Liking Ike

by 13thieves on Feb 9, 2009 5:19 PM EST Comment 24 comments

I'll be honest. Last year I hated Ike Taylor. Overrated. The only time I did that shut down hand waiving thing he does was when he got burned or when he fouled someone to avoid getting burned. Last year I chortled a little whenever announcers called him our best CB.

But this year he won me over. Don't get me wrong he still screws up, he's one of the few NFL players to deserve every single Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty he's ever been called for (and a few that he hasn't been called for), and the only reason he's a CB is b/c if he could catch he would be a WR.

via www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com

That said, you can't defend Larry Fitzgerald much better than this. Sure Fitz caught it, but he's a freak of nature.

All year long Ike played well and slowly I quit congratulating him for not screwing up or ceased expressing surprise that he knocked the ball away without commiting a foul. In the Super Bowl (of course I yelled something unkind when Fitz came down with the ball) watching the replay I realized that Ike did a heck of a job (only two people could've caught that ball and Jesus Christ doesn't play football) and I finally agree, he's a pretty goob CB.

0 recs | Comment 24 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Agree

Ike is a bona fide shut down corner. I thought he was one last year and in our last SB run as well with the only blip since that run being the “lost season.” This guy is just as important to out defense as any of our LBs because his cone on one overage allows us to free up an extra defender.

Contrary to other “shut down corners”, Ike almost NEVER gets to play zone coverage. Poor guy is stranded on an island with elite WRs all game.

Ike had Fitz blanketed most of the game. Can’t blame him for the first TD: nothing you can do about that. The second TD is on Troy and/or Clark. Steelers had two deep safeties on that play and they both jumped sideline routes to leave the middle wide open. Ike made a play on the ball expecting one of the two safeties to make the tackle but they both were aggressive and jumped the non Fitz routes for some reason.

Plus, who the hell nicknames themself Face Me Ike? That’s pretty bad (as in good).

by CarlWeathersMustache on Feb 9, 2009 10:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

BTW not that its worth arguing about

Good post by acrollet on why this TD by Fitzgerald was questionable. I think Ike did just enough to keep Fitz from making this catch clean – we should have thought about calling for a review.

by SteelerBuddha on Feb 10, 2009 3:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

LOL

Yeah, I’ve felt the same way about Ike. His attitude was been writing checks his skills couldn’t cash.

This year, he really came into his own. I still wish he’d turn and look for the ball more often, but he gets position, gets in the air, and does everything else a CB is supposed to do. He even caught a ball this season!

by Varmint on Feb 9, 2009 10:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

makes me nervous

makes me laugh but cry…dude can’t catch a swiss ball from 2 feet, but he covers like a blanket. I was furious in that indy game. but alls good. he has his 2nd ring. still if he could catch, he’d be a megastar.

by Hypocycloid on Feb 9, 2009 11:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

If Ike could catch ..

we probably couldn’t afford to keep him !

by Rash92 on Feb 10, 2009 7:55 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I gotta say...

….true dat.

by Marvin, The Paranoid Android on Feb 10, 2009 5:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I like IKE

I think we have all been there with Ike, What the He$% is this guy doin, if he didnt have bad luck IKE would have no luck at all..

I have always liked IKE, he never complains, he works exteremly hard in the off season, and always in the play.. Have ya notice that IKE is everywhere, maybe if he got some hair like Troy, hed get more love..

Anyway another year learning from the man(Tomlin) that made the twin midget (Ronde Barber 5’10 ,184 14yrs) a defensive force in the NFL as he got older, and IKE is young!!

So dont spend money on BMAC, cuz Coach can teach anyone(GAY & LEWIS) how to thrive in the secondary for this team.. remember how they filled in for BMAC this year not big dropoff!!

GO STEELERS – Draft me a return man!!!

by BigDaddyTat2boy on Feb 10, 2009 8:53 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

His ball skills have improved

And I mean PD skills, not INT skills. There have been times where his best defense has been signaling “incomplete” as WR’s make sideline catch after sideline catch. That play on the first Fitz TD may have been his best as a Steeler, but it didn’t matter. I would have liked to see Tomlin challenge the play, because the ball was moving around a lot and did eventually hit the ground. A lot of times the officials can see something they don’t like and overturn the catch.

He really did blow it on the long TD – he made a play on the ball, but not a good one. He should have had help, but he still gave up a 30-40 yard completion. If he made the sure play, which was the only play he could have, he would have limited it to 20ish yards.

Still, one or two poor plays on a WR that good isn’t bad.

charity standing orders

by BadMaafala on Feb 10, 2009 9:52 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I've been meaning to ask...

on that long TD he gave up to Larry Fitzgerald was he supposed to force him outside? The way both safeties drove to the sidelines on the snap makes me wonder if the CB’s were to do so and if they lost a step doing that then they’d have sideline(no force out anymore) and safety help. Larry is a big strong guy with excellent body control so I’m not looking to burn Ike over it but I am wondering.

by Marvin, The Paranoid Android on Feb 10, 2009 6:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

post routes

it was either 3 or four wide, and either both inside WR’s ran post-outs or Boldin and Breaston did in a 3-wide. The CB’s were playing short inside zones and both Troy and Clark, assuming the CB’s would be beat to the outside, drifted wide. Fitzgerald caught a slant and turned it up the middle.

