Matt Elam leads NFL defensive backs in missed tackles

[Maryland]

When the Ravens drafted Elam, their scouting department had to have known that he opted for shoulder hits instead of form tackles. Elam was known for his big hits at Florida, and every pre-draft scouting report before the draft warned of his reluctancy (or inability? he is a little smaller than you'd like) to wrap up and make a form tackle.

 

The only reason I can think of regarding why they drafted Elam over Cyrprien (who was the very next pick in the draft) is because they wanted a more versatile safety. Cyprien is a thumping SS who tackles well, but doesn't play coverage too well, not that he is often asked to so in Jacksonville. Elam was seen as having coverage ability with the talent to play nickle (which he did on occasion at Florida) and the ability to cover TEs. With his current coverage ability, this is simply not the case, so all he is really left with is the ability to be a pure SS. The problem with this is that he is a 5'10" shoulder tackler playing in the box, which is going to lead to a lot of missed tackles. It's a shame because without his versatility to play coverage, he really isn't as useful as a safety. At least Cyprien is good at one thing, tackling, which makes him a good SS. Elam isn't really good at anything, so he's either going to have to either learn how to wrap up and form tackle or learn how to play in coverage because as he is now, he is not very useful.  

[JoeyFlex5]

many were writing off upshaw in his 2nd year for a number of reasons 

 

many were writing off jimmy in his 2nd year until the last drive of the super bowl 

 

many were writing off pernell mcphee because he wasnt getting enough pressure in years 2 and 3

 

what do they all have in common? 

 

2 of them are in our top 5 most important players on defense, and another one is an extremely versatile player who dominates the run from multiple positions. 

 

they all had difficult circumstances to deal with, they had physical troubles with injuries, elam has had mental troubles because he has had a lot to learn in such a little time, he is still playing out of position, and on sunday he was trying to be the supporting cast for dominique franks getting torched on a regular basis. elam is an attacking player, his strength isnt playing catch up to a receiver that just toasted the CB by the time he took his 3rd step, his strength is not deep coverage, and yeah he may be missing a lot of open field tackles, but when its 1v1 and the receiver has plenty of room to make a move with a full head of steam, most db's would struggle with that. 

 

elam is a guy who can blow up plays near the LOS, he can be where the offense would never expect him to be and wreck the play, he is fast and explosive, he is athletic, he is tough, he is physical and he can bring the wood, but some of the situations hes been in have not been ideal. i am nowhere near ready to give up on elam and i think the secondary as a whole needs to be fixed first of all before we cant start blaming elam, and i also think once the secondary is fixed and you dont need 3 or more safeties on the field all playing coverage, then pees needs to play elam to his strengths. 

 

safety is a tough position, elam is in his 2nd year in an unfamiliar position having mental duels with veteran qb's, of course hes gonna get flustered on occasion, its a STEEP learning curve and not everyone is as brilliant as ed reed was, adding up all of what has been forced on elam can definitely explain part of his struggles. 

 

elams number of missed tackles dont make him the problem, they make him part of the problem, and when the other parts of that problem are at least performing at an average level and elam is still sucking it up, THEN we can label him the problem.

[JoeyFlex5]

His technique needs to improve but it's not a major issue here. I think missed tackles are largely a bi-product of Elam playing out of his natural spot. He doesn't know how to position himself and appears to always play a catch up game with very quick guys. The stats are almost as much on coaches as they are on Matt.

 

He might benefit from sitting for a bit and contributing via ST but he's far from being done.

exactly the point i was trying to make. anyone who has played football knows how hard it is to make a 1v1 tackle when youre in your "breakdown" stance and the ballcarrier is all alone 10 yards upfield coming at you, with that kind of running room(which happened often to our safeties sunday due to our corners getting fried crispy) there is a near unlimited number of things the ballcarrier can do to make you miss your tackle

[JoeyFlex5]

Do people seriously think that tackling technique changes from position to position? It changes slightly between open field tackling and box tackling, but for the most part, tackling is tackling. Seriously? Tackling changes from SS to FS? People believe that?

