McGinn's critiques of the secondary are positively scathing. He calls them to task -- and rightly so -- for constantly trying to rely on hunches or guesses instead of defending the players in front of them. It wasn't so much that these guys couldn't defend this year -- it was more that they chose not to. They preferred to showboat instead of putting their man on the ground, and fortunately for them, as long as the offense kept up the high-flying acrobatics, they escaped the criticism due them.
Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel
I'm with you on that. The lack of pass rush made their job harder for sure, but the secondary just plain sucked ass. Burnett and Peprah running in circles downfield while the receiver easily beats them both to the endzone (can't remember the game, but ugh), Woodson falling down, Tramon not even coming anywhere near a receiver and getting targeted in coverage, Shields being a pussy about tackling... Horrible.
They would have been pretty bad pass rush or not. When they DID get some pressure, QBs had NO problem finding someone to unload the ball to. Even if it was an unblocked blitzer flying in the ball was generally out because they didn't cover for shit, even for the first two seconds of the play sometimes.
I blame Woodson, personally. He's the leader, and "freelancing" has always been his style. Now the other guys learned it from him. It's great when they are the hero, but they give up SO many passes that it's like Faver chucking the ball up all over again- great play, then two shitty plays.