Sherm....the real reason why he is the best.

billio155

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I keep reading these debates over who is the best CB in the league and the knock on Sherm is always that he only plays one side of the field and doesn't cover the best receiver on every play. But what these "analyst" never talk about is why he only plays on the left side of the field and why having Sherm in that particular position is the fuel that drives our entire defense. Nearly every QB in the league is right handed. Watch any game and you see that almost all QB's prefer to throw to their right rather than across their chest to their left. So now you're a right handed QB and you drop back, but don't even bother scanning to your right because you don't want to test Sherm. This leaves you with the short middle, (because Thomas is fifteen yards off the line) and the left side of the field. Now the QB has a wedge of space starting in the short center that narrows because of the sideline to his left he can throw to.
Now, and here is where it gets really nasty, on passing downs, for a right handed QB, we line Avril and Bennett up, side by side forcing the QB to move the pocket to his left, further condensing his throwing space. This means on passing downs we are giving a right handed QB a sliver of space to throw into. This allows our entire defense to flow into this sliver of space.
If you don't believe me, go back and re-watch as many games as you can and you will see on many passing downs, Sherman doesn't even have a receiver to cover as the offense has bunched it's receivers to its left. Now Sherman is a able to freelance. If the offense does put a receiver on Sherm's side in these situations they almost always run a 3rd or 4th receiver on a deep decoy route that attempts to create space underneath....which Sherman is very much aware of.
So how many teams in the NFL have a CB that cuts the opposing passing space in half, ( it's really more like 65 percent.) Yeah, I don't think there are any.

Go Hawks.
 

Year of The Hawk

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I always love when people compare the best of this or that. One could argue it many ways. I am a big Sherm fan. I think he is a great CB. But to say one is the best over another is a bit ridiculous. There are waaay to many factors that determine this. Lets just say the top 5 are great. Why do we have to pick one? The many arguments that people make against Sherm are valid as do the ones for him. Does that mean he is not one of the best. No. He is elite. He also works perfectly in our system as do many others. That makes a great team. I would rather have a great team than a collection of elite talent. That is what Pete has created and others can argue what player is better but no one can argue who is the best team (currently).
That said even IF Sherm was # 2 and PP was #1 where would you rather be. World champion #2 or didn't make the playoffs #1?
It is now and always will be a team sport.
 

jlwaters1

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OP- good point. I also think another item that get's overlooked. Hayden covered the #1 WR 65% of the time, PP- 55%, so it's a little misleading to say that Hayden and Peterson all they do is follow the best WR, because they don't for a significant %. Furthermore, very few teams have "elite" WR's there's maybe a dozen or so elite WR's, which is to say there isn't a huge difference between a teams #1 & #2 Wr's. (Ie. Look @ the Rams, SF, Minn, ect) neither of their top 2 guys really scare you.

At the end of the day it doesn't really matter, Sherman is elite in our system and that's all that counts. Sherman was on the NFL network last week and he was asked if he'd "like" to follow guys around and he said he didn't think it was necessary, that it can compromise your defensive scheme. I thought he spoke well on the subject.
 

Hawks46

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Good points by the OP.

I would like to add, having Sherman on that left side changes a ton for the other players as well.

Thomas can shade over the top to help out Maxwell.

Chancellor can concentrate on TE's (if needed, Wright also covers TE's very well) or shorter crossing routes as well as the run.

Players in the middle and right have an easier time reading the QB's eyes if he stops looking one way. It's also harder to look a guy off when you're only viewing half of the field. This in turn makes Earl's job easier (which is why teams don't try us deep down the middle very often).

It makes it easier on the entire defense since they now know where the ball is going with a higher probability. With a team defense like ours that likes to study, that makes us even more effective.

Like someone says, it's a team sport. It's team defense. Sherm can "lock down" his area or his man, but it also makes the rest of the defense run a lot more smoothly.
 

kearly

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Sherman has on a few occasions in the past shadowed #1 WRs or targets that worried Carroll. Sherman has done this enough that we know he's a good enough corner to trail #1 WRs if asked to.

