PFF is not perfect as stats are not everything but it is a lot better than wishful thinking. Of the safeties with enough snaps accumulated to be rated by PFF here is how ours stand among the 85 rated.
Johnathan Cypien 74th out of 85
Winston Guy 79th out of 85
Josh Evans 80th out of 85
It isn't about Cyprien love or Cyprien hate, its about a terrible performance that isn't getting better. So how did they do in 2013?
Johnathan Cypien 84th out of 86
Winston Guy 73th out of 86
Josh Evans 78th out of 86
If you look through PFF for ratings by position Jags safeties have the worst ratings of any position on the team and maybe the the worst group at any position in the NFL. Winston Guy was cut for his performance so how does the performance of the other two look to you in comparison to Winston Guy?
Don't Blame the Cornerbacks, Who Are Doing Their Jobs
Again, per PFF, where our cornerbacks stand in comparison to the rest of the league.
Demetrius McCray 36th of 112
Alan Ball 48th of 112
Dwayne Gratz 66th of 112
Will Blackmon 96th of 112
And in 2013?
Alan Ball 22nd of 110 tied
Will Blackmon 22nd of 110 tied
Dwayne Gratz 42nd of 110
Mike Harris 55th of 110
Its the safety position that is killng the Jags. We have an extremely young offense who are playing reasonably well at most positions given their inexperience, other than Bortles, who is going through his rookie quarterback learning curve and El Joke who is near the bottom of offensive tackles. Most of the defense is doing pretty well and we would probably have some wins if not for the breakdowns at safety.
When the whole team is bad, it is like shooting fish in a barrel. Bad follows bad and everything is junk. Until we see better play from someone or anyone it is kinda of tough to just go yeah it is those 2 players.
This team is awful almost everywhere.
That's some fine drafting right there!
Don't blame The Linebackers, Who Are Doing Their Jobs
Just to push on the issue some more I looked up the PFF stats on our linebackers.
Because Telvin Smith has not played enough at a single position to accumulate sufficient snaps to be rated among those with major snaps at either OLB or MLB I had to use the ratings for him from among those who played any snaps at one of those two positions for a 4-3 defense so the comparisons are a little distorted for him unlike those for everyone else whose ratings I have posted.
MLB
Paul Posluszny 33 of 61
OLB
Geno Hayes 20 of 36
J.T. Thomas 23 of 36
Using the ratings for MLB and OLB for a 4-3 defense and including everyone who has taken snaps at those positions here is where Telvin Smith stands.
OLB 12th of 89
MLB 30th of 117
After the safety position the next decision for the Jags is going to be whether a new OC and a hence a new system would be more or less damaging to their flock of rookie offense players than the continuing mediocrity of the Dead Fish we have in charge of the offense now. I will leave that to other wiser posters.
Excellent post. Gives some substance to opinions about our players. I've never been totally convinced by PFF rankings for positions outside the trenches, but using them as a general comparison rather than a detailed one is a pretty good way to see general ratings.
I thought Gus is a defensive guru? I'm being serious. If this was the case, they wouldn't suck this bad. Especially with his own players...smh
To sum it up this season. We are doo doo.
Wait..... I thought Cyprien just "looked" bad cuz he's covering for everyone else....
/sarcasm
I've been saying that Cyprien in particular is a liability as a safety, being such a high draft choice.
Evans was a 6th rounder so I don't really expect much from him anyway.
We need to spend big in free agency
It certainly couldn't hurt to sign a legit free agent safety.
Nothing new here. We are the worst.
We are the worst in almost every position beside DL
If you actually sit and read/analyze PFF, then you may have a problem.
Quote:We are the worst in almost every position beside DL
And RB. (4.2 yards per carry is 12th in the league)
Quote:When the whole team is bad, it is like shooting fish in a barrel. Bad follows bad and everything is junk. Until we see better play from someone or anyone it is kinda of tough to just go yeah it is those 2 players.
This team is awful almost everywhere.
But the defensive line is playing at a top level. You'd figure the safeties should be having a field day back there from pressure but Cyprien sucks and we just dont have a free safety. Only thing is starting material in our secondary unit is a 7th rounder. Not enough film on Colvin to make a determination.
Cyprien seems to be a bust while we have no answer at free safety. Big upgrades needed in the secondary and LB.
Quote:Don't Blame the Cornerbacks, Who Are Doing Their Jobs
Again, per PFF, where our cornerbacks stand in comparison to the rest of the league.
Demetrius McCray 36th of 112
Alan Ball 48th of 112
Dwayne Gratz 66th of 112
Will Blackmon 96th of 112
And in 2013?
Alan Ball 22nd of 110 tied
Will Blackmon 22nd of 110 tied
Dwayne Gratz 42nd of 110
Mike Harris 55th of 110
Its the safety position that is killng the Jags. We have an extremely young offense who are playing reasonably well at most positions given their inexperience, other than Bortles, who is going through his rookie quarterback learning curve and El Joke who is near the bottom of offensive tackles. Most of the defense is doing pretty well and we would probably have some wins if not for the breakdowns at safety.
Thanks for the info.
Looking at just the CBs, it appears that 1) they all dropped off except McCray who didn't have stats last year, and 2) maybe we should have kept Mike Harris. Blackmon in particular is playing really terribly this year after a great 2013, and that's obvious PFF or not.
I'm a bit skeptical of PFF's ratings for safeties and LBs, but they seem to be accurate for other positions. While Cyprien and Evans have been disappointing, I don't think our safeties have played as badly as PFF's ratings makes them out to be.