The slant is common for a reason – it’s damn hard to defend without press coverage, which we don’t do a lot of (not that Fitz is easy to hold up at the LoS). Ike thought he had 2-deep help where he could give up the inside route because the safety would be there to pop him. It was a well-designed and well-executed play.

by syrsteelerfan on Feb 10, 2009 10:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Look at competition

Ike has faced the toughest receivers this season and has had what I think is his best season yet. He held T.O., Randy Moss, Chad Johnson (twice), Reggie Wayne (except for one fluke tip), Larry Fitzgerald (1st TD not a catch, 2nd TD not his fault), Santana Moss, Andre Johnson, etc. He plays the best every game and usually comes out on top. As was already mentioned, with Tomlin’s mentoring, and if he ever learns to turn around and catch, he could be an all-pro.

by woody71 on Feb 10, 2009 10:22 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Predisposed to like him

I was predisposed to like him because he is so tall. He has the potential to be one of the best CBs in the NFL. And not only will Tomlin help him, but also Townsend, who, while maybe not as physically gifted as Ike and certainly at a later stage of his career, gets every last bit of his talent and leaves it on the field.

It’ll be scary to see how good the D will be if Ike becomes an elite CB.

by 13thieves on Feb 10, 2009 5:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Right

up to the point you say “if.” I think Ike is already an elite CB. Would you rather have either of the Cromarties, who continually get burnt (DRC by a number three receiver) and are out of place?

I cannot remember one play this season where Ike got burnt on coverage (was right there on Fitz’s long catch but missed, tipped Wayne’s freak ricochet TD, and couldn’t have defended the long Vincent Jackson pass much better). Of those three big plays Ike was all by himself on every single one against the other team’s #1.

Plus, Ike actually TACKLES, unlike most CBs. He is one of the best, if not the best, CB for playing the run in the NFL.

by CarlWeathersMustache on Feb 10, 2009 7:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

that long Vincent Jackson play bugs me

you could see the D think a penalty had been called… it was like a free play. I don’t judge players based on that play, except for the one mental error of assuming a flag where there was none.

by syrsteelerfan on Feb 10, 2009 10:56 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Loved him a long time.

Honestly this guy NEVER really gives up a big play.

With the exception of the freak tip off to Wayne in the IND game, I cant remember another long one that happened all year. Save for the Fitzy at the end of course. But thats like covering Jesus.

Cowher really pissed me off benching him after ONE bad game against Javon Walker. One game and he never plays all year. Retarded. Cowher was being a real ass.

I have found Ike to be such a great sleeper player, definitely an excellent pick that people still have yet to realize is damn good.

by Mechem on Feb 10, 2009 11:47 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I love Coach Cowher as much as ..

any man should love another :-) but I think we can all agree that wasn’t his best year of coaching ..

by Rash92 on Feb 11, 2009 5:30 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Amen

Yeah for whatever reason he just seemed really frustrated and most of his decisions seemed pretty poopy. Rushing Ben Back when Charlie Batch LED THE LEAGUE in passing on week one. Benching Ike over that one game. Some bad losses to easy teams…

I kinda thought he should have pulled a JB 36 and retired after the Super Bowl

by Mechem on Feb 11, 2009 8:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Rushing BB back again

against the Raiders after sustaining another concussion against the Falcons.

by Jonny B. on Feb 11, 2009 11:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ugh stop it!

Im gonna barf. I just pretend 06 never happened you know…

And for christs sake we WOULD have made the playoffs with one more win.

At least I went to the 42-7 pasting of the Chiefs at the big ketchup bottle that year

by Mechem on Feb 11, 2009 11:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There is only one other TD Ike gave up this year

That wasn’t mentioned. It was against Dallas. It was also a “freak” play. Tony Romo scrambled for like 15 seconds and found TO in the back of the endzone. Romo should have been sacked two different times on the play.

by Jonny B. on Feb 11, 2009 11:06 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ike still had good coverage on that play

but if he’d been looking back, he might have made a play on it.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Feb 11, 2009 4:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i like ike

but i am not a big fan of his interview ability- that super bowl interview he did on media day was almost incoherent- i only understood about 22.3% of what he was saying- a little off the subject ,but it is an Ike Taylor post

by indianasteelers on Feb 11, 2009 10:20 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Ike has a strong accent that is hard to understand. He didn’t do very well with the books. To me he sounds like a football player from nawlins that isn’t very comfortable being asked questions by suits. He strikes me as very genuine which I like, and I think his entourage would agree.

Don't worry about the haters. Haters only hate.

by steelguy99 on Feb 11, 2009 10:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I've always been a fan of ike.

He gets slammed by pretty much everyone whose not a Steelers fan or a writer for ESPN or anything. For reasons unknown, he can play.

He can’t catch, we all know that but his ability to stay with his man is absoluletly amazing. The perfect example of of this was during the Cowboys game and Romo scrambles around for a good 8-9 seconds. He sees TO in the endzone and throws it up and Ike is right there with him. True, TO made the catch but for Ike to even be anywhere near his man after a 8-9 second play is impressive.

by shleeve on Feb 11, 2009 10:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs