Sherman #2 in defensive passer rating. Maxwell is #1.

[formido]

This is across the entire NFL.

1. Byron Maxwell: 47.8 (On about 500 snaps, so not a small sample.)
2. Richard Sherman: 51.5 (on about 1000 snaps.)
3. Logan Ryan: 54.8
4. Alterraun Verner: 55.8
5. Trumaine McBride: 57.4
13. Walter Thurmond: 67.4
14. Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie: 67.8
22. Aqib Talib: 72.3
38. Darrelle Revis: 81.4 (Dropped from top 5 last week on strength of terrible final game.)

It's hard to overstate how incredible this is. We're excited to potentially be adding an MVP caliber offensive weapon to the offense. Several games ago, we added an apparently DPOY caliber corner to the defense.

Corners don't get DPOYs very much--because the best ones don't get stats opportunities like other LBs and DEs--but they should. Sherman should win it this year, though he may not. Corners get paid like the most important players on defense because they are that valuable.

In a just world, I think a corner should occasionally win MVP. Sherman would be a strong candidate this year. In the year and a half before Sherman started, Seattle allowed an average of ~90 passer rating. As soon as he started, that dropped to ~70 and has remained there ever since. Imagine if you acquired a QB who averaged 110 passer rating to replace one who averaged 90. Your odds of winning a Super Bowl just went way up, right?Passer rating differential wins games and championships.

With Maxwell, Seattle is even better. With Maxwell, our average defensive passer rating has dropped to ~63. Remember that marginal improvements are always much more difficult to achieve. Over the last 3 games, the only numbers I have off-hand, Seattle's defensive passer rating is ~46[1]. I bet it's something ridiculously low for all the games Maxwell's started in. Seattle's already league leading scoring defense has dropped to ~10 per game over the last 5 games, in a year when scoring is up across the league. That didn't happen by accident. Maxwell is the real deal.

[1] http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/op ... ser-rating

 

[themunn]

that's amazing.

where did you get the player rankings?

 

[Crizilla]

skip bayless jizzes over Talib all the time who's 22nd, yet we have 2 players that go 1 and 2. Oh thats right, it's skip bayless, and oh thats right Talib plays for New England.

 

[SalishHawkFan]

Good stuff! Thanks.

 

[HawkFan72]

Looking on the bright side, perhaps the Browner and Thurmond suspensions were blessings in disguise.

 

[jkitsune]

Interesting stat. I'd be curious to know if there's any way to divide that up based on the caliber of competition Maxwell faced. If this is across the entire year, many of his snaps came against inferior competition than Sherman. Would be very interesting to see what his QB rating against was after he was elevated to the #2 CB position.

Maxwell has been incredible. Thurmond was incredible before him. Sherman and Browner were incredible before him. Even Lane has performed admirably when he has had to fill in. Thomas and Kam are obviously studs. This secondary just blows me away nearly every week.

 

[formido]

that's amazing.

where did you get the player rankings?

Aside from their player grades, which are more iffy, Pro Football Focus tracks NFL passer rating on passes into individual corner coverage.

 

[hawkfan68]

Credit to Sherman and Maxwell they are doing an outstanding job. However, Earl Thomas is the glue. The CBs can play loose and not worry about guys beating them because of ET. He's been the constant denominator in the secondary. Maxwell, Thurmond, Lane, and Browner have been interchangeable and each has done well when they played. Plus they are coached extremely well and it shows.

 

[themunn]

that's amazing.

where did you get the player rankings?

Aside from their player grades, which are more iffy, Pro Football Focus tracks NFL passer rating on passes into individual corner coverage.

ahh, is that a premium stat?

 

[BamKam]

How is this calculated? Maxwell and Sherman have been lights out but wouldn't these rankings partially reflect our very good pass rush as well? Some of the elite corners don't have such a treat so passer rating numbers may be inflated due to that.

Not taking away anything from Sherm and Max I just think those numbers reflect our overall D. I could be wrong.

 

[formido]

Interesting stat. I'd be curious to know if there's any way to divide that up based on the caliber of competition Maxwell faced. If this is across the entire year, many of his snaps came against inferior competition than Sherman. Would be very interesting to see what his QB rating against was after he was elevated to the #2 CB position.

Maxwell has been incredible. Thurmond was incredible before him. Sherman and Browner were incredible before him. Even Lane has performed admirably when he has had to fill in. Thomas and Kam are obviously studs. This secondary just blows me away nearly every week.

