The Patriots' schedule should bode well for Devin McCourty, and a look at five other issues from around the NFL.
Devin McCouty should feel good about New England's 2012 schedule.You could almost feel the smile cracking on Devin McCourty’s face throughout the New England region when the Patriots’ schedule was released on Tuesday night.
After displaying unlimited potential during his initial score of games as a rookie, there was legitimate debate about whether he possessed the talent to develop into a true shutdown cornerback during his sophomore campaign. But instead edging closer to Darrelle Revis last season, McCourty’s play was more reminiscent of another man who once roamed AFC East secondaries before busting in New England, Darius Butler.
Opposing offensive coordinators quickly found that the best way to beat McCourty was to exploit his diminutive stature (5-foot-10) by simply putting the ball where he couldn’t reach it. The approach worked, and quickly became crippling after he was paired up against series of players standing 6-foot-4 or taller – Plaxico Burress, Vincent Jackson and Brandon Marshall – in three of the first five weeks of the season. Together, the trio combined for 353 yards on 20 receptions.
In other weeks, even when McCourty was up against players closer to his size, it seemed he was consistently paired up against some of the NFL’s elite receivers, such as Buffalo’s Stevie Johnson or Pittsburgh’s Mike Wallace. Luckily, he managed to dodge Kansas City’s Dwayne Bowe and Philadelphia’s Vincent Jackson due to a dislocated shoulder that kept him sidelined in Weeks 11 and 12.
By the time the carnage was calculated on McCourty’s season, he was torched for a total of 1,074 yards, and that’s with him taking snaps at safety during the later part of the season and throughout the playoffs.
This year, however, the only giants that McCourty will likely be asked to cover will be Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald in Week 2 and possibly San Francisco’s Randy Moss in Week 15. Houston’s Andre Johnson and Buffalo’s Stevie Johnson could also cause problems, but there are no other obvious mismatches.
If all goes well, McCourty can at least begin to reclaim his standing as the most talented member of his family, a quest that can begin in …
1. Week 1’s McCourty Bowl, when Devin will be on the field with his twin brother, Jason, who plays cornerback for the Tennessee Titans, for something other than a Cocoa Butter commercial for the first time in his professional career.
For a while it appeared certain that Devin would end up having a more decorated career, but it didn’t take Tom Brady’s vision to realize that Jason was the mightier McCourty last season. He held opposing quarterbacks to a 76.9 passer rating when throwing his direction, while Devin clocked in at a robust and ghastly 104.7.
The Week 1 meeting won’t exactly be a fair fight considering that Jason will be staring down darts coming from Brady’s hand while McCourty will be up against Matt Hasselbeck.
The Titans’ 36-year-old is still effective even though he is approaching AARP eligibility by NFL standards, and will have to remain so to ward off Jake Locker, who is in hot pursuit of his job, much like …
2. Mark Sanchez will have to do to keep Tim Tebow at bay. And it may not take long for the controversy to start cooking in the Meadowlands with the way the Jets’ schedule is constructed.
New York opens the season against the Bills and their two new pass rushers, Mario Williams and Mark Anderson, followed by the Steelers, Dolphins, 49ers and Texans -- or in other words, the No. 1, 15, 4, and 2 defenses in the league last year. If Sanchez’s goal is to keep chants of “Tebow” stifled, he couldn’t have asked for a worst assist from the schedule makers.
So it appears that things are perfectly set for another year of discourse in New Jersey. If Rex Ryan goes bounces between quarterbacks, new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, the so-called creator of the Wildcat offense, will be put to the test throughout the year, something the staff in Denver won’t be jealous of now that Peyton Manning is their man.
The NFL is certainly happy about that fact since the league will be able to rekindle the magic of the …
3. Brady-Manning rivalry when the Broncos travel to Foxborough in Week 5. When Manning’s Colts used to play the Patriots, the game was routinely one of the highest rated each season. So it is somewhat curious that the game is scheduled for the afternoon instead of prime time.
That should hardly matter for fans, though. You could put the future Hall of Famers in the parking lot next to the Bass Pro Shop at Patriot Place with a Nerf football and it would end up being one of the most highly entertaining athletic events of the year.
Brady currently holds a 9-4 edge over Manning (7-3 regular season, 2-1 postseason), and is 6-2 in Foxborough. You can bet that Manning is already staring down this date and will look to use it as a measuring stick for his abilities. And if things are going well for both teams, don’t be surprised if the game gets flexed into a prime-time slot.
One team that never has to worry about that happening with Manning now in the rearview is the …
4. Indianapolis Colts, who have an astounding 15 1 p.m. games. By NFL standards, that’s like being forced to live in subsidized housing. And if not for the new rule forcing each team to play in prime-time once per season, the nation may never get to see what Andrew Luck looks like in Manning’s old spot.
Robert Griffin III also will be living a good portion of his rookie year in anonymity as well, considering that the Redskins, who are expected to draft him with the second pick, will also only play in one prime-time game this season. That may seem like a slap in the face to the young signal callers, but the …
5. New York Giants would almost certainly trade places with either team. The defending Super Bowl Champs’ schedule is so strong and scintillating that they were scheduled for five prime-time games, the maximum allowed by the league.
The formula for determining future opponents has long been set by the league, but that’s hardly any consolation for the Giants. Based on 2011 records, the G-men have the most difficult schedule in the league (140-116) with seven games against teams that won nine or more games. The Patriots? Their opponents went 116-140 in 2011, with only four winning nine or more games.
Something about that doesn’t seem right, but at least those cities have football to cheer for. ...
6. Minnesota may soon not. The city once lost the Lakers to Los Angeles. Now it looks like the Vikings may follow since the city is refusing to build the team a new stadium.
That should never happen. Minnesota is one of the iconic cities in the NFL. Someone needs to wake up and put a stop to this.