Should Brodney Pool Be Starting Over Eric Smith?
by John B on Oct 3, 2011 11:07 AM EDT
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In little league sports, there is always a kid on the team who does all the right things. He shows up to every practice. He has a good attitude. He works hard at practice. He is always in the right place on the field during a given play. This kid always ends up getting a lot more playing time than his natural ability would suggest.
For a while, I have wondered whether this might be the case for the way the Jets handle Eric Smith. The coaches rave about his work ethic and smarts. Now as a reward for this, he is starting and getting a ton of playing time over Brodney Pool, who looked like a playmaker and a complete safety down the stretch last season. In kids sports, the difference in athletic ability is usually not great. In the NFL, it can be pronounced.
The problem is Smith's top notch intangibles can only cover so much for his slowness. This is an age of athletic tight ends in the NFL. He has looked a step slow in coverage against good backs and tight ends like Jason Witten, Ray Rice, and Ed Dickson. Smith was a couple of more accurate passes from Joe Flacco to Dickson and Torrey Smith from having a really brutal night in coverage.
Smith has a spot on the team. He is a good situational guy, dropping into the box as a linebacker in nickel packages. He is better in coverage than the average linebacker. He is also a good safety against teams that rely on the run game. I just wonder whether the coaching staff might be letting its personal affection in the way of putting the best lineup on the field. Pool is also really good against the run and a big upgrade in coverage.
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I just wrote that in tinley24 post
Eric Smith has only one trait, that’s being a hard hitter. Since you can’t launch yourself at anyone any more, that trait is greatly diminished. Pool might not be an Ed Reed, but he’s head and shoulders better then Smith. Pool showed in the playoffs against Indy that he can get to the edge, something Smith is having trouble doing this season. This shouldn’t even be a post topic. Meaning, I can’t see why Eric Smith is starting over Pool. Really Rex?
Exactly, why did we sign Pool if we weren't planning on using him.
Pool is a fine tackler too, it’s just personal loyalty getting in the way of smart decisions.
I Disagree
Pool played well at the end of last season, but otherwise was pretty ineffective. In preseason this year, he should have dominated against the 3rd and 4th stringers he played against, but barely held his own. Last night on STs, he blocked a rusher into Conley. He could have gotten the ball blocked and Conley injured. Pool simply isn’t that good.
Smith missed a tackle last night, which is pretty rare for him. He was right there on a long pass over the middle and broke it up. His coverage was pretty solid on the other plays where I noticed him.
The Jets do need a better safety in the starting lineup (maybe two of them), but one of them isn’t Brodney Pool, imo.
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I disagree
Smith is usually right there buy is too slow and small to break up a lot of the catches he gives up. Poole is the best option we have right now.
"I just build our guys up. If it's trash talking that I believe in our football team, then, yes, I agree with that statement. I'm the biggest trash talker there is." Rex Ryan
by OldJetsFanatic on Oct 3, 2011 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions
That pass that Smith broke up should have been a TD.
It was underthrown badly and basically a jump ball that Torrie Smith mistimed his jump on. Eric is brutal in coverage, especially of TEs, Pool at least brings some cover skills to that position. Eric should be Leonhard’s backup as he is basically Leonhard Light.
This is a high octane passing league at this point.
There is no reason to have two strong safeties on the field especially when our linebacking corps excels against the run and we have “shutdown corners”. It just makes no sense like much of the personnel decision around the organization this year.
Personnel decisions are killing us this year.
Out of all the bad ones that have been made so far, this is probably the least agregious.
Sad but true.
The fact that it’s another one on a list of problems from last season makes it more pertinent though.
Eric Smiths only distinguished talent is to hit vulnerable players hard
This article sums up my thoughts beautifully with one omission, E Smith is about as likely as anyone to ruin us with boneheaded penalties. If he was a standout safety, that might be acceptable. But Smith is anything but that.
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Special Teams
This guy should be our gunner running down and knocking the shit out of punt/kick returners…but besides that, I don’t want to see him on the field that much…
Totally Agree
I totally agree that Smith is a liability, and Pool should be starting! He’ll, why not take a gamble and test McKnight at SS! He atleast has the speed to pass rush or provide much better coverage than Smith! LOL!
My assesment of pool would be this.
He seems to be the kind of guy who requires alot of teeth pulling to get him to play at a consistantly high level. Smith is a lunch pail guy who is the definition of consistanty. The coaches know exactly what they are getting in him. Pool has at times rode waves of inconsistant play and a tendancy to loose concentration.
At this point the coaching staff is going with something they can count on. I don’t think Pool has the ability to put together an entire season of play thats greater than Smiths effort.
