USA today:Defensive Back rankings

[chrisbcbu]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2005-07-06-sw-rankings-defensive-backs_x.htm

2005 player ratings: Defensive backs
By Jim Corbett, Sports Weekly
The term "shutdown cornerback" took a beating last season as quarterbacks carved out a cumulative 82.8 passer rating, highest in league history. Things figure to get tougher for defensive backs, the third part of our 2005 NFL player ratings series, developed by The Sports Xchange for Sports Weekly. The Sports Xchange sorted players into seven categories: Elite, A Notch Below, Rock Solid, Under the Radar, On the Rise, On the Rebound and Setting Sun.

Despite a difficult transition to the NFL's new rules governing the passing game, Champ Bailey still rates as the best cornerback in the business.
By Tom DiPace, Sports Weekly

No wonder Champ Bailey wants in on the fun.

Rock solid

Fred Smoot and Antoine Winfield give Minnesota a strong cover tandem. Smoot is a proven playmaker, but he gambles and is burned too often by good pump fakes. He is the opposite of Winfield in that he is a good interceptor, but a poor tackler in run support.

SAFETIES

Elite

Baltimore's Ed Reed came into his own last season, not only surpassing two-time league defensive MVP Ray Lewis as 2004 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, but emerging as arguably the best defensive player in the game.

The fourth-year safety out of Miami led the league with nine interceptions and his 358 return yards were 63 fewer than Travis Taylor's team-best 421 receiving yards.


No safety has more to prove than Sean Taylor, who faces a minimum three-year prison sentence if convicted of aggravated assault with a firearm in a dispute with a man he suspected of stealing a pair of his all-terrain vehicles. Taylor was a big-time playmaker at the University of Miami. But he's been a migraine for Redskins coach Joe Gibbs since being drafted fifth overall in 2003.

Cornerbacks
Rk. Name Team Ht. Wt. Age Speed Aware. Agil. Accel. Tkl. Tough. Stam. Imp. Overall
13 Fred Smoot Vikings 5-11 174 26 88 85 94 93 69 88 85 79 86.00
19 Shawn Springs Redskins 6-0 204 30 90 87 93 91 68 77 87 80 83.10

Umm Springs is #19 in the league??????

[SkinsKY]

I have yet to see an effective way to rank DBs and I doubt this is the first. There is too much left to interpretation to empirically rank these players. I know some people obsess over these things, but these rankings are worthless as are any DB rankings.

[gibbs4pres]

What a crock of $#@%$&%$#! The only thing Smoot has over Springs is age.

[joethefan]

I try my best to look at numbers because sometimes they are misleading...I look at impact...Springs made a huge impact on our sqaud last year...I look forward to him doing great things again this year...

If ST can get a hold on his off the field issues which I do feel good about him being up here and working out, I feel he'll be a great force for us.

Smoot's nick name will be cheeks this year...he'll be seeing a lot of butt cheeks after getting burnt

[2Cooley]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2005-07-06-sw-rankings-defensive-backs_x.htm







Umm Springs is #19 in the league??????
and sean taylor is #4 above notable names
Roy Williams
John Lynch
Troy Polamalu
Lawyer Milloy
Michael Lewis
Donovin Darius
Tony Parrish
and griffin did not even make top 25 tackles and pierce is the 12th best MLB and smoot is higher that springs

[RedskinsDave]

Those rankings are bunk. They are especially bunk when Chump comes in first. Not sure if I can say that our guys really knew what they were doing but we had a better back in Springs last year than Bailey. I, like some others, thought it would be a "don't know what we got til its gone" situation with Champ even though he cost us games the year before. I was wrong.

[2Cooley]

champ bailey would have been great in greg williams system

[SkinsKY]

Those rankings are bunk. They are especially bunk when Chump comes in first. Not sure if I can say that our guys really knew what they were doing but we had a better back in Springs last year than Bailey. I, like some others, thought it would be a "don't know what we got til its gone" situation with Champ even though he cost us games the year before. I was wrong.

You and me both. I thought Springs would go down by week 6. I certainly didn't expect him to be a standout on a standout defense.

[SkinsKY]

and griffin did not even make top 25 tackles

Griffin is listed at 22.

[2Cooley]

[QUOTE=SkinsKY]Griffin is listed at 22.[/QUOTE
yea i just looked back at that thanks and that is till to low

[redwolf1218]

no way are there 18 corners i'd rather have than Springs, or 21 tackles i'd rather have than Griffin.

