Still waiting for Kerry Rhodes to fulfill the potential he showed his 1st year. IMO, his biggest weakness is that he's late covering the deep pass. Saw it again on Monday night when Drew Coleman got burned and Rhodes was not close enough to help. Kerry certainly has the speed, but he needs to make quicker decisions and commit to where he's going, right or wrong. He keeps getting caught sitting on the fence in no man's land. Watching the Eagles/Jags last night and there was a replay showing two WR streaking down both sidelines. The deep safety started off right between the hashes, but made a quick read and was there to pick off the pass at the sideline 40 yards downfield. I feel like Ryan needs to get Rhodes to make a faster decision and just go. He may be wrong sometimes, but I'd rather have him right half the time and double covering the wrong receive the other half, than waiting too long to commit and arriving after the ball has been caught and tackling the guy in the end zone.
Yeah, I am pretty disappointed in Rhodes' coverage so far in the preseason. He's getting there late and his ballhawking is suspect right now - he blew up what I thought could have been a pick by Lowery against the Ravens, mostly because he was late getting to the play. I can only hope that he's still adjusting to the new scheme and it's not just a huge deficiency in his decision making.
Rhodes biggest flaw is that he is not an instinctively aggressive safety with a nose for the ball. The Jets have gotten the best out of him when the schemes put him right where he needed to be to have an impact, whether that be in the box applying pressure or sitting in the middle of the field waiting for an outlet to come his way. This explains why he has looked so good at times and almost lost at others. He doesn't have the Reed/Polamalu instinct to be where the ball is all the time. I only belatedly realized this last year as I was watching games in which he was very much out of position from time to time and the Jets were getting burned by his absence. The classic play was the one where he blitzed late from literally 20 yards deep in the secondary at the snap. He made no impact at all on the play and the announcers speculated that he had missed a blitz call and only picked it up late in the count when he began his charge. I think the answer was simpler than that: he really just had no clue where he needed to be on the play and by the time he figured it out by watching the offensive formation develop he was caught in no man's land. I think the Jets will get a high productivity season out of him if the defense goes out of it's way to put him in great opportunities to make an impact. I think he'll be kind of meh if Ryan and company treat him like Reed and Polamalu are treated and just let him freelance. He really does not have those instincts. It's a shame that Revis is not a safety. Having a great safety, unlike a great cornerback, is almost required to succeed at the highest levels in the NFL.
"What Rhodes needs to do to get to Miami" fixed that for you. Not Hawaii this year http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80dbeb16&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true players from now on will never go no, it's this years. "The Miami Dolphins, in conjunction with the National Football League, are pleased to provide Miami Dolphins Season Ticket Holders the opportunity to purchase your season ticket location(s) for the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl that will take place at Dolphin Stadium on January 31, 2010."
he'll have 07 numbers now that Mangini is gone, but I too have noticed he's not particularly punctual getting to the ball. It could be scheme thing or instincts, but he was Adrian Wilson's clone when he was in position to make plays. Since Wilson is the NFCs best safety, i'll take it. Reed and Polamalu are in a class of their own. No one touches their talent. Its interesting to see two HOF Safeties in one division and one era of time. It makes the game that more exciting. If he is the catalyst for a turnover and not the player getting his name on the stat list i'm fine with that as well. But he needs to be a playmaker for this defense to reach the elite status so many of our fans think this defense has already attained.
Not that I'm thinking about it...Rhodes biggest plays during his rookie year were as a blizter...and he was starting off a lot closer to the line of scrimmage.
i have never been on the rhodes bandwagon on this site, even though alot of people disagreed with me. you post explains everything that i find wrong in him, which also keeps him from being an elite safety. good post, it tells the truth about rhodes!
that's all on Mangini. I hope no one thinks Rhodes played that deep because he thought it was a good idea. It was the coaching.
Is Gibril Wilson a great safety? Your original argument demanded a Pro Bowl safety. Now it has to be a HOF safety?
I wonder if he is just trying to adjust and learn this new D scheme. He has the speed, talent and wotk ethic/attitude. Is it possible his instincts just aren't very good? That is certainly possible. Having said that... He had one role in the D in his first year, then in year 2 and 3 he was asked to play a true deep centerfield safety role. Not only did his stats decline, his on field presence declined too. Rhodes' value is in using his athletisism I think. I think that means blitzing (run and pass blitz) him, sending him around the field a lot, not playing deep safety. He certainly does not have Ed Reed's instincts, so he has to be used differently than the way Ryan used Reed. I think it will be a while before Ryan learns how best to use the players he has. Rhodes is a big part of the equation on the D. I tend to be the patient type... let's see how Rhodes does in the regular season.
Considering the Pro Bowl is in Miami, I'd say Hawaii is a good spot for K-Ro to watch the game based on his season. Unless of course we're preparing for a Super Bowl that week. :lol:
