The fact that he can NOT play and their be no dropoff in the performance of the secondary not only tells you how good our secondary is, but also how good HE is that he plays ahead of all those guys. I get what you're saying, but IMO, it's a bit of a stretch. They played as much traditional 4-3-4 as they did 4-2-5/3-3-5/3-2-6/etc. When there were four down linemen on the field with three linebackers and four DBs, it was TM7 on the field with Mo. Not Simon. And these are pure cover situations. Some guys thrive on their own success. Some are prisoners are of it. Thus far, TM7 has not been a prisoner. Let's hope that trend continues. And to be clear, Simon's height allows him to cover up his flaws. He can afford to not be as fluid in the hips when making his turns from back pedaling. He's so tall at 6'4 with good speed that he recovers as good or better than anyone in the country. His recovery makes him good. Not his technique. We're going to find out how good he really is as an every down guy when opposing offenses start throwing pump fakes and double moves at him that require more discipline and technique than simply getting beat and recovering. Kind of ironic that our top two cover guys this year have height as some kind of issue. An advantage for Simon...a disadvantage for the Badger.
First, I doubt that LSU played that much traditional 4-3-4 as they did the other defenses. Especially, if you include the fact that one of those LBers was a secondary guy to begin with (Francois)...check that, two of them were since Hatcher was a safety out of HS. That is what Chavis has done forever....he plays a hybrid "LBer" which really is a big safety at best. But I remember a lot more plays with 5 DBs/S than 3 LBers. To be fair, the LSU LBers were so inactive in general that I might have missed them. LSU clearly needs to improve the LBer situation big time. Either the young guys need to step up, the mature guys improve like Minter, etc. I will state it like this. At the end of the game on a 4th down play by the opposition, I would rather have had Claiborne and Simon in pass coverage than Claiborne and Mathieu IF LSU had the lead/tied. IF LSU needed a takeaway due to being behind, then put Mathieu out there instead of Simon.
How many TD were scored on him last year??? ZERO!!!!! Sweet use of Cover.... Its a good thing CB's do more than that....
You keep jawing about Tennessee. Their QB went 6 of 20 passing & 2 INT's. Tyrann didn't have a great game, by his own standards? So what? He got their Senior RB so pissed, he threw the ball at him, costing them a 15 yard penalty. http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/30576/mathieu-talks-a-good-game "Nightmare game" huh? LOL! 38-7 LSU Tennessee wasn't close to scoring on him, and neither was Bama.
Are you sure? I could have sworn one was lofted over his head on the left hand side of the field in some game, maybe that was his freshman year though. Look, he makes tackles, he just has trouble defending the deep ball with no help, and it's not because he isn't stride for stride, it's because he is short.
Dubose had Mathieu beat, it was a poor throw by Brissett. But there's no doubt that if he can get his hand on the ball...it's his
Mathieu baited the QB on that play. It was obvious; I was in the stands and was fortunately in the right position to see the whole thing. TM7 doesn't have PP7 or Mo's speed so sometines he can get beat by a burner. I thought from a cover aspect the WVA game was his worst. In the BCSNC game many of the passes caught in front of him were waggles to the TE or really perfectly thrown outs that no CB could have defended. TM7 is a very very good cover corner. Only when compared to Mo or PP7 does he seem weak. His gift of making the take aways is special and few in history have comparable talent.
TM7 is the Steve Largent of defense. He's not the fastest, tallest, has the greatest technique, etc. He just produces. Over and over again. People that say he is overrated are the people who evaluate NFL draftees on measurables only and do not look at a player's production or lack thereof. I get the "supporting cast" argument, but look at it this way: LSU has an NFL-caliber defense and anyone that can prove themselves on LSU's defense is pretty much NFL worthy. Also...find me one other player at his position who has accomplished as much as TM7 by the time his SOPHOMORE year was over. Just one player.
