I refuse to believe this information. Sheppard in his worst seasons was better than what Lowery displayed. Lowery is simply too slow to play on the outside plain and simple.
I'm with Mr. E on this one. The slow won't go away, but I don't see him being lost after 2 or 3 years of proper nurturing. I think he has great ball skills, which could translate better to safety, but CB it is for now. Doesn't help that he has The Invisible Blanket on the other side of the field either. He was just learning last year and did well for a 4th round rookie being tested every down.
The '#2 cornerback' doesn't necessarily have to guard the '#2 wideout' in every game. Hell, Revis was covering Welker for the majority of the Pats Thursday night game in 08.
You know what? I saw Revis getting burned by Isaac Bruce on a multiple times last year. He didn't get burned by short yardage routes, i.e. slant, out, quick post, etc. He got burned by deep zig out - Bruce would travel from hashmark to hashmark, then make the cut (unlike other zigs, where the WR makes the cut after 2 to 4 steps) Is it the fault of Revis? Hell no. If the passrush gave the QB long enough time to allow his WR to travel from hash mark to hash mark, the blame goes squarely on the front 7 - or, should I say, Eric Mangini, as he's the one that called the patented 3-0-8 scheme. Same goes to Lowery, believe or not. You just DO NOT LEAVE A ROOKIE IN AN ISLAND ALL BY HIMSELF in any play. Now, do that with dismal passrush - and you have a torched CB. It's not even like Lowery was the kind of prospect that Revis was. He went in 4th round for a reason. The blame goes squarely to Mangini. Mangini is such a retard. Ok? Don't hate the kid, hate the scheme.
I can't believe you just talked to WSW like that. Unlike JetBlue, he's one of the most respected board members in this forum. How dare you?
It matters because it was a near miracle that he was starting at all with his experience... a 1st round pick most likely would have played at a bigger school in bigger games and would have been more game ready.... This guy was thrown to the wolves opposite Revis. I think most CB2's in the league would have struggles in the position Lowery was in. And it does matter - Check out the Gholston threads - There's a lot more expectation with a high draft pick.. A LOT. Most here never even heard of Lowery at draft time and once he was drafted never imagined he'd be the starter..
I just don?t understand where it is coming from that ?The Jets had one of the worst pass rushes in the league, and don?t figure to be any better this year? The jets had 41 sacks and were 3rd in the AFC. The Ravens, who people are talking about like they are the ?Sack exchange? had 34. Admittedly the pass rush sagged badly down the stretch. IMO the reason for this was Jenkins. For the first 10 games or so Jenkins was unblock able. Teams were using 3 guys to block him, and he was still pushing the pocket, which forced QB?s to step back, right into the pass rush. When Jenkins hurt his back, and the QB?s could step up into the pocket, the sacks, and pressure, dropped off dramatically. Make no mistake about it, if Jenkins can stay healthy the Jets will be at the top of the league in sacks again. The additions in the secondary, and Ryan?s ?catch em and kill em attitude? should make life very difficult for AFCE QB?s. If Jenkins has injury issues again, not so much.
I don't believe the blame is squarely on mangini and I also disagree that he's a r'tard. Mangini seems like a real smart football guy to me, even though he has a lot to learn still. He may never overcome his weaknesses, but I don't think it's fair to call him a r'tard. Mangini was also at least partially responsible for selecting and developing Revis who was put out there on an island from day one and excelled. Now obviously Revis is an outstanding CB and not many can play like him but that's not the point. Mangini put him on an island as a rookie and he excelled. Every CB gets burned from time to time, I don't get what your example of Revis getting burned is for. Lowery was consistently getting beat and making some plays at times. Obviously the pass rush has a lot to do with the success of your CB's. He just doesn't appear to have the skill set to consistently hang with #1 or #2 NFL receivers in coverage to me. I get the whole pass rush part of shutting down a passing attack, believe me. That doesn't mean CB's don't need to be at a certain level in the NFL. You can't hang. Yeah and I seem to remember #34 getting picked on pretty good that game. Of course the #2 corner doesn't always cover the #2 wideout but for the most part that's the matchup you're going to get. Yeah but he wasn't good. All that means is that we needed help at the CB position. I think this is a good point. Maybe a season against the top talent in the NFL will be a more valuable learning experience for a guy like Lowery than for someone who had already faced top talent in college. On the other side of the coin though, maybe Lowery only looked so good in college because he wasn't facing as good competition. Either or both could be true. Again, my opinion has nothing to do with my expectations of him. His draft position matters in other contexts, but I don't see why it does here. I don't give two shits whether our #2 corner was a first round pick from USC or some guy they picked up from the Albany Firebirds. What matters to me is how well he's playing. If he's a developmental guy with potential that isn't ready yet, I'd prefer he get ready in a lesser role.
