Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

"The New Orleans Saints were on easy street at cornerback, for once, during the 2013 season. They weren't going to find much better than Keenan Lewis and Jabari Greer.

The tandem stood as one of the primary factors in such an over-achieving turnaround on defense last season. New Orleans was 8-2 when Lewis and Greer started together.

Greer then sustained what turned out to be a career-ending compound knee injury in Week 11 against the 49ers. The Saints are 6-10, including the postseason, since Greer left the starting lineup.

The second cornerback spot has since become a New Orleans-sized pothole..."

New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder | NOLA.com

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

I would've liked to have landed Talib this off season...I wanted him here.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

Greer may have made a couple bad plays last season but the guy was very underrated as a CB.

Now we are reeling because P-rob is inconsistent, Corey white is just plain awful and SJB looks like he's never seen a route run at him before.

Corey white has allowed a perfect passer rating when thrown at him for 2 straight games, vs Dallas and Detroit

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

With hindsight he may have proved a better option than Byrd,having said that you could have Earl Thomas,Richard Sherman and Revis in the backfield and with no pass rush you going to get passed on
Not writing him off as he needs time to develop a understanding with KV.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

With hindsight he may have proved a better option than Byrd,having said that you could have Earl Thomas,Richard Sherman and Revis in the backfield and with no pass rush you going to get passed on
Not writing him off as he needs time to develop a understanding with KV.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

I think its more than just having talent. You can have all the talent in the world but if you don't put them in spots to make plays...

I am ready to part ways with Rob Ryan.

Get some up and coming D coach in here that is flying under the radar.

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

I was really excited when we were talking to Brandon Browner. He would have been a great fit for us. When we didn't land him we were in trouble.

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

Greer was the best we' had since McKenzie was here. I really miss him.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

Totally agree with you...hind sight is always 20/20. I have no problem with getting Byrd- I think he's a great player. I just remember feeling like we needed to address the corner position a little more than the safety position. But then again, I expected the pass rush to be just as good or even better than last year.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

Amen, like x10, exactly.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

While true we do need a better pass rush, White has been easy to pick on for QBs. When QBs throw at white they are near perfect in their passer ratings. According to PFF on a pass coverage basis White ranks among the worst and it's no better with Robinson or Dixon so far.

White has been bad.
Robinson has been awful.
Dixon has not looked good, and looks worse with more playing time.

Why haven't we turned to SJB and given him a shot? Keep the calls simple for him (press man) and let him do what he did in college.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

We did give SJB a shot in the lions game

He was in for one play and his guy scored the winning TD.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

What is really scary is that this UDFA Dixon has seen waaaay more playing time than SJB. Sure Dixon has failed out there; he's a dang rookie DB...he's expected to fail against veteran NFL receivers and veteran NFL QBs.

The biggest failure is SJB...he's not even out on the freakin' field on nickle or dime. Dixon is apparently beating him out in practice, so to me that shows Dixon has better technique and a better grasp of the defense than SJB.

Now that is scary. SJB has so much more physical talent than Dixon, yet Dixon sees the field way, way more often. What does that say about SJB?

I'm guessing the players who have better practices throughout the week are the ones seeing the playing field. So far...Dixon > SJB. For shame.

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

I'm not sure SJB has more physical talent than Dixon. I bet Dixon is faster. SJB is tall, but there's a reason there are VERY few 6"3 corners in the NFL. Most with that height could never be quick enough, which I suspect SJB is not either.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

Not really a fair assessment. SJB was in on one play and there was some obvious confusion to who should cover him. It may have been Bush's job to fall back into the zone. This isn't like Dixon and White/Robinson getting beat man on man every play.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

Wouldn't agree that Dixon is better than SJB. The coaching staff might agree with your assessment here but no one knows what goes on in practice. Personally I liked Dixon in the pre-season but he has been roughed up this year by WRs. If your going to let a rookie fail and get experience then why wouldn't you let SJB be the guy?

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

I don't think they wanted to let a rookie fail, P-rob has a hamstring issue so the depth at CB is thin, the coaching staff are most likely putting Dixon on the field because they feel he is more ready than SJB, seen as SJB only played the position for 2 years and still is very raw.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

I agree, very raw indeed, but what's the worst that could happen?

