Bigby Quietly Excels in New Role: Packer D Dominates...

[SnakeLH2006]

http://gnb.scout.com/2/934200.html

The safety has more mental and coverage responsibilities under the new defensive scheme; coach Mike McCarthy is planning ahead for the possibility the Packers will open the playoffs on Saturday; plus more from Friday.

Atari Bigby knows what the statistics say, but he knows those numbers don’t define his performance.

His 50 tackles are less than half of what he recorded in 2007, when he finished third on the team with 121. His three interceptions are less than his five from two years ago.

“In terms of statistics, nah,” Bigby said when asked if he was satisfied by his performance. “But as far as doing what I have to do to make sure the team is on the right track, I feel like I’ve managed it well. We haven’t been perfect and I haven’t been perfect, but as far as explosive gains and things like where I was supposed to be, I think I’ve handled it well this season.”

Bigby, coming off a two-interception performance against Seattle, must be doing something right. The Packers rank second in total defense and first against the run. If Bigby was out of position or being beaten regularly, the Packers would be giving up a lot more big plays and they wouldn’t hold such lofty spots in the rankings.

“Exactly my point,” he said. “As far as just keeping everyone in line and making the defense look honest as whole, I feel like I’ve been doing a good job with that.”

While it might not be apparent, Bigby says he’s still thinking too much in the new scheme. He’s lining up deeper in the secondary and has more responsibilities, frequently moving to where there are multiple receivers and having to diagnose multiple routes quickly. If last week’s game against Seattle is a barometer, he’s peaking at the right time.

“From what I see, I have a great responsibility,” he said. “For the most part, I feel I’ve been doing it.”

___________________________________

It's true...since Bigby came back from early season injuries, the Packer D has absolutely dominated statistically and won a lot of games (check when he came back). Is this all on Bigby, no, but when he was healthy (dominated in 2007) the Pack won....He was out in 2008 a bunch and the D struggled. Coincidence...Nope. This guy is a winner and top notch starter at Strong Safety.

I know that Skin will want to kill me for posting this pro-Bigby topic, but the dude hasn't been beat in coverage all year (that I can remember) and intimidates with big hits and makes plays at times (rare for a SS). This guy is a catalyst for a good D, and have advocated him since he stepped on the scene in GB as a starter. He really fills out the safety position, letting Collins (who has been great again) make the plays, while doing everything asked of him as a run-stopper, big hitter, occasional playmaker at Strong Safety. I'm glad he's healthy, and this is what I expected from him and hope they resign him long term.

Snake loves some Bigby. Don't hate me Skin. LOL. We are winning...our D is dominate since he came back, and he really helps carve out a niche that Aaron Rouse could never do. Anyone miss Rouse?....Still waiting?

If we win a SuperBowl this year, Bigby will be remembered as a Packer Great on a great Packer D....That's how history goes.....esp. after looking back after a decade. Realistically, Bigby is the underappreciated equivalent/importance of Gilbert Brown from the 1997 Packer team as far as the Defense goes. He's the glue who doesn't mess up and makes some plays and makes the D go. History is predicated by the champions.

Snakes loves some Bigby. He's a really good NFL safety.

[SkinBasket]

I'm fine with where we're at right now. Bigby, however, is still the weakest link when we're in a base defense, even more so now that Poppinga rarely sees the field. I always maintained we could afford to have one of those guys out there at a time, but not both.

From what I can tell, we're dropping him deep, not asking a lot out of him, despite how he feels in this article, and allowing him to fill those roles which he is suited to, covering small areas and giving help as a moving (albeit slowly) fence post.

I would also posit the article is putting the carriage in front of the horse. Our line and backers are controlling the LOS and stopping the run before it gets to Bigby, and limiting his opportunities to be exposed. Somehow this article seems to be arguing that his mere presence in the secondary is helping the guys up front, or as Atari says, "keeping everyone in line and making the defense look honest as whole," whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean.

That being said, this last game was a good one for him - more for the ankle tackles he was able to make to prevent bigger plays than the easy INTs, but those are nice too. Watching Jarrett Bush play defense makes it harder to be critical of Bigby too. Bigby can look downfield as say, "Well, at least I ain't as bad as that guy..."

From what I see, they've made him feel like he has great responsibility to allow him to play with confidence while simultaneously limiting his role to one that he feels comfortable with.

[Administrator]

wasn't Bigby supposed to have provided safety help on the "last second" Pittsburgh TD?

[Bretsky]

yes, that was the reports but my guess is he read something else from Big Ben. He was a good ten yards away it seemed.

IMO Bigby is a good backup and can be alright if he doesn't have too cover anybody for over a couple seconds.

