Posts tagged Cian Fahey Mirror Images

Mirror Images: Percy Harvin-Lardarius Webb

July 3, 2013 0 Comments read Matt Waldman

Percy Harvin and Ladarius Webb are do-everything, physical players whose games are bigger than their bodies. Photo by Rick Burtzel. — Percy Harvin and Lardarius Webb are do-everything, physical players whose games are bigger than their bodies. Photo by Rick Burtzel.

By Cian Fahey, Pre Snap Reads

Editor’s Note: A game I’ve been playing in my head in recent months is to take an offensive player and find his mirror image on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage. For example, Joey Galloway and Darrell Green were stylistically mirror images of each other. Both had amazing speed that sometimes overshadowed their underrated displays of craft at their respective positions over the course of lengthy and productive careers. Now I’m putting it on the blog and having some of my friends play.

What are you?

It’s a simple question with a million answers. Some of us will answer it immediately, maybe with just one word. Others will spend their whole lives searching for an answer and never come up with one. A smaller portion of us will never give a damn.

No matter how you feel about your answer, it’s impossible for you to escape the question. If you don’t answer it, plenty more will for you. Even if you do answer it, others will still look to change what you say. That’s the world we live in.

Everything needs to be labelled. Everything needs to be classified. Most of all everything needs to be simplified.

Recently, former college quarterback and 2013 NFL draft prospect Denard Robinson had to ask himself that question. Robinson probably wanted to answer it “quarterback” but those deciding his fate came up with different ideas. At the combine he tried to be a wide receiver. At the draft he was labelled a running-back. Now that he’s in the league, he’s being called an offensive weapon.

An offensive weapon. Seems ambiguous, right?

Is it really anymore ambiguous than any other label we use in the NFL? Mike Wallace and Anquan Boldin are wide receivers. Very little of their games really crossover. Jacquizz Rodgers and Michael Turner were running-backs for the same team last year, you’re not going to confuse one for the other. Craig Stevens and Jimmy Graham couldn’t play the same position if you spent 10 years trying to teach them.

That’s just the offensive side of the ball, on defense things get even more muddled the further you explore the depths of the league.

In reality, every offensive player is an offensive weapon, while every defensive player is a defensive weapon(or defensive shield if you like). The phrasing really doesn’t matter, it’s just that, phrasing. What is important in football isn’t who you are, it’s what you do. Some players have such skill-sets that they welcome the label they receive, but others spend their careers confusing those watching them.

Webb is Harvin's mirror image on the defensive side of the ball. Photo by Keith Allison. — Webb is Harvin’s mirror image on the defensive side of the ball. Photo by Keith Allison.

What is Percy Harvin? What is Lardarius Webb?

The simple answers are wide receiver and cornerback. Of course, they’re also wrong answers. Harvin and Webb are their positions in the same way that I am a writer. Technically, it’s an accurate statement, but it tells you nothing about me or what I really do.

Harvin and Webb both missed much of last season because of injuries, but that’s the most tenuous of connections you could create. Harvin is listed as being 5-11 and 184 lbs, while Webb is down as 5-10 and 182 lbs. Both have very similar, slender frames, but both also have significantly more strength and power running through their bodies than one would expect from simply looking at them on the field.

Harvin is known for being an electric player who can jink around, run past, or sidestep defenders in tight areas, but he also has that ability to put his head down and run through defenders when he has to. Webb is considered one of the very best cover cornerbacks in the NFL, but he also plays in the slot for the Ravens in nickel packages when he gets to show off his outstanding tackling ability.

Webb is the rare defensive back who is able to punish running-backs with tackles, while Harvin is the rare slot receiver who can run over safeties rather than be ran over by them.

Being able to do everything is one thing, but being able to do everything from different areas of the field is something special. Outside of playing on the offensive line, the only position Harvin seemingly hasn’t lined up at during his career so far is tight end. That’s not even considering his impact as a kick returner. Webb doesn’t play safety or on the defensive line, but the way he plays the slot position in nickel packages essentially makes him the fourth or fifth linebacker on the field, while he can play either side as an outside cornerback in base defenses.

Defending Harvin is next to impossible. He’s not the kind of player who runs away from linebackers and uses his strength to overpower defensive backs, he’s the kind of player who doesn’t need to discriminate with his talents. In other words, he can beat whoever he wants in whatever way he wants.

