Report Card

[Mickalino]

What's the grade for David Terrell, now that the season is about over ?

At the beginning of the year, most people thought he would be supplanted by Keith Lyle as the starter, once Lyle settled in, but that never happened. And I havnt heard Terrell's name mentioned very often. I assume that's a fairly good signal. Was the experiment with Terrell a decent success ? Or are we still loooking hard at a replacement at that position this offseason ?

[bulldog]

The Redskins were hoping Terrell would be another Merton Hanks, a corner with decent speed who could be switched to safety where his cover skills and much better speed against TE's and RB's would work to his advantage.

The problem has been that he has brought his tackling skills with him from corner. Terrell is a poor tackler for a safety. He is small and gets crunched when he comes up to support the run as well.

The one area, pass defense, where you think Terrell would make up for his lack of size and punch, is negated by the fact he is still slow in reading and reacting to plays in the middle of the field.

For a free safety he doesn't come up with many passes defensed or interceptions. He doesn't force or recover many fumbles either.

And we know he has been late in providing deep help to Smoot and Bailey at times as well.

The really good free safeties in the NFL like Brian Dawkins and Brock Marion are seemingly always around the ball and making key plays for the defense. Terrell's name has not been called much because he just hasn't made the plays.

[Cskin]

I'm going to have to agree with Bulldog, I think Terrell has been a disappointment. I too often see him overpursuing on run plays and then trying to make tackles with his arms. He also doesn't pack enough punch at the point of attack, so you'll never see him hit someone harder enough to cause a turnover. Now, his slow reaction might be something he has been taught to do... given the fact that he has two above average corners on the outside, but it's possible that he lacks the instincts to be a safety. I'd like to see us upgrade the position with someone who is a better hitter and tackler, and have Terrell moved back to dime back.

[Art]

Terrell is VERY weak against the run and in tackling. He is, however, an asset in coverage. While Bulldog says he dosn't come up with much in the middle of the field, I can't say that I disagree too much. I just think it's for a different reason than he's been slow to respond or react.

Quite simply, teams aren't going up the field down the middle very much on us. And it's because Terrell has been in the right position to make teams go elsewhere on most plays. He's NOT a dynamic safety like Brown or Dawkins, but, he's sound and he has made plays on balls in coverage, but, to be honest, he's not really the guy teams are picking on. That tells me, much like with Smoot, that he's making plays by taking his responsibility and keeping teams from going after him. Unlike Smoot though, he's just not dangerous to go after .

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Doom is in the box.

[GURU]

I'm going to disagree with most of these assessments. I'm not exactly sure just what everyone has been expecting from Terrell. He's legitimately held off a safety who was starting in the Super Bowl two years ago.

While I can remember Terrell missing some tackles, especially early in the season, I remember an awful lot of nice open field tackles too. I wouldn't classify Terrell as a poor tackler for a safety. Just an average one. He's aggressive, but he just doesn't have a whole lot of ballast to bring when he hits. In coverage, you can cite him for a couple of missed tackles, but he usually wraps up the receiver little or no yardage after the catch.

His reaction time has improved as the season went along. You might expect a less than natural response when you're learning a new position. I'm not seeing all the "late" help some of you are talking about. If your trying to cite the long TD by the Eagles, you're off base. The Skins were in a zone. That receiver was supposed to be picked up by Smoot, who let him go. You don't see the whole picture on TV. Terrell was late getting there because he had to come off his assigment in the middle to try and cover Smoot's *** . Admittedly, both he and Smoot missed the tackle, though.

What you often don't see on TV is how much Terrell is asked to do in coverage. He plays more man coverage than you realize, and does a pretty good job. Schottenheimer plays both Terrell and Lyle in a lot of cover packages, which is kind of unusual, but has been effective. You don't see him around the ball much because offenses are rarely throwing in his direction. I'm with Art. That says something to me about the job he's doing in coverage.

Sometimes I don't understand the thinking around here. It's like, well, Terrell's not Brian Dawkins or the second coming of Ronnie Lott. The Skins have won Super Bowls with worse and less talented free safeties than David Terrell (can anybody remember Todd Bowles?) Terrell has been improving and has been solid. The abilities he does possess allow you to do some things in coverage that many other teams can't do.

I don't get it. This team has been getting better safety play this year than in a long time. It seems like several people aren't happy unless we have a Pro Bowler at every position. IT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

I like the coverage we've been getting from this secondary. I'd bring back the entire unit, including Lyle, in tact. Then we can address some other positions we REALLY need help at.

[ by GURU on December 28, 2001.]

[TennesseeCarl]

I was going to say I thought Terrell has had a pretty good season and that he seemed to move up well in run support. To be honest, I find it hard to evaluate safeties unless they're abosolutely stellar or horrible, and David is neither.

Keep in mind, though, that this is a young kid who was drafted in the 7th round or thereabouts out of UTEP or some such. I don't think he even played his senior season. The guy was our best special teams player last year (I realize that might be like being the thinnest Hog) and showed some passion when everyone else was mailing it in.

[Art]

Guru has a point about the general theme against some players if they aren't in the top tier of players at their position. Hell, there's a backlash against players here that HAVE been among the top at their position -- i.e. Alexander.

Terrell isn't a good tackler. Guru kindly rates him as average, and that's fine. Average he may be. He's not good I'd like us to beef up back there, or see if Terrell can keep what he does well in coverage even adding a few pounds.

But, our secondary play this year has been generally very solid. If we had a bit more pressure from the front four on the QB, I suspect you'd see a lot more plays made by our secondary. But, when you give a QB a ton of time to throw, he doesn't have to make a risky throw. He can make a measured throw that limits the mistakes. We give the opposing team's passing game too much time to scan the field and avoid making mistakes. We have to get better up front in generating pressure to suit our secondary. And if that happens, I think we'll see a ton of plays made back there.

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Doom is in the box.

[NavyDave]

I'd give him a grade of for average.

And I'm curious to see if Ohalete supplants him next year.

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Take A Sip of the Marty KoolAid and Believe.