Rocky Rhodes...

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dead_poet
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Rocky Rhodes...

Post by dead_poet »

What's going on here?
four — passing touchdowns allowed by Xavier Rhodes this season

Rhodes was one of the NFL’s stingiest cornerbacks in the second half of last season, which led to national praise for the youngster. This season, though, Rhodes did not pick where he left off. He was beaten for another touchdown in the 28-19 win over the Lions and, according to Pro Football Focus, he has now been victimized for four in six games. Their charting says he has allowed 60.5 percent of the passes thrown his way to be completed for 361 yards. And that’s not including the penalty yardage he has given away — a team-high 96 yards on 10 penalties, one of which was declined.
http://www.startribune.com/five-vikings ... 338286791/
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by losperros »

Perhaps the constant flags have gotten to him. Rhodes may be dialing himself down because of it.

OTOH, maybe the flags are because Rhodes isn't playing well.

Basically, I'm just saying I have no idea what's wrong. I do believe in the kid and I think Rhodes will get himself righted. Plus the Vikings have good D coaching.
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by Mothman »

Calvin Johnson has 2 TDs, 15 catches and 169 yards in two games against the Vikings this year. If I recall correctly, Rhodes was covering him most of the time. That may explain a few things. I hear Johnson is pretty good. :)
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

Mothman wrote:Calvin Johnson has 2 TDs, 15 catches and 169 yards in two games against the Vikings this year. If I recall correctly, Rhodes was covering him most of the time. That may explain a few things. I hear Johnson is pretty good. :)
Yeah, I don't believe any CB in the league could have stopped the TD Johnson had Sunday.
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by losperros »

Mothman wrote:Calvin Johnson has 2 TDs, 15 catches and 169 yards in two games against the Vikings this year. If I recall correctly, Rhodes was covering him most of the time. That may explain a few things. I hear Johnson is pretty good. :)
You have to wonder how any CB would do against Johnson. I imagine not too well.
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by dead_poet »

Mothman wrote:Calvin Johnson has 2 TDs, 15 catches and 169 yards in two games against the Vikings this year. If I recall correctly, Rhodes was covering him most of the time. That may explain a few things. I hear Johnson is pretty good. :)
Yes, he's pretty good but Rhodes has had much better success vs. Megatron in previous meetings. Seems Calvin got the better of him this year, though by how much is debatable.
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

dead_poet wrote: Yes, he's pretty good but Rhodes has had much better success vs. Megatron in previous meetings. Seems Calvin got the better of him this year, though by how much is debatable.
I don't think Calvin got the better of Rhodes at all. Especially this past Sunday.

More than half of Johnson's yards came on a single play, the 46-yard catch on the Lions' first drive. But that came against Captain Munnerlyn, not Rhodes. Johnson was in the slot ... Munnerlyn got turned and fell down, leaving Johnson to run free across the deep middle. Rhodes was 30 yards away covering Lance Moore.

Watch.

If you ask me, the Lions put Calvin in the slot so that he DIDN'T have to go up against Rhodes, who doesn't cover slot receivers.

On the touchdown, there was nothing Rhodes could do. Stafford put the ball up high ... Johnson is 6-5. Rhodes was right with him, but Johnson boxed him out, went up, and took the ball. When you're a corner, sometimes you lose. Rhodes can't shut the guy out.

Or can he?

After that, Calvin Johnson didn't catch another pass until 2:53 remained in the game. By that point, the Vikings were two scores ahead and playing soft prevent. That means Johnson went 53 minutes and 22 seconds without catching a single pass. Even the PI call was bull ... Johnson reached back and pulled Rhodes on top of him. Johnson was the one who interfered, not Rhodes.

The 169 in two games works out to below his career average of 87 yards per game.

Finally, we won both games.

I'm pretty happy with Rhodes' play.
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

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J. Kapp 11 wrote: I don't think Calvin got the better of Rhodes at all. Especially this past Sunday.

More than half of Johnson's yards came on a single play, the 46-yard catch on the Lions' first drive. But that came against Captain Munnerlyn, not Rhodes. Johnson was in the slot ... Munnerlyn got turned and fell down, leaving Johnson to run free across the deep middle. Rhodes was 30 yards away covering Lance Moore.

Watch.

If you ask me, the Lions put Calvin in the slot so that he DIDN'T have to go up against Rhodes, who doesn't cover slot receivers.

On the touchdown, there was nothing Rhodes could do. Stafford put the ball up high ... Johnson is 6-5. Rhodes was right with him, but Johnson boxed him out, went up, and took the ball. When you're a corner, sometimes you lose. Rhodes can't shut the guy out.

Or can he?

After that, Calvin Johnson didn't catch another pass until 2:53 remained in the game. By that point, the Vikings were two scores ahead and playing soft prevent. That means Johnson went 53 minutes and 22 seconds without catching a single pass. Even the PI call was bull ... Johnson reached back and pulled Rhodes on top of him. Johnson was the one who interfered, not Rhodes.

The 169 in two games works out to below his career average of 87 yards per game.

Finally, we won both games.

I'm pretty happy with Rhodes' play.
Thanks for the analysis. I wasn't aware of which plays Rhodes was on Johnson. That's a bit more helpful. Though I'm mostly basing my opinion on Rhodes' matchup vs. CJ last season. Do you have the matchup stats for those two meetings handy? I could be wrong but last year felt like Rhodes performed better vs. CJ, of course I believe CJ was dinged up for much of the year so that may have contributed.
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by jackal »

Rhodes has had three things against him this season IMO'

Gotten very bad calls in most games against him.

Always gets the worst assignment and I think they have given him almost no help
in order for Smith and other secondary players to run blitz's and run protection.
Harrison Smith gap blitz's like a LB at times and also shadow blitz's and then shuffles
back into coverage. In fact Barr, Kendricks, and Smith all do that now, so QB's can't
read who is coming.

I think the entire secondary except for him, has other assignments in the run and
middle of field slot coverage Tight ends. I am hoping next season Tre Waynes breaks out,
and they are more free to scheme him to drop off and jump routes like Arizona
does with Peterson and Honey Badger
Last edited by jackal on Thu Oct 29, 2015 2:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

dead_poet wrote:Thanks for the analysis. I wasn't aware of which plays Rhodes was on Johnson. That's a bit more helpful. Though I'm mostly basing my opinion on Rhodes' matchup vs. CJ last season. Do you have the matchup stats for those two meetings handy? I could be wrong but last year felt like Rhodes performed better vs. CJ, of course I believe CJ was dinged up for much of the year so that may have contributed.
You're welcome.

I don't have those stats. Sorry.

As I remembered the game, I recalled seeing a Fox graphic on Johnson later in the second half that he had 2 receptions for 47 yards. I recalled thinking, "Whoa ... other than the first drive, he hasn't done anything." That's what prompted me to look into the game log, where I discovered the 53 minute drought. Astounding. Also, I thought I had remembered Johnson coming across the field for that first big play, and it didn't seem like Rhodes was covering him (when he caught the ball, no one was covering him!). So I went to NFL.com and found the highlight ... sure enough, Johnson lined up in the slot against Captain. Rhodes is on the same side of the field against Moore in man coverage. Moore runs an out, while Johnson beats Captain badly.

For me, it's one of those things where Calvin is such a horse, you're never going to shut him out. If you can hold him to an average game, you'll probably win because the Lions' other weapons just aren't that scary.

For what it's worth, it seemed like Rhodes had more passes defended against CJ last year, which would have put Xavier in the spotlight. But I thought Rhodes did a solid job on Megatron this year, especially this past Sunday. Of course, seven sacks definitely help!
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by Mothman »

J. Kapp 11 wrote: I don't think Calvin got the better of Rhodes at all. Especially this past Sunday.

More than half of Johnson's yards came on a single play, the 46-yard catch on the Lions' first drive. But that came against Captain Munnerlyn, not Rhodes. Johnson was in the slot ... Munnerlyn got turned and fell down, leaving Johnson to run free across the deep middle. Rhodes was 30 yards away covering Lance Moore.

Watch.

If you ask me, the Lions put Calvin in the slot so that he DIDN'T have to go up against Rhodes, who doesn't cover slot receivers.

On the touchdown, there was nothing Rhodes could do. Stafford put the ball up high ... Johnson is 6-5. Rhodes was right with him, but Johnson boxed him out, went up, and took the ball. When you're a corner, sometimes you lose. Rhodes can't shut the guy out.

Or can he?

After that, Calvin Johnson didn't catch another pass until 2:53 remained in the game. By that point, the Vikings were two scores ahead and playing soft prevent. That means Johnson went 53 minutes and 22 seconds without catching a single pass. Even the PI call was bull ... Johnson reached back and pulled Rhodes on top of him. Johnson was the one who interfered, not Rhodes.

The 169 in two games works out to below his career average of 87 yards per game.

Finally, we won both games.

I'm pretty happy with Rhodes' play.
Just to be clear, I wasn't being critical, just pointing out that going up against Calvin Johnson twice might have something to do with the numbers.

Assuming the numbers are accurate (or at least close), without more context its difficult to know how to interpret them. The penalties are concerning but the completions and yardage? 60.5 percent for 361 yards sounds bad when phrased that way but that only amounts to an average of about 60 yards a game. Depending on the circumstances when they were completed, they could just as easily be indicative of good, solid DB play.
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

Mothman wrote:Just to be clear, I wasn't being critical, just pointing out that going up against Calvin Johnson twice might have something to do with the numbers.

Assuming the numbers are accurate (or at least close), without more context its difficult to know how to interpret them. The penalties are concerning but the completions and yardage? 60.5 percent for 361 yards sounds bad when phrased that way but that only amounts to an average of about 60 yards a game. Depending on the circumstances when they were completed, they could just as easily be indicative of good, solid DB play.
Didn't take it as critical, Jim. :D

Honestly, I'm just trying to show that even against Megatron, Rhodes has played well, IMO. And the stats, at least for this latest game, prove it conclusively. I don't know who defended Calvin for his last three catches when the Vikings were in prevent, but the fact that they were in prevent -- meaning soft zone -- makes those stats a bit inflated. The Vikings were letting the Lions complete passes, satisfied with keeping the play in front of them.

The bottom line: Until the game was essentially out of reach, Megatron had one catch for 1 yard against Rhodes. Of course, that one catch was for a TD, but still.

And what you said -- that Rhodes has given up 60 yards per game through the air -- proves the point further. That doesn't seem like a lot to me.

So it appears we agree on this one, Jim! :banana: :banana:
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by Boon »

Mothman wrote:Calvin Johnson has 2 TDs, 15 catches and 169 yards in two games against the Vikings this year. If I recall correctly, Rhodes was covering him most of the time. That may explain a few things. I hear Johnson is pretty good. :)
:rofl:
Kapp mentioned the catch he had sunday, IIRC the first game he had that unbelievable toe tap on the sideline TD too, so when he's not on megatron he's given up 2? Wasn't one on the play where sendejo knocked him out? I have no Idea who the 4th was against because they have given up 8 passing touchdowns on the year, 0 in week 1. Week 2 vs Detroit they gave up 2, megatron, ebron, one was on Rhodes. Week 3, he "gave up" one when sendejo trucked him in the head and the second allen caught when Rhodes wasn't even in the game. Week 4, unless he was covering owen daniels who's a tight end that wasn't on him, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't. Week 6 vs KC, they scored their only passing touchdown on a screen pass, and Wilson was captain's assignment. Week 7 it was Ebron and Megatron again, one on Rhodes. I'm counting 3 and one was a very touchy one where he was knocked almost unconscious.

He's doing just fine, only reason people are riding him are the penalties.
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by Boon »

In other news can someone with a PFF subscription enlighten me as to the amount of targets he's gotten this year vs last year through 6 games? And vs the other DB's this year?
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Re: Rocky Rhodes...

Post by PurpleMustReign »

I took your comments personally, Jim. :-D

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