[skinfanjon]

I have yet to see an effective way to rank DBs and I doubt this is the first. There is too much left to interpretation to empirically rank these players. I know some people obsess over these things, but these rankings are worthless as are any DB rankings.

If you really want the raw breakdown, you should check out the book KC the football scientist published. It is incredible, it breaks down every notable corner in the league, going as detailed as categorizing how many times a corner's man was 1 step, 1-2 steps, 2+ steps open, as well as showing number of times tight coverage and good coverage, and then good + tight coverage. It also shows the same stats at three different depths, short, medium and long. It also shows how often the corner was beaten by his man, but the pass was dropped, or the QB was not accurate, and the amount of yards that saved the player. It also shows number of times burnt, TD's allowed, completion percentage and a whole lot more. It focuses on the passing game specifically, so it details QB's, WR's, TE's, and DB's, as well as overall team stats at these postitions. Finally, it takes the stats and writes team assesments with a look ahead to this year. It is simply the most telling player analysis I have ever seen. Cuts right through the BS, and tells you what a player is really made of.

[chrisbcbu]

If you really want the raw breakdown, you should check out the book KC the football scientist published. It is incredible, it breaks down every notable corner in the league, going as detailed as categorizing how many times a corner's man was 1 step, 1-2 steps, 2+ steps open, as well as showing number of times tight coverage and good coverage, and then good + tight coverage. It also shows the same stats at three different depths, short, medium and long. It also shows how often the corner was beaten by his man, but the pass was dropped, or the QB was not accurate, and the amount of yards that saved the player. It also shows number of times burnt, TD's allowed, completion percentage and a whole lot more. It focuses on the passing game specifically, so it details QB's, WR's, TE's, and DB's, as well as overall team stats at these postitions. Finally, it takes the stats and writes team assesments with a look ahead to this year. It is simply the most telling player analysis I have ever seen. Cuts right through the BS, and tells you what a player is really made of.

I have seen that; and it is incredible how detailed it is.

[SkinsKY]

If you really want the raw breakdown, you should check out the book KC the football scientist published. It is incredible, it breaks down every notable corner in the league, going as detailed as categorizing how many times a corner's man was 1 step, 1-2 steps, 2+ steps open, as well as showing number of times tight coverage and good coverage, and then good + tight coverage. It also shows the same stats at three different depths, short, medium and long. It also shows how often the corner was beaten by his man, but the pass was dropped, or the QB was not accurate, and the amount of yards that saved the player. It also shows number of times burnt, TD's allowed, completion percentage and a whole lot more. It focuses on the passing game specifically, so it details QB's, WR's, TE's, and DB's, as well as overall team stats at these postitions. Finally, it takes the stats and writes team assesments with a look ahead to this year. It is simply the most telling player analysis I have ever seen. Cuts right through the BS, and tells you what a player is really made of.

I've heard of this book and I would like to buy it at some point for the very reasons you mentioned.

[skinfanjon]

I have seen that; and it is incredible how detailed it is.

It was only $50, I got it immediatley.

[skinfanjon]

I've heard of this book and I would like to buy it at some point for the very reasons you mentioned.

If you decide to get it, you can google search "KC the football scientist" and it is the first one that comes up.

[NamVet4]

Once again, the sports hacks are spewing ink to fill the pages....
Nothing of substance in these articles, especially compared to KC the football scientist work output. These guys reach out to the masses and get their egos stroked when they are quoted.
As always, it is 11 men on offense and 11 men on defense that determine the W or L!

[bwparker]

Once again, the sports hacks are spewing ink to fill the pages....
Nothing of substance in these articles, especially compared to KC the football scientist work output. These guys reach out to the masses and get their egos stroked when they are quoted.
As always, it is 11 men on offense and 11 men on defense that determine the W or L!
Don't forget special teams. ;)

[The Skinsinator]

NO RESPECT. We are used to this typical anti Redskins crap and will have to continue to tolerate it until we win. This idiot was probably unaware we were 3rd in the nfl in defense last year. We as fans really need to stop letting it get to us.

[whistleandthumb]

::Sigh::

I like to look at rankings as more of a "Huh... that's interesting..." kind of thing, as opposed to taking them as solid fact. Shawn Springs was one of the best corners in the league last year, and had a FAR better year than Champ Bailey. We know that, and that's all that really matters.

When we start slaying our oppenents, people will give us more respect. Until then...

