Letting Sherman cover top receiver

[Seahawkx]

I think we should start thinking about this. Play him like Revis. Reasons being:

1) He is great man to man. I can't remember anybody beating him with a one on one coverage. If a receiver usually catches anything on his side it's usually because of zone coverage.

2) He is a beast when motivated and talking. What better way is there to ask him to blanket a top receiver of each team. Usually top receivers do most of the trash talking and we all know that gets Sherman going like anything!

3) BB is not playing well this year. And asking him or Thurmand to cover a top receiver, hasn't really worked out yet. We've seen is in the games this year esp last week, that the other teams are shifting their top receivers to BBs side or to the slot very often.

4) It would diminish blown coverages and confusion. As we saw last week and throughout last year that zone defense just doesn't work out with the LOB. If they need to come out in Zone, it should be a modified version of it with Sherman doing his man to man and let ET and Cam to help out with the other guys.

Well I have a few more reasons, but the bottom point is that if we are considering Sherman as the best CB, then we should start using him as one, Which is to use him to take out the opponents best reciever out of the game.

 

[bigcc]

we should do it because the one time we really applied it for nearly the whole game he got DPOTW and shut down Boldin after his huge debut

 

[-The Glove-]

Nope. Won't work. He tweets too much

 

[Throwdown]

One off game and Browner isnt playing well this season?

What planet am I on?

Browners fine, plus I think it shows power when we can say "we don't need to put our best CB on your best WR, we'll just stop him anyway"

 

[AgentDib]

I was surprised to learn that playing CB on each side is a different experience and many CBs feel more comfortable on a certain side.

I remember listening to an interview with Tillman (Bears CB) maybe five years ago where he talked about the difference and about how he had played "left cornerback" for his entire career with the Bears. The news at the time was that Lovie Smith was flip flopping the CBs because the #2 guy (Bowman?) also preferred the left. Tillman was on to talk about the swap and really emphasized the differences, comparing it to moving from left tackle to right tackle.

I do agree with your point that Sherman's ability to shadow Boldin shows that he has the capability to be flexible. That was a good matchup, however, as Boldin is a physical receiver that relies on his size more than speed and Sherman matches up well with those physical receivers. Ultimately, the coaching staff may feel that he can be good on the left side but elite on the right side. Browner may also play worse if swapped to the other side.

 

[Ozzy]

I think depending on the opponent we almost have to consider this. It makes no sense to me to match Browner up with a small speedy guy all day which is what a team would do if we just play sides. Against most teams its probably fine but against certain teams I think its crazy to not consider it and do it.

 

[Basis4day]

I prefer we play our defensive scheme to limit the offense as a whole and not worry about what a team's best player does every week.

 

[JCBRAVE]

Titans dont have a No.1 WR so am I safe to suspect Sherman will stick to one side?

 

[Gap Filler]

I was surprised to learn that playing CB on each side is a different experience and many CBs feel more comfortable on a certain side.

I remember listening to an interview with Tillman (Bears CB) maybe five years ago where he talked about the difference and about how he had played "left cornerback" for his entire career with the Bears. The news at the time was that Lovie Smith was flip flopping the CBs because the #2 guy (Bowman?) also preferred the left. Tillman was on to talk about the swap and really emphasized the differences, comparing it to moving from left tackle to right tackle.

This.

I think Thurmond and Sherman feel comfortable on either side but Browner rarely leaves his side of the field. They did it against the 49ers for the most part when they put Sherman on Boldin but Browner was out that game so we had more flexible corners. You just can't move Browner around, he's strictly a right corner.

 

[jlwaters1]

One off game and Browner isnt playing well this season?

What planet am I on?

Browners fine, plus I think it shows power when we can say "we don't need to put our best CB on your best WR, we'll just stop him anyway"

Your right Browner's fine. He's just a little overrated by Seahawks fans in general. Look over the last 3 years the vast majority of huge game altering plays given up have been against Browner (in games we've lost).

Example. - Against Washington (Home) in 2011 we lose to Rex Grossman, Against SF (Home) Christmas Eve in 2011 gives up the big play that gives them the go ahead FG. Against Lions 2012 & Titas Young getting the easy slant on Browner. Against ATL- 2012 playoffs big play to Harry Douglas (IIRC) first completion. Ect, ect. There are several more, but you get the point.

Browner is much more susceptible to giving up the big play and it has been that way for 3 years. So it's no wonder that when he gives up afew plays in a loss that he'd be criticized.

 

[DavidSeven]

Against ATL- 2012 playoffs big play to Harry Douglas (IIRC) first completion.

That pass was completed against zone coverage where Trufant and Wagner were the closest defenders. Browner had to fly in from his deep zone just to make the tackle. Pretty sure Young was abusing Trufant and our LBs in that Detroit game as well.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Example. - Against Washington (Home) in 2011 we lose to Rex Grossman, Against SF (Home) Christmas Eve in 2011 gives up the big play that gives them the go ahead FG. Against Lions 2012 & Titas Young getting the easy slant on Browner. Against ATL- 2012 playoffs big play to Harry Douglas (IIRC) first completion. Ect, ect. There are several more, but you get the point.