[packers11]

Bigby is a huge upgrade of anything else we have. THATS A FACT.

When he was out earlier in the season there was a lot of blown assignments at the backup safety position. (check out the first vikings game, you can see harris yelling at martin on a couple of big plays)...

Would I be mad if they packers drafted someone or brought someone in to replace bigby? No. but to say he is below average is foolish. He is average / a little bit above average (at times), but cannot be anything more because he lacks speed.

[Pugger]

Bigby is a huge upgrade of anything else we have. THATS A FACT.

When he was out earlier in the season there was a lot of blown assignments at the backup safety position. (check out the first vikings game, you can see harris yelling at martin on a couple of big plays)...

Would I be mad if they packers drafted someone or brought someone in to replace bigby? No. but to say he is below average is foolish. He is average / a little bit above average (at times), but cannot be anything more because he lacks speed.

+1

[Bretsky]

Bigby is a huge upgrade of anything else we have. THATS A FACT.

When he was out earlier in the season there was a lot of blown assignments at the backup safety position. (check out the first vikings game, you can see harris yelling at martin on a couple of big plays)...

Would I be mad if they packers drafted someone or brought someone in to replace bigby? No. but to say he is below average is foolish. He is average / a little bit above average (at times), but cannot be anything more because he lacks speed.

Of course he's an upgrade over the others; he's starting. And if I'm not mistaken that was after GB let a couple guys go so there were newbies (Martin) in that didn't know all of their assignments yet. Foolish.....hardly think so. You have provided no more data to say he's above average than others have who think he's below average. There are a boatlead of reasons this defense has come together since that Vikings game. Saying he's better than our backups is a given. Jarrett Bush, Martin, Bell........heck some of them are backups to backups who were injured (Blackmand, Lee)

[SkinBasket]

He is average / a little bit above average (at times), but cannot be anything more because he lacks speed.

Speed is only one of the many things he lacks. Our defensive staff is doing a great job limiting his exposure, allowing him for the most part to drift around deep, keeping the play in front of him, which is the only way Bigby can play. On any other team that doesn't have the corners we're blessed with, Bigby would be brutalized.

As far as the TD in Pittsburgh, I don't think Bigby has anything to offer to that coverage, which was pretty good for a 6th or 8th string CB. Bigby certainly doesn't have the speed/positional awareness to get in front of that play, which was the only way it was going to be defensed.

[pbmax]

Bigby was supposed to be in the endzone (he was), and then come up in support to stop any receiver who caught the ball in the field of play. Not double-team a receiver.

Bell was supposed to keep the receiver away from the sideline and always stay in front of the WR. The idea is to force the receiver to catch any ball in the field of play short of the endzone and in the middle of the field where two DBs could hit him. Should have looked like this:

******************************* backline
*
*              Bigby
*
*------------------------------ goal line
*
*           WR
*
*        Bell

The idea would be to give the WR and QB an inviting target in the middle of the field and close the sideline. Just like you might overplay a basketball player's right side when you really want him to go left.

If the QB and WR still go sideline, then Bell in is front of the throw forcing it to go high, giving Bigby time to get to the WR's body or the ball. Bell allowed the throw to go low and direct, eliminating his help.

The other route that is might be here is the corner of the endzone, but the reasoning is that the throw will still need to go over Bell and give Bigby time to close. Whether he could have gotten there or not is the subject of debate about Bigby. Lately, he has been able to clock receivers in front of him in time, but moving laterally like this would require him is a different matter. I don't know if he gets there.

[bobblehead]

I've pimped Bigby for awhile, I think he is somewhere between choice B or C. I don't ever see him making a pro bowl, but I think he is an above average NFL starter at safety. He isn't collins or polamalu or reed, but I would take him over 65% of the other safeties in the league.

When Grant held out I stated then that I would rather pay Bigby. I still maintain that. Cause and effect are hard sometimes in the NFL, but when Bigby is in the lineup the D plays better. We have run several safeties through town, but he is still a starter on a top notch defense. Coincidence...doubt it.

[CaptainKickass]

How many times has our D gotten worse with Bigby out?

How many times has our D gotten better with Bigby out?


Sure, he probably isn't gonna win any pro-bowls. But until the D gets better with someone other than Bigby in there..."2600" has my full support.

[Bretsky]

How many times has our D gotten worse with Bigby out?

How many times has our D gotten better with Bigby out?


Sure, he probably isn't gonna win any pro-bowls. But until the D gets better with someone other than Bigby in there..."2600" has my full support.

Whose poses a question; is that due to Bigby being that good or our backups being that bad

[Patler]

Bigby was supposed to be in the endzone (he was), and then come up in support to stop any receiver who caught the ball in the field of play. Not double-team a receiver.