Funny how we jump ship on this guy after he was one of the central cogs in spanking the Pats last year in the playoffs. This is getting out of hand.
Consistency goes both ways.
The dude is consistently bad in coverage and the coaches don’t seem to be compensating for it. We need a Free Safety badly or at least someone who is capable of covering a TE.
I never said the position wasn't upgradeable.
All im saying is Pool is a side step if not a step back in some areas.
And on the lists of things this team needs I rank this preety low.
I would be suprised if the team spends any higher than a 3rd rounder on a SS in the upcoming draft. It’s just not killing us at the moment.
Yeah, I'm not as worried about the D until teams start really exploiting it.
I wouldn’t say a side step. i really do think Smith and Leonhard on the field at the same time is a waste and doesn’t give us flexability. IMO, Pool gives a a little bit more flex and we really should have the best players on the field. I do agree we should not spend any high pick on a SS. We need a FS realistically. Leonhard’s strengths have always been a specialist of this defense but really a run stopper tackler, like Smith.
yeah...he's consistent
Consistently BAD. I’d rather take an erratic Pool then watch Smith get burned by another tight end.
Where were you guys
last year when he was laying wood to Welker and the Pats? Or when he was giving WR alligator arms over the middle? Consistantly Bad! Sorry but you have to do better than that.
And tell me why I should even bother to listen to any of this after the effort the defense put up lastnight as a unit.
How can any of you talk down the night they had when the offense kept putting them on the field in bad spots? The defense played solely on pride and held the Ravens offense in check.
Enough with this nitpicking crap.
Your all playing “pile-on” because we got ripped lastnight.
Consistently bad in coverage,
and easily exploitable with TEs and RBs. I think those people were definitely around last year and especially when we saw Pool play decently. Smith played well in NE because he was in Leonhard’s role where he belongs. The two on the field at the same time is redundant and inefficient.
I think at the very most.
Pool should spell Smith 25% of the time. The problem with taking Leonhard off the field is that the team plays lost without him. We saw this against the Pats and It can’t be ignored. 45-3
Oh I don't think we should ever make that switch. I'm just saying,
Smith should be Leonhard’s backup only. Leonhard and Smith at SS, with Smith playing if there is an injury and Pool and 2010 Lowery playing FS. Smith is a prototypical special teams player, no reason to get him on the defense to do the exact some thing he does on special teams, missle himself into a player at full speed. All I’m saying is we need to eliminate mismatches on D, which I believe Smith causes.
Smith does cause mismatches.
I’m just not sure I have seen enough of pool to know he would be better. He’s played for both Ryan brothers and both have kept him from being a starter. That says something to me. He doesn’t have it.
I didn't know he played for both Ryan Bros, not that it matters, because
this is what I came up with when I looked up Eric Smith.
Yeah so you were talking about Pool.
He apparently has no other criminals with the same namesake if you were wondering. Brodney is not that usual of a name I guess.
We need to gut both SS and FS
I am sure Leonard knows all are plays but damn we should have let Wilson be are #2 CB and gotten a good SS or FS it doesnt matter and someone on the O-Line.
Wilson is playing well but if he move him to two then we really need CB depth.
I do agree though that we need new safties or at least one FS as both are SS in a pass happy league.
Strickland played good the week before
I have not been so happy to see anyone injured since Tom Brady knee injury but Cro is really F’n up and we could have done better really because Cro is not a lockdown CB at all to me he is just ok and only good for when the Pats had Moss we have so many holes to fill in the FS and SS departments
Pool should definitely be playing more.
He’s better in coverage, he’s got much more range, he’s a more fercious hitter, and he’s a much better playmaker than either of the guys we have back there right now.
Maybe he doesn’t disguise things as well as the other two, but their disguises haven’t been working too well anyway. Time to just go with the playmaker.
Even when Pool wasn’t playing all that great last year he was still making plays. Time to let that wolf hunt.
by Crackback on Oct 3, 2011 1:17 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Pool
was in the line up more often, when Smith was struggling, so maybe Pool will see the field more, hopefully he will.
This is what it sounds like When Doves Cry- Prince
or maybe we could have no traded our only coverage safety
dumping lowery for a random pick made no sense
by Oogaman00 on Oct 3, 2011 1:47 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Nope, just not going in the right direction.
FO misteps are OK if noticed and compensated for. This has not happened and our team, especially offensively and looked worse and worse with no corrections by the coaches or the FO.
Pool should be on the field
But he should be replacing Leonhard and not Smith. Smith is a much better SS run stopper at this point than Leonhard and Pool is easily the best FS of the bunch.
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