The Future of Al' Harris

[3irty1]

The scary part of the 2007 Al Harris is this:

I can remember half a dozen times where he was badly beaten for a touchdown, a LONG touchdown, and the ball was overthrown.

I think we will know whether Al is declining rapidly by about the third game of the 2008 season.

A lot of those balls get overthrown because Al disrupts the timing of the play by pummeling the receiver. Al can't run 50 yards downfield with a fast guy. Never really could.

Al's game is getting his hands on the receiver and disrupting the pattern. It's the tall strong guys who give him trouble because they can fend off his physical play. The coaching staff needs to be quicker to recognize that there will be some matchups where they will have to give Al more help.

A lot of the times too Al already knows he's slid his guy out of bounds. Al plays the sidelines very well which is a reason why I think the push out rule will be to his advantage.

[Bretsky]

IMO Al Harris is still a very good CB; but the reality is there is a profile for the player he doesn't match up well against. He is able to jam and use good technique to overpower most WR's and get them off their route. He'll will often fail against bigger WR's that are stronger then him and are at least as fast or slightly faster. TO would own Al Harris most of the time. The matchup with Plaxico is not favorable. NOTE: Plz pass this memo to our DC so he doesn'wait for 10 catches and 150 yards before giving safety help next time

[bobblehead]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Al stays healthy all year and EARNS a probowl bid in '08. I think Burress played the game of his life hands down.

[MJZiggy]

I say he doesn't go back to Hawaii unless he starts the season smokin' hot. CW is a different story.

[gbgary]

Woodson was out of the Dallas game with an injured toe. Bob Sanders went with a super soft zone defense that TO would end up taking advantage of, since Sanders didn't trust Williams/Bush in press coverage on the other side against Crayton. Al Harris wasn't the only one that TO victimized. He ran through LB zones and picked on Barnett and Hawk. He ran deep crossing patterns to pick on Bigby and Collins. It wasn't man coverage Green Bay was playing most of that game, so it's hard to call out a single person for TO's big day. Fact remains that Harris did in fact pick off one Tony Romo pass that day, and should have been credited with a second for ripping the ball out of TO's hands on the sideline. It wasn't his greatest day, but it's wrong to blame him entirely for what happened. If you wan't to blame a single person for that day, blame Bob Sanders. It was his zone defense that was the problem.

i was about to post the same thing. forget the dallas game because the entire affair was a coaching clusterfuck. nothing, and and i mean nothing, in that game was as it had been the entire season.

[Bretsky]

I keep telling you, Pro Bowl nominations are a year behind. I hope it never happens, but I hope if he has even part of another "T.O. game" he gets benched for the remainder of it.

Woodson was out of the Dallas game with an injured toe. Bob Sanders went with a super soft zone defense that TO would end up taking advantage of, since Sanders didn't trust Williams/Bush in press coverage on the other side against Crayton. Al Harris wasn't the only one that TO victimized. He ran through LB zones and picked on Barnett and Hawk. He ran deep crossing patterns to pick on Bigby and Collins. It wasn't man coverage Green Bay was playing most of that game, so it's hard to call out a single person for TO's big day. Fact remains that Harris did in fact pick off one Tony Romo pass that day, and should have been credited with a second for ripping the ball out of TO's hands on the sideline. It wasn't his greatest day, but it's wrong to blame him entirely for what happened. If you wan't to blame a single person for that day, blame Bob Sanders. It was his zone defense that was the problem.

I seem to be in the minority around here on this, but IMO Sanders is sub par.

[AV David]

3irty1 and Joemailman make good points. I hope they are correct

[Packnut]

Sanders

I keep telling you, Pro Bowl nominations are a year behind. I hope it never happens, but I hope if he has even part of another "T.O. game" he gets benched for the remainder of it.

Woodson was out of the Dallas game with an injured toe. Bob Sanders went with a super soft zone defense that TO would end up taking advantage of, since Sanders didn't trust Williams/Bush in press coverage on the other side against Crayton. Al Harris wasn't the only one that TO victimized. He ran through LB zones and picked on Barnett and Hawk. He ran deep crossing patterns to pick on Bigby and Collins. It wasn't man coverage Green Bay was playing most of that game, so it's hard to call out a single person for TO's big day. Fact remains that Harris did in fact pick off one Tony Romo pass that day, and should have been credited with a second for ripping the ball out of TO's hands on the sideline. It wasn't his greatest day, but it's wrong to blame him entirely for what happened. If you wan't to blame a single person for that day, blame Bob Sanders. It was his zone defense that was the problem.

I seem to be in the minority around here on this, but IMO Sanders is sub par.

Saying Sanders is sub par really is a compliment. He's more like the defensive version of Mike Sherman. The in-ability to adjust on the fly is their common bond.........

[The Shadow]

I really think Harris is on his last legs, and Williams better be ready.
Expecting Blackmon to EVER be healthy is prob. wishful thinking.

[MadtownPacker]