If Macho Harris played defensive tackle or linebacker it wouldn’t be as big a deal to have him starting as a rookie. If a DT or a LB makes a mistake, the other team gains 10 or 15 yards at the most.
At weak safety, if you make a mistake the play goes for a 50 yards and a touchdown. That’s why they couldn’t afford to let Quintin Demps start at that spot. He was making too many mental errors.
Surprisingly veteran safety Sean Jones also had problems figuring out the Birds coverages. I would still rather have a strong safety making a mistake here or there than a weak safety who plays deep all the time.
This could wind up being an awful mistake for the Birds because they decided not to resign Brian Dawkins despite not having somebody back there to replace him. They wasted all the off season and preseason on Demps, but wound up realizing that he’s not ready.
What makes this mistake even worst if the fact that they could have signed five or six guys who are veteran free safeties to come in here and play that spot. It’s not a requirement to have a star at the weak safety position, but you must have somebody there who is competent.
A good football team can’t afford to give up easy touchdowns. Incompetence at the weak safety position makes a team vulnerable to the big play.
How long is it going to take the Panthers to send Steve Smith on short motion inside on first down with the Eagles thinking run?
Jake Delhomme is going to signal Smith to go in short motion with his foot.
The movement inside will make it difficult for Asante Samuel or Sheldon Brown to get a jam on Smith. The Panthers will be guessing the Birds are in a zone coverage on first down because that will mean the corners will turn Smith loose when he goes inside.
Delhomme will perform a run fake to DeAngelo Williams, then pull out of there with the football.
Smith will fake like he’s blocking strong safety Quintin Mikell or one of the linebackers who are positioned near the line of scrimmage. All the time he’ll have his eyes on Harris, while he’s getting lost in the confusion in the middle of the field.
All he needs is for the kid to take his eyes off of him or take a step forward. Once Smith sees that, it’ll be like a shark moving in for the kill.
I’m not going to take this story any further because it doesn’t have a good ending.
Sean McDermott needs to tell the rest of the secondary to give the kid some help. They could do that by going the exrra step and jamming Smith every time they get the chance. I’d also like to see them stay with the jam a little longer.
Communication will be the key back there for Harris. He’s got to talk to the rest of the secondary and the veterans in the secondary need to talk to him.
We always used to say don’t keep any secrets back here.
At one point or another the kid is going to have to make a play, but we don’t need to be in a rush to see it. On the other hand, Harris could turn out to be a star and make Reid and McDermott look like geniuses.