[skinfanjon]

It's just amazing to me that these guys can have careers given their misinformation. As a broadcasting major, it really gets to me personally that these guys get paid for thier thoughts. I wouldn't give them a penny. But it does start discussion, many of them live off that alone. Again, just amazing how little these guys know about football.

[Patrick]

Once again, the sports hacks are spewing ink to fill the pages....
Nothing of substance in these articles, especially compared to KC the football scientist work output. These guys reach out to the masses and get their egos stroked when they are quoted.
As always, it is 11 men on offense and 11 men on defense that determine the W or L!

Couldn't agree more Andrew - AND EVERYTIME you've pointed it out!! ...... It's has been a long and tough off-season. Some of US need to take a summer break and come back when camp opens up. There is REALLY NOT much to talk about until then. But then again there's still the possibility that we could pick up a player or two .... OR someone is cut.

[Santheb]

This list sucks. Springs is the complete threat. He can cover like glue, he can make QBs pay for throwing his way, and he'll even sack the QB pretty effectively. Screw the sportswriters, critics, etc. Springs rocks.

Gonna take a little quote I have from Mike Vick in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, regarding the critics calling him overrated..

"...some of them have never played the game and don't know what they're talking about." He was talking about critics. The first part of the quote was kinda irrelevant, hence the ellipsis, but I liked that part of what he said.

[whitskins]

Wow, these rankings are very annoying, not just because Champ is on top, I just expect that kind of garbage, but having Smoot outrank Springs absolutely makes no sense and discounts these rankings immediately.

I would like to say that I still love Smoot and wish him the best with the Vikes, but he is half the player Springs is. Smoot has made a nice career as a #2 CB, but which guy on our team was blanketing TO this season and holding him to 8 catches and 70 yards over 2 games? Oh, it was the 19th best corner in the game.

Even more ridiculous is that Smoot has better rankings in tackling. Smoot was often very tough in playing the run, but he separated his shoulder every time he tried to bring a guy down, Shawn Springs tied for the lead in sacks on our team.

I'm sorry I love Smoot but I'm just sick of the way the media promotes the guys who leave our team like they're NFL superstars. Springs will just have to do it again this year to prove he's one of the top five in the league.

[guinness4health]

yo pass the dubie...
what is this guy smoking?!?!@#$?!?

First off it is just plain crazy to say smoot is a better corner than springs..... but to claim that smoot is a better tackler and is tougher is rediculous....

and what in the hell is Ty Law doing at 7!?!?!?!?!?!?!
he still can't even run in anything but a straight line! Ty was great but he is trying to come back from a serious (nearly career threatening) injury and does not belong anyway near this list right now.

[bwparker]

With the exception of "toughness" an almost entirely subjective call, Smoot and Springs stats are almost equal. They say that th over-all grades are made based on more factors than are listed and are not weighted evenly.

If I had to guess, Springs' rating is hurt because he has a history of injuries and he's getting older. While Smoot's rating was boosted by the fact that he has played through tremendous amount of injury and he is still young. I don't agree with it, but I can understand it.

[redwolf1218]

With the exception of "toughness" an almost entirely subjective call, Smoot and Springs stats are almost equal. They say that th over-all grades are made based on more factors than are listed and are not weighted evenly.

If I had to guess, Springs' rating is hurt because he has a history of injuries and he's getting older. While Smoot's rating was boosted by the fact that he has played through tremendous amount of injury and he is still young. I don't agree with it, but I can understand it.
i'm not sure how they define toughness either. You can be so physically tough that you never get hurt and you have great durability, or you get hurt all the time because you are physically frail, yet mentally tough enough to play thru the injuries.

[redskn65]

This just reiterates that a lot of so called journalists haven`t a clue about what they are talking about.Don`t get me wrong I liked Smoot (except for those big cushions he used to give receivers) but in this system Springs stepped right in and did everything...sacks,ints,run support.......and I`m glad he is on our team.The fact that they have him rated 19th is totally absurd but it does go to show that players on losing teams normally get no love.

[LadyNRedskinsfan]

i cant even get mad anymore, or else id just be angry all of the time. :devil2:

[flave1969]

Springs is given a score of 69 for tackling. Does a DB who got Six sacks sound like a man who cannot tackle. Shawn Springs 6 Sacks. Eighteen rated above 14 sacks combined.

All eight players with less tackles than Springs on the list received a higher rating for tackling than him. I know it is hard to quantify but where is the consistency.

Did Springs miss a lot of tackles, I certainly dont remember them.

