Originally posted by Niners99:
Ive noticed for the past few weeks, there a big myth going around the zone that Dashon Goldson is a pro bowl caliber S. statistics prove otherwise.
first lets look at his positives. he seemed to really have a knack for jarring the ball loose. in the game that basically started driving this myth, monday night vs. AZ, he made alot of very fundamental hits to knock the ball free.
he also tied for the NFL lead in sacks by S, with 3, although that was really all he did in the business of getting to the QB. hes nowhere to be found in QB hits or pressures, so you cant really call him a "pass rushing S".
He was solid against stopping the run, as was our entire D. finished in the top 10 for total tackles by a S in the NFL. he also picked off 4 passes, good for an 8 way tie for 7th most. (although he did have alot of chances)
and now for the not so impressive stuff.
Dashon Goldson was the worst cover S in football this season. yes, jarring fumbles loose is great, racking up tackles is nice too, but if youre a defensive back, you better be able to cover a pass catcher, or youll be out of a job no matter how hard you hit.
he was thrown at 52 times, good for 5th most in the NFL (which explains the high tackle total). he also gave up the 6th most yardage to pass catchers he was responsible for with 438, just 10 more yds than his buddy Michael Lewis at 7th. he gave up 3 TD's, which was top 15 (in a bad way).
while he racked up alot of tackles, he also missed 13 tackles, which is the 6th highest NFL total. only 2 PD this season, which is ranked 33rd.
now im not making this thread to tear him down, or to call him a bad player. hes still young, and has the tools to possibly get alot better and make his game more well rounded. right now, hes a hard hitter, he can knock a ball loose, and he seems to be around the ball alot. whether or not its because he cant cover, im not sure.
but the point is, he was not a pro bowl player this year, not even close. he can stuff the run, he can hit, he can even get after the passer a little bit, but until he improves his AWFUL coverage skills, he will be a liability to this defense. i have faith he can improve his coverage, but by no means should his job be safe.
Claiming he was the worst cover safety in the league this year is just as bad an over-exaggeration as claiming he was a pro-bowler. Certainly, he didn't maintain a pro-bowl level of play throughout the season but he was playing at a pretty high level in the last 4 or 5 games of the season. IMO, he drastically cut down on the poor angles that he was taking in the beginning of the season.
As far as the stats go, I don't think using total yards and targets is the best way to rank a safety. I would say yards/target and QB rating for the targets is a better measure. I'm assuming you got your stats from profootballfocus.com, so here it goes:
yards/target = 12.6 - 25th out of 64 safeties who played more than 550 snaps. (Worst was LaRon Landry at 25.5)
QB rating = 78.8 - 31st out of 64 safeties who played more than 550 snaps. (Worst was Reggie Nelson at 143.1)
I'd hardly say he was the worst cover safety in the league.