The reason Pete doesn't often have Sherman follow assigned players is because, as the OP describes, the defense as a whole is better schematically with Sherman playing one side of the field. The same way that Earl's speed condenses the field, Sherman's ability to lock down one side of the field allows Earl to shade right which further condenses things. Then you have all the 4.4 forty LBs we have. It all adds up.

I like the way Sherman put it in a recent interview. People who say he should shadow #1 WRs are disrespecting his teammates in the secondary.
 

dopeboy206

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What I don't understand is people try to discredit him and say the only reason why he is playing like that is cause he got Earl Thomas helping him but if they really watch us play like they claim they do Earl is mostly playing on the other side of the field closer to Maxwell.
 

Lords of Scythia

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billio155":2jspco1l said:
I keep reading these debates over who is the best CB in the league and the knock on Sherm is always that he only plays one side of the field and doesn't cover the best receiver on every play. But what these "analyst" never talk about is why he only plays on the left side of the field and why having Sherm in that particular position is the fuel that drives our entire defense. Nearly every QB in the league is right handed. Watch any game and you see that almost all QB's prefer to throw to their right rather than across their chest to their left. So now you're a right handed QB and you drop back, but don't even bother scanning to your right because you don't want to test Sherm. This leaves you with the short middle, (because Thomas is fifteen yards off the line) and the left side of the field. Now the QB has a wedge of space starting in the short center that narrows because of the sideline to his left he can throw to.
Now, and here is where it gets really nasty, on passing downs, for a right handed QB, we line Avril and Bennett up, side by side forcing the QB to move the pocket to his left, further condensing his throwing space. This means on passing downs we are giving a right handed QB a sliver of space to throw into. This allows our entire defense to flow into this sliver of space.
If you don't believe me, go back and re-watch as many games as you can and you will see on many passing downs, Sherman doesn't even have a receiver to cover as the offense has bunched it's receivers to its left. Now Sherman is a able to freelance. If the offense does put a receiver on Sherm's side in these situations they almost always run a 3rd or 4th receiver on a deep decoy route that attempts to create space underneath....which Sherman is very much aware of.
So how many teams in the NFL have a CB that cuts the opposing passing space in half, ( it's really more like 65 percent.) Yeah, I don't think there are any.

Go Hawks.
Does the strong side of the offense reverse for lefy qbs? Do defenses reverse too?
 

seedhawk

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Sherm is the best cuz he says he is! And he will sty the best till he says he isn't! :p
 

Sports Hernia

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kearly":1p72rekx said:
Sherman has on a few occasions in the past shadowed #1 WRs or targets that worried Carroll. Sherman has done this enough that we know he's a good enough corner to trail #1 WRs if asked to.

The reason Pete doesn't often have Sherman follow assigned players is because, as the OP describes, the defense as a whole is better schematically with Sherman playing one side of the field. The same way that Earl's speed condenses the field, Sherman's ability to lock down one side of the field allows Earl to shade right which further condenses things. Then you have all the 4.4 forty LBs we have. It all adds up.

I like the way Sherman put it in a recent interview. People who say he should shadow #1 WRs are disrespecting his teammates in the secondary.
Yep, didn't he shut out Boldin in week 2, after he had 200 yards the week before?
 

DavidSeven

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kearly":2673131w said:
Sherman has on a few occasions in the past shadowed #1 WRs or targets that worried Carroll. Sherman has done this enough that we know he's a good enough corner to trail #1 WRs if asked to.

The reason Pete doesn't often have Sherman follow assigned players is because, as the OP describes, the defense as a whole is better schematically with Sherman playing one side of the field. The same way that Earl's speed condenses the field, Sherman's ability to lock down one side of the field allows Earl to shade right which further condenses things. Then you have all the 4.4 forty LBs we have. It all adds up.

This basically sums it up.