317 of his snaps have come since he began starting. I doubt he padded his efficiency with earlier season snaps as all these INTs have come since he began starting.

 

[formido]

How is this calculated? Maxwell and Sherman have been lights out but wouldn't these rankings partially reflect our very good pass rush as well? Some of the elite corners don't have such a treat so passer rating numbers may be inflated due to that.

Not taking away anything from Sherm and Max I just think those numbers reflect our overall D. I could be wrong.

But of course. Football stats are always highly entangled. You can say the same even about sacks. That goes double for QBs. Tom Brady would have never broken all those records without Randy Moss:

http://skepticalsports.com/?p=3025

Nor would Petyon Manning have this season without his elite receivers.

 

[formido]

that's amazing.

where did you get the player rankings?

Aside from their player grades, which are more iffy, Pro Football Focus tracks NFL passer rating on passes into individual corner coverage.

ahh, is that a premium stat?

Yeah.

 

[RichNhansom]

How is this calculated? Maxwell and Sherman have been lights out but wouldn't these rankings partially reflect our very good pass rush as well? Some of the elite corners don't have such a treat so passer rating numbers may be inflated due to that.

Not taking away anything from Sherm and Max I just think those numbers reflect our overall D. I could be wrong.

Except our D-line was poor prior to this year and Sherman was still putting up those numbers.

 

[IBleedBlueAndGreen]

Pete Carroll is a defensive genius. Top 5 defensive minds in the game of football.

 

[jkitsune]

Interesting stat. I'd be curious to know if there's any way to divide that up based on the caliber of competition Maxwell faced. If this is across the entire year, many of his snaps came against inferior competition than Sherman. Would be very interesting to see what his QB rating against was after he was elevated to the #2 CB position.

Maxwell has been incredible. Thurmond was incredible before him. Sherman and Browner were incredible before him. Even Lane has performed admirably when he has had to fill in. Thomas and Kam are obviously studs. This secondary just blows me away nearly every week.

317 of his snaps have come since he began starting. I doubt he padded his efficiency with earlier season snaps as all these INTs have come since he began starting.

That's incredible. He's incredible. PC/JS are incredible.

 

[Hawks46]

Interesting stat. I'd be curious to know if there's any way to divide that up based on the caliber of competition Maxwell faced. If this is across the entire year, many of his snaps came against inferior competition than Sherman. Would be very interesting to see what his QB rating against was after he was elevated to the #2 CB position.

Maxwell has been incredible. Thurmond was incredible before him. Sherman and Browner were incredible before him. Even Lane has performed admirably when he has had to fill in. Thomas and Kam are obviously studs. This secondary just blows me away nearly every week.

Not necessarily true. Teams move WRs around all the time to get favorable matchups. If you're an OC, and facing a guy like Sherman, do you throw your #1 at him? Or do you let your #2 go at him, and move the #1 across the field to get covered by Byron Maxwell? Keep in mind 2 things: Seahawks don't move Sherman around to follow a team's best WR like the Jets did with Revis, and no one knows Maxwell at all.

Of course you're going to test Maxwell. Also keep in mind that teams will move their best WRs into the slot to take advantage of the Nickle CB. After Browner got hurt, Thurmond slid inside to the slot and Maxwell manned the outside. Teams aren't going to slide their best guy in to "take advantage" of the guy that was already starting and got slid inside. Football is about individual matchups, and creating mismatches.

I'm betting most teams threw whatever they could at Maxwell. Most times, it would work very very well. Maxwell is just that good evidently.

 

[arghawkfan]

2011 draft not looking so bad anymore...

4th round KJ Wright very solid starter and interchangeable to any LB spot
5th round: Richard Sherman DPOY candidate and one of the leagues top playmakers on D
6th round: Byron Maxwell: Future member of the legion of boom
7th round: Malcom Smith: blazing fast lb capable of pass rushing and coverage, not sure if lb core is better with him or kj

Whiffs

Carpenter: still lacks conditioning and pass blocking polish, but is good situationally as a run blocking mauler

Moffitt: Retired nuff said

Durham: no contributions for seattle, but has turned into a solid possession receiver for detroit

 

[Hawk-A-Loogie]

Trufant out, then Thurmond out, resulted in finding our #1 CB Sherman

Browner out, then Thurmond out, resulted in finding Maxwell.


A trend happening involving Thurmond.

 

[BASF]

Kris Richard gets very little respect on this board and deserves a lot of credit. I believe he will be interviewed a few times this offseason to be a defensive coordinator.