Blake

I have been saying for a while that this guy just plain stinks. He gives way too much cushion (don't know if that is a scheme thing. If it is, it has to change now). He can't cover anyone, he can't keep up with the receivers and the QBs know it. What do you guys think? I believe it is time to start Boykin. Surely he can't be worse than Blake.

 

Something needs to happen, that's for sure. I think I read that he gave up 9 catches for 140 (or so) yards and a TD yesterday. Terrible.

 

I'm not happy with Blake out there either. He's the 2015 version of the old Willam Gay.

 

Blake was ranked 91st out of 107 by PFF last week. Gay was at 77. Although I think our scheme (playing off the ball so far) definitely plays a part in that ranking, I'm not sure who we could turn to the see if there is an improvement on the roster already.

 

Agreed, but we lose to SD without his pick 6, so he's got some credit in the bank.

 

To the OP. Yeah, Blake really hasn't been good. He's more of a CB4 or CB5 that's forced to play due to injury (C. Allen, Golson). I'm hoping someone can come in and play better, but idk if Boykin can play outside and they want to keep Gay in the slot in nickel.

Yes scheme can cause our corners to give up more catches to short passes, but keeps us from giving up big plays. If you press your corners too much in the NFL you'll get burned deep. You are also more susceptible to outside rub routes that the Pats use so well with Edelman. There are pros and cons to each, and I don't think you can be consistently good unless you do both.

 

I'm not a Blake fan but if we could get something resembling a pass rush, the cushion and Blake suddenly aren't as much of a problem. Get rid of the cushion, and it's 200 yards and 3 TD.

 

I am perplexed about the whole situation.
Something is not right here?

 

none of our corners seem aware of when the ball is coming in one on one coverage. allen, blake, cockrell. we have seen it for years. once they turn their backs and have to run, they are lost. they only seem to make a play facing the ball. is that coaching? i have to wonder. carnell only played in this zone scheme for many years. is the technique not being taught well? something is wrong with this. is it a player problem or coaching problem?

 

Yeah, that to me is Blake's biggest problem. Lacking of awareness. Haven't really paid attention to the other guys to notice if they lack it, too. I think if Blake can keep things in front of him he'd look a lot better out there in pass coverage. I'd like to see him come off the edge more on corner blitzes.

I really like Blake as a football player so I'd be bummed if he sat in favor of Boykin, but I could understand if a change was made. Honestly, outside of Gay, Boykin could be swapped for any of our CB's that see game action. If Blake comes off the field I don't think any of our other CB's can replace his physicality, and the pass coverage may not even improve.

 

Where is boykins? And Allen stays on the injury list

 

he's got to tackle better too. he leads us in missed tackles. team wide we are terrible tacklers. we lead the league by a large margin. i do think boykin has better awareness for making plays on the ball and he's shown that in his career, but is this a landry jones type of situation under MT? is it blake is his boy and he's just being pig headed in playing him, when clearly he may be a better option? could blake play some safety for us facing the ball?

 

I think Blake would be an excellent option at SS for us. He's lacking height, but he's very stocky and muscular, like Bob Sanders. And he's a striker! He may miss some tackles, but he's definitely not afraid to stick his nose in there. May be a way to get our most gifted athletes on the field. Swap Blake in for Will Allen, and have Cockrell start at CB in place of Blake, with Boykin seeing Cockrell's old reps. May be something to gradually work on in practice.

 

heck move mitchell into the ss role and let blake and his speed play the fs role. he's around the 200lb. range. plenty big enough to play back there. we could move gay outside and put boykin in the slot if they wanted to. that way they are all on the field and we have better coverage from the safety spot too. call MT and make it so GB.

 

I mentioned what your saying Mac early in the year when Boykins
was not playing any CB, that maybe we could try him at safety.
Something is definately wrong here. I don't think we are fielding our
best players in the defensive backfield?

 

I remember reading Blake constantly burned for TD's in practice. Then the coaches singing praises about him. Don't understand that and Boykin but hey 5th in ppg allowed

 

now he will really miss tackles.

 

He probably was looking for someone to hit and couldn't find them so he just hit himself. LOL. Really though that's lame. I guess his tackling might take even more of a hit now...

 

When or if is Cortez Allen expected back? I would think that would move Blake back a spot or two in the rotation. I would think he would be the 4th corner behind Gay, Cockrill and Allen.

 

TTF - you mean the guy we gave up a 5th round pick for? They had to see something they liked to give up a pick to go get him. I really wonder why he isn't seeing more playing time. Cockrill seemed to step right in. All I can say is it is definitely weird. Boykin and Allen are definitely interesting case studies right now in terms of why they are not playing and if/when they are expected to contribute.

 

The problem with the scheme we run is it is dependent upon pressure from blitzing LB's or secondary, and we aren't generating consistently from either. The cushion is designed to give an advantage to the covering corners in that they have the play in front of them for the first 10 yards or so; if the QB is forced to throw early, or tries to slant a hot read, the corner can try to jump the route or simply make the play in front of him.

The problems arise when you can't get a blitzer through and into the backfield. This gives the WR's the ten yards to build some momentum and make their cuts in a way that is more of a challenge to shade - and the QB the time to read them - especially for an average-to-below group like we have. I remember years ago when the Bengals exposed a flaw with the Blitzburgh group by spreading their offense. This forced either a nickel/dime package or a LB to cover a receiver; either way, the combo of extra receivers in space and slowed rush from the middle allowed the QB a second or two more to pick his spot.

That all said, I'm still impressed with the job the group has done thus far considering the talent they had coming in. At OLB you've got a 37 y/o Harrison, a to-this-point underwhelming/injured Jones, a reserve in Moats, and a rookie in Dupree. Pair that with the cast of characters manning the secondary and I'd say they've done better than most could have expected.

 

I've been an advocate of Blake at FS. I think he has the strength for it. A bad cover CB is often a good cover S. It's not like any other FS options are good. Mitchell at SS.

That leaves Gay, Cockrell, Boykin as nickel CBs, which sounds decent enough. Loving the front 7 and Offense so far... so they should feel free to draft a ton of DBs.

 

My take is the Team all but knows that Cortez is not the answer on the outside . Gay is not the answer on the outside . Boykin is more of a slot CB and not the answer at outside . The Team is basically forced to let Blake play and see if he can play his way to playing better on the outside .

This Team can't continue to play with 10 inside CB'S and zero outside CB'S . This is why Blake gets so much praise from the Coaches he is really all we have got and they hope as I do with lots of PT he can get better . Cortez has already proven he has a confidence problem they can't afford to contribute to Blake having one . Like it or not Blake is the starting outside CB for this season if he stays healthy...

All we can do is hope he gets it at this point .If not it's back to the drawing board or drafting board if you will .....