Power Play of the Game: Plaxico Buress Abusing Antoine Cason

by John Gennaro on Oct 25, 2011 3:37 PM PDT

If there's one thing I dislike about the San Diego Chargers, and I think most NFL teams are the same way (at least I know the Philadelphia Eagles are), it is how stubborn they are. I suppose it's a good thing, as it shows loyalty to the players, but when Antoine Cason is getting destroyed by Plaxico Burress in the end zone the Head Coach or Defensive Coordinator should be willing to pull him out of the game for a better matchup.

If you're interested in watching Burress score three touchdowns with ease, the video is up at NFL.com. Had the Chargers tried something different the second or third, like matching Quentin Jammer or Marcus Gilchrist or Darrell Stuckey up against Burress, they could've turned those 7 points into 3. Possibly saving 8 points seems like a big deal when you lose by 6.

Cason has had trouble with big, physical receivers all season. I pointed out after the Dolphins game (that Jammer missed) that Gilchrist did a much better job against Brandon Marshall than Cason did. Instead of calling the same plays and trusting in his system and trusting the players to play to their full potential, Greg Manusky should've been game-planning to get Cason away from Burress (especially in the red zone). When he failed to do that, he may have cost the Chargers the game.

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Change might be coming quick.

Ace opined yesterday that Cason will likely be benched in favor of Gilchrist.

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by Zach (maestro876) on Oct 25, 2011 3:46 PM PDT reply actions

You hear

That Cason refused to come out at first?
he is really starting to remind me of Cromartie (not a good thing) the way he celebrates when a WR beats him deep but the QB cant make the completion, like he has ANYTHING to do with the play. Gah. Put in Gilly already

by cameronm on Oct 25, 2011 3:51 PM PDT reply actions

Are you serious or joking about him refusing to come out?

by BFDC on Oct 25, 2011 3:55 PM PDT up reply actions

He did refuse...at first

And then he realized that was wrong and swallowed his pride and listened to his coaches. I haven’t seen any celebrating when a WR beats him deep, but I haven’t been looking for that kind of thing either.

by Ferguson1015 on Oct 25, 2011 4:02 PM PDT up reply actions

This

He basically allowed four Plax TDs on Sunday. One just happened to be badly thrown and barely bounced off his fingertips. Granted, it came two plays before the first actual one he allowed, so there wouldn’t really be four TDs, but four red zone plays were absolute fails on his part, and Cason jumped around signaling incomplete like he somehow won that first matchup. I yelled at the TV on that one, and actually commented to my wife at that point that I would keep picking on him if I’m the Jets.

by Lenny Suckerpunch on Oct 25, 2011 4:26 PM PDT up reply actions

Come out of what?

The closet?
The tunnel?
The pumpkin?

I am the anti-analyst.

by Madcat5 on Oct 25, 2011 9:31 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

PIck your poison?

I still believe Santonio Holmes is the bigger threat of the two. I wonder if the focus was on him, and shifting the help over to Burress would have simply made it Santonio who was scoring the touchdowns. just a thought. superduperboltman would be a better judge of that than I.

by wessw on Oct 25, 2011 4:18 PM PDT reply actions

but Holmes is less physical, and therefore the better matchup for Cason

Bolts from the Blue - Destroying your opinions with facts.

by John Gennaro on Oct 25, 2011 10:46 PM PDT up reply actions

Coaching, Coaching, Coaching

What does San Diego do better than any other team in the NFL? Be who they thought we were.

by MacDeezul on Oct 25, 2011 4:27 PM PDT reply actions

Manusky is still in his first year coaching this team.

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by Lmbs2slaghtr on Oct 25, 2011 6:11 PM PDT up reply actions

well

Everyone knew that Cason on Plex is going to be the match up. I like how Cason stated that it’s small mistakes that he did and he’ll fix it…give the man credit he’s admitting he did something wrong unlike Rivers whose personality is much different than it used to be. I hope Cason is not benched for Gilchrist, I love to watch Gilchrist play. I just would rather see Jammer moving all over that defense playing as safety, blitzing, play as a LB be creative Greg, you have the pieces… I really hope Gilchrist plays in for Jammer, so Jammer can be playing all over the field what do you guys think? wishful thinking I know

by john1 on Oct 25, 2011 11:25 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

What's interesting about this

is that Plex had only 4 catches in the game, the problem is just that three of them were touchdowns. That’s what sucks about DBs (and Lineman for that matter), you beat someone down for an entire game, but they get past you once and it’s on you. Of course in this case Cason got beat 3 times, all for touchdowns, so that knocks him down quite a few pegs.

by Ferguson1015 on Oct 26, 2011 7:53 AM PDT reply actions

Does Coaches get any Coaching

It boggles my mind when I saw the game again yesterday how Cason was harassed the entire game except few times. How can Coaches let this go on and not make adjustments which costed us a game. We could have avoided at least two of the Buress’s TDs.

by HisBoltness on Oct 26, 2011 7:57 AM PDT reply actions

I agree...

For these big wideouts on redzone plays, you have to attack them off the goal line to bump them off their routes. But, as I have seen in many articles since, Norv just refused to make any adjustments on the changes Rex made at halftime. If you have a corner getting beat, get him some help. Cason is above average for sure and Plaxico was being heralded as a redzone specialist for a reason.

by David rzr on Oct 26, 2011 1:40 PM PDT up reply actions