alone winning one. The only one of the CB's who got rings got them because he went to teams that were all set to go and then they went.
We also had range at safety in 09 and in the 10 playoffs when the finally put Lowery in to stabalize the position. Revis is a great player but we are paying a fortune for him and he is likely to hold out for more again. If we can get a good CB and a safety with range along with other players all at a more reasonable cost, it might be a plus based on value and the overall cap? I wouldn't want to trade Revis but if having Revis becomes a luxury that is costing us holes elsewhere and we can get an over valued offer, it might be the right thing to do?
Who said the key to winning it all??? I just disagree that CB is qualitatively less important, as you have submitted, than other defensive positions. I understand the NT is a key position in a 3-4 D, but beyond that... Your focus on individual players does not make a general point. Dan Marino and Jim Kelly were two of the best four or five Qb's over the period when they played, yet neither won a SB, either. BFD.
Funny how you ignored Ty Law and Charles Woodson. The Jets were doing just fine against the Colts in 09 AFCCG with their only star CB. It all fell apart when one of the corners went down (Strickland?) and Manning started attacking the weaker corners (NOT Revis) and erased a 17pt lead I believe, and it was all good in 2010 until the AFCCG where the DL and LB missed a few tackles, else you wouldn't have Revis' name mentioned there. Also, this is just a simple opinion of yours with some base, but not a fact. 2011: Eli Manning - Nearly 5k yards of passing 2010: Aaron Rodgers - Need I say more? 2009: Drew Brees - only QB to eclipse 5k yards twice 2008: Ben Roethlisberger - One of top 5 NFL QBs 2007: Eli Manning 2006: Peyton Manning - Possibly the best QB of all-time 2005: Ben Roethlisberger 2004: Tom Brady - Possibly the best QB of all-time if not Manning 2003: Tom Brady 2002: Bucs D 2001: Tom Brady 2000: The Ravens D - One of the best of all-time 1999: Kurt Warner - Greatest show on turf You see why teams have won? Its not because opponents feared Vrabel, or Harrison, or Sharper, or Freeney. Its because those teams had elite QB behind the center. An elite QB can change a pathetic organization like Cards, and turn them in to a SB team year after year.
I didn't ignore Ty Law. He wasn't as good as the other 4 in his prime and he didn't have the consistency of excellence that Deion, Champ and Revis have had. He had a 14 year career with 5 pro bowls. Charles Woodson probably should be on the list if it went out to 5 or 6. I'll turn the thing around on you though with the QB's: Who had the better QB? Who had the better defensive players in the trenches? 1999 - Rams (Kurt Warner), Rams (Kevin Carter) 2000 - Giants (Kerry Collins), Ravens (Ray Lewis) 2001 - Rams (Kurt Warner), Rams (Leonard Little) 2002 - Raiders (Rich Gannon), Bucs (Warren Sapp) 2003 - Patriots (Tom Brady), Patriots (Richard Seymour) 2004 - Eagles (Donovan McNabb), Patriots (Richard Seymour) 2005 - Seahawks (Matt Hasselback), Steelers (Joey Porter) 2006 - Colts (Peyton Manning), Bears (Brian Urlacher) 2007 - Patriots (Tom Brady), Giants (Osi Umeniyora) 2008 - Cards (Kurt Warner), Steelers (James Harrison) 2009 - Saints (Drew Brees), Colts (Dwight Freeney) 2010 - Packers (Aaron Rodgers), Packers (Clay Matthews) 2011 - Patriots (Tom Brady), Giants (JPP) So over the same timeframe that you used the better QB lost 8 out of 13 games. The most dominant front 7 player on defense lost just 3 times and won 10.