You need to make up your mind, do you want Sherman to cover the other team's #1, or do you want Sherman to cover the receiver who made a big play in hindsight.

Because in most of your examples Sherman WAS covering the other team's #1 (Megatron, Roddy White etc). Young and Douglas are both #3's on their teams, which is the responsibility of our nickel back, which last year was Trufant. Furthermore on Douglas's big play at the end of the Atlanta game we were in two deep zone, not man on man. The mistake was made when Trufant didn't cover Douglas underneath because he thought the pass was going to the RB out of the backfield, which left a soft zone for Douglas to get open.

 

[Seahawkx]

What i mean by a top reciever is a reciever that Browner or Thurman have difficulty guarding. There are the Top Top recievers such as Calvin johnsons, Julio jones, Fitz, etc, but also the fast/quick recievers like TY Hilton. For example, If Sherman was assigned TY Hilton specifically, those 2 tds dont happen (Atleast not as long big plays).

All i am saying is Sherman is clearly an elite CB and should be used more than just on one side. Teams are taking him out of the game rather than us using him to take out one of their best weapons.

 

[Seahawkx]

One off game and Browner isnt playing well this season?

What planet am I on?

Browners fine, plus I think it shows power when we can say "we don't need to put our best CB on your best WR, we'll just stop him anyway"

I just dont understand your kind of people who just come online to put down someones opionion. If you dont have anything to suggest or reason, just dont respond! At the end of the day, none of our opionions matter and wont affect the team.

 

[Hawks46]

One off game and Browner isnt playing well this season?

What planet am I on?

Browners fine, plus I think it shows power when we can say "we don't need to put our best CB on your best WR, we'll just stop him anyway"

I just dont understand your kind of people who just come online to put down someones opionion. If you dont have anything to suggest or reason, just dont respond! At the end of the day, none of our opionions matter and wont affect the team.

So, you want no opinions on a football fan message board ? None of our opinions matter? Why the hell are you here then ? Maybe 25% of what you see on here is fact, the rest is theory, educated opinioins, amateur analysis, and fan's opinions, sprinkled with homerism. I also didn't see Throwdown putting anyone's opinion down, he just disagreed. This is football, don't be a Nancy....if one can't handle disagreement, one probably shouldn't be here.

 

[Basis4day]

One off game and Browner isnt playing well this season?

What planet am I on?

Browners fine, plus I think it shows power when we can say "we don't need to put our best CB on your best WR, we'll just stop him anyway"

I just dont understand your kind of people who just come online to put down someones opionion. If you dont have anything to suggest or reason, just dont respond! At the end of the day, none of our opionions matter and wont affect the team.

Hes not putting your opinion down, he is disagreeing with it. Every CB gets burned once in a while, including Sherman. Putting Sherman on a team's best WR isn't a guarantee of success. I trust the defensive scheme we have.

It's the same feeling i have when it gets suggested that we put Browner in the slot when we play a team with a good TE. It isn't going to guarantee success. Sometimes defensively you need to pick your poison. Shutting players down outside can open the middle and vice versa.

 

[Basis4day]

One off game and Browner isnt playing well this season?

What planet am I on?

Browners fine, plus I think it shows power when we can say "we don't need to put our best CB on your best WR, we'll just stop him anyway"

Your right Browner's fine. He's just a little overrated by Seahawks fans in general. Look over the last 3 years the vast majority of huge game altering plays given up have been against Browner (in games we've lost).

Example. - Against Washington (Home) in 2011 we lose to Rex Grossman, Against SF (Home) Christmas Eve in 2011 gives up the big play that gives them the go ahead FG. Against Lions 2012 & Titas Young getting the easy slant on Browner. Against ATL- 2012 playoffs big play to Harry Douglas (IIRC) first completion. Ect, ect. There are several more, but you get the point.

Browner is much more susceptible to giving up the big play and it has been that way for 3 years. So it's no wonder that when he gives up afew plays in a loss that he'd be criticized.

Titus Young had a great game because we focused a lot of energy on limiting Calvin Johnson.

Harry Douglas plays behind Roddy White, Julio Jones and Tony Gonzales.

When you cover a team's primary threats, it creates opportunities for other players.

 

[DavidSeven]

Andre Johnson was lined up across Sherm for most of the Texans game, and he burned him for over 100 yards. On the other side, Browner held Hopkins to his worst game in the NFL up to that point.

I think Sherm is the best CB in the game, but lining him up across the opposing #1 WR is not a guaranty of success. It worked against SF because Boldin gets utterly no separation against press coverage, and no one else on the team can press like Sherm/BB. You know how we knew it would work? Because BRANDON BROWNER SHUT DOWN BOLDIN in 2011 doing the exact same thing!! He absolutely owned him that game (BAL vs. SEA).