Beating Webb is just as difficult. He has the physical style to fight with tight ends or bigger receivers, but the fluidity to cover a guy like Wes Welker inside or run with AJ Green down the sideline. There are few cornerbacks who are better than Webb and maybe only one who is more versatile.

So that brings us back to the question. What is Percy Harvin? What is Lardarius Webb?

What am I?

I’m…confused by the question.

Mirror Images: Vernon Davis and Patrick Willis

June 29, 2013 0 Comments read Players, Tight End

Patrick Willis and Vernon Davis mirror images? Easily. Photo by Jason Ku.

I can’t think of an easier Mirror Images tandem than teammates. Cian Fahey profiled Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu. I’m following suit with a pair of 49ers with freakish athleticism and great versatility.

It’s only natural to me that two of the best all-around athletes with great scheme versatility – Vernon Davis and Patrick Willis – are mirror images. The fact that they have sometimes been limited by system changes and happen to be teammates only reinforces my point.

If I were feeling particularly wild I could throw Navarro Bowman into the equation and create a three-way, fun house mirror. But I don’t want to disorient anyone.

Let’s address one point right away: The interaction between an inside linebacker and tight end isn’t as frequent as say an outside linebacker or tight end or a safety and a tight end, but the comparison works from a pre snap perspective. The offense is accounting for the middle linebacker and the defense is accounting for the tight end. So these two positions might not face each other, but they are the positions their teammates have to account for every down.

When a team has a tight end or inside linebacker with the versatility to excel in every facet of the game, it places tremendous pressure on their opponents during the pre snap phase of a play. Because both players present mismatches, it’s not just a matter of getting into the best possible alignment to neutralize them. Individual players still have to execute against them and as we know, it’s easier said than done to win snap-to-snap battles with Davis or Willis.

I’ve said this before, but I think Vernon Davis is the best tight end in football. Rob Gronkowski is the more popular choice and as an athlete at the tight end position he’s in the conversation with the Davis. However, I think the Patriots have been the best in the NFL at showcasing the tight end position as a primary statistical weapon. It may not be a popular opinion, but I think Davis or Jason Witten could have thrived as much as Gronkowski if Bill Belichick and company somehow acquired either one.

Davis makes these two teammates look good a lot more than you think. Photo by Football Schedule.

Davis has 4.3-speed, receiver’s hands, and the body control of a vertical threat and can get open as an in-line tight end, H-back, slot man, or split wide from the formation. He also possesses the acceleration, strength, and agility to make life miserable for the back-seven of a defense as a ball carrier. You may not see Davis hurdling opponents in the open field, but that’s because he’s quick and agile enough to defeat defensive angles without resorting to these tactics.

Willis mirrors Davis’ athletic prowess on defense because of his terrific sideline-to-sideline range. He can stop plays up the middle or on the perimeter. Just like Davis, Willis has the explosive strength and quickness to disengage from opponents early and find the open area to make the play. Willis is also just as adept as a 3-4 inside linebacker as he is a 4-3 middle linebacker. Although he hasn’t had to do so, I think Willis could be a fine outside linebacker if called upon.

The reason is that the 49ers linebacker also has the athleticism, field awareness, and skill to blitz the quarterback. Willis has shown in the past that he’s a most disruptive presence when the team has opted to employ interior perimeter pressure with an inside linebacker. We don’t see this often from Willis, because his skills in coverage are in greater demand for the schemes used in San Francisco.

At times during his career in San Francisco, Davis also been limited by scheme. Mike Martz did not employ an offense that minimized the receiving skills of the tight position and it meant the team’s best weapon – apologies to Isaac Bruce during that time – was used in pass protection. Davis is a fine run and pass blocker, but you don’t ask a thoroughbred to be a plow horse if you have a stable of capable plow horses that can’t run.

Even if Davis and Willis aren’t always posting the box score stats that match their potential, both players are integral parts of the 49ers’ success because their presence makes life easier on teammates to excel. When called upon, they can also dominate an opponent with game-changing plays.

Whereas Roethilsberger and Polamalu are the ultimate improvisers that require schemes to bend to their will in order to maximize their prowess, Davis and Willis have become great team players who fit anywhere and everywhere. The scary thing is that I still don’t think the 49ers have exploited their full potential.

