Henry Looking for Quieter '07
By Rafael Vela
The change from heavy cover two looks could ease some of Anthony Henry’s burden in ‘07. K.C. Joyner has an interesting article out at ESPNet (protected) that chronicles the attempts NFL cornerbacks faced last year. I’ve cribbed the top four from that list:
1. Anthony Henry, Dallas Cowboys — 100
2. Chris McAlister, Baltimore Ravens — 97
3. Charles Tillman, Chicago Bears — 96
4. Carlos Rogers, Washington Redskins — 96
Anthony Henry was the most-thrown-at cornerback last season. Joyner makes the point that attempts is not directly related to quality. McAllister, Asante Samuel, Ronde Barber and Antoine Winfield were other big name corners who were among the top 20 targeted.
I have not seen Henry’s end of the year numbers, but after 10 games he and Terence Newman both ranked in the top quartile in yards-per-attempt, Joyner’s top metric for assessing coverage effectiveness. Henry was already getting heavy attention even then though I suspect several factors caused him to get even more attention in late November and December.
1. He played the second half a on a bum knee. I don’t know the full extent of his injury but was told late in the year that he was one example of a player working through an injury to satisfy Bill Parcells. The Tuna’s teams led the league in games played but in some cases the player may have benefitted from a short rest.Teams knew Henry was hobbling and decided to attack him even more.
2. He lacked effective deep help. When the Cowboys played cover two, more often than not the Pat Watkins/Keith Davis platoon had deep responsibility on Henry’s side. Think of Hank Baskett’s TD catch in Philly; Plaxico Burress’ 50+ yard TD grab on the opening series in Texas Stadium; the 43 yard bomb to Anquan Boldin in Arizona; the 42 yard TD bomb to Devery Henderson in the Saints blowout and the 52 yard TD bomb to Roddy White in Atlanta. Every one of those plays resulted from poor or nonexistent safety play behind Henry. I’ve documented that Davis was the worst cover FS in football during his ‘05 debut. I saw nothing to suggest he improved very much last year.
3. Greg Ellis’ injury caused Dallas to take more blitzing risks the last six games, that they were not very effective. The gambling give Henry less coverage support than he had prior to Ellis’ loss.
Dallas played down the stretch with a one-legged corner and a brainless FS hydra backing him up. That made for a deadly combination.
The beefed up rush, the addition of Ken Hamlin and a healthy knee might not take the target off Henry’s back this year, but the confluence of factors should make deep plays less frequent.
We hope so anyway.
The change from heavy cover two looks could ease some of Anthony Henry’s burden in ‘07. K.C. Joyner has an interesting article out at ESPNet (protected) that chronicles the attempts NFL cornerbacks faced last year. I’ve cribbed the top four from that list:
1. Anthony Henry, Dallas Cowboys — 100
2. Chris McAlister, Baltimore Ravens — 97
3. Charles Tillman, Chicago Bears — 96
4. Carlos Rogers, Washington Redskins — 96
Anthony Henry was the most-thrown-at cornerback last season. Joyner makes the point that attempts is not directly related to quality. McAllister, Asante Samuel, Ronde Barber and Antoine Winfield were other big name corners who were among the top 20 targeted.
I have not seen Henry’s end of the year numbers, but after 10 games he and Terence Newman both ranked in the top quartile in yards-per-attempt, Joyner’s top metric for assessing coverage effectiveness. Henry was already getting heavy attention even then though I suspect several factors caused him to get even more attention in late November and December.
1. He played the second half a on a bum knee. I don’t know the full extent of his injury but was told late in the year that he was one example of a player working through an injury to satisfy Bill Parcells. The Tuna’s teams led the league in games played but in some cases the player may have benefitted from a short rest.Teams knew Henry was hobbling and decided to attack him even more.
2. He lacked effective deep help. When the Cowboys played cover two, more often than not the Pat Watkins/Keith Davis platoon had deep responsibility on Henry’s side. Think of Hank Baskett’s TD catch in Philly; Plaxico Burress’ 50+ yard TD grab on the opening series in Texas Stadium; the 43 yard bomb to Anquan Boldin in Arizona; the 42 yard TD bomb to Devery Henderson in the Saints blowout and the 52 yard TD bomb to Roddy White in Atlanta. Every one of those plays resulted from poor or nonexistent safety play behind Henry. I’ve documented that Davis was the worst cover FS in football during his ‘05 debut. I saw nothing to suggest he improved very much last year.
3. Greg Ellis’ injury caused Dallas to take more blitzing risks the last six games, that they were not very effective. The gambling give Henry less coverage support than he had prior to Ellis’ loss.
Dallas played down the stretch with a one-legged corner and a brainless FS hydra backing him up. That made for a deadly combination.
The beefed up rush, the addition of Ken Hamlin and a healthy knee might not take the target off Henry’s back this year, but the confluence of factors should make deep plays less frequent.
We hope so anyway.
posted by The Gryphon at 12:13 PM
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