the defensive backfield surpassed expectations last year & with the return of Allen & the veteran leadership of Bell, I believe they will improve significantly by the start of next season. they certainly aren't the Achilles heel, they were. Should be beating the bushes for the offensive side of the equation.
Since you insist, I had to look this up. Clemons was thrown at 29 times with 17 balls caught, not bad at all. However, he gave up a 29 yarder vs Pitt, 37 vs Cinci, 34 vs Balt, 52 vs Oak, 37vs Cleve, and 42 vs Pats. That's giving up a lot of big plays, maybe even more than Wilson, and he missed 10 tackles.
Again, your looking at stats for completions and yardage against a FS. Thats not a good indicator at all. the 29 with Moore(?) in Pitt wasn't his fault. Sparano came on record and said it wasn't his man. Clemons blitzed and had the recognition to notice the RB was flying out of the backfield after blocking him and just followed him. It wasn't his man at all. The 37 was again not "behind or late or lost" on the play. He didn't come down with the ball, which I said before, FINISHING the play. He had picture-perfect coverage on Owens on the play. The 34 yarder in the Balt again wasn't his fault per se. Ray Rice came out of the backfield and there was a miscommunication with the LB who was supposed to pick him. That was just a terrible gameplanning against the RBs in the passing game. The 52 yarder against him in the Oakland game was again him FINISHING the play. He wasn't out of positon, or late, or behind on the play. He just didn't finish, like I said. The Clev game it was Massaquoi and that was more of Clemons fault but by then he was playing on a torn groin. NE game that was his fault, but again...a torn groin... So again, what instances do you have him where he is late with the play or trailing or behind? what you showed was him not FINISHING.
Are you related to Clemons? Nothing was Clemons fault. Hell, he shoulda been All Pro. Pff, who looks and grades each and every play, rated him at #61. What the hell do they know? The NFL rated him about the same. What the hell do they know? You know much more than everyone else. I tried to be fair but, you're making that impossible. Let's reverse positions. Show me why Clemons was that good? You cannot.
No. I'm not. But I said 3 of those were his fault. The 10 missed tackle I didn't comment on because those are all his fault. He has a tendency of tacking high sometimes and he gets brushed off tackles. His hips are pretty bad and his awareness of the ball in the vertical pass is pretty lacking. He was known to be a quiet person and communication and mental part of the game was his big question mark. Thus far, he has proven everyone wrong about communication and the mental part. The dude is good, and has the ability to be real good if he can fix his vertical ball awareness. Your looking at stats to evaluate how a player did. Do you think any freaking coach in the NFL looks at stats to evaluate their players? They use it to help in the evaluation, but NO ONE uses it as the primary base for evaluation.
Good post, and we now agree. For whatever it's worth, PFF is not about stats. They look at every play,every player, and grade him. It has been said that their grades are very similar to those of NFL teams by NFL players. Thanks for your run down. It's about the same as mine. I allow a lot for youth, and really hope Clemons takes the next step, he does have the talent to do so.
I think the best way to put it is he has tons of upside. His combination of size and speed is almost unheard of as a Db. But to say he's out of position more than they would like to have seen is not crazy to say. We've seen him trailing on long gains enough to know that it has to be his fault on some of them right? I think he has a bright future in the NFL. Hopefully he grows into it.
But The Thing We All Deep Inside Love About Clemons is his Speed, He's Prolly One of , If Not The Fastest Safety In The League. And Speed Kills! Let Him Keep Developing And We Have Something Special Here
Does anyone remember the flash of skill in the first game of the season against buffalo?, it was a play in the flat?, he displayed athleticism that had me on my feet, with chest swolled, for real, it was a play that I cant recall seeing here before....he just gets really nervous when the ball is in the air, ive got to feel that experience will rectify some of that.
