2019 Cornerback Review (Ramsey)

[RandyMossIsBoss]

2017 CB review

 

Preface

Using coaches film, I look at every single pass play a CB was involved in, and determine whether or not they did their job in coverage. This project was inspired by Cian Fahey  who did a similar project a few years back, as he found that even the advanced targets and catches CB metrics many sites began putting out did not tell the whole story. Who were they covering? Was it actually their fault? Were they benefiting from poor QB play?

 

A couple of notes about my process:

For every eligible pass play, a CB either receives a "Success", "Shutdown" or "Failure" if he's in man coverage, or a "Good", "Great" or "Poor" if he's in zone. This is fairly subjective by its' nature, but I obviously try my best to be consistent. I do take into account situations, a CB is not going to get a "Failure" if the QB has 7 seconds to throw and hits the WR for a 10 yard gain who comes running back towards the QB after finishing his route. Letting up a 9 yard curl on 3rd & 10 is probably not a failure in the 1st quarter, but 4 down territory in the 4th quarter? It probably is. Hopefully you get the gist. 

• Man
  • Failure: CB gets beat by the WR, in other words, the WR gets in position where a completion can be reasonably expected to occur. Whether it does or not is irrelevant. Game situation is taken into account, as well as time to throw.
  • Success: WR is able to run most, if not all, of his route but is unable to achieve a position where a completion can be reasonably expected to occur. Great throws or great catches won't change this mark.
  • Shutdown: WR is able to run his entire route, or is taken out of play, and the CB remains in a position throughout where a completion would be next to impossible to occur.
• Zone
  • Poor: CB leaves his zone open long enough that a completion could be reasonably expected to occur, or if CB is simply beat by WR in his zone.
  • Good: CB does his job, covers his zone, and prevents any good looks from occuring in his zone.
  • Great: Varies. Generally if multiple WRs cross into the CBs zone, aka it's a difficult play for the CB, but he holds it down, or if the CB shuts down the WR entering his zone. QB looking CB's way and deciding not to throw his way usually can get this mark.

 

I am not a Xs and Os expert, and even if I was, I would not be able to truly know what a CB's responsibility on any given play was without seeing the playcall. Fortunately when it comes to man coverage, their responsibility is usually blatant, but it becomes a lot murkier in zone. I would implore people to look at my notes as they usually detail exactly how I interpreted any major plays, and around where you can find them to look at them yourself. I'm very open to adjusting the charting data if somebody believes a big play was incorrectly attributed to a CB (this situation would likely only arise in zone, or man that was so poorly played I mistook it for zone).

 

I mentioned eligible pass plays earlier, let me elaborate. I look at every pass play, but I don't judge the following pass plays

• Designed screen.
• Designed quick passes. You can often tell if a QB is making 1, or no, reads after the snap. You see it a lot on goal line fades, or in the flat to the HB if the QB identified a hole pre-snap. I'm not crediting a CB for good coverage when the ball got out in 1 second and the QB didn't even look the way of the CB, UNLESS the CB's man is the target on that play, as then I am judging your coverage with the ball in the air.
• Zone coverage where all pass catchers converge to the opposite side of the field from the CB.

(Compared to my 2017 data, I got a bit stricter with this)

 

Now the most reliable and useful data from this whole project is the charting. I've recorded every reception given up, which entails who the WR was, the down, distance and quarter, and the general route ran. I am confident in the accuracy of this data, as there is very little subjectivity, especially when it comes to man coverage, as opposed to the success/fail data which involves a lot of subjectivity on my part. Any tough calls are detailed in my notes.

 

I assign breakups very liberally. I give out "breakups" as such: if the CB was not there and did not interfere in some way, whether batting the ball in the air, knocking it loose after the WR grabs it, simply positioning himself in a way that makes it impossible for WR to catch it, etc., a completion would have occurred. Besides showing a CBs ball skill and aggressiveness, this number is valuable since it gives you an idea of how many throws their way were on target. By subtracting PDs + completions from targets, you can get an idea of how many targets were simply inaccurate throws or drops. Answers the question of "how much did CB's charting data benefit from poor QB play?"

