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paulyman29 · 11-30-2014, 07:02 PM

Quote:We're saying the same thing. I'm just not as sour on Gratz by a very small margin. I think he's being coached to play "off" in certain situations. (he steps back just before the snap at times - doesn't on others)

I did notice this, even so it's 3rd and short and Gratz is playing eight yards off and begins to backpedal before the balls even snapped. Hopefully we get it fixed and the D can continue to get better.

"Sucess Is Not a Goal, It is a By-product"

**NYC4jags** · 11-30-2014, 07:05 PM

Quote:I did notice this, even so it's 3rd and short and Gratz is playing eight yards off and begins to backpedal before the balls even snapped. Hopefully we get it fixed and the D can continue to get better.

He also forced a fumble that went for a TD today. :thumbsup: Forgot to mention that.

muddylips · 11-30-2014, 07:11 PM

Quote:Is it sacrilege to suggest already that DMac may be the better corner?

I don't know if it's sacrilege... but I did see DMac make a picture perfect hit and tackle today.

I y'ams who I y'ams and thats all I y'ams...

pirkster · 11-30-2014, 08:04 PM

Neither.

Colvin.

"You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud."

The_Anchorman · 11-30-2014, 08:14 PM

I think the problem with Gratz is the specter of high expectations. Let's face it, he was a 3rd round pick who played pretty well his rookie year. We all expected him to take a big leap this year.

I see what most everyone sees in Gratz, an OK CB that appears to be trying his hardest. The kid doesn't give up on plays and he is a fairly sure tackler for the most part.

The bad with him is that he's not a shut down corner at this point. He's always off the receiver just enough to keep that receiver open. But he rarely flat out blows a coverage. Yes he got burned by Dez in London, but that is really the only super glaring issue I can remember with him. Every other time, it's ugh, he slipped and had to recover to make the tackle after the receiver caught it.

He's just an OK CB at this point. And for us fans who expected more, it's highly disappointing. But I'm not sharpening my pitchfork with his name on it quite yet.

As for Mccray--- I first realized how good he was during the London game when he shut down Dez Bryant in the first quarter of that game.

He's been lights out ever since. I love the kid! He reminds me of another special CB the jags had a few years ago. I don't want to jinx McCray, so I will speak no more of it.

pirkster · 11-30-2014, 08:25 PM

You've certainly got an interesting definition of "lights out." He's been OK, but certainly not special, IMO.

"You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud."

The_Anchorman · 11-30-2014, 08:28 PM

Quote:You've certainly got an interesting definition of "lights out." He's been OK, but certainly not special, IMO.

I don't know, maybe lights out is the wrong term. But from when I actually lock in to watch him in coverage, he seems to always be shutting down his man. I really like the kid... I think he's gonna be one of the best the jags have ever had.

To be honest, hope at some point we just always have McCray on the other team's best WR.

paulyman29 · 11-30-2014, 08:58 PM

Quote:He also forced a fumble that went for a TD today. :thumbsup: Forgot to mention that.

This is true so props there. At the same time I give more credit to Colvin for a great tackle getting Donnell up in the air and defenseless. Good teamwork there for sure.

"Sucess Is Not a Goal, It is a By-product"

jobclarke · 11-30-2014, 09:25 PM

The thing about Gratz is that it seems this yr especially, he waits for the reception then attacks....just bailing On coverage

~~JVRx21~~ · 11-30-2014, 09:27 PM

McCray is a shut down corner.

Jinjo · 11-30-2014, 09:35 PM

Quote:The thing about Gratz is that it seems this yr especially, he waits for the reception then attacks....just bailing On coverage

In Gus' scheme comeback's are going to be open all day. Its just the way it is. The corners play press bail technique.

flgatorsandjags · 11-30-2014, 10:22 PM

Quote:McCray is a shut down corner.

he is by far the best player in our secondary

leopold332002 · 11-30-2014, 10:32 PM

We may have been too quick to forget just how good Darrelle Revis is.

Richard Sherman became the self-proclaimed best cornerback in football while Revis was injured and later trapped in an ill-suited zone-heavy defense in Tampa Bay, but now with the Patriots and fully comfortable with the system, Revis is back at his best and is still the best corner in the NFL.

With both Revis and Sherman in mind, it's important to realize that there is really no such thing as a true "shutdown" corner. Even the best guys will give up some catches, and just because we can point to a play in which a guy got beaten doesn't mean they still aren't the best around. By definition, cornerback is a position of defending rather than attacking, and what defines the best guys is how successful their defense is, not whether they are perfect. How much can the best guys limit the best receivers? If they can't stop them from catching everything, can they at least limit the damage and make it a dangerous proposition for the quarterback to target his best receiver?



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That's the key to elite cornerback play in the NFL.There isn't a starting corner in the league who is allowing fewer than 45 percent of passes thrown his way to be caught. Even in 2009, Revis' best season and probably the best season of cornerback play overall in the past decade, he allowed 36.9 percent of passes thrown his way to be hauled in, more than a third of all targets.

If you accept that all corners get beaten eventually, the important thing becomes their comparison to everybody else.

