Carlos' Corner

Flight is only one of his powers

I wrote a little about Carlos Rogers in yesterday's recap, what with him getting burned by Marcus Robinson for a TD that got Brad Johnson all kind of fired up. Truth is, that wasn't the only goof Carlos made. As the game was turning against the Redskins late in the fourth quarter, Carlos wrapped up Troy Williamson, who had caught another one of Brad Johnson's clutch third-down passes, but couldn't bring him down. They had a chance to hold the Vikings and get the ball back, and instead, the Vikings kicked a field goal. On another play in the second quarter, the same receiver beat Carlos badly, but dropped what surely would have been a touchdown pass.

Cornerback is a tough and thankless position, and even the true stars, the Darrell Greens, the Rod Woodsons, Aeneas Williams, all get called for holding and pass interference on occasion. It must be frustrating to play a position that is structurally behind the receiver position in the physical evolution of the game; when the league started its love affair with the big & tall receivers in the late 80s, it took a solid ten years for the big & tall cornerbacks to appear. Even now, a random sampling of the NFL cornerbacks finds them topping out at around 6'1" or 6'2", with the bulk of them somewhere in the 5'9" / 5"10" range. Watching poor 5'8" Jason David get abused by 6'5" Plaxico Burress was just painful. Didn't take a whole lot of skill to exploit that one now did it Eli.

(A quick perusal of all 32 teams on this awesome tool revealed but one cornerback listed over 6'2", Kansas City's Lenny Walls at 6'4".)

Carlos is only a second year player, and still finding his moves. Good cornerbacks like Ronde Barber, as with any other position, can take some time to get with it in the NFL, to prepare for, play against and figure out the moves of the tireless marquee receivers going against them every play. I'm not picking on Ronde, I'm just a UVA alum who watched him struggle for a couple of seasons before gaining a Pro Bowl stride. He'll always get the Wahoowa! exception from me.

When Carlos was drafted by the Redskins out of Auburn with the 9th pick overall in the 2005 draft, they were looking for a guy in the mold of Sean Taylor, only to play cornerback. He had a great pedigree, having come off an undefeated season at Auburn (with Jason Campbell as his quarterback), and had won the Jim Thorpe award as the nation's top defensive back. He's 6'0", 200 lb, and if Sean Taylor is a safety in a linebacker's body (6'2", 230 lb), why can't Carlos Rogers be a cornerback in a safety's body?

He did not start immediately, but wound up having a great season (5 starts, 2 INTs, 2 forced fumbles), and was dinged up a bit, something that does not look to be a problem at all this season (did anyone ever see Carlos on an injury report in the preseason?). He had an agonizing drop of an INT in the Seattle playoff game last January, but if you believe Gregg Williams and Jerry Gray, the Redskins see a huge upside to him. Personally, I see more Fred Smoot than Champ Bailey in him, but I also see more Fred Smoot in him than Tom Carter. How's that one for you?

Carlos, the time is now. The plan might have been to have Shawn Springs cover the number 1 receiver on every team, but he's injured, and it may be months before he's playing at the level where he can get hurt again. The cornerback position is in flux, opposing teams know it and your number just got called. If Wright, Rumph and Jimoh are going to get it done on that side of the field, you have to be a shutdown guy. You have to make opposing quarterbacks throw away from you so the linebackers and safeties can cheat to that weak side and shore it up until Shawn can get back with it.



Carlos Rogers: KC Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune