[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19

I never felt comfortable with Nelson going against good receivers or big receivers. I was always expecting him to get beat deep at least once a game and to have at least one big penalty.

You shouldn't have. He's not an elite DB and the rules are tilted towards the offense, notably the passing game. And?

I never felt comfortable with Flowers against premier receivers or large receivers either - but he was still solid. And again, I know what you expect and why, but the numbers simply don't bear it out. So you can cling to your expectations and preconceived notions if you want, but it's not exactly fair to do so and then call it a rational argument - it ain't.

When it comes to a position like CB, especially in a passing league, everything is relative. Relative to his peers, Nelson was solid to good.

Originally Posted by FAX

That's true ... up to a point, Mr. DJ's left nut.

.....

But given that basic fact, in a world where we KNOW the enemy is going to pass, it's reasonable to expect that we should have been far more effective defending the air game. Heck, it's one of the reasons the pass rush stats were good for the Chiefs this year.

Recognizing that the opponent is often playing "catch-up" doesn't let the d-backfield off the hook. Considering that we could expect that the majority of snaps are going to be pass-oriented (combined with the fact that our pass rush was reasonably effective), I question why we gave up so many crucial, big plays at critical times. The circumstances and conditions should have favored our DBs. I can't say they did.

FAX

They do and they don't.

Let's also recognize that yes, there is an advantage of knowing what's coming...and a disadvantage of not reaaaaaly caring all that much. because you saw how Sutton aligned those DBs out there, didn't you? He had those guys screaming backwards at the snap way too damn often. When Sutton had them going backwards in that bend but don't break stuff, a man corner has little to no chance to just lock someone down. He's gonna give up yards.

Moreover, when you say that the Chiefs defensive backfield gave up a ton of big plays - those would've been reflected in his overall numbers and they simply weren't. On a rate basis, he simply wasn't beaten all that often. It's DAMN hard to just disregard a 53% completion percentage against and yet many are trying to do that.

I'm not trying to oversell Nelson here and say he's an elite CB - but I think he's been given awfully short shrift because A) many didn't like the pick to begin with (myself loudly included), B) he was trash in 2017 and C) Well...he's kind of a shithead.

But that doesn't mean that he wasn't solid last year - he was. And when he was out there keeping half the throws in his general direction from being completed and allowed few enough deep completions against him to hold QBs throwing at him to a rating lower than Blake Bortles...well damn, just how bad could he have been?

We just forget the times he did his job well because he's easy to dislike. He's an undersized, mouthy, physical corner who seems to get a kick out of antagonizing fans and needs that chip on his shoulder to get up to play. That's easy to root against. But he still didn't suck last year as a general rule.