Woodson - Is it "a" or "b"?

[Patler]

a- Woodson's end of camp toe injury is bothering him more than admitted.
b - Woodson has lost a step.

Something is up.

Phil - Holding
Buf - Pass interference
Chi. - Pass interference
Det. - Pass interference
Wash - illegal use of hands, illegal contact, Pass interference

Many of the penalties have come when Woodson was trailing a receiver, several when he simply dragged the guy down. He is being called because he does it when beaten, not in aggressively going for the ball or fighting on equal status for position. He is too often trailing receivers.

Something's up with Woodson, and it isn't good.

[OS PA]

My guess is that many of these penalties were ones that he got away with last year, and due to him being the DPOY teams have asked refs to watch him closer. The defense also seems to be a little bit out of sync this year. I'd be interested to see if you had any information on when his penalties were committed as well as what key players were either in or out of the game at the time the penalties occurred.

[Joemailman]

I think it's a. Looks to me like he's having trouble planting to change direction, so he's reaching out to grab. Just have to work through it, and hope it gets better in the bye week.

[Patler]

My guess is that many of these penalties were ones that he got away with last year, and due to him being the DPOY teams have asked refs to watch him closer. The defense also seems to be a little bit out of sync this year. I'd be interested to see if you had any information on when his penalties were committed as well as what key players were either in or out of the game at the time the penalties occurred.

Nothing to do with it, from what I've seen. Woodson is getting beaten on moves and isn't catching up. He's getting penalties trailing the receiver. It has nothing to do with who is in the game and who is out, or in getting greater scrutiny. Most of his penalties have been no-brainer calls for the officials.

Last year he seemed to know what the receiver was doing as he did it, because Woodson was right with him. Not so in many situations this year.

[Patler]

I think it's a. Looks to me like he's having trouble planting to change direction, so he's reaching out to grab. Just have to work through it, and hope it gets better in the bye week.

Could be, hard to tell. Either the foot is failing him, or he has lost quickness from last year.

[woodbuck27]

My guess is that many of these penalties were ones that he got away with last year, and due to him being the DPOY teams have asked refs to watch him closer. The defense also seems to be a little bit out of sync this year. I'd be interested to see if you had any information on when his penalties were committed as well as what key players were either in or out of the game at the time the penalties occurred.

Nothing to do with it, from what I've seen. Woodson is getting beaten on moves and isn't catching up. He's getting penalties trailing the receiver. It has nothing to do with who is in the game and who is out, or in getting greater scrutiny. Most of his penalties have been no-brainer calls for the officials.

Last year he seemed to know what the receiver was doing as he did it, because Woodson was right with him. Not so in many situations this year.

That is a concern and not encouraging news Patler. Interesting observation. You' have to look at how often offenses are throwing to his side of the field.

I tought that the telivised game here in Vermont was Packers @ Redskins and I was looking forward to seeing how our 'D' dealt with the adversity of late. I got NY Giants at Houston Texans instead.

The Giants are building. They have a decent running game and solid DL play and easily won over 'the Texans, inspite of Eli Manning's sloppy play forcing the ball and picks. The Texans? Which team shows up from week to week is just a guess.

It sure appears to be at least a similation of parity so far this season.

I've seen only one Packer game to date> That horrid 18 penalty game MNF game Vs da Bears.

GO PACK GO!

[3irty1]

I think he's just been covering really fast receivers so far this season. Every team we've played so far has at least one burner at the WR position. The Eagles have Jackson although Tramon mostly worked on him along the sidelines. The Bills have Evans. The Bears have Hester and Knox who are both crazy fast. The Lions have Calvin Johnson who Woodson spent most of the day covering. The Redskins have Moss who is in the upper echelon of receivers speed-wise.

Next week Woodson will likely be asked to cover Davone Bess who is a great slot receiver. He's a good player but an order lower in speed than the guys we've been playing against. Even if Woodson is asked to cover the Dolphins premiere receiver, Brandon Marshall, Woodson shouldn't have as much trouble keeping up.

