Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
Aside from QB, the FS position, is probably the most difficult to play in football and particularly in the NFL.
What QBs key on all the time is what the FS is doing. If he is biting up to play the middle, the QB looks to throw over the top (as SF did when they threw the bomb to Isaac Bruce---Matt Ware bit up the middle on that play, thus leaving DMF one-on-one with Bruce---and it is tough for any CB to cover the deep post all alone)...or, if the FS helps deep, the QB looks to throw underneath, as Garrard was doing with TE Mercedes Lewis yesterday...one pass of which Adrian Wilson came up to deliver a blow on).
The problem is...the FS does not have the luxury of time on his hands...he has to make very quick decisions because he needs to sprint hard to where he thinks the ball is going to go. The worst thing is to stand in cement shoes. Those type of FSs get toasted repeatedly.
The great ones, such as Ed Reed, are adept at baiting the QB...giving the appearance of going one way and then, on a dime, sprinting up or back as whatever the case may be.
The best FS I ever saw in a Cardinal uniform was Larry Wilson. He had such an uncanny feel for where the ball was going---and he had such great range that he could get initially fooled and still recover to break up a pass or lay a good lick on the WR or TE.
What the Cardinals are facing at the position now is a lack of experience...Antrel Rolle's forte is in moving up and thus is prone to getting beat deep. It's going to take Rashad Johnson some time to adjust to the quickness of the QB's reads in the NFL and how quickly the ball arrives at its intended target. Matt Ware seems more inside conscious and doesn't seem to have the range or the instincts to get to the deep passes.
This week the Cardinals play against a QB in Peyton Manning who may well be one of the best QBs in NFL history at reading the FS. If the Cardinals don't get to Manning before he can make his reads, the FS---whomever he is---won't have much of a chance in this game. Moreover, the Cardinals' CBs have got to run stride for stride with Reggie Wayne and the other Colts' WRs...but the guy that makes this scenario all the more precarious is TE Dallas Clark, who is a master at commanding the FS's attention, right smack dab in the middle interdediate areas and the seams.
Right now it probably would be wisest if Bill Davis commits the FS to patrolling Clark and the WRs in the middle and rolling the dice that his pass rush will be able to get to Manning before he can make the deep passes over the top to the WRs. This is why we may see some 7-8 yard cushions by the CBs at times. With that we all need to remain patient and understanding...and hope that Calais Campbell and others can deflect some of the short passes.
What QBs key on all the time is what the FS is doing. If he is biting up to play the middle, the QB looks to throw over the top (as SF did when they threw the bomb to Isaac Bruce---Matt Ware bit up the middle on that play, thus leaving DMF one-on-one with Bruce---and it is tough for any CB to cover the deep post all alone)...or, if the FS helps deep, the QB looks to throw underneath, as Garrard was doing with TE Mercedes Lewis yesterday...one pass of which Adrian Wilson came up to deliver a blow on).
The problem is...the FS does not have the luxury of time on his hands...he has to make very quick decisions because he needs to sprint hard to where he thinks the ball is going to go. The worst thing is to stand in cement shoes. Those type of FSs get toasted repeatedly.
The great ones, such as Ed Reed, are adept at baiting the QB...giving the appearance of going one way and then, on a dime, sprinting up or back as whatever the case may be.
The best FS I ever saw in a Cardinal uniform was Larry Wilson. He had such an uncanny feel for where the ball was going---and he had such great range that he could get initially fooled and still recover to break up a pass or lay a good lick on the WR or TE.
What the Cardinals are facing at the position now is a lack of experience...Antrel Rolle's forte is in moving up and thus is prone to getting beat deep. It's going to take Rashad Johnson some time to adjust to the quickness of the QB's reads in the NFL and how quickly the ball arrives at its intended target. Matt Ware seems more inside conscious and doesn't seem to have the range or the instincts to get to the deep passes.
This week the Cardinals play against a QB in Peyton Manning who may well be one of the best QBs in NFL history at reading the FS. If the Cardinals don't get to Manning before he can make his reads, the FS---whomever he is---won't have much of a chance in this game. Moreover, the Cardinals' CBs have got to run stride for stride with Reggie Wayne and the other Colts' WRs...but the guy that makes this scenario all the more precarious is TE Dallas Clark, who is a master at commanding the FS's attention, right smack dab in the middle interdediate areas and the seams.
Right now it probably would be wisest if Bill Davis commits the FS to patrolling Clark and the WRs in the middle and rolling the dice that his pass rush will be able to get to Manning before he can make the deep passes over the top to the WRs. This is why we may see some 7-8 yard cushions by the CBs at times. With that we all need to remain patient and understanding...and hope that Calais Campbell and others can deflect some of the short passes.
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