I hope Lowery wins the job. The less we see of Sheppard the better. I didn't like the Sheppard acquisition, but didn't hate it like I hated the Gladys Gholston selection. Sheppard was putrid in 2007. He was torched a number of times. He also found in way to Andy Reid's doghouse. Sheppard wasn't good in 2008, either. You can take this with a grain of salt if you wish, but in the ESPN Fantasy Football 2009 yearbook, Sheppard was ranked as the worst cornerback in the league last year according to K.C. Joyner's metrics. Sheppard was 98th overall. It is not indicated, but the list seems to include all CBs who were targeted at least 30 times. Is Joyner correct? Should we believe his numbers? I don't know. However, I don't think they are far off the mark. I watched a number of Eagles games last year and I did not see Sheppard play well. The other CBs in Joyner's bottom nine were indeed shitty last year- Kelly Jennings, Fakhir Brown, Brian Williams, Jason Craft, Ellis Hobbs, Aaron Ross, Ronde Barber, Leigh Bodden, Brian Kelly. (Ross was pretty good in '07, I thought, but not last year. Barber is quite overrated, Bodden was lost in the Detroit system and should be better in NE.) Sheppard did make the Pro Bowl in 2006 and deserved it, but that's a few years ago now. Most of us were calling Manidiot "Mangenius" at that time. Also, Rod Hood played just as well as Sheppard in 2006, but Hood was mostly in a reserve role, although he did start several games.
I'm not saying I believe Sheppard is going to have some sort of return to glory, but some players that have had success and then stagnate with a team end up getting some of it back with another team after a trade/release. Kris Jenkins comes to mind. He was in a doghouse of his own in Carolina. I'm not going to count Sheppard out since he has actually done it at this level before. I don't know the details of why LS was in Reid's doghouse, but it sounds like it coincided with his advent of shitty play on the field. Whether that shitty play was a result of a bad attitude or something else, I don't care, I just want Rex to coax the good play back out of him because he was electrifying in 2006. Lowery - well, I like some of what I see from him, but he really hasn't done anything yet.
Sheppard definitely could rebound and give the Jets a decent season this year. Adding Sheppard to the mix is good in that he is a veteran, has been a Pro Bowler twice, and has played in a number of big games. That sounds good and therefore he's worth a shot. I'm just not excited, though.
You're crazy. I still remember week 1 when everyone had a freakin hard on for Lowery after making a few plays. Its absurd to expect a rookie CB in this league to play like a seasoned vet. This doesnt surprise me in the least. He could end up being a terror in this Rex Ryan led defense.
I don't get the love affair with Lowery. Everyone claims he was picked on because Revis shut down one side of the field when truth of the matter is Revis shutting one side down simply let extra help play towards Lowery's side. The 16 or so PDs was moreso a result of getting thrown at constantly than good play. He is a zone corner, not a man corner. I know he's not as slow as his 40 time indicates and those are pretty much bogus, but he is actually too slow to start on the outside. In a man scheme I would not want this kid as my #2 corner. Sheppard has shown he can play in blitz-happy man-cover schemes. I'm really excited to see Revis and Sheppard as our 1-2 punch. And I'd love it if Lowery proved me wrong.
I dont have the time and effort to explain to you how players tend to play better after their rookie seasons. It should be common knowledge. Apparently not.
Because I have different expectations of Lowery than you do doesn't mean your common knowledge isn't shared. There have been many guys who tend to play worse after their rookie season as well, common knowledge that I thought was known. Apparently not.
