Ronald Darby - how will he do?

[johnwalter]

Rodak wrote up a surprisingly nice interview with Donnie H on Darby:

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/20690/bills-ronald-darby-has-been-exposed-but-coach-loves-his-mentality

 

He also predicted that the Bills go 10-6 earlier... must be an imposter.

[YoloinOhio]

@mikerodak: Bills DBs coach Donnie Henderson floated one idea to me: putting Darby -- with help -- on top WR, and Gilmore on opponent's 2nd WR.

 

This might be in the article linked above - haven't read yet

Edited September 8, 2015 by YoloinOhio

[KingRex]

My main concern, and it's a big one, is that Darby is actually pretty good if not very good for a rookie on staying right with his man. And he likes to use his hands. This, combined with the lack of ball awareness so far, is going to make him VERY susceptible to PI calls for several reasons. Good WRs can make it look like he is more physical than he is, plus officials tends to overcall PI penalties on rookies as a kind of rite of passage. Luck, especially, is very accurate. I suspect the Colts will go for opportune passes downfield almost targeting PI calls as much as completions.

I would say the evidence of actual game events does not fully support your conclusion that Darby suffers from a lack of ball awareness. In his games against better QBs Newton and RoboQB with Pitts they were able to take advantage of Darby awareness, but both his INTs against lesser QBs with the Browns actually demonstrated very good ball awareness on his part

 

I unfortunately don't save the pre-season tapes so I cannot say for sure in the NC and Pitts case it was better QBs taking advantage of him covering taller WRs (I know one case of poor play by Darby was the tall Benjamin early in the game vs. RoboQB) but I suspect from the quite good ball awareness he showed on a 'tip drill" INT and a coverage INT that Darby can get it done under the right circumstances.

 

Facing Luck and Brady in the first two games I would not be surprised to see you are correct that the Bills rely more on the vets Robey or Graham at CB instead of relying on the rookie against these stud QBs. However, one of the reasons why Darby's (it is to be hoped rookie) performance did not worry me.

 

When the games start, the Bills will play pass D

 

1. Relying on 2 (and potentially three) vets to cover the starting wides.

2. The major thrust will actually be to hope our DL (even without Dareus) can make it hard to pick on our CBs

3. Ryan is supposed to be a blitz master and I think new and interesting blitzes will be a lead story in D effortws.

4. The Bills will hope that even with his struggles, that Darby will have learned some lessons from his preseason troubles.

5. I would not be surprised to see Darby start, but in the first pass play Ryan/Thurman actually dial up a CB blitz by the speedy Darby and Graham rotates from safety to cover the WR.

 

I think it is the case that we possibly can be beaten by the pass in our first two games but we can easily launch some plays that make it hard for even a stud QB to beat us.

[Dorkington]

I see Darby being a lot like early McKelvin, for better or worse... a lot of physical talent, but still needs to work on the mental aspects of the game. I'm hoping our coaching staff develops Darby faster than it took previous staffs to develop McKelvin.

[vincec]

If Rex does a lot of Blitzing and leaves Darby 1v1, then Luck will eat him up. Fortunately, I don't think Rex will do that.

Edited September 9, 2015 by vincec

[BringBackOrton]

McKelvin, Gilmore, and Aaron Williams (granted he changed to safety) were pretty bad at first and improved as time went on. Hoping they have a gameplan in place to hide Darby until he "gets it". It is evident that he is not quite there yet.

[johnwalter]

McKelvin, Gilmore, and Aaron Williams (granted he changed to safety) were pretty bad at first and improved as time went on. Hoping they have a gameplan in place to hide Darby until he "gets it". It is evident that he is not quite there yet.

 

actually, gilmore was pretty good out of the gate.

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

 

 

I expect to see Gilmore, Graham and Robey as the starting corners. I know they haven't shown it and have supported Darby thru his struggles but I don't think Rex will want to give up his safeties to babysit Darby and because he is so handsy I don't know if safety help will protect him from PI's anyway.

Yeah I don't think its as simple as "safety help over the top, done-ski." The kid will get torn up by either Andre Johnson or TY Hilton. Does he have a prayer against a Luck back shoulder throw? Double moves underneath? Agreed, I wrote elsewhere I think Graham and Rambo start- for Rex what is the point of trying this Darby thing so quickly when you have Graham right there.

[YattaOkasan]

Yeah I don't think its as simple as "safety help over the top, done-ski." The kid will get torn up by either Andre Johnson or TY Hilton. Does he have a prayer against a Luck back shoulder throw? Double moves underneath? Agreed, I wrote elsewhere I think Graham and Rambo start- for Rex what is the point of trying this Darby thing so quickly when you have Graham right there.

I think both the back shoulder and the double move are stopped by a safety over the top. If Darby has someone over the top I expect him to bite on everything back to the QB. The back shoulder will be played aggressively. He will get burned on the double move but there should be a safety there.

 

I don't really like the Graham vs TY or Andre Johnson matchup either so if were gonna roll safety help anyway then let's just use the quick corner (Darby) on the quick wide out (TY) with safety help over the top.

 

Outside of that, I expect Darby to be moved around a lot. Either he blitzes/defense blitzes from his side and he plays deep/exotic blitzes where he ends up in the middle of the field. Anything and everything to make picking on him difficult.

Edited September 9, 2015 by YattaOkasan

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

I think both the back shoulder and the double move are stopped by a safety over the top. If Darby has someone over the top I expect him to bite on everything back to the QB. The back shoulder will be played aggressively. He will get burned on the double move but there should be a safety there.