 

 

Snapshot of all CBs looked at thus far:

CBMetrics2019.xlsx

 

 

Stephon Gilmore

Stephon Gilmore 2019.xlsx

Overall Observations:

• Biases: Came into this expecting to see elite CB play. Believe Gilmore is best CB in NFL.
• Patriots play a ton of straightforward man. I am seeing a lot of cover 1.
• Physical corner, likes to keep hand on his man, sometimes gets caught being too physical.
• Huge beneficiary of Pats pass rush, at least in 1st half of season, where many teams clearly changed offense to employ more quick hitting plays.
• Good straight line speed, rarely burned outright.
• Not impressed by his change of direction speed, WRs often get serious separation on in breaking routes where he has to flip hips.
• Usually plays with outside leverage, funneling WR into middle of field.
• Follows opposing #1s all over the field, does not take breaks.
• Not afraid to undercut routes, trusts McCourty and co to cover him.
• 74 coverage snaps in the slot (16.6%)
   

Data:

• Shadowed opposing #1 WR in all but 4 matchups (Dolphins, Giants, Eagles, Titans). Followed #1 WRs into the slot.
• Played 17 games including playoffs.
• 89.2% success rate; 86.8% in man, 95.9% in zone
• 8.3% shutdown rate in man, 9.1% great coverage rate in zone.
• 73% of coverage snaps were marked as man.
• Allowed 40 catches for 558 yards, 1 TD.
• Opposing passer rating of 40.0 when targeted.
• 23 pass breakups.
• Allowed 5 catches in excess of 20 air yards.
• Called for 5 penalties that cost 25 yards.

Breakdown of Catches Allowed:

• 12 Slants for 133 yards
• 5 Comebacks for 57 yards
• 4 In routes for 54 yards
• 3 Go routes for 109 yards
• 3 Hitches for 21 yards
• 3 Flats for 20 yards

Best Performances: 

• Allowed 2 catches for 23 yards on 5 targets in shadow matchup vs Amari Cooper. 1 INT.
• Allowed 3 catches for 24 yards on 6 targets in shadow matchup vs Tyler Boyd. 2 INTs.
• Allowed 1 catch for 9 yards on 6 targets vs Giants. 1 INT, 4 breakups and 7 shutdown/great coverage marks.

Worst Performances:

• Allowed 7 catches for 119 yards in shadow matchup vs Davante Parker.
• Marked with 7 failures in coverage in 1st shadow matchup vs John Brown, allowed 68 yards on 9 targets.
• Marked with 6 failures in coverage in shadow matchup vs OBJ.

 

Tre'Davious White

Tre'Davious White 2019.xlsx

Overall Observations:

• Biases: Assumed to see that White is elite CB, but playing an easier role than Gilmore and just not being forced to do much as teams avoided him.
• Bills play a lot of zone coverage, constantly give different looks, and hide their coverage often. Makes this more difficult.
• Not afraid to get physical but doesn't press too often, even when playing up tight.
• Likes to play trail technique in man.
• Mainly sits at LCB but will have games where he follows around #1 on several downs (usually 3rd downs).
• Very disciplined with staying squared up and not leaving his back pedal too soon/late.
• Very explosive out of squared up position, lets him break on routes easily.
• Started following WRs in 2nd half of season
• 16 coverage snaps in the slot.
   

Data:

• Majority of snaps were at LCB, however, he began to shadow opposing WRs in week 9, went back to LCB for final 2 games, then shadowed Hopkins for most of WC game.
• Played 16 games including playoffs.
• 88.6% success rate; 83.7% in man, 94.7% in zone.
• 12.1% shutdown rate in man, 10.6% great coverage rate in zone.
• 55.8% of coverage snaps were marked as man.
• Allowed 46 catches for 598 yards, 0 TDs.
• Opposing passer rating of 45.5 when targeted.
• 19 pass breakups.
• Allowed 5 catches in excess of 20 air yards.
• Called for 7 penalties that cost 60 yards.

Breakdown of Catches Allowed:

• 9 outs for 78 yards
• 8 Slants for 85 yards
• 5 In routes for 69 yards
• 5 Comebacks for 58 yards
• 4 Hitches for 28 yards
• 4 Flats for 20 yards
• 3 Go routes for 115 yards

Best Performances: 

• Never targeted in shadow matchup vs Hollywood Brown.
• Allowed 1 catch for 27 yards on 7 targets in shadow matchup vs Courtland Sutton. INT, 3 breakups.
• Allowed 1 catch for 5 yards on 5 targets vs Patriots in 1st matchup. 1 INT

Worst Performances:

• Allowed 5 catches for 72 yards on 5 targets in shadow matchup vs DeAndre Hopkins. 
• Season low 77.8% success rate in shadow matchup vs OBJ, was targeted 13 times in just 27 coverage snaps. 
• Allowed 7 catches for 88 yards on 8 targets vs Giants. 