[redwolf1218]

Springs is given a score of 69 for tackling. Does a DB who got Six sacks sound like a man who cannot tackle. Shawn Springs 6 Sacks. Eighteen rated above 14 sacks combined.

All eight players with less tackles than Springs on the list received a higher rating for tackling than him. I know it is hard to quantify but where is the consistency.

Did Springs miss a lot of tackles, I certainly dont remember them.
Springs had higher number than Smoot is most of the categories, if i was lining it up correctly when i was reading it, yet Smoot's final number was higher.

[flave1969]

If you really want the raw breakdown, you should check out the book KC the football scientist published. It is incredible, it breaks down every notable corner in the league, going as detailed as categorizing how many times a corner's man was 1 step, 1-2 steps, 2+ steps open, as well as showing number of times tight coverage and good coverage, and then good + tight coverage. It also shows the same stats at three different depths, short, medium and long. It also shows how often the corner was beaten by his man, but the pass was dropped, or the QB was not accurate, and the amount of yards that saved the player. It also shows number of times burnt, TD's allowed, completion percentage and a whole lot more. It focuses on the passing game specifically, so it details QB's, WR's, TE's, and DB's, as well as overall team stats at these postitions. Finally, it takes the stats and writes team assesments with a look ahead to this year. It is simply the most telling player analysis I have ever seen. Cuts right through the BS, and tells you what a player is really made of.

How does it rate Springs?

[openallnight]

Even more ridiculous is that Smoot has better rankings in tackling. Smoot was often very tough in playing the run, but he separated his shoulder every time he tried to bring a guy down, Shawn Springs tied for the lead in sacks on our team.

Smoot's tackling has improved tremendously.
Even more ridiculous is that they had Bailey as a better tackler than Springs. I don't recall Springs missing even a single tackle last year.

[BigPlayJay]

I think they must have taken these rankings from Madden 2005 or something!?

[whitskins]

Smoot's tackling has improved tremendously.
Even more ridiculous is that they had Bailey as a better tackler than Springs. I don't recall Springs missing even a single tackle last year.

My point is that Smoot separates his shoulder everytime he tries to tackle a RB, Shawn Springs is huge and tied for the team lead in sacks, there's no way Fred Smoot is a better tackler.

[whitskins]

Springs is given a score of 69 for tackling. Does a DB who got Six sacks sound like a man who cannot tackle. Shawn Springs 6 Sacks. Eighteen rated above 14 sacks combined.

All eight players with less tackles than Springs on the list received a higher rating for tackling than him. I know it is hard to quantify but where is the consistency.

Did Springs miss a lot of tackles, I certainly dont remember them.

I am just as puzzled as you are, now even more so after seeing your research, well done. Springs 6 sacks tell me that not only can he tackle, but that his tackling ability urges Gregg Williams to put him into MORE tackling situations on blitzes, whether they be to get the QB or the RB behind the line. If Springs wasn't an excellent tackler I doubt our coach would be asking that of him...

[redwolf1218]

I am just as puzzled as you are, now even more so after seeing your research, well done. Springs 6 sacks tell me that not only can he tackle, but that his tackling ability urges Gregg Williams to put him into MORE tackling situations on blitzes, whether they be to get the QB or the RB behind the line. If Springs wasn't an excellent tackler I doubt our coach would be asking that of him...
we all saw what happened when Smoot blitzed, he'd either whif on the QB or bouce off him and miss the tackle. it's a good thing in retrospect because he probably would have broken a shoulder or something. he's only 170, he probably could not bring down a guy like Culpepper anyway.

[whitskins]

we all saw what happened when Smoot blitzed, he'd either whif on the QB or bouce off him and miss the tackle. it's a good thing in retrospect because he probably would have broken a shoulder or something. he's only 170, he probably could not bring down a guy like Culpepper anyway.

Yeah I mean I love Smoot but we all saw the ridiculous bag of tricks that GW used with Springs, I'm inclined to believe that he was cool on resigning Smoot because he knew he could get a guy like Rogers or Rolle in the draft that would just be another complete threat from the opposite side of the field.

Wow, if Springs got 6 sacks alone last season, what could both of those guys do, plus ST and Bowen over a season? The line would never know where to look for the coming blitz... Oh yeah, and I forgot we have Lavar and Marcus at LB, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (sinister laugh)...

[redwolf1218]

Yeah I mean I love Smoot but we all saw the ridiculous bag of tricks that GW used with Springs, I'm inclined to believe that he was cool on resigning Smoot because he knew he could get a guy like Rogers or Rolle in the draft that would just be another complete threat from the opposite side of the field.

