Mr. Woodson, Meet Mr. Davis
By PackerAaron
Two weeks ago in Tampa, Charles Woodson was assigned to shut down Kellen Winslow, which he promptly did (of course, one of the few times he WASN'T on him, Winslow scored a touchdown) Then this past Sunday, Woodson was assigned to neutralize Jason Witten, who up until this past weekend had spent his entire career just destroying the Packers, and Woodson did just that.
And now one Mr. Vernon Davis is coming to town. Here's one scouts take as told to Pete Dougherty:
He’s a matchup problem...Generally speaking you can’t put a linebacker on him because he’ll wear your linebacker out, very few linebackers can actually run with him. Even if you put a safety on him, it has to be a cover safety, (Davis) runs that well. You see it time and time again where he just runs by people. If you stop him, if you keep him from being the big-play guy, they don’t have anything else.
He's a matchup problem indeed - for teams that don't have Charles Woodson.
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Comments (18)
November 18, 2009 at 11:18 am
I will take Charles against ANYONE.
November 18, 2009 at 11:25 am
What, no love for Al "Headcase" Harris? Seriously, though, I wouldn't be surprised to see more of the same tactics from last week, though Singletary won't abandon the run as quickly as Wade P. did last week.
November 18, 2009 at 11:26 am
Vernon Davis is the type of NFL player who annoys me more than any other i.e. on draft day, after being passed up by the Packers, he gloated about how "there was no way he wanted to go to Green Bay!" or something such. Shades of Michael Irvin on Draft Day 1988 (although nobody can really match the arrogance and obnoxiousness of Irvin and his family on that day, as they chanted "NO WAY GREEN BAY!" while waiting for the Packers to make a selection. All captured by ESPN cameras, natch).
November 18, 2009 at 11:30 am
As good as Witten and Winslow are, Davis may be emerging as force you just hope to contain. Thats a tall order for Woodson, it will be interesting to see what Capers dials up this week.
November 18, 2009 at 11:34 am
I'm going to go ahead and disagree with the scout's comment of "[i]f you stop him, if you keep him from being the big-play guy, they don’t have anything else."
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I know Crabtree has only played 4 games, but the guy has incredible hands, runs well after the catch, and is getting open. Also, Josh Morgan has recently ascended to the starting lineup, pushing Isaac Bruce to the bench. While Morgan is far from a finished product, he has shown flashes of his considerable skills.
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Not saying that we should be losing sleep over Crabtree or Morgan, but they're both talented young players who are improving every week. It would behoove the Packers to not take them lightly.
November 18, 2009 at 11:49 am
Crabtree worries me a little because he is an unkown, having played only 4 games. When you stop and look what Woodson is doing, its kind of incrediable. He is covering these tight ends at 6'1"(202lbs), Witten 6'5"-263, Davis 6'3"-250, and Winslow 6'4"-240 The key thing thats in the Packers favor is that all 3 teams don't have great QB. Romo should have been able to get Witten the ball and he didn't, much to Woodson's credit.
November 18, 2009 at 11:50 am
“[i]f you stop him, if you keep him from being the big-play guy, they don’t have anything else.”
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gore?
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i would consider gore "anything else".
November 18, 2009 at 12:31 pm
We must not underestimate <b>ANY</b> team from here on out. Remember our easy win at Tampa Bay? R-i-i-i-i-g-h-t.
November 18, 2009 at 12:41 pm
The 49ers can obviously be beat. Let's hope Woodson has another spectacular game in helping us do just that.
November 18, 2009 at 12:49 pm
If we put the same kinda pressure on Alex Smith that we put on Romo. Than this game is over.
November 18, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Gore & Crabtree are both threats..... Key will be to apply early pressure on Alex Smith & make him have to make plays running away from Matthews, Barnett & company......... A couple of early picks would doom Smith for the game...... Watch for Gore catching the ball out of the backfield...... Will we see Kampman or Jones on Gore?.......
November 18, 2009 at 01:20 pm
Alex Smith vs. Chi:
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Niners 5 ints. -- Niners scored 10 Pts.
Gore had slightly more than 100 yds.
Smith was horrible! Why? PRESSURE!
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Answer = pressure!
November 18, 2009 at 01:40 pm
I just can't believe how we have Al Harris AND Charles Woodson and still let receivers get more than 5 passes... It's just astonishing...
November 18, 2009 at 01:54 pm
this aint woodson's battle out there...sure i want the defence to bring it...noooooo, this is personal for A-rod. we all know why, he will destroy the SF 49rs...its personal for him...Chico demands it, the bay area demands that mr. rodgers lays the smack down...the whole class of 2005 thinks so lol!!!!
November 18, 2009 at 02:24 pm
AR must get his line to block for him. Packer fans all wanted the Vikings game -we saw how that worked out.
November 18, 2009 at 02:39 pm
Good point Alfredo - ARod's from one of my favorite towns in CA and it's true that he has something to play for here. It will be interesting to see how that goes.
November 18, 2009 at 05:47 pm
I think the implication was that if you stop Davis then you don't need to stop anyone else in the passing game. Gore is obviously a concern... probably the main concern.
November 18, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Agreed. Charles is getting hot right now after that stunning perfomance against the Cowboys last week. He arguably won the game for the Pack. I think that the rest of the season will be great for Woodson. It's also nice to see our linebackers starting to perform as well. Matthews is definitely as good as could be expected right now, and Barnett had a great game.