 

The future has no hope.

well the way he was used in college he certainly did a huge amount of box tackling and the way he has been used in the NFL he has had to do a ton of open field tackling, and it doesnt slightly change technique, when a player has a wide open field to make his move, it is much, much more difficult than it is to go drill a player who is weaving through traffic. i started/played all LB positions and backup strong safety in high school, i was a backup at SS for a reason, because open field tackling was so much harder and i didnt have the speed to make up for that in secondary, and the only time i really played strong safety was for short yardage situations, why? because we threw a bigger body in at LB and i was able to shoot the point of attack and make a box tackle. 

 

granted its the NFL and not high school and hes a first round draft pick and i havent seen a field since 2010, its not fair to say open field tackling and box tackling is practically the same, players get juked out of their socks in the open field all the time, the ball carriers get paid to do exactly that.

[Tru11]

well the way he was used in college he certainly did a huge amount of box tackling and the way he has been used in the NFL he has had to do a ton of open field tackling, and it doesnt slightly change technique, when a player has a wide open field to make his move, it is much, much more difficult than it is to go drill a player who is weaving through traffic. i started/played all LB positions and backup strong safety in high school, i was a backup at SS for a reason, because open field tackling was so much harder and i didnt have the speed to make up for that in secondary, and the only time i really played strong safety was for short yardage situations, why? because we threw a bigger body in at LB and i was able to shoot the point of attack and make a box tackle. 

 

granted its the NFL and not high school and hes a first round draft pick and i havent seen a field since 2010, its not fair to say open field tackling and box tackling is practically the same, players get juked out of their socks in the open field all the time, the ball carriers get paid to do exactly that.

 

you can save your breath trying to explain the difference.

 

fans think its all that easy and will simply blindly hate lol.

[The Raven]

well the way he was used in college he certainly did a huge amount of box tackling and the way he has been used in the NFL he has had to do a ton of open field tackling, and it doesnt slightly change technique, when a player has a wide open field to make his move, it is much, much more difficult than it is to go drill a player who is weaving through traffic. i started/played all LB positions and backup strong safety in high school, i was a backup at SS for a reason, because open field tackling was so much harder and i didnt have the speed to make up for that in secondary, and the only time i really played strong safety was for short yardage situations, why? because we threw a bigger body in at LB and i was able to shoot the point of attack and make a box tackle. 

 

granted its the NFL and not high school and hes a first round draft pick and i havent seen a field since 2010, its not fair to say open field tackling and box tackling is practically the same, players get juked out of their socks in the open field all the time, the ball carriers get paid to do exactly that.

 

you can save your breath trying to explain the difference.

 

fans think its all that easy and will simply blindly hate lol.

 

These are valid points.......... if we're in the business of making petty excuses for first round safeties...

 

A wise coach once told me that if you get juked out trying to make a tackle, then you probably didn't use good technique. That coach has a state championship win and has been to three other state champ games, not to mention sending several defensive players to the collegiate level. Tackling is tackling. 

 

And regardless, Elam's problem isn't positioning like you seem to imply with this line of thinking. He literally just throws himself at people in the open field. That works in the box because there's a lot of players there for support, but in the open field, it's stupid. What player is ever taught to do that? It's abundantly obvious that Elam just sucks at tackling. If he was a sound tackler that just sucked at positioning, you'd have a point. But Elam is an athletic guy who is almost always in good position to make tackles. He just doesn't.

 

There is no excuse for leading all DBs in missed tackles. People claim Elam's a strong safety! Last time I checked, strong safeties could tackle. But this guy missed more tackles than our freaking cornerbacks. Are you kidding me?

 

Moreover, this is the NFL, not college. We can't afford to keep a safety in the box to mask his inability to tackle in the open field. We need him in coverage. He's a safety for a reason.

[Sami84]

 He's been appalling..for a first round pick to be ranked the worst SS in football..theres no coming back from that I feel. If he were at least middle of the park..but to be ranked last...

 

harbs and ozzie know they messed up on this one. Lets face it. If he wasn't a first round draft pick he would have been cut by now based on what he has done.

[ravensfan160]

Wasn't there concern like this in Pittsburgh early on in Troy Polamalu's career? We can only hope it turns out that well for us.

[HomeoftheBRAVENS]

Lol. Cordarelle the bust?

 

You talking about that wide receiver whoms actually is  doing  nothing much for The Vikings right now?. Atleast that's what i been hearing but he did have a good game against The Buccs but their secondary sucks.

 

 

It's only week 8 and he's had 3 different QB's and all of them suck.No receiver is thriving in Minnesota right now but that doesn't mean they don't have talented receivers.Patterson is just like Percy Harvin except he's 3 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier.He makes the type of cuts Torrey Smith can't make and has the type of explosiveness and pure speed that no man his size should have.He's a freak of nature and he would flourish here in Baltimore in Kubiak's system and with Flacco throwing to him.You can't judge a player off stats alone.You have to look at the entire situation they're playing in first.You probably could've said Demaryius Thomas the bust before he went from catching passes from Tebow to catching passes from Peyton Manning.

[BmoreBird22]

 

 

Just what are you disagreeing with? Lol. That it's a bad comparison of Jimmy Smith and Joe Flacco to Matt Elam? Are you saying Jimmy didn't show more than Elam at their respective stages in their careers? Or are you saying it's not too early to give up on him or that he doesn't need to improve? I'm not sure I know. I'm guessing you are saying you disagree with the notion that he hasn't excelled at SS. 

 

On that subject, I missed those two games, unfortunately. I left right before the Bears game. Really sad I missed that one and was still away for the Lions game. I have no way to watch those, so yeah. I could be wrong. I was really referring to when he played in the box this year, since that's where I have a lot more knowledge, and the early part of last year. More importantly, a two-game sample size of playing SS is hardly a great indicator of success. Granted, I understand your point, but you don't draft a strictly in-the-box SS in the first round or even the high 2nd. You can find those throughout the draft. Elam needs to be a more versatile safety, because that's what he was drafted to do--be versatile. That's the expectation. 

 

Regardless of whether or not he's comfortable or playing out of position, if you're a safety in today's NFL, that's your job. You need to tackle, cover, and have the instincts to make plays on the ball---however they come. Most importantly, a safety needs to know how to tackle. That's arguably their biggest and most important job. There is a blurred line between SS and FS now, or is that something else you "couldn't disagree with" more? That was my main point.  

 

I'm disagreeing with the idea that he hasn't shown flashes or played well at strong safety. It's a shame you missed those two games because those were honestly the two games where he played so well and it really was what you would have expected from him.

 

A two game sample size is plenty big enough when those are the only two games he's actually played at strong safety. Now, I agree, he has to get better in his coverage and become more consistent in the open field, but you can't argue with him being versatile. He's lined up at cornerback, nickel, strong safety, and free safety all while making the defensive calls. The only other one doing that much is Terrance Brooks, and he's doing it on less snaps and is showing signs of struggling. It's a very steep curve for a defensive back usually, but add in trying to learn several positions at once and it's probably exponentially more difficult.

 

I agree there is a crossover in responsibilities, but that doesn't mean that the roles aren't still a lot of what they were with free safety being your primary coverage safety and strong safety being your thumper. Seattle is showing this to still be an effective strategy with Kam Chancellor, and while Polamalu has good coverage skills, he's still known for his plays in the box. Those are just two that I can think of right off the top of my head. Elam most certainly needs to improve his tackling in the open field instead of throwing himself at the player because he's usually in the right place, but that doesn't mean he can't be used primarily in a rover role, especially if Terrance Brooks shows he can be an effective center fielder.

