“Talib Is A Second-Tier Cornerback”
September 19th, 2012
Former Bucs defensive tackle Booger McFarland says he has a little clarity about the Bucs after their first two games, even though both contests were dramatically different.
So what’s clear to McFarland? “Aqib Talib is a second-tier cornerback,” McFarland said yesterday on the Todd and Booger Show on 98.7 FM.
Now Joe had to laugh when he heard that. In Joe’s mind, Talib was a second-tier corner entering this season. There’s no shame in that designation, and it was earned, with Talib’s inconsistent play over the years combined with Talib’s various injuries. The guy has elite skills but just hasn’t been steady enough.
For Joe, now the discussion should be about Talib being a third-tier cornerback. Talib wasn’t just beaten repeatedly Sunday. He visibly beaten down mentally and physically.
September 19th, 2012 at 7:43 am
If anybody would know about second tier players it’s Booger!
September 19th, 2012 at 7:48 am
He could have been called for holding probably 6 or 7 times in one game last Sunday. If he didn’t hold or they didn’t drop the pass it went for big yardage. Every damn time.
September 19th, 2012 at 7:54 am
They should nickname Talib “The Oven Mitt.” what ever grabs gets hot.
September 19th, 2012 at 7:54 am
Taking the “glass half full approach”, this is what Talib may have needed. He was TARGETED early and often. IMO, he’s lived on the assumption and reputation that he’s a shutdown CB. This is a wakeup call for Talib, hopefully Talib takes this as a challenge and steps up his game, cuz he will be tested…ALOT. Talib may have turned a corner in his personal life, but now he needs to turn a corner in his professional life. I think for the first time ever, Talib realizes that just showin up aint gonna get it anymore, and hope he rises to the challenge.
September 19th, 2012 at 7:56 am
Good post Joe. I agree with everything you said, especially about how Talib has elite skills but is inconsistent and injury prone. Talib never took that next step to being a shutdown corner, and he may never do so.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:04 am
Talib sucks. He’s a house with no furniture. He looks the part but serves no purpose.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:07 am
If the Giants threw for 500 yards, the Falcons will throw for 1000. Roddy White owns Talib.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:09 am
It will never be the same for Talib again. He has been exposed! Teams will now target him.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:14 am
Talib allowed 168 yards a a TD. Barber allowed 115 and a TD. MacDonald allowed 94 and a TD.
None of our secondary had a good game against the pass. Something else was going on the day.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:18 am
Talib’s biggest problem has always been he lacks recovery speed. If he gets beaten, even for a step, he can’t recover. That trait gets exposed in man coverage.
Talib has skills, but if he doesn’t keep the guy in front of him it’s over. The only defense I can give him vs the Giants was that Nicks did have offensive pass interference on that last play down the sideline before they scored the final TD. Nicks gave him a stiff arm right before the ball got there – it wasn’t called. Aside from that, beaten like a drum at band practice.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:21 am
I don’t know alot about football, but I know you are supposed to jam and disrupt the receiver off the line. In the 4th quarter, Talib had a red carpet and confetti ready for when the receiver passed him.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:24 am
Though I do agree he’s not an elite corner, he’s still a pretty good one, given the fact that the true curbstomping of our DBs didn’t occur until the 4th qtr, when our pass rush and over zealous blitzing weren’t getting anywhere near Eli and our D had been on the field for the better part of the half and Wright was out of the game and there was absolutely no help being rolled to either side Eli would have chewed up any defense under those conditions. Face it, we got beat by an ELITE QB and a very good WR corps, if that was any of the non-elite teams in the league, we win that game.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:25 am
@ nice day…. barber was burned on a bomb when we were blitzing and left him on an island …he can NOT hang with the good WR in man coverage anymore…has not been able to for like 3 years, so I put that one more on the play caller
Mcdonald….the guy a backup…
Talib however is supposed to be our best CB…..and it’s not like he was going against megatron or anything. he was owned in disgusting fashion on virtually EVERY snap. not only was he owned, but he was also holding on every play and still could not cover his man. I could not believe my eyes…it was horrible, ugly….just plain brutal to watch him getting beaten by a good receiver (not great)…..I put this loss on talib…..all of it squarely on his shoulders. sure a lot of people shoulder some blame, from playcalling to barber getting beat once, to the D line not getting to the QB…..but the one person who if they had only “done their job” who consistently let them move the chains….is Talib. he should be benched for biggers if he plays like that again.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:28 am
@ flinke: “given the fact that the true curbstomping of our DBs didn’t occur until the 4th qtr,”
…no, talib got beat from play one. he is the one who allowed them to move the chains ALL day long . from both penalties to getting beat. he sucks
September 19th, 2012 at 8:31 am
@Robert Talib allowed 8 receptions on 13 targets with 3 passes defensed with a long of 50. That is not “virtually every snap”. Was it a good game? No. Clearly. But putting the entire loss on his shoulders is fudging ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. The entire defense shut down in the 4th. How is Talib to be blamed for all of that?
