Spare Joe The Johnathan Joseph Argument
November 20th, 2011
The game wasn’t over with yet and Joe was already getting peppered with questions/arguments that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik should have signed cornerback Johnathan Joseph.
For reasons unclear, Bucs fans have a bull’s-eye on cornerback E.J. Biggers. Now Joe is not saying Biggers is playing well this year. He’s not, but aside from today, neither has Aqib Talib.
The hate for Biggers stems from being mortal. He got torched a couple of times by — gasp! — Calvin Johnson.
Now if Biggers got skinned time and again by, say, Michael Clayton, Joe could understand the howls of fans. But to suggest that Biggers is a horrible cornerback because Calvin Johnson beat him is to suggest 95 percent of the starting defensive backs in the NFL are garbage.
In fact, the geeks at FootballOutsiders.com, a group of well-respected numbers-crunchers did exhaustive research and came to the conclusion Biggers was one of the top 10 cornerbacks last season.
This year, Biggers is getting picked on. A lot. So the cries to hang Dominik from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge for not signing Jonathon Joseph have begun.
Joe doesn’t think Biggers is playing that terrible. Yeah, Joe said it. It seems when receivers are making plays against Biggers, it’s only by a step or he’s just outmuscled.
It’s not like Biggers is getting his clocked cleaned time and again (like Myron Lewis today). That tells Joe Biggers’ issue is fundamentals, whether it is technique or footwork, something correctable.
The hate on Biggers reminds Joe of the hate leveled against Brian Kelly when he gave up the game-winning touchdown in the 1999 NFC title game. Turns out, Kelly was a helluva cornerback and started in the Bucs’ Super Bowl-winning season.
Now whether Dominik should have signed Joseph isn’t really a valid argument to Joe. Does Joseph play the same type of defense that Raheem Morris runs? Joe hates the Bengals and has maybe watched Joseph play once prior to this season, so Joe cannot say.
If Dominik — who, one must remember does not dabble in over-priced free agents — should have signed anyone it should have been a linebacker (not named “Quincy Black”), not a cornerback.
Go call some Madden-type video player or some serial fantasy football player about Joseph; not Joe.
November 20th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
😐 c’mon Joe. He’s terrible. I know you were huge in the offseason saying we didn’t need a corner so you’re defending that stance. But it’s just wrong.
You didn’t want Joseph? Alright, how about Carlos Rodgers? It’s STUPID that we didn’t add depth and it spawns from Raheem having too much confidence in his guys.
Biggers was OWNED on his two plays he held on, that’s getting your clock cleaned, like Myron Lewis.
November 20th, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Yeah, I agree with Joe here. My only knock on Biggers is he seems to play small sometimes. Ronde isn’t a big dude but seems to play about a foot taller than his height. But what can you do against Aaron Rodgers when he is “on”? The guy was good today and his receivers did a great job, through what looked to me to be good coverage, of holding onto the balls Rodgers was throwing.
November 20th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Other than Barber, our CBs are terrible. All of them. The anger is because we knew it in April. Yet here it is November, and they still are terrible. Just like the OLbers. They suck. The team did nothing. It’s costing us games
I know you considered the secondary a team Strenght. It isn’t. We all make mistakes- I thought Ruud would shine in a different defense. Guess not.
But to still think our corners are anything but below average, is drinking your own snake oil, and waiting for a miracle!
November 20th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Biggers is terrible.. Lewis is terrible, Jones is terrible. Just about out entire secondary needs to be addressed. Biggers gets targeted every single week. It wasn’t just Calvin Johnson. I bet if you look at the stats this year there is no way Biggers is in the top 50. The dude sucks and should be benched..
November 20th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
We’re making way too many excuses for Biggers. He’s a bad player, end of story. Good players don’t get dominated week in and week out like Biggers.
November 20th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
This article is a joke. Biggers is terrible.
November 20th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Joe, we SHOULD’VE signed Jonathon Joseph! Yeah, I said it.
Talib was a great cornerback until this year. Don’t know what’s happened to him.
Ronde is still the best cornerback on this team. And that’s pretty sad that a 36 yr old vet is outshining the other CB’s. I love Ronde. But he can’t keep this going until he’s 50.
Whenever we give someone a contract, it’s always to the WRONG player. Just think, the Clayton and Black contracts could’ve gotten two good players for us in free agency had Dom been smarter about who to sign.
November 20th, 2011 at 7:13 pm
Patrick:
Talib was never a “great” cornerback. Great cornerbacks have a bust in Canton. There’s areason Talib has never played in a Pro Bowl.
Talib was good, no more than that, prior to this year.
November 20th, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Biggers is terrible. I will say you at least know what you are getting wit h him. Hes’s either blows a key play or is flagged with a costly penalty. It’s one or the other…often both…week after week.
November 20th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
@ Joe, yeah that reason for not being in the pro bowl ever is that we has injured during his pro bowl year last year…c’mon.
November 20th, 2011 at 7:36 pm
Cmon Joe, he is targeted every single week for a reason. I love the site but that was a pathetic article. Only Calvin Johnson??? Really?? EJ Is the second coming of Sabby The Goat an you know it.
November 20th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
every team dabbles in FA from time to time, including the Bucs. Trick is doing the research and scouting so you get good value for your money i.e. Joseph, Anquan Boldin or Darren Sproles
That will be the next important step for this franchise – bring on a couple Woodson like players to take this team to the next level (oh, and a DC)
November 20th, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Joe, spare us the anti-Joseph crap. We play Biggers, Mack and Lewis way too much. Joseph would cut into their playing time greatly. Except for the rare interception, all 3 are liabilities. Teams target them and our dumbass head coach calls plays that puts Lewis on an island with Jordy Nelson. Not signing Joseph was a mistake and you know it.
November 20th, 2011 at 8:16 pm
I disagree, Joe.
Both Talib and Biggers are what you call a couple of dissed chickens; “cock-teases.”
Sure these guys have talent to make the occasional splash play. But more times than not, they are a liability in the secondary. Corey Lynch is as well, and when we have T-Jax out of the lineup, I would go so far as to say we have no “quality” talent in our secondary aside from Ronde.
The fact that Talib had a questionable status this year should have been reason enough to sign ANYONE (we never had a chance at Joseph, I mean come on, would you sign with us or go play for the number 1 defense in the league?) for some kind of depth, but we didn’t.
Instead we went the draft route and got Gaitor and Gator, who may be yet to see a down outside of special teams this year. Where are they? And are they THAT BAD or do they deserve a chance??
November 20th, 2011 at 8:17 pm
Point being, our secondary is a disaster.
November 20th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
Joe, I’m with you in that I think Biggers isn’t too bad.
But you know what? This is a passing league. You need FOUR good CBs.
Today we played way too much Mack/Lewis.
If we had signed Joseph that fourth CB would be Biggers…and we may not have given up a TD or two because of it.
So yeah, I think it could have made a difference.
November 20th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
He’s Turruble
November 20th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
Nicely put Matt. exactly. when Mack/Lewis is on the field, receivers are open
November 20th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Leighroy:
Joe’s not sure he understands what you are writing but Joe thinks he likes it. 🙂
November 21st, 2011 at 1:13 am
@Joe……I remember when all of us were worried about Talib not playing this season, and you kept saying how the Bucs went 4-1 with Biggers last year.
Very misleading. Everything was better last year when we had the easier schedule.
November 21st, 2011 at 8:29 am
I’m not sure Joe even watched the game. Biggers got picked on all day! ALL DAY!
November 21st, 2011 at 10:07 am
Good read JOE.
I played CB and have been defending Biggers for awhile as well. He is a good 2nd CB when the guy across from him is a pro-bowler (Talib is not this year though).
The one who looked awful was Leis on that last GB TD.
It looked like a setup to bump & run but he did not bump. Didn’t event try. He just turned and started running with (or should I say trailing) Nelson.
Then when it was CLEAR the ball was in the air he never made an attempt to get his head around to find it.
I have seen this time and time again from him.
It is becoming more and more evident that they need a couple LBs and a CB
November 21st, 2011 at 10:48 am
You don’t have to go back to week one to see Biggers play badly… Do you watch the games??? Biggers is picked on every week.
November 21st, 2011 at 12:20 pm
I am normally positive about the individual players, and I try to see potential in them…but I see Biggers quit on plays ALL THE TIME.
On one play yesterday, he was 12 yards ahead of a pass catcher. When the guy caught the ball, Biggers WAITED on him to come to him.
He could have went after him and maybe caused a pass drop. But no…he stood there and waited. Yes, he got a tackle that will boost his stats, but it was lazy on his part.
He gets too many penalties. He doesn’t read the WRs eyes. If he did, he would know when a pass was coming and turn his head toward the ball so he wouldn’t get pass interference calls.
And he is consistantly outplayed.
If you go by stats, sure, he might have been a top 10 cb last year…but if you go by actual play and effort, he downright sucked.
A tackle is all well and good, but isn’t the idea to stop WRs from actually getting catches and moving their offense?
I think Biggers would make a good player as a backup for depth, but he is nowhere near being a good starter.