[jazz1988]

It's only week 8 and he's had 3 different QB's and all of them suck.No receiver is thriving in Minnesota right now but that doesn't mean they don't have talented receivers.Patterson is just like Percy Harvin except he's 3 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier.He makes the type of cuts Torrey Smith can't make and has the type of explosiveness and pure speed that no man his size should have.He's a freak of nature and he would flourish here in Baltimore in Kubiak's system and with Flacco throwing to him.You can't judge a player off stats alone.You have to look at the entire situation they're playing in first.You probably could've said Demaryius Thomas the bust before he went from catching passes from Tebow to catching passes from Peyton Manning.

 

Cool . I was just going off what I had read so far about him and it was articles saying how Patterson was having trouble getting open and etc.  I liked him during the draft and the guy definitely has talent.

[PeRK82]

The rough season for Baltimore Ravens safety Matt Elam continued Sunday, when he missed five tackles in a 27-24 loss in Cincinnati.

It began on the fourth play of the game when Elam took a bad pursuit angle and whiffed on wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, who went on to run for an additional 20 yards to finish off a 48-yard catch.

Elam has now missed 12 tackles this season, which is tied with New Orleans Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro for most by an NFL defensive back. Elam's missed tackles are five more than any other Ravens player.

Do you guys think he's done? Should we bench him?

 YES, YES and YESSSSSSS!!!!

This kid should take his money run to the bank and continue to try and sell Shoes.

 

We need to sign ED REED, he has missed a step or 2 but is literally 10 times better than ELAM in every way you could imagine. 

[1/28/01]

We need to sign ED REED, he has missed a step or 2 but is literally 10 times better than ELAM in every way you could imagine.

Hahahahahaha! Good one.

[JetLife94]

If you have actually played football in high school or even college, it is known most DB's have poor tackling skills. They are speedsters that can cover but have bad hands (hence not being a receiver). A linebacker or D-linemen will wrap up, and drive the runner until he is down. DB's just aimlessly dive head/ shoulder first into the legs. There are few DB's (Seahawks secondary is good example because of their size) that have the same tackling skills as linebackers and D-linemen.

On that note, Matt Elam is just not fit for NFL caliber football. Small Frame, poor tackling, missed coverages, and flat out isn't good on the NFL level.

He played SS his whole career. First nfl season he's FS. Now he's are primary nickel corner give him some time to develop

[HomeoftheBRAVENS]

Cool . I was just going off what I had read so far about him and it was articles saying how Patterson was having trouble getting open and etc.  I liked him during the draft and the guy definitely has talent.

 

 

He's not getting open because he's not a conventional receiver.The vikings aren't using him right and are having the same headaches Seattle had trying to plug Harvin into their offense.He's the type of guy an offensive coordinator has to modify his game plan for.In week one he had 3 rushing attempts and ran one in from 60 yards out.Since then he's had 4 rushes over the span of 7 games and never ran the ball more than once in a game.He should be running atleast 3 or 4 end arounds per game.Which is why I said I think he would fit in here.Kubiak loves using misdirection plays and those end around's would burn teams.He has more lateral speed and quickness than Torrey and Jacoby so he should be better at it than they are.Another way to use that punt/kick return elusiveness and get around the fact that he's not the type of guy to get open by running a route would be to use screens.I haven't seen every game the vikings have played this year but I don't remember seeing him get one screen this year.He could take a screen like the Steve Smith play vs the Falcons to the house.There's so many different ways they could use his talent and they're just not taking advantage of it.They want him to run routes like Greg Jennings and that's just not who he is yet.He's too raw to consistently get open that way.

[757RavensFan]

 

During training camp the coaches gave him the responsibility for calling the defensive schemes.  They wouldn't do that if he wasn't coachable. That being said, he's been a disappointment so far this season. He actually played better his rookie year.

[JoeyFlex5]

I'm disagreeing with the idea that he hasn't shown flashes or played well at strong safety. It's a shame you missed those two games because those were honestly the two games where he played so well and it really was what you would have expected from him.

 

 

he was amazing in that chicago game, thats the elam i was cheering about when we drafted him. 

