"You Can Throw on the Secondary"

By: Lucas Meyer

I can't even count how many times I've heard that when the "experts" talk about Carolina's defensive backfield. In the past couple of games, the corners and safeties look like they took offense to that saying. During Week 8, the Raven's two outside WR (Crabtree, Brown) had 12 targets total between them and combined went for 59 yards on 6 receptions, with 0 TDs. Flacco averaged 4.9 yards per attempt. During Week 9, Tampa Bay didn’t have much more luck as Fitzpatrick threw 40 times with an average of 6.1 yards per pass. Mike Evans and Desean Jackson combined for 14 targets and had 3 receptions for 48 yards and again, 0 TDs.

James Bradberry and Donte Jackson have stepped up their game against the top WRs, however, that doesn't mean we don't need to improve. The biggest area that we need to tighten up in the secondary is our nickel back. Willie Snead and Adam Humphries have both been the top receivers these past 2 weeks. I don’t know if that means we should try Corn Elder in place of Captain Munnerlyn or not. Captain has had some nice plays just needs some consistency. Donte Jackson is playing his best football in his career. He had 4 picks in his entire college career, and thus far, has 4 picks in only 8 games as a pro. Of note, Josh Norman’s best year resulted in 4 picks. Donte has had a few mistakes, which you expect from rookies, but overall is having a DROY-type year. He’s flying under the radar since he wasn’t a 1st round pick but if he keeps it up, the league will take notice.

Eric Reid has helped bring back that swagger and physicality to the defense. Whether you are with him or against him and his anthem protest, there’s no doubt his play on the field has been huge. His pick during Week 9 and his what looked like game sealing pick in Philly have been huge. He’s a smart player that is helping step up the play of everybody else in the secondary. Reid and Mike Adams seem to be a dynamic duo.

For long term I think it would be a great idea to sign Reid past this year. It’s Adams last year and Da'Norris Searcy has one more year, it would also allow Rashaan Gaulden to learn for another year and allow him and Reid to be the future back there.

All-in-all the secondary play has stepped up dramatically and if we can get the slot guy shut down and control the clock on offense the sky is the limit for this team.

Thanks for reading and KEEP POUNDING!