Al Harris is half of one of the best cornerback tandems in the league.
See here for Part 1 of the Article
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/14319
No. 2: Champ Bailey and Dre Bly, DEN
Champ Bailey possesses the best combination of skill, instinct, and knowledge for a cornerback in the game and is the closest thing to a true shutdown corner we have today.
He will blanket the other team’s top receiver and will often take him completely out of the game.
He is excellent in both bump-and-run coverage, as well as zone schemes. Bailey has always shown great quickness and technique, combined with excellent speed.
With his talent and ball skills, Bailey could easily be a wide receiver and has been used in set offenses from time to time.
He is very active in run support, and plays the run well. The biggest knocks on Bailey have been that he is eager to gamble, and will lose occasionally, like he did last year against Brett Favre for two 79-yard touchdowns.
He is also not a big hitter, and once the receiver has the ball, rarely causes fumbles.
Being paired with Bailey, Dre Bly had the first opportunity to be a No. 2 corner in a defense after being the top corner in Detroit and St. Louis.
Bly maybe undersized at 5-foot-10, but he is a real playmaker. Seemingly in spite of his size, he is very confident and loves to challenge the bigger receivers.
He gets good position on his receivers and plays tough, but he sometimes has trouble against the bigger receivers that he challenges, as they push off for separation.
Another tremendous athlete, Bly doesn't waste much motion, and has very fluid hips, turning on a dime. He too will gamble, and lose more than he should because he has concentration lapses.
He has a rare combination of quickness to cover the slot and top-end speed to play on the perimeter.
As a contrast to Bailey, he isn’t very physical and isn't much help in run support. His tackling can actually be a liability and he struggles to shed blocks while seeming a little indifferent to the play once it is out of the air.
No. 1: Charles Woodson and Al Harris, GB
The baby of the pairing at age 31, Charles Woodson has been a premier man-to-man cover cornerback in the NFL for about nine years, first with the Oakland Raiders and now with the Green Bay Packers.
While age has caught up with Woodson. He no longer has the same speed that the 1997 Heisman Trophy winner showed, but he more than compensates for any slowdown with great instincts and awareness. He uses these skills to anticipate the receiver's route and breaks on the ball.
Woodson continues to be a smart football player who combines that intelligence with a physical style and a love for the game that shows in his energetic play.
The teamwork between Woodson and Al Harris is evident to each other when Woodson is quick to credit Harris' shutdown abilities for the playmaking opportunities that are coming his way with the Packers.
Like Asomugha, Harris is one of the few bump-and-run specialists remaining in the game, and he can be extremely physical at the line of scrimmage.
A tough, smart veteran, Harris regularly shadows the opposing team's top receiver and holds him in check. This role has led Harris to be a meticulous student in the film room to prepare. He is very quick to pick up on small signals in a receiver’s game that hint at what is about to come.
At age 33, speed is also a concern for Harris. Woodson and Harris face their biggest problems when faced with burner wideouts, and they resort to their bump-and-run to slow them down.
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5 months ago
what an idiot.....you try to break down the players when you're so far off.....
especially on Asomugha and Hall...i've honestly never heard a worse breakdown of any player ever...
i think you should watch the games w/o your head up your @ss
from 5 months ago
Clearly a Raider fan. But please tell me what exactly you have an issue with my analysis of Hall and Asomugha?
5 months ago
Clearly another Raider Hater....Bailey -Bly only ones can be placed in from of Hall & Asm.- sure they havent played together yet.
BUT your clearly a Packers Fan..or because of thier last Favre run you sure over hype this tandem..your way off on this one..good luck
5 months ago
OK --now i get it you loved Woodson in college too cause your from Canada got to see all their Michigan games like Green Bay Packers, always have their games on TV...
THEN WHEN WOODSON JOINED HARRIS YOU GOT THIS VIAGARA HARD ON THAT WONT GO AWAY...a HARRIS WOODY- IF YOU WILL ..LOL
dude woodson is one of the best tackling dbs..but dont tell me hes fast....league souts would laugh at U
5 months ago
I'm wondering myself, how the Denver tandem got picked for number 2, when on various occasions, they were burned, like against Green Bay, or schooled, by Oakland in the second game?
Dre' Bly and Champ Bailey have a number of years together, but when it comes down to it, they are also on the decline. Nmandi, and Hall, are just coming into their own, and the Green Bay duo, if Woodson doesn't do anything stupid, could keep it real. But their problem won't be on the defense, but hoping the offense can meld with a new QB to work with.
5 months ago
The Packers combo of Harris and Woodson is still intimidating for any opponent. Unfortunately, Harris had a terrible game in the NFC championship against the Giants, but his physical style sometimes leads to giving up plays downfield. That is something he will need to remedy this next season ... but I don't know if he will be changing his style at this point in his career.
5 months ago
this artical made me lol, Bailey paired up with allmost any outher corner could make the best tandom in the leage
from 5 months ago
this comment made me laugh, too. Wasn't it the broncos that lost on the first play in overtime, to the packers? Where was your CBs then?