Earl can shade to the RCB. Kam can play enforcer closer to the LOS. Our LBs do what they do. Sherman's ability to lock-down the QB's strong-side creates a chain reaction that impacts the entire defense. How many INTs did we see from opposing QBs trying to throw into double-coverage toward his weakside? Answer: a lot. I definitely think this gets overlooked in the whole "shading the #1 WR" conversation and am glad OP brought it up. It'd be like knocking Earl for not converting to slot corner in nickel situations -- schematically, that would have far reaching consequences, even if he is perfectly capable of handling the isolated task.
 

chris98251

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Most QB's are right handed and are more comfortable throwing to the left side of the defense, sure they can go to the other side but it's not as natural as looking right throwing crossing to the right or to a receiver on the right which is a defensive left, also bail out passes will tend to be many times to that side since they don't have to reposition footwork to go to the offense left side.

I don't know if statistical numbers will bear this all out since I am not looking at charts but it is more natural, Sherm then would be on the natural preference side for right handed QB's.

Also since I believe in what I stated above it forces a QB to go to the more difficult side to throw for them in both footwork and throwing.
 

Smellyman

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Sports Hernia":xeiesz3b said:
kearly":xeiesz3b said:
Sherman has on a few occasions in the past shadowed #1 WRs or targets that worried Carroll. Sherman has done this enough that we know he's a good enough corner to trail #1 WRs if asked to.

The reason Pete doesn't often have Sherman follow assigned players is because, as the OP describes, the defense as a whole is better schematically with Sherman playing one side of the field. The same way that Earl's speed condenses the field, Sherman's ability to lock down one side of the field allows Earl to shade right which further condenses things. Then you have all the 4.4 forty LBs we have. It all adds up.

I like the way Sherman put it in a recent interview. People who say he should shadow #1 WRs are disrespecting his teammates in the secondary.
Yep, didn't he shut out Boldin in week 2, after he had 200 yards the week before?

yes, He shadowed Boldin, 1 catch 7 yards
 

Lords of Scythia

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billio155":2vk9zsb0 said:
LOS,,,,this may answer your question. The are only two...maybe three lefty QB's with a chance to start. Offenses is all about timing....bringing in a lefty means you have to completely flip your offense. Anyway, here is the link: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/left ... art-082913
Thanks for the link. It sounds like they flip the play for lefties, but the right tackle is still blocking the blind side. So they reverse the tree, but leave the o-line the same. The recievers and te must flip.
 
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billio155

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A case study for how Sherm affects an offense is the NFC title game. Kap was forced to throw to his left the entire game. The only success he had was when they ran 3 post routes and spread the TE's on hitch routes to the sideline to open running space up the middle.for that fleet of foot douche bag, Kap. Sherman even called it out during the last drive, sayiing "they are going to try me now, they got to.."
 

Lords of Scythia

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Everybody knows this so I didn't bother to mention it, but after the NFCC game Sherm said he'd been on an island vs Crabtree all game, but the only time Kap threw that way was the pick.
 

LolaRox

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dopeboy206":1y3ceqxa said:
What I don't understand is people try to discredit him and say the only reason why he is playing like that is cause he got Earl Thomas helping him but if they really watch us play like they claim they do Earl is mostly playing on the other side of the field closer to Maxwell.

I agree. I hear/see it a lot (people trying to discredit Sherman because he plays with Earl and Kam), but I hardly ever see people discredit other players who play with other great players ex: Willis, Smith, Bowman
 

Russ Willstrong

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Another reasons hes best is how quickly he turned the limelight toward himself after being in relative obscurity. It takes moxy and intelligence to create the chaos he does and still be popular. The man is indeed entertaining with his youtube street interviews, off the field controversies with players, post game drama, etc..
 
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billio155

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Sherms ability to shutdown the QB's comfort zone, throwing to his right, was in full effect during the super bowl. The D knew Manning didn't have the arm strength to beat them deep, so it condensed the space even more. Denver attempted to create space by using bunch routes to Sherm's side, but Pete did something freaking brilliant, instead of using three DB's to cover the bunch he put an outside linebacker into the set. The sheer size and strength of the linebacker broke through the would be blocking receivers and disrupted the play. So Manning was left with short crossing routes, which we destroyed, and dump off passes to his running backs. Pete is a freaking genius.
 

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