From the article:
- Focus on the FS, Mike Adams. If he maintains his depth and uses a open angle technique (open hips to the receiver), he can turn and run to match Johnson down the field. However, when Adams breaks downhill to the TE on the underneath crossing route, Porter is hung out to dry.
A little off topic, but I remember some folks getting annoyed with '76, accusing him of always blaming the safety when a receiver would catch a ball in the vicinity of Kj. However, I don't think that's what '76 was doing, only saying the safety failed in one of his responsibilities & Kj did what he was supposed to do.
I'm not trying to turn this into a Kj thread, as this should apply to all CBs & defensive secondaries.
Looking at the picture in Playoffs post, look at all that green the CB has to cover & at that point in time, he has no idea where Aj wants to go. To the CB's right, is the biggest part of the field. He has no help there, so it would make sense that he would not want Aj to go there. If at all possible, he
should want to force Aj inside, where he has help.
Luckily for him, that's where Aj wants to go, or at least it seems that way, again, looking at the picture Playoffs posted.
To me, this is where it gets confusing. It looks like one of the safeties is coming down on a blitz. The LBs also appear to be caught up in the line, so they must have been thinking run, & maybe that's what the safety was thinking as well, coming down for backside contain (& not blitzing).
If it was supposed to be a blitz, with only one safety deep, you'd think the corners would play press coverage, not allowing the receivers to release freely into the field. But Porter does just that, taking an outside, underneath position. Johnson could stop where he was, turn in & make a 10 yard completion & there isn't anything Porter can do about it. But if Johnson breaks out to the flag, Porter is in the perfect position for anything that doesn't go over the head of Johnson & with noodle arm Schaub back there... what are the odds? So again, if I'm Porter, I'm thinking I guessed correctly at the time of this picture.
Another interesting tid-bit. Both Johnson & Walter cross the 50 yard line at the same time.
When Aj cuts up field, Porter knows he's toast. Again, look all around Johnson in this photo & the last. Look at how much green space there is around him. There is no way any CB can cover all that area by himself. Remember, just prior to this last photo, the CB had no idea where Aj wanted to be.
Some fans would probably blame that corner back on this play. Did he mess up? Sure, but not in his coverage. He messed up at the line, not Jamming Andre. But that's only
if a blitz is called. Maybe he could have played 10 yards off the line (it is 1st & 20 after all) like Champ did over Walter (I think that's Walter). That looks like it worked out much better.
Maybe he should have prevented Andre from widening that route, had he not let Johnson get a free release..... that definitely would have helped, but I've got to believe there was a reason he allowed Aj that position.
But there is no two ways about the Safety screwing up. His job is to be the deepest person on the field. He saw the TE stop & attacked the TE, allowing Johnson to run past him. Yes, Schaub was probably staring down the TE like a good QB should. But if I'm coaching that defense, I'm stressing all week long, "Do not let Andre Johnson behind you!!!!"
Another thing, if Champ is playing so deep, Porter playing press, & your safety on Johnson's side attacks the underneath, why wouldn't that deep safety roll to AJs side trying to fool Matt to begin with. To me, & I know it is pure conjecture, it looks like he thought the other safety screwed up, overrunning the TEs crossing route. He got so caught up in that, & trying to cover for his teammate that he forgot to do his job.
In 2010, I think that was our biggest problem. Not that our players sucked, but there was a lot of them worried about the other guy not doing their job, so they tried to compensate & wound up getting burned.
In short (too late) I don't necessarily think Porter screwed up. I think the DC did. 1st & 20, they should have been playing 3 deep or quarters... keeping the ball in front of them.