 

Darius Slay

Darius Slay 2019.xlsx

Overall Observations:

• Biases: Watched film AFTER Slay became Eagle, so bias there.
• Slay has textbook man/zone tendencies, hips and eyes towards QB when zone, hips and eyes towards WR when man, makes charting him easy.
• Doesn't press often. Not uncommon to see him line up right across from WR a yard out, but he still doesn't use bump and run technique.
• Shadows opposing #1s. He usually has help either over the middle or over the top, but Lions were not afraid to leave him on his own.
• Easily spotted by forearm sleeve on left arm, usually black when home, white on road.
• Uses variety of coverage techniques, but has some tendencies such as relying on trail technique out of tight man.
• 71 coverage snaps covering slot (18.1%)

Data:

• Shadowed opposing #1 WR in all but 3 games (Cardinals, Eagles, Bucs)
• Played 14 games.
• 87.0% success rate; 85.1% in man, 90.2% in zone.
• 6.8% shutdown rate in man, 9.8% great coverage rate in zone.
• 63.5% of coverage snaps were marked as man.
• Allowed 46 catches for 662 yards, 3 TDs.
• Opposing passer rating of 75.5 when targeted.
• 20 pass breakups.
• Allowed 10 catches in excess of 20 air yards.
• Called for 7 penalties that cost 62 yards.

Breakdown of Catches Allowed:

• 6 Comebacks for 78 yards
• 6 outs for 37 yards
• 5 Go routes for 170 yards
• 5 Corners for 125 yards
• 5 Crossing routes for 76 yards
• 5 Slants for 41 yards
• 4 Hitches for 23 yards

Best Performances: 

• Allowded 1 catch for 6 yards on 2 targets vs Bucs. 
• Allowed 4 catches for 28 yards on 9 targets in shadow matchup vs Courtland Sutton. 3 breakups.
• Allowed 3 catches for 46 yards on 9 targets in shadow matchup vs Amari Cooper. 3 breakups.

Worst Performances:

• Allowed 8 catches for 128 yards on 11 targets in 2nd shadow matchup vs Stefon Diggs.
• Allowed 6 catches for 109 yards and 1 TD on 11 targets in shadow matchup vs Davante Adams.
• Allowed 6 catches for 75 yards on 13 targets in shadow matchup vs Keenan Allen.

 

Ronald Darby

Ronald Darby 2019.xlsx

I don't really feel like doing whole little write up on Darby because I doubt many care lol, I will say, I was surprised he did not end up with worse marks. He perhaps breaks my little system though, because so many of the deep catches he allowed were air tight coverage, which I normally don't mark as failure... The WRs were just outplaying him in the air for the ball and doing a better job of adjusting, and it obviously is a problem, not just bad luck (as I normally would chalk up a big completion where perhaps the throw was perfect or it was a jump ball), when this is happening every week.

 

Jalen Ramsey

Jalen Ramsey 2019.xlsx

Overall Observations:

• Biases: Seemed to have down year, didn't think he made much of difference for Rams, so I figured maybe there was lapses in effort/technique since he obviously is still in physical prime. 
• Failures often a result of misjudgements, while his "successes" and "shutdowns" feel more dominant than those of other CBs looked at.
• Superior athlete to pretty much everybody he lines up against. Lets him rely on reactive play, doesn't need to anticipate routes.
• Very physical CB, will match WRs physicality. Rarely loses a physical coverage snap, and often gets a shutdown.
• Had shadow responsbilities in matchups with clear #1 WR, which ended up being half of his 12 games. 
• Despite only 2 INTs (and 1 officially) on the season, you can tell even in man he will try to bait QBs to make throws by trailing behind guys or giving them space, knowing he can make up ground quick.
• 39 coverage snaps in the slot (12.3%).

Data:

• Shadowed opposing #1 WR in games with shadow worthy WR, essentially (6/12)
• Played 12 games.
• 90.2% success rate; 90% in man, 90.7% in zone.
• 12% shutdown rate in man, 15% great coverage rate in zone.
• 66.1% of coverage snaps were marked as man.
• Allowed 37 catches for 470 yards, 1 TD
• Opposing passer rating of 76.5 when targeted.
• 11 pass breakups.
• Allowed 5 catches in excess of 20 air yards.
• First down rate of just 56.7% on catches given up.
• Called for 2 penalties that cost 30 yards (both in week 10 vs Steelers)

Breakdown of Catches Allowed:

• 8 Outs for 56 yards
• 7 Slants for 59 yards
• 6 Curls for 66 yards
• 4 Go routes for 175 yards

Best Performances: 

• Held Hopkins to 34 yards on 5 catches.
• Not targeted a single time in shadow matchup vs Cooper.
• Held Robinson to 3 catches for 34 yards on 8 targets, only had 1 failure in coverage.

Worst Performances:

• Allowed 3 catches for 69 yards on 6 targets in shadow matchup vs Julio, had 5 coverage failures.
• Allowed 52 yards and was penalized 2x for 30 yards in shadow matchup vs JuJu.

 

Sherman next, probably final CB I look at for 2019. 

Edited August 31, 2020 by RandyMossIsBoss

[Hunter2_1]

Great work @RandyMossIsBoss

 

• Shadowed opposing #1 WR in all but 4 matchups (Dolphins, Giants, Eagles, Titans). Followed #1 WRs into the slot.
• 89.2% success rate, 86.8% in man.
• Allowed 40 catches for 558 yards.
• Opposing passer rating of 40.0 when targeted.
• 23 pass breakups.
• Allowed 5 catches in excess of 20 air yards.

