Big-name safeties vulnerable
to deep ball
Jul/12/07 10:04 AM Filed in:
The
U
Overrated safeties
Ed Reed
Reed's metrics were
terrible last year. His 14.9 combined YPA was the
fifth-worst in the league among coverage safeties. He
gave up the third-highest number of total yards. He had
the fourth-most bomb passes thrown his way and the
third-worst YPA at that depth level.
I know there are those
who will say that the game broadcast tapes don't show
everything that Reed does and that these numbers are
anomalies, but let me throw this out in my defense.
Carson Palmer said that Reed often doesn't play his
coverage and thinks he knows what's coming. Palmer also
commented that Reed can get frustrated when the offense
is getting some things going and will try to come up
and make a play and lose his responsibilities because
of it. Palmer was able to exploit Reed's impatience in
Week 13, when he connected on a flea-flicker pass to
T.J. Houshmandzadeh for a 40-yard touchdown.
The metrics show that
Palmer isn't the only quarterback who knows Reed's
coverage weaknesses. That is why I believe Reed is the
most overrated safety in the league.
Sean Taylor
Taylor made the Pro Bowl
as an injury replacement, but the metrics make it clear
he didn't earn the spot. He ranked 20th in both deep
assist YPA and deep assist success percentage. He did
even worse when in direct coverage, as his 10.7 YPA in
those situations was the seventh worst in the NFL last
year. He also gave up the second-most total yards of
any coverage safety. Taylor did do a lot more to
support the run last year than he did in years past,
but even taking that into account, he really wasn't a
Pro Bowl-level coverage safety last year.
(espninsider.com)