 

I don't really like the Graham vs TY or Andre Johnson matchup either so if were gonna roll safety help anyway then let's just use the quick corner (Darby) on the quick wide out (TY) with safety help over the top.

 

Outside of that, I expect Darby to be moved around a lot. Either he blitzes/defense blitzes from his side and he plays deep/exotic blitzes where he ends up in the middle of the field. Anything and everything to make picking on him difficult.

That back shoulder throw is tough for a safety to give help on when it's for 10-15 yards. Darby had a back shoulder throw in one of the PS games where he got his head around to look at the ball...just before it was caught. And Darby was still on the WR's front shoulder. I have doubts he can get from there to defending Luck and Hilton successfully on the route so quickly. Love me some Donnie Henderson so who knows for sure

 

The double moves up the field will get safety help but you can run double moves horizontally too, not the same threat but Luck is perfectly capable of moving down the field in smaller chunks.

 

I think that at this moment Graham is the vastly superior corner and would fare better against Johnson than Darby against TY.

 

Additionally Rex' defenses are built on confusing the quarterback and offensive line into mistakes. This is done by varying positions and assignments for all 11 players- move them around so the offensive line has no idea before the snap who they're about to be blocking. This becomes a lot harder for Ryan to accomplish when you start pulling numbers away from that mix in order to double team somebody- why do this if it isn't necessary?

 

I like your ideas about hiding Darby if he is in there. Get on the Twitter machine and spread the word.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Aaron

[BackInDaDay]

Darby's ball skills aside, as a rookie, i think his biggest challenge will be recognizing and reacting to what his responsibilities are within the called coverage. where his help will be, and where he must give help..

and he won't be alone.. this will be our entire defense's challenge in a new system that will sacrifice congestion in the secondary for pressure on the ball.

 

so expect a few blown coverages until everybody settles in and starts herding their assignments where they want them..

[billsfan89]

I see Darby being a lot like early McKelvin, for better or worse... a lot of physical talent, but still needs to work on the mental aspects of the game. I'm hoping our coaching staff develops Darby faster than it took previous staffs to develop McKelvin.

 

Jauron was never able to develop McKelvin his first couple of years and then Chan never had a great defensive coach to help him develop. Suddenly 5 years into his career Pettine comes in moves McKelvin to the slot and coaches him up right and he became a pretty good corner. Pettine simplified the scheme for him and then built upon that, even last year before the injury McKelvin looked solid and like he was more capable of playing outside the slot. Schwartz did a good job with him improving upon what Pettine did.

 

I hope Rex is able to develop Darby quickly, it is amazing what good coaching can do.

[johnwalter]

 

Jauron was never able to develop McKelvin his first couple of years and then Chan never had a great defensive coach to help him develop. Suddenly 5 years into his career Pettine comes in moves McKelvin to the slot and coaches him up right and he became a pretty good corner. Pettine simplified the scheme for him and then built upon that, even last year before the injury McKelvin looked solid and like he was more capable of playing outside the slot. Schwartz did a good job with him improving upon what Pettine did.

 

I hope Rex is able to develop Darby quickly, it is amazing what good coaching can do.

 

Everything you just said.

But I think you're missing the name "Donnie Henderson" in there.

[gr8billsfan]

He will have to do. Darby's going to have an experienced coaching staff and teammates to help him if he's ever in need. Can't wait to see our Buffalo Bills play!

[Dorkington]

 

Jauron was never able to develop McKelvin his first couple of years and then Chan never had a great defensive coach to help him develop. Suddenly 5 years into his career Pettine comes in moves McKelvin to the slot and coaches him up right and he became a pretty good corner. Pettine simplified the scheme for him and then built upon that, even last year before the injury McKelvin looked solid and like he was more capable of playing outside the slot. Schwartz did a good job with him improving upon what Pettine did.

 

I hope Rex is able to develop Darby quickly, it is amazing what good coaching can do.

It's the difference between becoming a good/solid player or being a bust for the majority of players imo. Hell, we saw it with EJ this pre-season... looked kinda eh with the previous staff, making plays all over the place with Roman. Coaching cannot be emphasized enough.

[YoloinOhio]

CC: Colts on this comment

 

 

 

@TyDunne: Rex on Darby: To think we're going to roll our coverage to him every snap, that's not going to happen. This kid can play.

[BobbyC81]

No different then McKelvin. It took him a few years to learn to play pro CB

 

He will make mistakes he will get better

Still, anyone who has Andre Johnson on their fantasy team should start him.

[YoloinOhio]

Still, anyone who has Andre Johnson on their fantasy team should start him.

not unless you don't think Gilmore can cover him. I foresee Darby+rolled coverage on Hilton and Gilmore 1:1 on Johnson. Sub packages for the other WR/TE sets. Edited September 9, 2015 by YoloinOhio

[D521646]

I don't know if this has been mentioned already but one thing they really need to do is keep Darby on the side of the ball where our sidelines are so we can yell out "BALL" when it's thrown at him..

 

I half joking but there is some logic to it.

 

Tim-

[DrDawkinstein]

So it seems that just a little Safety help can work wonders, as most of us suspected. Wasnt a major change to Rex's gameplan, and Darby looked good out there.

 

Was never burned. Got his head around to play the ball. And was in position to make picks and break up catches with no pass interference. Letting that Safety help on one side allowed him to do this.