Vikings select...Mike Hughes, CB, UCF

[SemperFeist]

Hughes had great coverage, but he allowed the receiver to get inside of him. The receiver got a lot more than a finger tip on that ball. You can’t sit and wait for the ball, allowing the receiver to undercut you like that. 

[perrynoid]

1 hour ago, Krauser said:

The play you’re talking about is just upthread, 2nd video clip I posted. 

He doesn’t overrun the route, or the ball. He cuts off the WR, and is half a step ahead of him at the goalline, with the ball in the air. The pass is over the WRs head. Hughes accelerates away from the WR and is about to make a breadbasket INT when the WR reaches out one hand and tips it away at the last second. 

Onky criticism you could make there is that if he slows down and jumps instead of trying to catch it in stride he might have been able to box out and make the INT. But that’s super picky — main point is that he had blanket coverage and would’ve had a pick if the WR hadn’t made a fingertip pass deflection. 

Any chance he beats out Waynes for the starting CB position this season?

[skywindO2]

Man, those hips don't lie. 

[VIKINGS101011]

Feels like the hate for Wayne’s has been strong despite his improvement every year. Zero chance Hughes starts over him unless he gets injured. Wayne’s has great coverage in his lone series out there.

[perrynoid]

46 minutes ago, VIKINGS101011 said:

Feels like the hate for Wayne’s has been strong despite his improvement every year. Zero chance Hughes starts over him unless he gets injured. Wayne’s has great coverage in his lone series out there.

While I love Waynes, and feel he is underappreciated, I feel that Hughes is so good that he might surpass him sooner or later.

[Dolmonite26]

2 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

Hughes had great coverage, but he allowed the receiver to get inside of him. The receiver got a lot more than a finger tip on that ball. You can’t sit and wait for the ball, allowing the receiver to undercut you like that. 

But this is kind of the point.

Change receiver for corner in your post and it would make sense if you critiquing a WR. That's how well Hughes covered the guy that he basically become the receiver and subsequently demonstrated poor receiving skills (stacking the defender)

I'll take that complaint regarding a young corner everytime

[RpMc]

33 minutes ago, perrynoid said:

While I love Waynes, and feel he is underappreciated, I feel that Hughes is so good that he might surpass him sooner or later.

Let’s see a few more snaps, against starting wide receivers. 

[perrynoid]

11 minutes ago, RpMc said:

Let’s see a few more snaps, against starting wide receivers. 

Of course, we need to see more, and against top-flight competition.  In some of the pre-draft rankings I reviewed, Hughes was rated the best cover corner in the draft, and many had him mocked to the Packers at 14th overall.  While somewhat disappointed we didn't snare a top OL, I was nonetheless pleased we got such a highly rated player with our pick, even happier the Packers didn't get him.

[whitehops]

4 hours ago, Krauser said:

The play you’re talking about is just upthread, 2nd video clip I posted. 

He doesn’t overrun the route, or the ball. He cuts off the WR, and is half a step ahead of him at the goalline, with the ball in the air. The pass is over the WRs head. Hughes accelerates away from the WR and is about to make a breadbasket INT when the WR reaches out one hand and tips it away at the last second. 

Onky criticism you could make there is that if he slows down and jumps instead of trying to catch it in stride he might have been able to box out and make the INT. But that’s super picky — main point is that he had blanket coverage and would’ve had a pick if the WR hadn’t made a fingertip pass deflection. 

i agree that he had blanket coverage for about 95% of the route, but i think it's a mistake in most situations to let the receiver back inside *untouched* and given an opportunity to make the first play on the ball. a receiver that is better at adjusting to the ball in the air would have caught that for a TD. like you said, if hughes just stayed on the receivers inside hip he likely would've had an easier INT attempt and given the receiver almost no chance to catch it at the same time. hughes disengaging would've made sense if the ball was overthrown, but it wasn't. it was thrown inside and hughes gave up inside position by disengaging with the receiver. 

 

that's picky in context of the entire game, where he was awesome in coverage throughout. i'm sure that mistake will just be a lesson learned by hughes and will help him be another shutdown cover corner for us. comparing hughes' preseason debut to trae waynes' preseason debut is night and day which is very encouraging, considering waynes has developed into a very solid corner.

[SemperFeist]

1 hour ago, Dolmonite26 said:

But this is kind of the point.

Change receiver for corner in your post and it would make sense if you critiquing a WR. That's how well Hughes covered the guy that he basically become the receiver and subsequently demonstrated poor receiving skills (stacking the defender)

I'll take that complaint regarding a young corner everytime

It was good coverage until it came time to actually defend the pass. Bercich and PA stated it perfectly during the broadcast  

I think people are giving Hughes too much credit on that play. 

[whitehops]

2 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

It was good coverage until it came time to actually defend the pass. 

yeah, if you put thielen or diggs at the end of that route instead of hamilton and i think that's a TD nine times out of ten.

[Dolmonite26]

1 hour ago, SemperFeist said:

It was good coverage until it came time to actually defend the pass. Bercich and PA stated it perfectly during the broadcast  

I think people are giving Hughes too much credit on that play. 

He wasn't defending it, he was trying to catch it at that point. Like Krauser said he was waiting for it to come to him which, as many have already stated, was a mistake.

[Klomp]

You could maybe say he was reading that ball like a punt returner and not like a wide receiver.

[SemperFeist]

12 minutes ago, Dolmonite26 said:

He wasn't defending it, he was trying to catch it at that point. Like Krauser said he was waiting for it to come to him which, as many have already stated, was a mistake.

And therefor not good coverage. 

[Dolmonite26]

16 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

And therefor not good coverage. 

That's....not even close to accurate.  He completely controlled the route and broke off to track the ball and would have caught it if the receiver hadn't tipped it away with his literal finger tip.

The receiver never had a chance at the ball because of Hughes coverage. Only thing he could have differently is to have boxed the receiver out and played the ball in the air which could have resulted (incorrectly) in a penalty.

But bad coverage......