September 19th, 2012 at 8:45 am
At least we shouldn’t have to pay him too much to stick around at the end of the year.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:47 am
Giants receivers were wide open a lot. The Bucs were relying on pressure from the d line help with coverage. Eli had way too much time to throw. It’s a recipe for disaster. The Bucs either have to pressure the QB or get a helluva lot better in coverage.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:51 am
From what I recall our whole secondary got burnt bad last week. Including Eric Wright. Hopefully they can start to sure up their coverage as the season goes on because if they cant, we’re in for another long season.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:54 am
so he only defended 3 passes and gave up 200 yards? E Mack could defend megatron better than that!!!! and yes, they targeted him from the beginning and he consistently let them move th chains ALL day long! only 8 receptions?….I’ll let you be the stat man…but add in another 2 penalties…and the guy was the one thing the could consistently count on…they threw his was…1st down……so, yeah, I put this one him. maybe the D would not have been on the field ALL day if talib did his job
September 19th, 2012 at 8:57 am
@joe
neither you nor anyone else can deny that fact that our repeated use of the cover 1 safety blitz for almost the entire game had something to do with Talib getting repeatedly burned. blame that on whoever was calling the defensive plays whether it be Schiano or Sherridan. to leave Talib on an island and rendered completey helpless without safety help over the top against a pretty good qb like Eli Manning is foolish. but what bothered me the most was that fact that we kept doing it even AFTER it was proven to be ineffective.
September 19th, 2012 at 9:01 am
that makes me VERY suspicious. either Schiano has way to much confidence in our secondary or he was to stubborn to change his game plan. either way i hope it was a learning experience for him.
September 19th, 2012 at 9:03 am
Its no question that Talib is NOT elite. Also this draft will be loaded at Oline and DBs. I think Talib has a place on the roster but putting him on a island is not very smart. Period.
September 19th, 2012 at 9:09 am
Simple, but not acceptable! Talib was born and bred to be a zone QB. BucFanJeff is right. He cannot recover in man and doesn’t have the ability to jam and hold his man at line within the 5 yard zone.
The Buc defense has changed. We are now nickel and dime coverages with lots of of man coverage with two deep safeties. Problem Sunday we often only had one safety deep and no help for Talib once beaten.
Case of Duck out of water. Talib cannot play man. Same thing happened to Asoumgha last year when Philly took a man CB and put him in zone.
September 19th, 2012 at 9:17 am
This is not true. Talib is a shutdown corner when he is playing well. We left him on an island with Nicks all game even Revis would have got beat a few times. Talib is elite
September 19th, 2012 at 9:18 am
To me he just had a bad day against a great receiver. The coverage they ran didn’t take advantage of his talent. He plays better with a safety over the top which allows him to jump the routes underneath. If you watched the game the he played in the hip pocket of the receivers, but Eli was putting the ball in the only spot the receivers could catch it. Playing an Elite QB with 2 Bowl Pro type receivers will not be an easy game. You either pick your poison stop the run or stop the pass. They chose to stop the run leaving the CBs on an island. Good note Eric Wright has been playing well.
September 19th, 2012 at 9:32 am
I love how Talib is compared to backups and people say “see, they were bad too, so Talib wasn’t the only one”. Talib is NOT supposed to be a backup, he’s a starter, some even said elite CB. Him giving up what he did compared to McDonald is just stupid. That’s like saying Darrelle Revis gave up 200 yards to Nicks, but Myron Lewis gave up 201 to Cruz, so Revis isn’t bad…. No one would ever say that. And it’s not just one bad game. Does everyone forget the Falcons game last year when EJ Biggers got put on Roddy White so Talib could cover the rookie WR Julio Jones? Both had big days, but I’d expect that from Biggers. Talib is just not very good. Never has been. There are more examples of him getting burned badly. How about the almost INT/tip for a TD to Mike Wallace in the Steelers game two years ago? There are plenty more, the evidence has been around for years and nobody cared. Now he’s exposed and we could be in trouble.
September 19th, 2012 at 9:40 am
oh, and nicks had 10 receptions for 200 yards, 1 of them for 50 yds, and 1 TD another 2 penalties on talib. that makes 12 times talib was responsible for moving the chains. 12 times in 4 qtrs. They had the ball for 33 minutes……now I see why, because every 2 minutes talib was getting torched….and it was no just over the top. it was simple clant routes a lot of times. can’t cover in man coverage???? how about @ least jamming your man or slowin g him dow. hell talib would be lined up 10 yards out and nicks would slant right in front of him for 1st downs…..
September 19th, 2012 at 9:44 am
Talib jumps the first first move to the outside and is left in the dust alot ! why press coverage when you have no help over the top ?
September 19th, 2012 at 9:54 am
It had more to do with the play calling than anything else. The Bucs sold out to get pressure and blitz the rest of the game. That is their style of D now! This leaves the CB very valnerable without help over the top. The thinking is these are very low percentage completions, but Manning was able to hit the mark time and time again like bullseye in darts. After the Bucs were up by 14 pts. maybe they should have played more dime and only rush 3 defensive lineman. This would at least slow the game down a little and make them dink and dunk the ball down field. Of course the interception by Freeman late in the third quarter didn’t help at all. After watching the game on replay; they had at least five chances to finish them off late in the third and early in the fourth. It’s just my opinion, but the Giants got very lucky to get out of there with a win and I’m looking for the Bucs to rebound this week.
September 19th, 2012 at 10:07 am
Bucnjim
I agree!
September 19th, 2012 at 10:25 am
I don’t think a person can elite skills and be inconsistent at the same time. An elite player’s greatest strength is consistency, among others. In my opinion, Talib is not a shut down corner. When one on one against an elite receiver he gets exposed more often than not. I am not sure he has the skill set to be considered an elite corner as of right now.
September 19th, 2012 at 10:42 am
I am definately not a Talib fan, but it seems to me like this was as much the DC’s fault as it was Talib’s. At what point should the DC have realized, “Hey, we can’t cover these guys one on one? Maybe we had better switch to a zone defense.” The Tampa 2 is built for protecting a lead. Why blitz your safeties and leave your corners hanging out to dry when you could blitz a linebacker? Or a better question is, why blitz when you aren’t getting pressure on the QB?
Last year’s coaches were unprepared, but made adjustments in the second half. This year’s coaches seem to be prepared in the first half, but don’t have an answer for adjustments teams make at halftime. What’s up, Bucs coaches???
September 19th, 2012 at 11:08 am
Two of their interceptions came off faking the blitz and dropping in coverage!! Hint, hint should have done that most of the second half.
How do you not know the starting d line is gassed with over 80 snaps? G Johnson, D Watson and the backup d tackles were well rested and could have given a decent pass rush in the 4th.
Barber on Dave Moore’s radio show one year talked about Talib. Dave Moore asked “What’s up with Talib, What’s he doing?” Barber just laughed and said,”Talib is a gambler and does his own thing”.
Any doubt the first two picks in 2013 are Cornerback and D Tackle.
September 19th, 2012 at 11:42 am
Talib is totally a zone corner. He was brought here to play in the zone oriented Tampa 2. Talib should never be designated as a man to man corner because frankly he is not very good at it. He could be a dynamite game changer if he had better hands because he gambles A LOT on pass coverage and sometimes gets his hands on catchable balls but justc ant bring it in. I am fine with Talib and can’t fully judge him because most corners in this league would fail if their team had the kind of pass rush the bucs have.
September 19th, 2012 at 12:50 pm
As the season unfolds, everyone should have the character to remember their position. Talib can’t play. Talk about short term panic. Wow.
September 19th, 2012 at 12:50 pm
I am all for going CB #1 in the draft next year, or nabbing an elite in Free Agency if one pops up. Eric Wright, Talib, Barron are a good start, but one shutdown corner will make a world of difference. Step 1 was adding a knockout safety and reliable corner…Done. Step 2 was helping an ailing LB corp….Done. Step 3 was developing D-line potential…in progress. Step 4 Stop the run…done The Bucs will look much better when they add a shut down corner next offseason. In the meantime, let’s continue to support them as we punch teams in the mouth and prove to the NFL Darlings that we are no longer a slouch, and will no longer take their sheeeeit.
September 19th, 2012 at 1:18 pm
There is so much bad overreactions and opinions here I almost don’t know where to begin.
Talib is still a first tier CB. He did get away with a lot of cheap little holds on his coverage but he still did all that can be expected of him when in single coverage of one of the best receivers in the game getting thrown to by the best qb in the game.
The myth of the shutdown corner does not mean they can stop every single pass in their direction. During the Giants-Jets pre-season game, Eli threw at Revis constantly with Cruz catching passes at ease against Mr Premier Shutdown. And Nicks is the better receiver than Cruz.
“and it’s not like he was going against megatron or anything” SMH
Education time
Last year Megatron had 105 receiving yards per game
Cruz was the #3 WR at 96
Nicks was the #8 at 80 (76 receptions 15 games)
In 2010, Nicks was #5 (and 79 receptions in only 13 games) and Johnson was #9. (So, in the previous year, Nicks outperformed Johnson in less games)
And in the 2011-12 playoffs, he only had 28 receptions for 444 yards. #2 in both categories all time.
Hakeem Nicks has better numbers compared to Vincent Jackson over their last 2 full seasons. He’s the most underrated receiver out there. Would you expect Revis to shut down Jackson an entire game?
Eli does back shoulder fades and other throws that only the reciever can make the play. Don’t look at the stats… look at the play on the field. In the Superbowl, the throw to Manningham – a perfect 38 yard strike that no one but the reciever could catch – was not a one-time fluke. Eli is that good.
He did not have all the time in the world to throw… with all the blitzing the Giants had the RBs and TEs stay in to block – and he was making very quick throws. There were 3 INTs after all. He just goes into a whole other gear in 4th quarters of games that he refuses to lose. He did it 7 times last year against some of the best teams in the NFL.
Tampa did not play an average team – they played the Giants aka the Superbowl Champs. A good team doing the right thing can still lose to the best team playing its best. And the 2nd half was the Giants at their best.
In the Superbowl, Belicheck can be clearly heard…
“This is still a Cruz and Nicks game,” Belichick said. “I know we’re right on them tight, but those are still the guys. Make them go to Manningham, make them go to (Bear) Pascoe. Make sure we get Cruz and Nicks.”
That didn’t work out for the Patriots.
So Tampa tried blitzing and leaving Talib on man coverage. That didn’t work either. Manning passed to 7 different receivers. Did Talib guard the other 6 as well?? Instead of blaming Talib realize that a 2 time Superbowl MVP had a career day 2nd half to make up for a bad 1st half.
It gets easier for Tampa from this point forward.
And you cannot compare players from last year to this year. New Coaching and new schemes.
September 19th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
It’s no secret that I wanted Talib gone before the season started. However…the other option is Biggers now, so God help us.
September 19th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Wow!! It’s just one game guys. Talib did not play well but to say he can’t play is absurd. He’ll bounce back. Even Revis would have been burnt Sunday with our defensive play calls. I saw Namdi Asomougha get burnt Sunday for a TD too.
September 19th, 2012 at 3:01 pm
Eric Wright is our best CB. Now ain’t that something.
September 19th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Talib was drafted for tampa 2, he’s not a man to man guy.
September 19th, 2012 at 3:35 pm
But then again if they all had just been on the side lines. Now who could have kept them there?
September 19th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
@BamBam “That’s like saying Darrelle Revis gave up 200 yards to Nicks, but Myron Lewis gave up 201 to Cruz, so Revis isn’t bad…. No one would ever say that.”
You’re right and no one ever did. No one is saying Talib shouldn’t be better than back ups either. I am wondering what the heck you were reading.
September 19th, 2012 at 4:03 pm
LMAO at ‘Talib is a zone corner born and bred’. Everyone single draft analysis had Talib as being a man-2-man corner just like he was in college. Does no one remember when he was drafted everyone scratched their head why a cover 2 team picked him?
September 19th, 2012 at 7:54 pm
who lit that one it smells in here must be that bad protien powder again skipper
September 19th, 2012 at 8:12 pm
The scheme Schiano/Sheridan ran, they’d need Deion Sanders & Jimmy Johnson at corner.
September 19th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
My main problem with the scheme is that the corners give away inside leverage all game, even when an all-out blitz is called. How is the blitz supposed to get there when any decent QB will just throw a quick strike slant for an easy 1st down? All of our corners were positioned outside the WRs like their life depended on keeping them away from the sideline. Talib has the length and ball skills to break up passes on the sidelines so he should’ve been lined up inside shade of Nicks and jamming him to prevent the easy slant.
It was mind-boggling how we made no adjustments all game to fix this simple coverage flaw.