How many yards is Eddie Jackson worth?

DB's playing a few yards off is by design. They don't choose whether to line up 10 yards deep or to jam, they're told exactly what to do.

I would've liked to see some more jam coverage but I am certain that playing off was done for a reason.

Go Bama said:

Well I agree with you, but that sounds a lot like "If Colt hadn't gotten hurt ..."

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We joke about that but who knows how that game would have turned out had Colt not been injured. I'm not saying we would have lost but it would have been a different game. Remember Kerry Goode? If he had not gotten hurt we would have blown out Boston College in 1984 and they were a top 5 team that year.

Sylve was indeed in position on several of the plays, but as has been stated, he did not play the ball. For an example of one of our CB's doing an excellent job at finding and playing the ball, check out Dee Milliner against Michigan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQTBc8GWesc

nickel42 said:

DB's playing a few yards off is by design. They don't choose whether to line up 10 yards deep or to jam, they're told exactly what to do.

I would've liked to see some more jam coverage but I am certain that playing off was done for a reason.

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I've always wondered why when a db is 7-10 yards off of a wide receiver why we don't check to a quick pass out in the flats more. It's almost a certainty you can gain 5 yards and if the db misses a tackle it's an even bigger gain.

WVU ran a lot of designed wide receiver screens and designed quick outs and burnt us several times with our soft corners.

Yes, it's better than getting beat on a bomb, but it would be interesting to hear some of our defensive gurus explain this strategy.

A lot of it is instincts. The QB and receiver can run a play beautifully, the ball come zinging in perfectly, the receiver skies for it, and...the DB breaks it up. Cyrus Jones did that a couple of times Saturday, one of which was in the end zone. And when they matched him on the guy that was abusing Sylve, he mostly shut him down after that. Cyrus didn't mind looking at where the ball was going, and dislodging it. That's what we gotta have.

Lets keep in mind that Eddie is coming off a knee injury and like all our DBs, looked good at times and bad at times last year. There is no guarantee that had Eddie been in the game he would have limited or shut down Kevin White.

Exactly! That's all.

nickel42 said:

Sylve was indeed in position on several of the plays, but as has been stated, he did not play the ball. For an example of one of our CB's doing an excellent job at finding and playing the ball, check out Dee Milliner against Michigan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQTBc8GWesc

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JBama_in_PCOLA said:

Hard to say with his injury. What if it flares up. Remember Sylve was in position on a couple of plays. WR made a fantastic catch on both.


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EJ is an inch taller and 10 lbs heavier, cant coach size. On their only touchdown pass, that ball would have been knocked away if sylve was an inch taller. Sylves problem is not that he cant be a good cover corner, its that he will always get out physicaled by big receivers (White was 4 inches and 30 lbs heavier), and specifically in the WV game he was not trusting his coaching (probably nerves) and did not look for the ball once he was in sync with the wr. Saban spoke to this in his news conference.

narddogg81 said:

EJ is an inch taller and 10 lbs heavier, cant coach size. On their only touchdown pass, that ball would have been knocked away if sylve was an inch taller. Sylves problem is not that he cant be a good cover corner, its that he will always get out physicaled by big receivers (White was 4 inches and 30 lbs heavier), and specifically in the WV game he was not trusting his coaching (probably nerves) and did not look for the ball once he was in sync with the wr. Saban spoke to this in his news conference.

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Marquis Johnson is the same height as Sylve and he managed to shut down Alshon Jeffery on a similar fade play 3 straight times in 2009. And Jeffery is the same height as Kevin White. The difference is Johnson knew where the ball was and Slyve didn't. Size had little to do with either play.

Bama Lee said:

If you watch Sylve, he never turns his head to look for the ball. If don't see it, you can rarely make a play on it. Plus the real possibility of getting called for pass interference (face guarding and losing any claim to making a play for the ball).

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I agree that Sylve's biggest problem wasn't so much coverage on the receiver but not being aware of where the ball was. He seemed to rely on his speed to get back on the receiver as he was about to get beat. Couple that with the fact WVU had some good tall muscular receivers, it takes a DB with some meat and muscle, which Sylve lacks.

The other issue we had was on the WR bubble screens WVU ran on us all night for at least 7-10 yards a pop. We were never in good position on those plays and got blocked out on every one of them. Unless our DB's get more aggressive on those plays and start stopping them more effectively we will see a steady diet of that play.

In the past Jackson has seemed to have more aggressiveness about him. Hopefully he's improved in other areas as well.

We really need Brown and Humphrey to come on strong because they do have the size and speed to cover the bigger receivers we're going to see a lot of.

Skeeterpop said:

One big play down the middle of the field Sherman could not have defended. Go back and watch the tape. #11 shoved him back 3 yards. As blatant as it gets. I was stunned no flag was thrown. The TD catch was a perfect ball and a great catch. I would guess less than 5% of college dbs could have defended that one.

Now Jackson will be more physical from the snap and aggressive so I think he makes some other plays Sylve did not. And no worry of being too aggressive and giving up any other plays because dude made every catch anyway.

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You're right about the TD catch but Jones had a similar situation in the end-zone where he stripped the ball after he caught it, which was about all he could do to stop that play.

I agree on the TD catch. Very few DBs in college football would have successfully defended that particular play. I do expect that a healthy Eddie Jackson will be a better boundary corner, both in the coverage game and in tackling in the open field/run support. And that is 100% meant as a compliment to EJ, who has done a tremendous job of coming back from surgery. Would he have made a difference in the game last week? Probably, if he wasn't hobbling at all. How much? No guess.

And what happens if Eddie Jackson struggled the same way Slyve did? What happened if he struggles? Anyone ever think about that?

JustNeedMe81 said:

And what happens if Eddie Jackson struggled the same way Slyve did? What happened if he struggles? Anyone ever think about that?

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RollinTider1335 said:

I am really asking a pure hypothetical if/then question. If Eddie Jackson was healthy and played on Saturday in Sylves spot then would the outcome have been much different?

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0 yards because WV WR would have been shut down because it wasn't Sylve. :rolleye2:

Maybe I'm wrong but I only counted Sylve wiffing badly on one play. True his coverage could use some work but the WV WRs that Sylve was covering made 2 insane catches and I'm not sure any CB on the planet not named Dre Kirkpatrick or Richard Sherman wouldn't have broken those up. Let's not beat Sylve up too much, ok? :wink: