Straight from McCarthy today, via his press conference, Charles Woodson will start at strong safety for the second straight week.
I have to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of this move, especially as Rouse is reported to be back to full health. (Or as near to ‘full’ as any NFL player can be this time of year). Is Rouse a great, or even good, safety? No, but he is serviceable. And Woodson was less than stellar in run support on Sunday, taking many a horrible angle in the run game. (There’s a reason he had to catch the ball carrier from behind to make that great strip play…)
Not only that, but you have now taken your best defensive player and put him in an unfamiliar position. Yes, he played safety for the Raiders (not well, I’ll remind you) but he was playing at a Pro Bowl level at the cornerback position - and you want to take that away from a defense that isn’t doing anything right? Add to all this the fact that his replacement, Tramon Williams, who all CHTV readers know I am a huge fan of, looked terrible this past Sunday, and none of it adds up for me. (I mean, Williams played scared! Not once did he bump Smith on the line - not once! That’s the whole technique of the defense: bump and run coverage. By allowing Smith a free release, Williams took away the one advantage he would have had - you’ll notice Smith did nothing against Al Harris, because Harris pounded him into submission at the line of scrimmage.)