The Kansas City Chiefs game marks a watershed in the season of the New England Patriots. The team was embarrassed in that game, ridiculed thereafter, and it sparked their resurgence. Tom Brady had been playing poorly until that point, as had the offensive line and the defense. Almost across the board, the team has seen a massive uptick in performance since that Monday night. It ignited the fire that currently sees the team red-hot and sitting pretty as the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

Revis has experienced a similar upswing in performance. Over the first month of the season, he was PFF's 37th-ranked cornerback, after allowing one receiving touchdown and surrendering a catch on 57.9 percent of the balls thrown into his coverage. Since that Kansas City game, he has been the No. 1 cornerback, according to PFF, leading Denver's Chris Harris at the top of the rankings. He hasn't allowed a touchdown since that opening month, and has been beaten on only 46.3 percent of the passes thrown his way.

Since the Chiefs game, only Demetrius McCray has had more successful snaps in coverage between catches given up. Revis has gone 15.6 snaps in coverage between receptions, a better mark than Sherman, Harris, Vontae Davis or any of the other elite corners in the game.

Though the Chiefs game clearly marked a turning point for the Patriots and for Revis, his performances have been improving with each passing week. October marked an improvement from September, but November marked a big improvement over both. With another month of the regular season still to go and then the postseason, which New England seems inevitably to play a big part in, Revis has the chance to cement his position as the league's best corner once again.



Tate was thrown at seven times with Revis in coverage and caught just two passes for 41 yards, the same number of balls that Revis himself got hands on to break up. For his part, Browner held up pretty well, too, limiting Johnson to just three catches for 46 yards on the seven balls thrown his way.While the league was salivating over the prospect of Revis matching up with Calvin Johnson in last week's matchup with the Lions, the Patriots were crafting a different game plan behind the scenes. They elected to cover Johnson primarily with Brandon Browner, placing size and strength on size and strength -- then adding safety help over the top -- while Revis was tasked with shutting down the smaller, quicker Golden Tate. That sounds like a far easier assignment on paper, but in the seven games prior to this matchup, Tate had notched 52 receptions for 749 yards. He was on a tear, and getting Megatron back should have only helped that.

The week before, Revis held the Colts' Reggie Wayne to a single catch for 5 yards. Wayne might not be the force he once was, but that's still very tough to do. Against Chicago and Denver, teams with two of the best wide receiver stables in football, Revis gave up seven catches for 86 yards total.

We are seeing Revis return to the level he was at when he was seen universally as the game's best corner. He was a player who could largely erase a single receiver from a game in man coverage and allow his defense to move things around to deal with the rest of the offense. The Bucs never played to that strength, but the Jets certainly made the most of it, and now the Patriots are beginning to exploit it as well.

It isn't that Revis will match up against the perceived best receiver that makes him so valuable, but that he can match up against all types of receivers, which gives a defense flexibility. That's valued above all else, especially in a Bill Belichick defense.

Revis has allowed just nine catches over the past four weeks of the season -- one more than Sherman had going into the San Francisco game (where we know Sherman shined), but on three more targets. Sherman might still view himself as the best, and is picking off passes, but Revis is showing that he isn't going to give up that crown easily.





This article and the bold part i highlighted is saids alot about McCray and although this is about Revis it's also a testament to how's he's doing this season.

Vino · 11-30-2014, 11:23 PM

Quote:You've certainly got an interesting definition of "lights out." He's been OK, but certainly not special, IMO.

aren't you the same guy who tried to blame a botched play on McCray when it was Gratz who did what you were talking about a couple weeks ago?

"A man with no sauce is lost.

But that same man can get lost in the sauce."

MalabarJag · 12-01-2014, 12:50 AM

Quote:I think the problem with Gratz is the specter of high expectations. Let's face it, he was a 3rd round pick who played pretty well his rookie year. We all expected him to take a big leap this year.

I see what most everyone sees in Gratz, an OK CB that appears to be trying his hardest. The kid doesn't give up on plays and he is a fairly sure tackler for the most part.

The bad with him is that he's not a shut down corner at this point. He's always off the receiver just enough to keep that receiver open. But he rarely flat out blows a coverage. Yes he got burned by Dez in London, but that is really the only super glaring issue I can remember with him. Every other time, it's ugh, he slipped and had to recover to make the tackle after the receiver caught it.

He's just an OK CB at this point. And for us fans who expected more, it's highly disappointing. But I'm not sharpening my pitchfork with his name on it quite yet.

As for Mccray--- I first realized how good he was during the London game when he shut down Dez Bryant in the first quarter of that game.

He's been lights out ever since. I love the kid! He reminds me of another special CB the jags had a few years ago. I don't want to jinx McCray, so I will speak no more of it.

Agree.

The disappointment with Gratz is that he did much better last year. One expects a player to improve with experience.

"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

MalabarJag · 12-01-2014, 12:55 AM

Quote:You've certainly got an interesting definition of "lights out." He's been OK, but certainly not special, IMO.

McCray is certainly playing "lights out" in my book. He rarely even has passes to his side of the field. That's very much like Revis. As Anchorman said, he shut down Dez Bryant, until Dallas smartened up and moved him to the other side opposite Gratz.

"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

~~DewtheMathis~~ · 12-01-2014, 10:13 AM

Quote:The team envisions putting McCray out there opposite Colvin when he gets on the field, putting Gratz in as the nickel.

Gratz has been making mistakes on and off the field. The coach should bench him to set an example.

jobclarke · 12-01-2014, 10:35 AM

Each has an opportunity to make a name for themselves against Hopkins and Johnson.....Opportunities to make plays will be present especially after their recent game