Tariq Woolen

[Cyrus12]

Bring Tariq back because Riq...kinda stinks...seriously though how is this situation going to be handled? He looks incredibly soft out there and gets burned a lot. Sophomore slump?

 

[OneLofaTatupu]

Shoulder issue may be bigger than we know. May not. Sophomore slump. Maybe. Maybe not. Hopefully it’s just a time limited issue.

 

[Bobblehead]

I was thinking, it's pretty easy to see, we have Riq.. we need Tariq.. Riq.. what have you done to tariq?

 

[Maelstrom787]

All the talent in the world, but I came away from his college tape thinking he was both raw and soft. Seemed like he might've been loafing at times. You do NOT last well into the fifth round at 6'4" with vines for arms and 4.26 speed without some serious questions.

I agree with his benching. His pure range still allows him to take away a ton of stuff, but busting coverages and tackling poorly are two things that just can't happen with regularity.

Make him work his way back on. Light a fire. No room for anything less than playing with his hair on fire in a hungry DB room like ours. You can't be in the same secondary as dudes like Tre and Spoon and not play like you've got an effing point to make.

Mike Jackson isn't oozing talent, but if he wants it more, he gets the damn snaps if you ask me.

 

[TwistedHusky]

He isn't physical AT ALL. But he doesn't need to be.

The thing with Riq is that even when his guy was open...the QB often would shy away from him. Because he also baited QBs by looking like his guy was open, and then having the catchup speed to close, make a play (INT) on the ball, and end the possession. So when he WAS burned, the QB never knew if that was legit. They became loathe to test him, and didn't really need to with guys like Mike Jackson on the other side.

Woolen really struggled with jams especially. So of course, we leaned into making him more physical. Completely screwing his advantage, derailing our chances at an INT, and making it harder for him to cover - because he lost all his speed on contact. You saw he wasn't physical because he was reluctant to tackle last year. We still decided to push him into being more physical.

It was mind-blowingly stupid. He didn't 'regress'. He always struggled making contact and playing physical. He just succeeded when he didn't need to do that. We pushed him further into that stupid box, because we couldn't accept he wouldn't/couldn't play that way. It destroyed his confidence and worse, made QBs more confident in testing him.

Eventually, a smarter staff will figure out how to use him right, and he will be an exceptional corner - in a man but NOT bump and run type of scheme. I gave up expecting we would figure it out. We want the guy to be Sherman. He won't be. But he could be good if used right.


The big questions with Woolen are:
Is Woolen being used the same this year as he was last year?

Or more accurately:
WAS he being used the same this year as last year?

If not, why not?

 

[keasley45]

He isn't physical AT ALL. But he doesn't need to be.

The thing with Riq is that even when his guy was open...the QB often would shy away from him. Because he also baited QBs by looking like his guy was open, and then having the catchup speed to close, make a play (INT) on the ball, and end the possession. So when he WAS burned, the QB never knew if that was legit. They became loathe to test him, and didn't really need to with guys like Mike Jackson on the other side.

Woolen really struggled with jams especially. So of course, we leaned into making him more physical. Completely screwing his advantage, derailing our chances at an INT, and making it harder for him to cover - because he lost all his speed on contact. You saw he wasn't physical because he was reluctant to tackle last year. We still decided to push him into being more physical.

It was mind-blowingly stupid. He didn't 'regress'. He always struggled making contact and playing physical. He just succeeded when he didn't need to do that. We pushed him further into that stupid box, because we couldn't accept he wouldn't/couldn't play that way. It destroyed his confidence and worse, made QBs more confident in testing him.

Eventually, a smarter staff will figure out how to use him right, and he will be an exceptional corner - in a man but NOT bump and run type of scheme. I gave up expecting we would figure it out. We want the guy to be Sherman. He won't be. But he could be good if used right.


The big questions with Woolen are:
Is Woolen being used the same this year as he was last year?

Or more accurately:
WAS he being used the same this year as last year?

If not, why not?

When he was physical this year, he got injured. I think he's still dinged up and either the injury is just lingering, or it's in his head now and he's reluctant to play at full speed.

The hit he was hurt on against Detroit... I think he was playing incredibly aggressive.

 

[Floridahawk79]

Don’t we have a new DB coach this year? If so I wonder if the coaching is a factor.

 

[keasley45]

Don’t we have a new DB coach this year? If so I wonder if the coaching is a factor.

Brown and Spoon don't seem to be suffering from coaching shortfalls. Jackson looked pretty good in spot duty as well last week.

Burns? Woolen? I think they are both struggling for reasons other than coaching.

 

[cymatica]

Woolen really struggled with jams especially. So of course, we leaned into making him more physical. Completely screwing his advantage, derailing our chances at an INT, and making it harder for him to cover - because he lost all his speed on contact. You saw he wasn't physical because he was reluctant to tackle last year. We still decided to push him into being more physical.

It was mind-blowingly stupid. He didn't 'regress'. He always struggled making contact and playing physical. He just succeeded when he didn't need to do that. We pushed him further into that stupid box, because we couldn't accept he wouldn't/couldn't play that way. It destroyed his confidence and worse, made QBs more confident in testing him.

This is what it looks like. I don't remember seeing him play grabby or jamming receivers off the line nearly as much last year.

 

[olyfan63]

When Woolen has played grabby this year, he's gotten flagged for PI. A lot of his grabby schitt turned out to be unnecessary and just gift yardage to the opponent when there was less than 50-50 chance of a completion. Seems like an emotional/panic issue as much as anything. Piggybacking on Keasly45's comment, I'd say he doesn't know how to be "cleverly" physical, and winds up more "panic" physical, drawing unnecessary flags. IIRC, in the Dallas game he gave away several free yardage gifts on passes that were unlikely to result in a completion.

Meantime, Mike Jackson balled out last night, from what I saw. Different game, very physical, but seems to play smarter and get burned less this year. That, and the good play of Tre Brown, improvement of Julian Love, and of course the rapid emergence of Witherspoon, seem to suggest that coaching isn't the issue, that it's Woolen adjusting his game TO the coaching, and unlearning panicky bad habits that's the issue. IMO chances are Riq will steadily improve with time. With the benching, Carroll has his attention now.

 

[Cyrus12]

I was thinking, it's pretty easy to see, we have Riq.. we need Tariq.. Riq.. what have you done to tariq?

 

[jammerhawk]

I suspect this guy has been playing hurt all season.

I also think he seems to have lost his exceptional speed after his knee surgery.

Some of these guys want to play even when they shouldn't.