*Cornerbacks : An Ongoing Analysis (3/14)

[Sweetwater]

I could easily spin it that you guys have those stats because of your inability to stop the pass. With all of the yards allowed and all it makes it easier to throw on a duo like you and benson, over a duo such as Colorado's (surprising to say). Having those stats just show you all have a lot more opportunities than say Cushing and I, who only have 3 pds. We haven't been thrown on as much, as QBs are opting to test their luck on people covering TEs and RBs as it's easier to test them.

I guess? But we've been targeted 17 more times than you guys and only allowed 5 more catches, as well as 2 less TDs. We get an PD on 1/3 targets, with an INT 1/6 targets. That plus the fact that we've scored as many TDs as we've allowed. Our defense has allowed the 2nd least points per game as opposed to Philly's 3rd most (a difference of over a TD per game), SJS has 2 passing TDs allowed through the 3 games, Philly has 8 (all of which are to WRs). My point being, who cares how many yards you give up if your opponent can't score? If I give up back to back 40 yard catches only to get an interception in the endzone on the next play, I'd argue that's more valuable than someone who has low yardage because 3 of their catches were >10 yard TDs.

But to just add one more thing to my point. Here are the QB passer ratings when targeting a CB duo, scale of 0-158.3, lower number = better CB performance:

PHI: 158.3
BAL: 88.2
COL: 124.9
ARI: 97.4
LVL: 141.7
SJS: 81.6
OCO: 125.33

Make of this what you will, but there's a ton of evidence to say that yards have much less impact on a defense than TDs and Turnovers.

For reference, if we take SJS average stats (1/3 targets is broken up, 1/6 is intercepted) then a QB who throws for 6 passes, would complete 4, with 1 INT, and no TDs. But lets say his passes all went for 99 yards, that would be 4/6, 396 yards, 1 INT. Which would give a Passer rating of 70.1. But that's not a lot of passes, so we'll take it a step further. SJS CBs allow a TD every 23 passes, so lets do 24 for some nice even numbers. QB stat line is 18/24, 1782 yards (99 per pass), 4 INTs, 1 TD. That's a Passer rating of 91.

In comparison, Philly's average stats (1/7 Targets is a TD, 1/9 is broken up) then a QB who throws for 7 passes, would complete 6, with 1 TD, and no INTs. But we'll say all his passes went for just 1 yard, his stat line would be 6/7, 6 yards, 1 TD. This would give a Passer rating of 118.8. Again, not a lot of passes, but the good news is that the amount of attempts for you is comparable to the above statline (27), which results in a 118.8 again.

This isn't meant to be a shit of Philly by any means, I just figured I'd use your team as you were the one who responded.

No the really unfortunate thing about all of this is that these numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt, as we have no idea who was covering who on standard incomplete passes, which would technically alter a Passer rating. But going with what we have is all that we can do, so I used the numbers given to produce the results I got.

@`Dermot` might be interested in this too.