''Cornerback Will Allen returned to practice today after sitting out Saturday night’s session and Friday night’s preseason game against Carolina. ... For the first time since camp opened on July 29th the two practice fields were flipped from going north to south to now going east to west. ... In terms of the amount of work young cornerbacks Vontae Davis and Sean Smith have been putting in, Sparano revealed that both have taken more than 500 snaps apiece to this point and said their mental errors are down and they are coming along mentally. ... Sticking with the secondary, Sparano still considers the battle for the starting free safety spot between Chris Clemons and Reshad Jones to be up in the air. “We need to be productive at the position and I think that’s going to be the key at the end of this,” Sparano said. “I think this is going to go right to the end. It’s not something I’m rooting for going to the end with but that’s where I think it’s going to happen.” ... Running back Reggie Bush still sees himself as an option at punt returner even though Davone Bess, Phillip Livas and Clyde Gates have gotten all of the work there. “Whatever the coach needs me to do, that’s what I’m here for,” Bush said. “If he asks me to return some punts then I’ll return some punts, but that was one of the reasons I came here.” I would love to see Will Allen play some ball..I don't think were that strong 3 thru 5.. Who you got in the best battle in camp Reshad Jones or Clemons?...Jones was making some tough hits in the 2nd half of the game, mostly covering up for Carrolls weaknesses, but he did make some plays..I got Clemons starting.. Nice to hear about VD21 and SS24...Are we gonna give them a nickname or what? I can't get enough of Reggie........''not gonna go there, wouldn't be prudent, not at this juncture''...lol. To know that he will return some punts gives me some solice if Livas does not make it.. Oh, and our best player Jake Long has yet to play..I asked the question a while ago if a line in some way can get better without its best player, so when he returns, they are are better because of the absense?
clemons is still better in coverage and clemons also can lay the lick, ask JP Wilson of the falcons,i really like his closing speed, he is there in a hurry, i still like VD as CP aka Crowd Pleaser, thats his official one i think, at least last year someone from the players called him that way [video=youtube;xw3ds67FsII]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw3ds67FsII[/video]
Clemons is a good tackler and is decent in coverage. He's certainly a big step up from the scrubs of the past.(G.. Wilson). but he's the antithesis of a "ballhawk". I remember one play in the last game where he just watched the ball come to the receiver and then went and made the tackle when he could have easily jumped the ball and made the pick, but he chose to stay back, wait and make the tackle. I'm not down on him, but I think Nolan has to get these guys sometimes to go for the ball when they're in a good position and have a good opportunity to do so. JMO.
yeah from the other view, you see what a shot he took, it was a huge blow, he has no idea what he is doing there on the field after that hit
Yeah. JPW was due. He takes some huge shots every few years or so. This one was from his 'Bama days, courtesy of LaRon Landry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXA7OVQAYk8
Neither Clemons Culver nor Jones have impressed me at all. That's not to say that I don't think any one of them can get the job done. We're just expecting too much I think. This is one area that I had hoped Ireland would have improved on. It's probably too early to really get a good indication of how any one of these guys do, and then you have to add in that Bell is getting older and probably little slower. If you look at the elite teams, they all seem to have a great safety somewhere in the mix. Can any of us really say that we've got something like that on our defense.
Jones seems to be more of the ballhawk between the two. I like Clemons, he is fast and hits hard, but if you want a safety who gets his hands on the ball, better take Jones.
Clemons is a better free safety, IMO. It's a matter of if you'd rather get beat deep 2-3 times this season with 1-2 turnovers from Clemons or beat 5-6 times this season with 3-4 interceptions from Jones. Not saying those numbers will happen, but there's a trade off for which safety you like more.
I like Sean Smith, but instead of calling him SS24, it should be WICCIWH5P6. Wish I Could Catch I Would Have 5 Pick 6's LOL
This. I don't see why people are so confident in our safeties. We really lack an instinctive coverage guy back there. Strange that we didn't sign one of the many good safeties on the market: Quintin Mikell is borderline elite, Eric Weddle is too; Gerald Sensabaugh is a notable failure of the Dallas to Miami pipeline in that he's still in Dallas; and I guess we didn't know Dawan Landry's phone number.
I would really disagree with that. Jones is more prone to mistakes than Clemons, IMO. Clemons won't win you games, but he won't lose you games either.
Are you basing this on how he played in college? Jones has not played all that much for us yet and did very well the little he did play last year. He only played 153 snaps, but PFF rated him a +2.9 and the QB Rating for passes into his coverage was 26.3. He only allowed 10.6 yds per catch and allowed no TDs.
I think Chris takes a bit longer to learn the game but this is his 2nd year in this defense,I believe we will see more of his measurables flash at the position, I like the player, and have thought that his plane of progression has been going up since he's taking the starting spot..
for real. he might have picked Sanchez off 10 times at this point in his career if he could catch them, and that's just against the jets...
Weddle is the highest paid safety in the league, the rest of those guys don't even play FS. I'm not in love with Clemons but he was solid last year, Jones has some talent as well. It's the NFL, we can't have Pro Bowlers at every position...
Lock & Load (Smith & Vontae) Smith locks 'em up and Vontae is a real load when dropping the hammer on his hits.
This. Im dissapointed it wasn't addressed this offseason either. Hopefully we're still looking for an upgrade.