Wow, if Springs got 6 sacks alone last season, what could both of those guys do, plus ST and Bowen over a season? The line would never know where to look for the coming blitz... Oh yeah, and I forgot we have Lavar and Marcus at LB, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (sinister laugh)...
i loved Smoot too, jut to clarify, but only because of his personality. he was small enough that he should have been fast, but he wasnt fast enough, and not big enough to play up tight. he gave up all those slants to Keyshawn for 1st downs and made me ill, but if he had played up tight, Keyshawn probably would have thrown him over onto the gatorade table..

[whitskins]

i loved Smoot too, jut to clarify, but only because of his personality. he was small enough that he should have been fast, but he wasnt fast enough, and not big enough to play up tight. he gave up all those slants to Keyshawn for 1st downs and made me ill, but if he had played up tight, Keyshawn probably would have thrown him over onto the gatorade table..

Yeah, he has limits as a player but is a really nice #2 CB (although I don't know how nice he'll be for a 10+ mil signing bonus). He's a great leader and personality though, I'll miss him. Of course, I think the blow will be softened when Rogers soon emerges to be a legitimate upgrade. I think Springs and Rogers together could be lethal.

[skinfanjon]

How does it rate Springs?

Actually, it is a bit damning, to an extent. I felt the same way as everyone else around here, regarding Springs performance last year, and I still mostly do. But this did force me to tone it down a notch.

"If you look at his overall stats, you would think he was one of the best CB's in football. Springs ranked 4th in comp %, 6th in yards allowed, and 1st in yards per att. He also ranked 3rd in deep comp % while facing 22 deep passes.

All of those numbers are terrific but they also do a very good job camouflaging the fact that Springs was the biggest beneficiary of the Redskins missed passes last year. He ranked 77th in missed passes and 80th in missed pass yards. Nine of those missed passes were on deep passes, and 7 of those 9 were bad passes. If those passes were completed, Springs would have allowed nearly 50% of his deep passes to be completed, and his yards per attempt would have more than doubled. Springs had excellent stats at the short pass level as well, but even those were positively effected by 14 missed pass incomletions. Springs also gave up 3 blown coverages, ranking 77th in that category. He had a problem with passing recievers to the deep zone much earlier than he should have, which often put Sean Taylor in a bad spot.

I've broken down 23 of Springs' games over the past two years and I still haven't seen much to tell me that he is one of the beter CB's in football. They say luck is when preparation meets oopourtunity but in Springs case last year, luck was more when the ball didn't meet the reciever. His performance wasn't completely predicated on missed passes, but I don't see a repeat performance on the missed passes this year. I'm expecting a huge drop-off from these numbers" KC the football scientist

[skinfanjon]

Because I really respect this guy KC, I don't want to continue posting all his info, I'll consider this one an advertisement. For the sake of arguement, a missed pass is when a reciever is open, but either drops the pass, catches out of bounds, or the QB throws an inaccurate pass. It is something that should have been completed and instead the defense was bailed out. It appears that Springs did benefit from a lot of these type of plays. However, this book is about passing detail. It does not factor in Springs' impressive run defense, sure tackling, and pass rushing abilities. I think when those are factored in you have to consider Springs' as a top ten CB, looking at last year alone. And if you looked at the comparison for Smoot, it has Fred rated much higher, again strictly on pass defense. But in comparison, Smoot had a far better season. In pass defense.

Also, consider that Springs went up against the #1 reciever a great majority of the time, while Smoot played the #2. And in our division, that was a difference between TO and Pinkston or Mitchell. That's a pretty big dropoff.

[redskin_rich]

The thing is, there is no such thing as a shut down corner anymore with the newly enforced contact rules. Man up corners are extinct. Whats more important is coaching and dicsiplined players that stay in their zone.
This is why the Skins were smart in not overpaying both Bailey and Smoot, with the right coaching and players that listen, you can get the job done.

[flave1969]

Because I really respect this guy KC, I don't want to continue posting all his info, I'll consider this one an advertisement. For the sake of arguement, a missed pass is when a reciever is open, but either drops the pass, catches out of bounds, or the QB throws an inaccurate pass. It is something that should have been completed and instead the defense was bailed out. It appears that Springs did benefit from a lot of these type of plays. However, this book is about passing detail. It does not factor in Springs' impressive run defense, sure tackling, and pass rushing abilities. I think when those are factored in you have to consider Springs' as a top ten CB, looking at last year alone. And if you looked at the comparison for Smoot, it has Fred rated much higher, again strictly on pass defense. But in comparison, Smoot had a far better season. In pass defense.

