Thomas Davis

#1) I didn't say it was a blown coverage, I said he gave up some of their biggest passing plays in the fourth quarter. I don't know if Davis could have broken up the pass or not, because you're absolutely correct about it being a very quick throw, but I think it was such a quick throw in part because Davis did not drop correctly to his point in the zone.

#2) Are you sure that Davis had middle deep responsibility? I thought we were in cover two on that play, meaning Davis had a deep half (and why Manning pulled off to guard the underneath man). This wasn't a blown coverage either, but it was a very slow developing play and Davis was still late to get over.

#3) Judgment call, I guess, although I'm fine with saying that Ciurciu was more responsible. I don't think Davis dropped to the correct spot in the zone, contributing to the completion, but that's a subjective judgment on my part.


In any case, the point still stands about several times Davis needed teammates to tell him where to line up and what his responsibilties were, along with the fact that he just wasn't much of a factor at all in yesterday's game. I just don't think it's appropriate for fans and media to blindly give him credit for work that was clearly done by other players. It's also relevant that Davis has consistently struggled all season with zone responsibilities, so it's not as if yesterday's performance was out of character.

 

On the completion to Jenkins, both corners had man coverage responsibility. Ciurciu was in man on Finneran. Davis was playing the deep middle. Manning got lost, per usual.

I agree about avoiding blind praise. He's done a nice job in the two games vs. Atlanta. Of course, all rookies tend to look better when they are in there with the first team, and not Vinny Ciurciu and Dante Wesley.

 

That's not possible. You don't have man coverage with the corners and a safety playing deep middle. If the CBs are in man then it will be a two deep zone. Moreover, if Davis had deep middle responsibility then there's no way he would have been close enough to make a hit on Jenkins anyway. It was two deep, dude.

 

If CBs are in man, it could simply be man-free. Cover one. And cover two looks could be man-technique, or could be double-double, but don't necessarily have anything to do with man technique.

I'll have to go back and look, but it simply sounds like the guy split the zone. That happens all the time.

Plus, when LBs are instructed to keep dropping in zone until a QB sets, it'd be hard to be in the right spot unless you were thinking it as man-type Sun technique. Which might be where he erred.

 

that shit didn't get behind him.

 

I am fairly sure it was cov 1, mags. Manning was man on Jenkins. Finneran motioned to slot on Jenks side. Jenkins appeared to run a deep out, while Finneran ran an intermediate out. Double outs. Rather than persisting with Jenkins, Manning jumped down to help Ciurciu with Finneran on the shorter out. Schaub wisely noticed, and found Jenkins on the deep out.

Davis appeared to be playing deep middle. If he was deep corner, my bad. Doesn't change the fact that Manning abandoned his responsibility.

 

I just watched the plays again, and Davis was definitely out of position on the 10:30 throw. He drew up to the line as if faking a blitz, but then didn't get back to his middle zone at the snap, which Schaub smartly noticed.

As I tried to explain, if it was cover two then Manning did exactly what he was supposed to do. Also, it definitely was cover two. I'm looking at the tape right now and you can clearly see that from the way they line up at the snap and where they end up after the play. Davis and McCree were splitting deep halves.

The 1:58 throw was definitely on Ciurciu, though. He never should have been matched up on a WR anyway, and Davis was playing far too deep at the snap considering where they were on the field, but that was Vinny's responsibility.

 

The play with 2:18 was man. It was man, with two deep safeties. Davis was responsible for deep corner. My bad on that one.

Manning was man on Jenkins. Wesley was man on White. Ciurciu was man on Finneran, in motion. MLB Tufts covered the FB Griffith in the flat. A MLB does not cover the flat in a Cover 2. They defend the middle, sometimes deep middle.

It was man coverage, with Manning getting lost. Davis can not be held responsible for undercutting a 20 yard out route if he is defending the deep half. Playing the deep half of the field is to insure that anything in the seams or middle of the field are protected. That's what Davis was doing in playing the deep half.

If it's man, Manning is responsible for staying with Jenkins. If it was indeed cover 2, Manning did a poor job in that he was too shallow.

 

If you look at the play again you will see that Tufts was sitting in the middle and didn't break on Griffith when he initially came out of the backfield. He only moved into the flat to take Griffith when all other receivers had vacated the area.

It was his responsibility, even if Manning should have stayed with Jenkins (which he wasn't supposed to, as you can see by the fact that Wesley also released Roddy White on the opposite side). Davis was playing very deep the entire time he was at safety, which was understandable because he was scared about getting burned. He was out of position and slow to react, however.

 

I still think it was man, and I'm starting to think that Manning abandoned Jenkins as he saw the QB scramble to the right. Perhaps Manning was thinking the QB would keep.

If that was cover 2, then Tufts, Ciurciu, and McCree were all out of position, which leads me to surmise that the call was man, with the SS/FS each defending their deep half.