Originally posted by genus49:Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
I've to disagree again. It goes both ways. If a QB has to avoid the whole side of the field because of 1 player, it makes life very tough for any offense to function in the passing game. Also, Oakland had one of the best secondaries for couple of years...they were getting gashed in the running game. Indy has been getting hammered by other team's offense for years. It was the play of Bob Sanders which led them to superbowl win that year.
Sure, if the other CB isn't very good - the elite CB won't be as effective. But, that's no different than having mediocre rusher opposite an elite rusher. You can take out an elite rusher if you don't have much on the other side. That mediocre rusher wasn't winning 1-on-1 battles before, and won't win now that there is an elite rusher on the other side.
Which is why, you need one elite and one good rusher opposite him to keep other team from taking out your elite rusher.
Both are equally important to each other. If you don't have elite rushers, you're CB have work extra hard. If your CBs can't cover - the QB can get rid of the ball before the rusher gets close. This is why football is a complete team sport.
You can disagree all you want, it doesn't make you right.
Throwing to one side of the field is a lot better for an offense than being sacked or pressured into bad throws to ALL sides of the field.
How is this even an argument? Coverage sacks are incredibly rare and when they happen the whole secondary needs to do their job, not just one guy. Your logic is that we need to draft corner early because our secondary sucks so much...well what are the other sucky players doing while Prince does his job?
And just because everyone wanted to run against Oakland doesn't make their secondary any good. It's just easier to run for 200+ yards a game when you want to win a game than throw the ball.
As for Bob Sanders being a big reason for Colts secondary success, that's straight up laughable. Bob Sanders is pretty much a linebacker playing safety. His best asset was bringing the wood and laying people out. His pass coverage really wasn't that good. Not to mention where has he been the last few years? It's been all Freeney and Mathis.
Football is a team sport but your analysis is off. A good pass rusher can be in the QB's face very quickly, most corners can stay with their guy for a brief period of time. You make it sound like our guys just fall down once the ball is snapped and the receivers are running around completely free.
If anything our secondary was so terrible because we were so soft on defense, no rushing and guys constantly playing off. Spencer and Clements are better corners than teams who looked much better.
It's almost like you're want a corner just because you think we need one so much.
When did I say Bob Sanders improved Colts secondary? But, he was the no. 1 reason why their defense all of a sudden started playing great in playoffs. It wasn't because of pass-rush. Bob Sanders was not only great in the box, as a safety he knew where to be on passing downs. Also, you said Oakland secondary was terrible, which was not the case at all for at least 2 years. When you take away the one side of the field, it forces teams to run more.
Also, I'm not even suggesting taking a CB unless it's Peterson who is clearly the best player in the draft. So, I'm not sure where you picked up this idea that I just want a CB.
My point is very simple. You can marginalize a pass-rusher just like you can a CB. You double team him or chip him with a TE or a RB/FB. If you don't have another decent rusher - that player will be taken out of the game as far as getting consistently to the QB is concerned. This is why Cowboys drafted Spencer, Pittsburg and Baltimore keeps drafting pass-rushers, Chargers drafted Larry English, and so on.
Taking away the primary weapon is a big deal. Most teams will suffer heavily if you take away their primary weapon in the passing game, because the talent level between the primary weapon and secondary weapon is usually pretty big. You can stop that secondary weapon with an above average CB against most teams.
On defense, CBs and Pass-rushers are the highest paid positions, and if you look at who gets paid the most - it switches between these two positions. That shows the importance of both positions, and to say one is more important is not true at all.