[Patler]

I think he's just been covering really fast receivers so far this season. Every team we've played so far has at least one burner at the WR position. The Eagles have Jackson although Tramon mostly worked on him along the sidelines. The Bills have Evans. The Bears have Hester and Knox who are both crazy fast. The Lions have Calvin Johnson who Woodson spent most of the day covering. The Redskins have Moss who is in the upper echelon of receivers speed-wise.

Next week Woodson will likely be asked to cover Davone Bess who is a great slot receiver. He's a good player but an order lower in speed than the guys we've been playing against. Even if Woodson is asked to cover the Dolphins premiere receiver, Brandon Marshall, Woodson shouldn't have as much trouble keeping up.

Still, 7 coverage penalties in 5 games? I don't care if the guys are fast. Woodson was one of the best in the league as recently as last season, but is not playing that way now.

[Bossman641]

I think the injury is botherin him. Like you mentioned, there have been numerous times where WR's have gotten a step on him. He has always been handsy in the past but now he is doing it out of necessity rather than just regular hand-fighting with the receivers.

[The Leaper]

I've been seeing the same thing Patler, and mentioned it in the game thread today. He doesn't look like the same guy compared to last year...which in itself is probably expected because he was crazy good last year. However, he's committing way too many penalties this year after getting out of position...and he's also gotten away with a few that weren't called.

Turf toe is a bad injury for WRs/DBs...I would expect it to affect him.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I think it's in his head. He seems to be in a bad place mentally. The year started out like roses, but the end of the Bears game seemed to have triggered a general pall over this team--especially with Woodson.

[3irty1]

I think he's just been covering really fast receivers so far this season. Every team we've played so far has at least one burner at the WR position. The Eagles have Jackson although Tramon mostly worked on him along the sidelines. The Bills have Evans. The Bears have Hester and Knox who are both crazy fast. The Lions have Calvin Johnson who Woodson spent most of the day covering. The Redskins have Moss who is in the upper echelon of receivers speed-wise.

Next week Woodson will likely be asked to cover Davone Bess who is a great slot receiver. He's a good player but an order lower in speed than the guys we've been playing against. Even if Woodson is asked to cover the Dolphins premiere receiver, Brandon Marshall, Woodson shouldn't have as much trouble keeping up.

Still, 7 coverage penalties in 5 games? I don't care if the guys are fast. Woodson was one of the best in the league as recently as last season, but is not playing that way now.

Its still about the matchups and Woodson has been in some unfavorable ones. Woodson is a great player but asking him to run with Santana Moss without being able to challenge him at the line is trouble. When looking at the Packers CB corps Woodson is easily the slowest. Trying to win a footrace against any of the others is just a waste of time. Offensive coordinators obviously like this matchup.

He's still shown the ability to play the ball at an elite level and has been his same old self in run support as well. I think he'll be fine. Not looking forward to Woodson on Percy Harvin though.

[vince]

I think the toe has him thinking he needs to cheat more. I haven't seen him out of position as much as just making mistakes when in relatively good position. He needs to keep his hands off of guys after 5 yds. and time his closes on the ball better and he'd be ok.

[mraynrand]

a,b, and c. With 'c' being that he is cheating a bit, trying to get that big play. I've seen several plays where he is coming off his guy too early to make a play elsewhere, or where he is late getting into position. I'm not sure how much is scheme - trying to confuse the offense - or whether Chuck is just ad-libbing. I suspect with the injuries, he is trying harder to cover more ground and make plays. Reminds me a bit of Sharper when he tried to be everywhere covering center field for a bad secondary, especially in 2004 - he started looking out of position all the time. Don't want Woodson going down that road, especially when he's hurting and showing his age too.

[Tarlam!]

Well, if he has lost a step, maybe when Al gets back, it's worth considering Chuck at Safety.

I think you guys are all right: injury, a step slower, too handsy and his head. Maybe he got away with more previously; I don't get to see enough games to make a call on that.