Do you know how things become un-raw? They get thrown into the fire.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

agreed :bng:

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

The worst that can happen is he sucks worse than White and Robinson, his confidence gets shot to **** and he never recovers and it ruins his career, becomes a 2nd round bust, and we lose even more games taking us out of the playoff race.

Other than that I don't see a downside.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

I agree that SJB should be "The Guy" in there getting the experience and getting used to the speed of the NFL game. Like someone already stated, beat the rawness out of him with NFL snaps. Is the coaching staff scared to death with SJB being thrown to the fire and killing his confidence? If that's the case, his confidence should already be shot watching Dixon steal his snaps from the sidelines.

And we'll have to agree to disagree on who is better between Dixon & SJB. I'm basing my argument for Dixon being the better rookie CB only on which one of them is getting more regular season NFL snaps. I mean, seriously, shouldn't the coaches be playing the best personnel at each position to win NFL football games?

SJB is quickly becoming a bigger enigma than Erik "Bigfoot" Lorig on this roster...in my opinion, anyways.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

Get burnt for the game winning touchdown in the final two minutes of the game?


(just being a smart @55) ;)

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

If he gets burnt and loses confidence, thus never recovering he'll never make it anyway.

The most confident player on the D needs to be the CB, but they all get beat, the good ones learn and come back for more.

As far as him being bad and hurting the team... lol

Can't get any worse with Robinson/White/Dixon.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

You keep saying it couldn't get worse, but it most certainly can.

The coaches jobs are on the line, they will play the players they feel gives them the best chance to win. I'm sure SJB will start or get playing time when the coaches feel he's ready. Obviously he's not better than White, Robinson or Dixon yet.

I didn't verify on replay but someone stated SJB was the one who blew the play on the Lions final TD. Probably incorrect but thats what was said. I just don't have the stomach to re-watch it again right now.

Re: New Orleans Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start: Larry Holder
 

It was me that mentioned it, It's unclear who was at fault for the TD

SJB was lined up over the receiver and then stood there whilst he ran along the back line of the endzone, could have been the safeties job to cover that area as he came crashing down on the drag route along the goal line of the endzone

Once again, confusion in the secondary
It looked like SJB was expecting to cover the flats, when the WR scored he kinda just put his arms out like "who the hell was supposed to be there?"

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

So even though he isn't ready and could cost us wins, the coaches should play him anyway because he's a 2nd round pick?

I'm not buying that at all.

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

SJB doesn't need to see the field until we've A) locked a playoff berth or B) lost a playoff berth.

I'm also ok with him in dime coverage when we have a three TD lead with 2 minutes remaining.

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

I don't get why people are afraid for SJB to see the field. We can talk about who is better than who all we want, but only one thing matters that we see every Sunday; Robinson/White are awful and the verdict is still out on Dixon.

Robinson and White have played so poorly at times it may have been better if they never took the field.
"Corey White struggled, gave up eight of nine targets for 148, two touchdowns, and a perfect QB rating. Golden Tate accounted for five of those catches."

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

I'm with ya, man. I want SJB to see the field. But how else can he get more playing time other than doing well in practice? Where or how else can he prove he belongs on the nickle & dime packages?

Or...hahaha...switch him back to WR.

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

I would love to see SJB in a SS role, a big, athletic, fast guy, kind of like Chanceller is in Seattle, an enforcer.With Byrd at FS. Just my thought.

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

Then what do you do with Vacarro?

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

I don't care who starts there. I just want someone who will step up. All of them thus far have been awful.

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

Corey White is not a #2 CB. He's decent in nickel, where he should be.

When he moves to the #2 through injuries, he gets beat more than he wins.

What I'm hearing you guys say is you're ready to throw a RAW rookie in as our starting #2 CB.

Sorry, that's crazy.

Like I said before, if Greer doesn't break his leg off we're set and have a dominant secondary. What we have today was never the plan.

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

We need to seriously address CB, LB and O line in the draft/free agency

Maybe even another pass rusher

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

I'm starting to agree with Jean Pierre, it's the coaches.

Re: Saints' search for second starting cornerback failed from the start
 

+1. I would upgrade from the word 'maybe' to 'likely'. Our pass rush has been close to non existent this season. Not sure what is up with Cam this year. As JP eluded to earlier, we should have never drafted a guy who was so called RAW in the 2nd round if he does not get substantial playing time.