Bell was supposed to keep the receiver away from the sideline and always stay in front of the WR. The idea is to force the receiver to catch any ball in the field of play short of the endzone and in the middle of the field where two DBs could hit him. Should have looked like this:

******************************* backline
*
*              Bigby
*
*------------------------------ goal line
*
*           WR
*
*        Bell

The idea would be to give the WR and QB an inviting target in the middle of the field and close the sideline. Just like you might overplay a basketball player's right side when you really want him to go left.

If the QB and WR still go sideline, then Bell in is front of the throw forcing it to go high, giving Bigby time to get to the WR's body or the ball. Bell allowed the throw to go low and direct, eliminating his help.

The other route that is might be here is the corner of the endzone, but the reasoning is that the throw will still need to go over Bell and give Bigby time to close. Whether he could have gotten there or not is the subject of debate about Bigby. Lately, he has been able to clock receivers in front of him in time, but moving laterally like this would require him is a different matter. I don't know if he gets there.

I'm glad you brought that up pbmax, I have been meaning to do that when the comments about Bigby have been made regarding the last Pittsburgh play; but most times the threads have quickly moved on to something else.

Several have commented that Bell had very "tight" coverage, and the throw was perfect. That's all true, Bell's coverage was "tight" (as in he was close to the receiver), but Bell's coverage was very wrong. A DB is supposed to know where his help on any play will come from (if he is getting any), and he should force the receiver toward that help. On the play in question, Bell negated the help from Bigby by giving the sideline to the receiver. In essence, he put himself between the receiver and any help from Bigby. There was no way for Bigby to get there for that. As a result, Bell's only "help" on the play would be an errant throw, and Roethlisberger didn't give him that. Taking away the sideline, forcing the receiver yards closer to the center of the field, would have given Bigby a chance to get there.

[Pugger]

How many times has our D gotten worse with Bigby out?

How many times has our D gotten better with Bigby out?


Sure, he probably isn't gonna win any pro-bowls. But until the D gets better with someone other than Bigby in there..."2600" has my full support.

Whose poses a question; is that due to Bigby being that good or our backups being that bad?

Bigby won't be going to the HOF but our D did improve once he returned to the lineup. Coincidence? Bigby is better than the the backups as are most starters.

[Fritz]

Bigby was supposed to be in the endzone (he was), and then come up in support to stop any receiver who caught the ball in the field of play. Not double-team a receiver.

Bell was supposed to keep the receiver away from the sideline and always stay in front of the WR. The idea is to force the receiver to catch any ball in the field of play short of the endzone and in the middle of the field where two DBs could hit him. Should have looked like this:

******************************* backline
*
*              Bigby
*
*------------------------------ goal line
*
*           WR
*
*        Bell

The idea would be to give the WR and QB an inviting target in the middle of the field and close the sideline. Just like you might overplay a basketball player's right side when you really want him to go left.

If the QB and WR still go sideline, then Bell in is front of the throw forcing it to go high, giving Bigby time to get to the WR's body or the ball. Bell allowed the throw to go low and direct, eliminating his help.

The other route that is might be here is the corner of the endzone, but the reasoning is that the throw will still need to go over Bell and give Bigby time to close. Whether he could have gotten there or not is the subject of debate about Bigby. Lately, he has been able to clock receivers in front of him in time, but moving laterally like this would require him is a different matter. I don't know if he gets there.

I'm glad you brought that up pbmax, I have been meaning to do that when the comments about Bigby have been made regarding the last Pittsburgh play; but most times the threads have quickly moved on to something else.

Several have commented that Bell had very "tight" coverage, and the throw was perfect. That's all true, Bell's coverage was "tight" (as in he was close to the receiver), but Bell's coverage was very wrong. A DB is supposed to know where his help on any play will come from (if he is getting any), and he should force the receiver toward that help. On the play in question, Bell negated the help from Bigby by giving the sideline to the receiver. In essence, he put himself between the receiver and any help from Bigby. There was no way for Bigby to get there for that. As a result, Bell's only "help" on the play would be an errant throw, and Roethlisberger didn't give him that. Taking away the sideline, forcing the receiver yards closer to the center of the field, would have given Bigby a chance to get there.

Here's what I don't get: if Bell covered in front of the receiver and forced him inside, and Bigby was near the middle of the end zone, then the receiver would simply have cut inside, been a step ahead of Bell with Bigby behind him. It's still a touchdown, isn't it? But instead of having to force the ball into one spot, Rothlisberger would have had more space to throw to. The only way Bigby could've broken it up would've been with a big hit. I mean, the receiver was in the end zone on the play; a cut inside would've still put him a step inside the end zone with Bell a step or two away on the outside and Bigby behind him.