Mirror Images: Darren Sproles/Charles Woodson

June 23, 2013 0 Comments read Matt Waldman

Charles Woodson still has it. Perhaps not for very long, but long enough to help my team as a veteran presence and versatile option. Photo by Elvis Kennedy.

By Cian Fahey, Pre Snap Reads

Here’s an idea. Take 11 offensive players and 11 defensive players. Whoever you want, there are no limitations to who you want to choose. Set up in whatever formations you want, run whatever plays you want, but every single play must work to the strength of every single player you have on the field. You can’t run a screen with Calvin Johnson and you can’t drop Demarcus Ware into coverage. Easy, right?

Okay, now do the same, but you have to include Darren Sproles and Charles Woodson on the field. Where do you put them? What do you ask them to do?

You can probably rule out running the ball with Sproles, but you still have to figure out where he should line up and what route he should run. Is he best as a slot receiver? Releasing from the backfield? In a receiving position behind an offensive tackle? Behind a receiver in a bunch?

Once he’s lined up, should we run a screen for him? Use that screen as a decoy? Give him an option route in space? A quick pass in the flat so he can turn the corner in space?

What about Woodson? Let’s put him outside on a top receiver, or maybe move him into the slot to cover a quicker possession receiver? If he is in a safety position he can come up in run support or read the quarterback’s intentions though? Should we blitz him off the edge? Spy the quarterback? Put him in a zone or ask him to trail someone in man coverage?

It’s next to impossible to figure out how to best use Charles Woodson and Darren Sproles. Yet, no matter where you put them and what you ask them to do, you’re more than likely going to get something spectacular after a handful of snaps.

Woodson and Sproles have always shared a skill-set in my eyes. They don’t look anything like each other from a physical point of view. Woodson is 6’1″ and has somewhat of a lanky frame with long arms and a stretched core. Sproles on the other hand is a very compact 5’6″ without any real wingspan to speak of. What links the duo is their versatility and ability to create from anywhere on the field in any situation.

Sproles is considered as a receiving back rather than a running-back, and his usage over the years supports this suggestion, but the Saints have had great success with him running the ball since he came over from the San Diego Chargers in 2011. Sproles averaged 6.9 yards per rushing attempt during his first season and 5.1 yards per carry during his second, most recent season in New Orleans.

He’s not Adrian Peterson, but he’s also not LaRod Stephens-Howling. Sproles might not run over people often, but he uses his considerable bulk combined with his low-center of gravity to break tackles and gain forward momentum in space and at times between the tackles.

Having the ability to run between the tackles, run outside, catch passes out of the backfield, and run screens is like being a cornerback who can line up on either side of the field, in the slot, as a seventh piece of the front seven, while being able to blitz, play the run, drop into zone coverage, spy the quarterback, and play man coverage. In other words, it’s like being Charles Woodson.

Woodson has never been Darrelle Revis or Richard Sherman in their prime (that’s presuming each is at their peak now, which may be foolish to presume). He won’t lock down one receiver and allow the defense to forget about that side of the field for the day, but he will scare the life out of any quarterback that has to throw at him. Much like Sproles, it’s not the quantity of positive plays that Woodson accumulates, it’s the quality of the few that he makes that are the difference.

Every single time the Saints draw up a play for Sproles, it has the potential to go the distance to the end zone. Every time the offense falls into the trap of throwing towards Woodson, they risk seeing a defender take it the distance.

Woodson and Sproles are the NFL's version of Vinnie 'the Microwave' Johnson. Photo by Elvis Kennedy. — Woodson and Sproles are the NFL’s version of Vinnie ‘the Microwave’ Johnson. Photo by Elvis Kennedy.

Woodson has 11 career touchdowns, 55 interceptions, and 24 forced fumbles. He is a black hole on the field who is returning to the original black hole in Oakland. Big plays find their way to Woodson, just like they do to Sproles.

Of course, the players I’ve described above are not the same versions of Sproles and Woodson we’ll see moving forward. Both players are past their prime. As a running-back, even considering his limited usage, the 30-year-old Sproles will be entering the twilight of his career.

Woodson has already extended his career past the point where most consider him an impact player. The soon-to-be 37-year-old returns to the Oakland Raiders and hope to provide enough big plays to make a difference. Although both players are in decline and those plays are fewer and further between, they still strike fear into their opponents.