 

to this day it is the ONLY game where he was strictly used in his natural role, as a in the box rover, and what do ya know, he was the 2nd best defender on the field after jimmy smith, he blew up forte a few times when you thought he had a little room to run. 

 

@DET he was back to being used as a more all around guy, he was in coverage more often than he was against chicago, but he got the game sealing pick and didnt he absolutely annihilate reggie bush at the LOS on a screen where it looked like he was gonna be able to dart down the sideline? 

[BmoreBird22]

 YES, YES and YESSSSSSS!!!!

This kid should take his money run to the bank and continue to try and sell Shoes.

 

We need to sign ED REED, he has missed a step or 2 but is literally 10 times better than ELAM in every way you could imagine. 

Except tackling

[RaineV1]

 

We need to sign ED REED, he has missed a step or 2 but is literally 10 times better than ELAM in every way you could imagine. 

No, just no. Ed Reed is slow and can't tackle. He would basically be a slower version of Elam right now. I am in favor of benching Elam but we already have Hill and Brooks to be solid starters.

[stampedehero]

The rough season for Baltimore Ravens safety Matt Elam continued Sunday, when he missed five tackles in a 27-24 loss in Cincinnati.

It began on the fourth play of the game when Elam took a bad pursuit angle and whiffed on wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, who went on to run for an additional 20 yards to finish off a 48-yard catch.

Elam has now missed 12 tackles this season, which is tied with New Orleans Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro for most by an NFL defensive back. Elam's missed tackles are five more than any other Ravens player.

Do you guys think he's done? Should we bench him?

Now that is a stat. I say let him play 18 snaps (6 a quarter)  and if he goes into a hole at the end of the 3rd insert a basic knows how to tackle NFL football player in his place..  

[GrimCoconut]

I'm disagreeing with the idea that he hasn't shown flashes or played well at strong safety. It's a shame you missed those two games because those were honestly the two games where he played so well and it really was what you would have expected from him.

A two game sample size is plenty big enough when those are the only two games he's actually played at strong safety. Now, I agree, he has to get better in his coverage and become more consistent in the open field, but you can't argue with him being versatile. He's lined up at cornerback, nickel, strong safety, and free safety all while making the defensive calls. The only other one doing that much is Terrance Brooks, and he's doing it on less snaps and is showing signs of struggling. It's a very steep curve for a defensive back usually, but add in trying to learn several positions at once and it's probably exponentially more difficult.

I agree there is a crossover in responsibilities, but that doesn't mean that the roles aren't still a lot of what they were with free safety being your primary coverage safety and strong safety being your thumper. Seattle is showing this to still be an effective strategy with Kam Chancellor, and while Polamalu has good coverage skills, he's still known for his plays in the box. Those are just two that I can think of right off the top of my head. Elam most certainly needs to improve his tackling in the open field instead of throwing himself at the player because he's usually in the right place, but that doesn't mean he can't be used primarily in a rover role, especially if Terrance Brooks shows he can be an effective center fielder.

Yeah, I'm going off of what I've seen so I can only go off of that. I never saw them. It's well established though I won't batter it. You get the idea.

As for versatility, yeah, he has but that doesn't mean it's good versatility. I do agree that it's great he can do all of that but if he's not effective at it then it's a detriment.

I actually wonder if we took away his responsibility on making calls if he would play better. I'd seriously like to see it. It might've happened already. I just haven't looked for it. I really think a lot of his problems are mental and that concerns me. I agree he's a safety and it takes time to acclimate. That doesn't excuse his awful execution and poor technique, and I just can't stand to see him continue to make the same mistakes. It especially irritates me when these mistakes are fundamental issues.

[Tarzanoir]

I'll preface with the statement that I am not an Elam hater. 

 

Elam does not have anywhere close to the talent of Jimmy Smith or Joe Flacco, and the comparison is awful for you to make. First of all, Jimmy did show flashes of greatness--far more than Elam. Granted, Jimmy was hurt his rookie year early in the year and had a ton of depth ahead of him, but he played well when he played. This myth about him being bad is just that--a myth. Joe led us to an AFC Championship game against the Steelers as a rookie! Yes, he had a good team around him but that is not easy for a rookie QB to do. 

 

With that said, it's too early to just completely give up on him, but he hasn't looked good. He needs to improve. These are just facts. Even when he has played SS, he hasn't excelled at it. He is very inconsistent, with more bad than good if I am being honest. He has a few splash plays, but they are not enough. Also, you want a safety to be a hybrid player now, which is why his struggles are more alarming. If we wanted what Elam is giving us, we could have just retained Bernard Pollard. 

At least Bernard Pollard was a hitter and could tackle. We are arm tackling. The problem with him is that he was also a talker...which Harbaugh didn't like.That is one reason the Ravens have had a leadership problem, early on .Harbaugh got rid of all of the leaders and players who would likely usurp his authority. Flacco has yet to take charge like he did in 2012.Suggs really hasn't either.

[Sami84]

pollards a better player then elam and had more size.

 

i dont see one aspect of elams game that is better then pollard. Pollard was an above average SS with serious hitting ability.

[Tru11]

These are valid points.......... if we're in the business of making petty excuses for first round safeties...

 

A wise coach once told me that if you get juked out trying to make a tackle, then you probably didn't use good technique. That coach has a state championship win and has been to three other state champ games, not to mention sending several defensive players to the collegiate level. Tackling is tackling. 

 

And regardless, Elam's problem isn't positioning like you seem to imply with this line of thinking. He literally just throws himself at people in the open field. That works in the box because there's a lot of players there for support, but in the open field, it's stupid. What player is ever taught to do that? It's abundantly obvious that Elam just sucks at tackling. If he was a sound tackler that just sucked at positioning, you'd have a point. But Elam is an athletic guy who is almost always in good position to make tackles. He just doesn't.

 

There is no excuse for leading all DBs in missed tackles. People claim Elam's a strong safety! Last time I checked, strong safeties could tackle. But this guy missed more tackles than our freaking cornerbacks. Are you kidding me?

 

Moreover, this is the NFL, not college. We can't afford to keep a safety in the box to mask his inability to tackle in the open field. We need him in coverage. He's a safety for a reason.

 

why cant we make excuses for a 2nd year 1st round pick who is ask to do everything except the thing he is really good at?

 

people still make excuses for flacco lol.

 

``His best play came in the middle of the fourth quarter, when he ripped the ball away from Sanu to force a turnover. The Ravens converted it into a field goal to extend the Ravens' lead to 24-20. ``

 

Colts game elam also forced a fumble which put the offense in position to tie the game in which they failed.

 

So he is making the plays when we need them but when the offense fails people gonna cry about the 4th play of the game lol

 

12 missed tackles in 8 games with 5 being in 1 game.

 

take those 5 from the bengals game away and he avg just 1 missed tackle a game.

 

Missed tackles by Elam are not the reason the ravens lost a few games.

 

Its simply easier to blame this kid then lets say the offense who only plays good when they feel like it or the coaching who for some reason takes points of the board trying to get cute.

 

to put things evenmore in perspective.

 

the ravens defense is 2nd in the league in points given up allowing only 16.4.

lions are #1 with 15.8 and chiefs are #3 with 18.3.

 

kid is a starter on the #2 ranked defense in points given up who had 1 bad game tackling and if you discard that game avg 1 missed tackle per game.

he is only in his 2nd year btw and played FS last year and this year a mix of FS,SS and nickle corner.......

 

either people are overreacting or they are just blindly hating on the kid.

 

best most where also calling jimmy a bust lol.

jimmy was used to playing press man in college and for his first 2 seasons struggled mightly in zone biting on double moves giving up TDs.

 

now he is our best corner and maybe even our most important/best defender......

[jazz1988]

pollards a better player then elam and had more size.

