With the constant prospect of great receivers becoming larger and faster the commodity of a shut down corner has gone way up in the NFL. The NFL rule book has done it’s best to cultivate an offense friendly, “O-lay” defense, scoring fiesta over the past decade.
Quarterbacks can’t shake hands without the award of a 15 yd penalty and if a receivers untied shoe lace clips a defender the offense advances by the power of a small yellow flag. It is an offensive league, a high flying circus of deep corner routes. The progression of the “go-to” receiver has had somewhat of a “action-reaction” storyline. As receivers like Terrel Owens and Randy Moss began their careers many teams had no one-on-one response for the physical abilities of these “deep threats”. But as time passed players like Champ Bailey emerged. A cover corner that could handle the pressure of a big physical receiver by himself. Bailey is still the center of one of the most high profile trades in recent NFL history.
When Champ came to the Broncos, I began to see teams playing away from one side of the field and avoiding their best receivers in an effort to prevent takeaways. If you look at the final games of both the NFL and college seasons you can argue that the lock down cornerback directly affected the outcome of the games.
Firstly, Where were Sidney Rice and Reggie Wayne against the Saints?! These 2 receivers were #4 and #5 in the rankings for total yards this year. Wayne had 46 yards on 5 catches in the Super Bowl and Rice caught only 4 passes for 43 yards in their finale.
Darren Sharper, safety from the Saints defense, led the league in interceptions but the 2 most memorable picks of the year came from the corner that shut down both Wayne and Rice. Tracy Porter held his own against 2 of the leagues best. I can explain WHY Porter earned the title “Lock-Down” Corner but I’m going to let 2 images speak on my behalf.
Porter's takeaway from Rice in OT
Porter's Pick Six to seal the deal
With the game on the line Farve and Manning looked to their top receivers for help and Porter took the game away both times.
I don’t want to take all the credit away from the rest of the Saints defense, they did finish 3rd in INTs and 3rd in giveaway/takeway ratio.
No one can deny the Jabari Greer is a solid defender, but the spot light was on Porter in the playoffs.
In the college ranks, the best draft of 2010 class is the DBs. Joe Haden and Kyle Wilson were 2 of the best at the NFL Combine (Haden) and the Senior Bowl (Wilson). Wilson showed his stuff as the only player able to contain several dynamic receivers including the speedy Mardy Gilyard of Cinncinati. During that week I only saw him get beat once, that was by Dexter McCluster of Ole Miss who posted the 2nd fastest 20yd shuttle at the Combine (4.06, ridiculous!). Haden has a great burst and has the NFL scouts buzzing.
You may read this post and completely disagree but I will appeal to you that Tracy Porter sealed the fate of the Saints championship. The lock down corner is not a glamorous position but the number of players that fit this role is so rare that finding a corner with such talent can allow a secondary to cut the field almost in half. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take 10 on 10 and half the field to cover all day.
