Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Giants at Redskins)

[JoeRedskin]

We have no good coverage safeties (unless there is something about Gomes nobody knows about yet). Some are worse at coverage than others. W/out breaking down the film and cataloguing the plays, but, rather relying only on what I observed in the course of a game, Landry is less of a coverage liability than Doughty. Further, Landry's hit's and tackles seem (though I don't know for sure) to be closer to the line of scrimmage and allow for less YAC.

I believe this is b/c Landry is simply faster, stronger and more athletic than Doughty. Thus, while Landry and Doughty both make lots of tackles due to the scheme, Landry's effectiveness in coverage and his stopping ability in both the run and passing game (including blitzing) is much, much higher than Doughty's effectiveness.

From what I can tell, this is due to Landry's ability to close more quickly than Doughty and Landry's better strength & athleticism that allows him to move more easily through traffic. Neither cover well, but Landry "covers" for his coverage errors with his make up speed. Bottom line, however, when it comes to coverage, neither Doughty nor Landry seem (to me) to have particularly good intincts or technique.

Love Doughty for lots of reasons, but to say there isn't a significant drop off between he and Landry seems silly to me. He is, at best, Landry light.