Bailey had 3 picks last year, 71 tackles because their line was suspect, and they finished 7-9.
Somehow, he was picked for the pro bowl, which doesn't make any sense....overrated.
5 months ago
Brown and Samual? i didt know lito was traded... cause he's not! i think samual and lito is the BEST corner duo in the league,adding brown at the nickel or at saftey with dawkins. BEST secondary in the league, drafting phillips would be icing on the cake.
5 months ago
I'm a Bolts guy, but I also think I'd put the Raider tandem above the Charger guys, at least for now. The point about how the rest of the defense can help or hurt the secondary is a valid one. In fact, I remember saying much the same thing a few years ago in defense of Jammer and the Charger secondary. The Raider D-line is atrocious and their front seven gets zero pressure, leaving the CB's on an island. It's a testament to Awesome-Wha and others that they don't give up 30+ a game. And when the sage front office of the Raiders decides to draft McFadden instead of addressing DT with the first pick, we'll have another year of hearing how good these corners are even though the team is 4-12.
While that is pretty close call, I don't agree AT ALL that the GB corners are the best. Sure, Harris is a stud, no argument there. But identifying Woodson as a "premier man-to-man cover cornerback in the NFL for about nine years" is CRAZY. Maybe it was the injuries, maybe it was the impact of the overall Raider approach to defense while he was there, but Woodson was a liability when he left the Raiders, except in run coverage where he still managed to make solid plays fairly consistently (not dissimilar to the early Jammer years, I might add). To me, Woodson is about 9th or so among the 10 CB's on this list, and that means Harris must be SO above and beyond the others that together they are the best duo. I just don't see that...
5 months ago
lol jammer and cromartie ahead of hall and aso?
i watched all of cromarties picks and (including postseason) had about 4-5 picks off tipped passes where he happened to be the one behind the off-course ball.
on at least one other 9against the lions) i saw him get beat by the WR only to have the ball thrown in stride o cromartie and not to the receiver. not his great coverage skills to thank for that one. and i believe he was man-to-man with jerry porter and got too distraced watching russell roll out of the pocket and let his receiver get open in the endzone.
then that one-handed pick was a 1 in a 1000 catch. thats at least 5 picks that are complete BS. hes nowhere near as good as aso or hall. hall gets a little too excited going for the big-play sure, but at east hes in position to make the gamble.
as for jammer, hes an excellent pres corner (see afc championship game, he completely knocked rany moss off all his routes) but as for his man coverage idk enough but ill be sure to watch.
oh and asomugha locks down his WR. why do you think Qbs like manning and favre were too scared to throw his way? or couldnt? allowing 10 receptions in 31 attempts while still being a sure-tackler and good in run support maks him better than both of the chargers CBs.
the chargers shouldnt be on this list. the ravens and jags have better tandems at CB and cromarties one good year is no sure thing.
5 months ago
the raiders tandem should be good, but i've also heard hall called overrated, don't get me wrong i'd be excited to get him too, i think it's inevitable that the jury is still out on how they will perform...as for Harris and Woodson...as a packer backer I can't agree more. Harris had a bad g ame in the NFC championship game I will concede that...then again i also saw champ bailey get toasted by the none too fast James Jones...a rookie. What I'm getting at is that bad games happen...From everything I've heard and from what I know I think that the Harris-Woodson tandem is the best in the league, but I think it's presumptuous to claim that they have the answers, like all you smart asses seem to do. Unless I watched game film and had a defensive backs coach break down what was supposed to happen and what they did, I couldn't give a truely educated list...my answer: Ask a damn scout...it's their job...then again scouting is only so good (Ryan Leaf, Tony Mandarich)
from 5 months ago
Harris did have a bad game in the NFC Championship but when all is said and done the Packers secondary didn't allow ONE TD catch and the biggest passing play allowed was under 32 yards. So even at their worst Woodson and Harris are still better than most secondaries. The Patriots got toasted by this same Giants team for countless big passing plays and allowed multiple TD catches. The overrated and overpayed A. Samuel was part of the secondary that allowed this to happen. For the time being, I think the torch has to be passed to Oakland for the best CB tandem. In 2007 it was close between Denver and GB for best CB tandem. Who knows how Hall and Asomugha will play together though or for how long. After giving Hall such a huge deal, I don't think they can afford Asomugha at this point. How can a team afford to pay both of their starting CBs $10 Mil/year? As of right now Asomugha is only a raider through the 2008 season.
4 months ago
To Anonymous who is dissin' Cromartie- Dude, what are you talking about? Your meticulous criticism of "picks" that were "lucky" is idiotic. Being at the right place at the right time is Cromartie's game. Not to mention what he does AFTER he makes a pick. I guess that lucky deflection against the Colts in the playoffs wasn't "a legitimate pick", give me a break. Cromartie made the Pro Bowl as a rookie- enough said
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