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2008-2009 Regular Season: Postgame -
Referencing The Past For Perspective On The Present
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- September 29, 2008 At
2:17 AM EST
- By
Eric M. Scharf
Does anyone remember Elvis "Toast" Patterson? Maybe #41, with his
cute little nickname, "T-NEW," would rather be known as Terence
"Toast" Newman. Yes, I am disgusted with his play against the Skins.
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- With great respect to exactly how potentially injured Newman may be,
no one forces you to slip on the stadium turf. No one forces you to
bite-like-a-rookie on a stop-and-go by one of the Smurfs. And those
cute little "shoulder" tackles? "You disappoint me, Fredo, errr,
Terence."
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- If that man has any nerve, pride, or ego, he will play
T.J. or Ocho Cinco straight-up, all game long next week, and he will
not let either of them get so much as an inch of breathing room. He
will play against them like Shawn Springs played against T.O. Like
glue.
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- Terence might even find it in his heart to wrap up on his
"attempted" tackles. Remember, folks: it does not matter if the
D-linemen miss their tackles, and the linebackers miss theirs,
because, once the enemy is headed your way, it is on YOU to make the
tackle that counts.
You can do the glass half empty or glass half full, but the result
needs to be the same. "Well, the kicker would never have had to make
that kick if we would have just made one more first down or made
that interception."
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- The kicker is paid to make the kick, no matter
the circumstances. Toast Newman is paid to be a "shut down corner".
We endure his off-season injuries (not his fault, of course) that
linger into the regular season and jeopardize some of the biggest
games on the schedule. We endure his every-other-game success.
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- Toast
Newman is paid to defend against the pass, make the tackle (low to
the ground with BOTH arms), and not play soft, speed-diminishing
coverage . . . no matter the circumstances, because a veteran corner
(with help from the deep safety on his side) is supposed to be able
to identify when it is appropriate to play soft, as ordered by the
coaching staff, or when it is best to change up his approach when it
appears inevitable that a 5-yard slant, rather than a GO-route, is
headed his way.
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- And, next week, Toast Newman will be
off the hook, because, as is their history of taking turns, Anthony
Henry will have gotten it right between the eyes, too.
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- Will I and the millions of other
armchair quarterbacks be wrong? This would be our strong preference.
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- We shall see. We always do.
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