I saw a number of occasions where Lowery was in great position to make plays on the ball. He has great form and surprisingly good instincts for a rookie. They can't all be Revis. But he did make a number of rookie mistakes. Instead of being lauded for excellent defense a number of times, he would have a hand on the receiver's back or be positioned just badly enough to draw a PI. The were also times where it didn't look like he read the hips of the WR well enough and got caught turned away on a few routes and that's where I mostly saw him getting beat. Stuff like that is coachable. His speed is a concern, and he'll never be able to cover the burners without heavy safety support, but I think he may well end up being very solid on the possession guys. He knows pretty well how to get around the body of the receivers to defend the ball, but he needs to learn where to put his hands to avoid a PI.
I think Lowery is alright. I liked His game, if we had a more consistent pass rush we wouldn't be having this topic in the chat. Under Rex's defence I see lowery exceling in either the nickle or safety position. I see Big things happening
The huge upside with Dwight Lowery is his work ethic. This man takes the business of being a cornerback very seriously. This is a guy who is going to improve every year he's in the league, barring injury. He made some heads-up plays as a rookie, forced some fumbles, defended some passes, made some great tackles, and yes, he got beat on. It happens. He'll get better. Darrelle Revis was picked on in 2007 by Buffalo's quarterbacks; it happens. If there's one thing I liked about Eric Mangini, he knows a good DB when he sees one. That's why we traded up in 2007; that's why Ross and Hall are a Giant and a Bengal, respectively. I remember when we signed Law last year, the media jumped right on top of the situation with a faulty lead: "With rookie Dwight Lowery struggling, the Jets will bring in veteran Ty Law..." I didn't see struggling at that point. He was making plays.
I think Lowery is similar to Sheppard as far as what his strong points are... He will have the chance to learn from a two time pro bowl and this can only be a good thing for him. Let's not forget Sheppard has a contract with some money tied to the playing time he gets so they will want to rotate him with another guy. What I don't understand is why we brought in a guy like Strickland... do any of you think he'll be any good (except for nickel packages)?
I guess you can never have enough CB depth, especially considering we play the pats and their 4WR-Sets twice a year. Would you be comfortable with Drew Coleman or David Barrett covering guys like Wes Welker, Joey Galloway or Greg Lewis? Strickland won't have too much of an impact, but he has starting experience and should be a serviceable Dimeback
I would rather be too dep at corner than be stuck with the crappy coverage we had last season. Not sure about Strickland, but I'd be happy with a solid dime corner to step in as opposed to, say, Drew Coleman.
Are you serious? How bad was he for a 4th round pick? He played well enough to be atleast considered for the starting spot. He was a rookie, playing opposite Revis. Did u not expect him to be targeted by every team? A rookie starting opposite an all-pro is a prime candidate to be targetted against. He was thrown in to the starting lineup day one and did good enough IMO. He'll have a yr under his belt this yr and probably has learnt a few new things a rookie learns in the NFL. If he is a backup CB, so called Nickel CB, our secondary should be pretty good with Revis, Lito, Leonhard and Rhodes. We need to pick up atleast one solid DL and a solid LB and our D will be a top 10 IMO. But Lowery was probably the best CB in round 4 and beyond.
I don't really care what round he was taken in. Why should that matter? When our starting CB gets toasted for 6 I'm not going to sit there and say, oh well, he was only a 4th rounder, it's OK. No it's not. 6 points is 6 points regardless of who you beat to score. If he's our starting CB and doesn't improve drastically over last year it's not going to be good IMO.
Unless we can find a second Revis like CB, CB2 will be targeted and will give up TDs and yards. Everbody does. Our pass rush was pretty poor last yr and that contributed to the downfall for Lowery. It won't be much better this yr either I think and I hope Im wrong about it. Lito was a pro bowler and played pretty good a yr or two ago. Im sure he can return to that form. But two yrs from now, Lowery should start. He should be starting material by 2010 or 2011 IMO. But I don't think he'll need to improve drastically. But thats just my opinion.
People, have you listened to a word Rex Ryan has said so far? If they got this news from Ryan, it's because Ryan is promoting every player on the team, or at least a wide number of them. Lowery is a young player with some promise. But I agree with WSW in that I think his ceiling is of an average nickelback or something like that. He could prove me wrong, he does have good ball skills, and I could see that giving him some confidence. But Sheppard is going to win this job. This guy from Scout.com is probably just speculating. Because while it would bode well for Lowery if he suddenly got good enough to beat out Sheppard, but it would bode much worse for Sheppard. We're a better team if Sheppard starts and plays like he can. His ceiling is much higher.
I've actually been ignoring most of what Rex has been saying about players in the OTAs, but I am going on what I saw from Lowery last season. This guy is not Derrick Strait, but he does lack top-end speed to handle the faster wideouts. Rex lives on matchups with his defense, and many teams have a possession receiver lining up in the 2WR slot. I think that Lowery does have the skillset to line up against those guys, and I think that he is totally unsuited to cover slot guys like Welker. Sheppard has the speed to cover a guy like Welker, however, and it frees up Revis to go back to embarrassing Randy Moss one on one. I love that matchup. If Lowery can do well against the possession guys, I think it stands to reason that he could compete for the starting spot.
I like Lowery's ball skills,hips,instincts and tackling ability. W/ that said, he does lack alittle quickness as well as recovery speed. Can he be a big play # 2 CB? Absolutely. But he's always gonna be deceptable to the deep ball. Match him up w/ WR's accordingly.
It depends on the team. I agree Lowery would probably be better suited for covering a guy out wide than in the slot, and against a lot of teams, I would have no problem putting him there. But come playoff time, I don't know if he can stop Lee Evans or Wes Welker or other top #2 receivers. If he keeps improving, he can probably be a mediocre #2 cornerback. I will give him credit, he looked pretty good in OTA's. Opposing QBs always seem to want to pick on him, and he made a few nice plays. I just think he might get beat too often and not be able to recover. But he's young enough where if he works hard, he can make himself better. But Sheppard has been to multiple pro bowls, and he has a lot of physical talent combined with a solid track record. If he's motivated, there's little reason to think he can't be a very good cornerback. I don't think Lowery can be a very good cornerback at this point in his career.
I thought lowery started well last year, but as teams threw less at Revis and the Pass rush evaporated he became exposed. I think with a year of learning under his belt and a new scheme in place pass rush wise he could be a good ocrner for us. At the very lest a good nickle back. Lito will most likely be the starter, but he is not to be seen as a pro bowl type CB untill he proves he can play at the level again. This is a guy who ended last year on the bench of the iggles so I'm not about to anoint him anything yet, let alone hand him a starting job.
I don't understand then. You're talking about 2 divisional opponents who I have to assume you don't like the match ups with either of there top 2 receivers against Lowery. How could you be comfortable w/him as the #2 corner if you don't like those match ups? That's 1/4 of our regular season games.
I doubt Lowery will be covering guys like Welker or Evans without safety support, he's just not fast enough. That's why we got Sheppard, the guy is probably the fastest corner we have now. Having someone penciled in as starter and how much they see the field depends on what looks other teams will give us, but we now are not as susceptible to getting burnt on the deep ball due to our personnel - or at least I hope. Rex is not Mangini. The guy's entire philosophy revolves around beneficial matchups. Mangini was as rigid as this guy is flexible.
I was speaking more in a generic tone when speaking of Lowery. More of a scouting report than so the specific situation. I believe he can be a playmaking #2 cb within certain situations. While in other situations(like those specific match-ups) where his lack of quickness and recovery speed are exposed, he's more of a nickel back/role player.