Also, consider that Springs went up against the #1 reciever a great majority of the time, while Smoot played the #2. And in our division, that was a difference between TO and Pinkston or Mitchell. That's a pretty big dropoff.

Very interesting stuff. Man this guy must have no life outside this work. I tend to trust my overall perception of how Shawn played. As always there are intangibles that stats cant measure but this guy has a bloody good go.

[openallnight]

Because I really respect this guy KC, I don't want to continue posting all his info, I'll consider this one an advertisement. For the sake of arguement,
Thanks for the advirtisement SFJ! Sounds like an interesting read, that I'll have to check out.

a missed pass is when a reciever is open, but either drops the pass, catches out of bounds, or the QB throws an inaccurate pass. It is something that should have been completed and instead the defense was bailed out.
Other things like QB pressure, coverage schemes and hard hitting DBs also contribute to the dropped passes. This is a case where a player benefits greatly from the system and personnel surrounding him.

His performance wasn't completely predicated on missed passes, but I don't see a repeat performance on the missed passes this year. I'm expecting a huge drop-off from these numbers" KC the football scientist

As I mentioned, the system and players around him help to create these "missed" passes. Barring injury I actually expect Springs numbers to improve this year.
1. People, will be picking on Harris or Rogers before they go after Springs.
2. With Lavar back in the mix expect a notable improvement in our pass rush.
3. And with Bowen back roaming free expect even more wood to get laid downfield.

[BigPlayJay]

Man, if you listen to all these ranking you have to draw the conclussion that our defense stinks. I mean, we apparently have no really good players!

[redwolf1218]

I'd like to see the rankings of team defenses.

[Ibleedburgundy]

Idiots. Sean Springs is better than Chump. Way better than Smoot. McCallister is better than Chump, especially last year. $1000 says Springs would have been rated higher had he made the pro-bowl (the only reason he didn't is because he split votes with Smoot).

[redskinz#1fan]

champ bailey would have been great in greg williams system

Your probably right, but he wanted more money! The money was more important to him then his fellow teammates. I like the guys that we have now, they seem to respect one another a lot more then the past teams.

[redskinz#1fan]

I liked Smoot because he was a player that would play with injuries and was tough. But his coverage skills were very limited. Springs played a great season last year and was far more better then Smoot. These rankings are just a bunch of Bull s**t. These guys (media) will be eating out of our hands come the end of the season. Where is the love? :banghead:

[2Cooley]

I'd like to see the rankings of team defenses.
NFL.com has us as #2 DST our projected stats are of course this is fantasy.

http://30507074284.football.nfl.com/players/playerpage/418

[redwolf1218]

NFL.com has us as #2 DST our projected stats are of course this is fantasy.

http://30507074284.football.nfl.com/players/playerpage/418
Thanks. i figured the D would be fairly high ranked.

[Ibleedburgundy]

Somehow I think the opposing QB's/Coaches ratings would be very different from those of USA Today.

[2Cooley]

are they going to do other rankings (USA Today) or are they already out

[bwparker]

They got more coming

[2Cooley]

They got more coming
thanks

[chrisbcbu]

are they going to do other rankings (USA Today) or are they already out

they have done LB/DL/DBs so far. Go to this link and they are all on the right side. Tells which ones they have done and when the next ones are coming.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2005-07-06-sw-rankings-defensive-backs_x.htm

[skinfanjon]

Thanks for the advirtisement SFJ! Sounds like an interesting read, that I'll have to check out.


Other things like QB pressure, coverage schemes and hard hitting DBs also contribute to the dropped passes. This is a case where a player benefits greatly from the system and personnel surrounding him.

As I mentioned, the system and players around him help to create these "missed" passes. Barring injury I actually expect Springs numbers to improve this year.
1. People, will be picking on Harris or Rogers before they go after Springs.
2. With Lavar back in the mix expect a notable improvement in our pass rush.
3. And with Bowen back roaming free expect even more wood to get laid downfield.

He actually has seperate stats that account for both of those scenarios. Im telling you man, it is ridiculous how in depth he goes. If you look at the numbers, it is literally impossible to argue with the guy. I have not found one instance in the entire 500 page book where he appears biased, or his statements are inaccurate.