He was solid all of last year. Has a bad preseason game and is dubbed 'brutal'. This fan base is fuckin brutal.
I'm not really sure this 'whole career' stuff is accurate, in fact I know it isn't, but I just realized why your harping on: " The weird thing is he always stays with his man but when the ball comes he like almost makes no attempt to break it up and lets the guy catch it everytime. " That actually only happened once against Carolina, and it was at 10:32 in the first quarter when LaFell was in the slot and ran a route 2 yards out and parallel to the LOS, and Wilson was trailing shortly behind him. LaFell caught the pass, Wilson watched him do it, and the Wilson tackled LaFell for a two yard gain. I was annoyed at first when Wilson didn't make a play on that, but I realized that is was a smart play, because if Wilson had made a play on the ball and missed, it would have been a gain of 20 or more, since one safety had blitzed and the other was in double coverage deep. That play amounted to a 2 yard run, which most of us would have been content with in the numbers game.
Brutal is too strong a word. Underwhelming is more the description. It's a mixed bag with him. He is serviceable in the slot but I don't think he will ever maximize his potential until he is moved to the outside and that won't happen with Cro and Revis here. He struggles more in zone coverage than man. He just doesn't seem to know where his help is at or where is is coming from playing inside leaving him in no man's land. Playing zone you can't use the fixed boundary of the sideline as an extra defender and I never see him make a play on the ball in zone. In man coverage he sticks with the receiver just fine but has trouble getting his head around and can't locate and adjust to the ball.
I have seen him play outside before.On deep passes he don't turn his head around.And playing the slot is easier because LB's alway's try and blast whoever comes over the middle.
Ok all...Abyz asked for a technical break down on Wilson and here goes: CB is one of those positions where you must be technically sound. There have only been a handful of CB's in the history of the NFL to have such athletic tools at their disposal that would make up for a lack of technically sound skills. Deion Sanders being the poster boy. Let's use our man Wilson as the guinea pig and I'll go from lining up to completion of the play. Firstly, depending upon the defense called, you either lineup on the inside or outside shoulder of the receiver. It's VERY difficult to see via television because we only really get, on a consistent basis, a side view of the field of play. So it looks like they are lining up straight up in their face. A view from a goal post would show that they are either a shade inside or outside. If a corner lines up directly across they are out of position. Because we are talking Wilson we are most likely talking about nickle or dime coverage which is almost never a zone but man to man. Now, a slot corner will almost ALWAYS line up on the outside shoulder of a receiver because they WANT to force the receiver to flow inside...towards the LB'ers and traffic. If the route is an out then the CB is already out of position and the 5yd contact rule or holding can come into effect very quickly. In these cases you must have VERY fluid hips. You sometimes hear how a CB has "smooth hips." That is because they turn and run very well left or right. That one large pass play Wilson gave up, on Sunday, was an example of this...he got "turned" and lost contain...and he doesn't have the speed, such as a Cromartie, to make this up. If I remember correctly, coming out of college, Wilson's hips were considered "average." Now, as to him getting his head around...if you go back and watch tape on his plays you will find him consistently off balance. When you are off balance you will never be able to get your head around because you will fall. Usually resulting in an interference play or getting burned. This is common among corners who are going up against receivers faster than them. I think, if you'll go back and look at the tape, that the receivers that Wilson does best against are the mid-level speed guys. He really can't handle a real burner on anything over 10 yards. He's so busy running fast enough to keep up that his balance is suspect. This is what makes him such a good nickle/slot guy. He is more quick than he is fast and he's a wicked hitter. His quickness, which translates into reaction time, is his greatest asset in these generally small spaces but does not translate well in space. Probably why Cromartie was re-signed and he maintained the nickle spot. There is no way he would be able to consistently handle an outside position against potential #1 receivers and some #2's. The key here is technique...which, hopefully, comes with time. A corner, with proper technique, can essentially eliminate a WR...and almost ALWAYS at the point of attack. If a receiver can't get off the LOS then he can't be effective. Watch tape of Revis when he is up at the line...he's very good at it. There are a few in the league who are really good at it too. Very physical at the point of attack. But the technique allows you to pull this off without holding or illegal contact. Adding on the technical skills...once you relinquish "point of attack", how well can you turn your hips and run with, or more correctly, "into" the receiver? Yet again, something Revis does exceptionally well. This is called position. The corner has the "inside" position. How did he get that? Because once the corner has reached that holy 5yd. point, or just before, he relinquishes his point of attack and then turns and runs or covers the receiver. Depending upon how smooth your hips are you can either gain or lose a step in just that turn alone. Revis is consistently in better position to field the ball than the receiver is. Wilson is busy making up ground. Once you have the inside shoulder and inside contain you have the full upper hand. My lunch hour is coming to and end but that's a nutshell look....let me know if you want/need more.
I figured I'd better explain the "off balance" statement. When you watch the tape...as he's running to catch up he is in a very "forward" lean. Trying to cover that space that he's losing. In that forward lean he is off balance.
You realized wrong. I wasn't talking about that one play. Hence why I said his whole career... I just get tired of the Jets defense being lights out on 1st and 2nd down and then on 3rd down and 8 seeing drives continue with 9 yard catches from the slot guy with Wilson right on his back. Nice Tackle Wilson! too bad its a first down! Perhaps he's improving on this and my criticism is harsh but, as someone who knows you watch the games, you have to admit this happens all too often with him. I'll give him credit because he is a sure tackler, so at least those plays aren't busting out for 20/30 yards.. but they are drive extenders that kills Rex's blitzing...
Great analysis, and just to finish the thought, beign off balance as you said earlier is the explanation for why he is so bad at turning his head. This is another way of saying that Wilson's problems are in the fundamentals of the position and how his "natural" ability is not sufficient to compensate? As for some other comments here, the metric is not "bust" but whether Wilson will ever live up to his pick and as a related concept ever be acceptable playing man cover on the top wideout for the other team? I am thinking at this point the answer to both is no.
You are correct...the answer to both, as of now, is no. This does kind of magnify WHY players from mid level programs are so scrutinized. My feeling is had Wilson played in the SCC, against top level competition, we may have seen more of a realistic body of work.
2008 - Gholsten, 2009 - Sanchez, 2010 - Wilson..seems Tannenbaum has a problem with first round picks and before you try to defend Sanchez, don't bother..to be the 23rd ranked QB after 3 years of starting isn't worthy of the 5th overall pick.