 

That's even better than I originally thought 🤯

[ET80]

I'm trying out a new tool here (well, we've had it for a while, I think).

We're going to feature this thread through every CB @RandyMossIsBoss is going to cover.

Enjoy!

[Trentwannabe]

Very well done.

Excited to read some more, especially White.

[RandyMossIsBoss]

16 hours ago, ET80 said:

I'm trying out a new tool here (well, we've had it for a while, I think).

We're going to feature this thread through every CB @RandyMossIsBoss is going to cover.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Updated for White and Slay. 

[Bearerofnews]

Good job. Be cool if you came up with a grading formula based on all that data.

[EagleBlueDon]

Great work man! Awesome read.

[Trentwannabe]

On 8/19/2020 at 3:21 AM, RandyMossIsBoss said:

Worst Performances:

• Allowed 5 catches for 72 yards on 5 targets in shadow matchup vs DeAndre Hopkins. 

That game was such a tail of two halves for Buffalo. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe all 5 targets and catches by Nuk came in the second half. 

Great write up!

[RandyMossIsBoss]

On 8/20/2020 at 3:14 PM, Bearerofnews said:

Good job. Be cool if you came up with a grading formula based on all that data.

Yeah believe me I know that would be nice, but it's just so tricky. It is ultimately subjective at end of day, and PFF will do a better job than me at that. I just want to provide as much of the data and context as I can, then let people make up their own minds. Here is document I have comparing each of their metrics though just so you can get a snapshot of how guys stack up: CBMetrics2019.xlsx

 

 

10 hours ago, Trentwannabe said:

That game was such a tail of two halves for Buffalo. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe all 5 targets and catches by Nuk came in the second half. 

Great write up!

Thank you and yeah your pass rush just dominated the 1st half, but then Houston finally started picking up blitzes and such, gave Watson some time. I don't know if you had tried to check but seems that link I have to White's document was bunk so I fixed it in case you wanted to see more details.

[TheRealMcCoy]

This is really cool. Good job @RandyMossIsBoss

Made me really excited to watch Slay this year. We haven't had a CB this good since Asante Samuel and maybe Troy Vincent.

I'm interested to see the #s on Darby. He did have a lot of tight coverage getting beat at the catch point. It was really frustrating.

[TheRealMcCoy]

On 8/19/2020 at 12:21 AM, RandyMossIsBoss said:

This project was inspired by Cian Fahey

[RandyMossIsBoss]

1 hour ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

This is really cool. Good job @RandyMossIsBoss

Made me really excited to watch Slay this year. We haven't had a CB this good since Asante Samuel and maybe Troy Vincent.

I'm interested to see the #s on Darby. He did have a lot of tight coverage getting beat at the catch point. It was really frustrating.

Ronald Darby 2019.xlsx

 

CB Metrics 2019.xlsx (how Darby stacks up with other 3)

[TheRealMcCoy]

12 minutes ago, RandyMossIsBoss said:

Ronald Darby 2019.xlsx

 

CB Metrics 2019.xlsx (how Darby stacks up with other 3)

Thanks! The PBUs/INTs was solid.... not as bad as I would've thought like you said, but him getting beat at the catch point and not finding the ball was super frustrating. Not to mention his weak tackling. I know the latter doesn't have anything to do with coverage though.

Edit: Are you gonna post the excels for the other corners too?

Edited August 25, 2020 by TheRealMcCoy

[JAF-N72EX]

Nice work as usual @RandyMossIsBoss.  Just curious, are these stats based on ONLY when they are targeted or is are they based on every play from each player?

[RandyMossIsBoss]

19 hours ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

Thanks! The PBUs/INTs was solid.... not as bad as I would've thought like you said, but him getting beat at the catch point and not finding the ball was super frustrating. Not to mention his weak tackling. I know the latter doesn't have anything to do with coverage though.

Edit: Are you gonna post the excels for the other corners too?

Yeah they're all in that OP, link is right under each of their names. The .xlsx hyperlink. 

 

17 hours ago, JAF-N72EX said:

Nice work as usual @RandyMossIsBoss.  Just curious, are these stats based on ONLY when they are targeted or is are they based on every play from each player?

I look at every play, but the following situations I do not count as coverage snaps and thus do not assign a success of failure to. 

• Designed screen.
• Designed quick passes. You can often tell if a QB is making 1, or no, reads after the snap. You see it a lot on goal line fades, or in the flat to the HB if the QB identified a hole pre-snap. I'm not crediting a CB for good coverage when the ball got out in 1 second and the QB didn't even look the way of the CB, UNLESS the CB's man is the target on that play, as then I am judging your coverage with the ball in the air.
• Zone coverage where all pass catchers converge to the opposite side of the field from the CB.