 

i dont see one aspect of elams game that is better then pollard. Pollard was an above average SS with serious hitting ability.

 

Pollard was a solid strong safety but before coming here he was consider to be pretty bad at  pass coverage. He's always been good at tackling but even he had his moments with miss tackles cause he always wanted to go with the big hits. Calling him a above average strong safety is cool but i never really consider him that good . His pass coverage did get better  with us and it should especially with Ed Reed giving the calls but we used Pollard way differently than  how we are using Elam now.

 

We honestly did a good job with using Pollard in a way so he wouldn't get expose  in coverage

[Drew P]

The rough season for Baltimore Ravens safety Matt Elam continued Sunday, when he missed five tackles in a 27-24 loss in Cincinnati.

It began on the fourth play of the game when Elam took a bad pursuit angle and whiffed on wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, who went on to run for an additional 20 yards to finish off a 48-yard catch.

Elam has now missed 12 tackles this season, which is tied with New Orleans Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro for most by an NFL defensive back. Elam's missed tackles are five more than any other Ravens player.

Do you guys think he's done? Should we bench him?

 

If it was up to "we" then he would be riding pine but he is a first rounder they will leave him out there until the staff swallows their pride and sits his lame butt down

[The Raven]

why cant we make excuses for a 2nd year 1st round pick who is ask to do everything except the thing he is really good at?

 

people still make excuses for flacco lol.

 

``His best play came in the middle of the fourth quarter, when he ripped the ball away from Sanu to force a turnover. The Ravens converted it into a field goal to extend the Ravens' lead to 24-20. ``

 

Colts game elam also forced a fumble which put the offense in position to tie the game in which they failed.

 

So he is making the plays when we need them but when the offense fails people gonna cry about the 4th play of the game lol

 

12 missed tackles in 8 games with 5 being in 1 game.

 

take those 5 from the bengals game away and he avg just 1 missed tackle a game.

 

Missed tackles by Elam are not the reason the ravens lost a few games.

 

Its simply easier to blame this kid then lets say the offense who only plays good when they feel like it or the coaching who for some reason takes points of the board trying to get cute.

 

to put things evenmore in perspective.

 

the ravens defense is 2nd in the league in points given up allowing only 16.4.

lions are #1 with 15.8 and chiefs are #3 with 18.3.

 

kid is a starter on the #2 ranked defense in points given up who had 1 bad game tackling and if you discard that game avg 1 missed tackle per game.

he is only in his 2nd year btw and played FS last year and this year a mix of FS,SS and nickle corner.......

 

either people are overreacting or they are just blindly hating on the kid.

 

best most where also calling jimmy a bust lol.

jimmy was used to playing press man in college and for his first 2 seasons struggled mightly in zone biting on double moves giving up TDs.

 

now he is our best corner and maybe even our most important/best defender......

 

So, what you're saying is we shouldn't criticize him for leading DBs in missed tackles for the sole reason that our defense is doing well? That's the dumbest thing I've read today.

 

We can't make excuses for him because HIS JOB IS TO TACKLE! And he sucks at his job. I can't be any clearer than that.

 

We make excuses for Joe because his mistakes are usually influenced by our shortcomings at other positions. Elam's inability to tackle is all on him. Simple concept.

 

Elam is a strong safety. How "safe" should our defense feel knowing that our strong safety leads DBs in missed tackles? It's especially concerning because people claim that his natural position is strong safety, but strong safeties are supposed to be the best tacklers in the secondary. I've never called Elam a bust, but he's playing way below his potential right now. He is playing slow, soft, and hesitant. He's not playing at the same level he was in college. That, to me, shows he's mentally behind. There's no questions he's a good athlete. He simply shouldn't be struggling this much if we go just on his athleticism.

[BmoreBird22]

Does anyone have his missed tackle count from last year

[Gordo52]

Except tackling

Ehhhh, I don't know.

[BmoreBird22]

Ehhhh, I don't know.

I know we like to remember Reed fondly, but the tackling at the end of his career was as abysmal as it gets