A Few Thoughts About The Game

[Ramius]

Those saying McKelvin played pretty well were watching a different game than I was. No one says that McKelvin can't run with the top WRs, and if that was all there was to it, he'd be a top corner. He's a great athlete. But he puts himself in bad position frequently, does not look back at the QB or the ball, and has poor ball instincts (4 INTs in 3+ years is piss-poor for a top-draft-pick CB). His awareness hasn't gotten better, and he doesn't look in command of the game at a time when he should be looking like a veteran defender. To boot, emulating his guru Dick Jauron, he thinks he played pretty well yesterday despite his failures.

 

No doubt Moore and Campbell played lights-out. But they also picked on McKelvin all day, which says something to me.

 

McKelvin has more INTs than Asomugha over that same time span, so what's your point regarding the stats?

Edited September 19, 2011 by Ramius

[FLFan]

Mods, any reason not to pin this thread every week? Lots of us really look forward to it.

+1. Always look forward to Bill's post, and win or lose, it is the best post game thread.

[RuntheDamnBall]

McKelvin has more INTs than Asomugha over that same time span, so what's your point regarding the stats?

Difference being opposing defenses aren't throwing in Asomugha's direction, and they are targeting McKelvin. I'd have to dial up the stats on targets but I can guarantee you Leodis sees way more balls thrown his way than does Asomugha. This is where you need more context for stats.

 

I'm saying that if a guy is going to get burned to the totals put up against McKelvin yesterday, I'd rather it were because he were trying to make a play on the ball than because he was there in "perfect position" and still didn't do anything. I guess he forced Campbell to throw a perfect ball and for Moore to make great catches, but I'd rather he didn't give such big cushions, made plays on the ball, and made the WR pay occasionally at the line of scrimmage.

[LABills08]

Difference being opposing defenses aren't throwing in Asomugha's direction, and they are targeting McKelvin. I'd have to dial up the stats on targets but I can guarantee you Leodis sees way more balls thrown his way than does Asomugha. This is where you need more context for stats.

 

I'm saying that if a guy is going to get burned to the totals put up against McKelvin yesterday, I'd rather it were because he were trying to make a play on the ball than because he was there in "perfect position" and still didn't do anything. I guess he forced Campbell to throw a perfect ball and for Moore to make great catches, but I'd rather he didn't give such big cushions, made plays on the ball, and made the WR pay occasionally at the line of scrimmage.

 

That's a good point. I think McKelvin has performed far below expectations considering he was the number one CB drafted that year. But, I also think that everything needs to be put in context. CB is one of the harder positions to judge in terms of performance, bc as was pointed out earlier, top CBs do not always have the stats to correspond with their performance. Both Asomogha AND Revis have very low INTs and probably tackles too, bc teams keep the ball away from them. I agree that teams might have begun to target Leodis but I think its tough to judge him against the Raiders. Moore made a few ridiculous plays. Lets see how he does against the Pats. Don't forget that Gailey had high praise for his preseason.

[DrDawkinstein]

Are you serious? You don't think the coaches will be drilling into Searcy this week to bat the ball down the next time he defends a Hail Mary?

 

It was the wrong decision but a good outcome, this time.

 

"Drilling into him"? no. There were already Raiders hands on the ball the second he got it. He took it out of their hands. We won the game, therefore it was the right decision.