The 49ers play the Giants on Sunday at Candlestick. In the meantime, I’ll break down a couple of key matchups per day.
CB Chris Culliver (6-0, 199 pounds, 4.36 40-yard dash) vs. WRs Domenik Hixon (6-2, 197, 4.39) and Rueben Randle (6-3, 208, 4.43).
When the 49ers played the Giants Week 10 last season, Culliver mostly matched up man-to-man against Mario Manningham, who caught 6 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown. On the Giants’ final drive of the game, Manningham beat Culliver deep and Eli Manning over threw the pass by an inch. Culliver was lucky the Giants didn’t tie the game on that play.
Almost a year later, Manningham is Culliver’s teammate and Culliver is the best cornerback on the 49ers.
This time he doesn’t have to face Manningham – the wide receiver who gave Culliver the most trouble last season and the most trouble in training camp. This time he gets to face Domenik Hixon and Rueben Randle.
Hixon is the flanker in the Giants’ three-wide receiver formations and Randle is the split end (Hakeem Nicks is the starting split end, but he’s missed the last three games with foot and knee injuries, and he did not practice last week).
The Giants tend to flip their formations to mix things up, so Culliver will match up against both Hixon and Randle (but not against Cruz who lines up in the slot).
Hixon is 28 years old and has caught 11 passes for 169 yards the last two games. Randle is a 21-year-old rookie who caught six passes for 82 yards and induced two defensive pass interference penalties against the Browns last week.
Neither guy has the quickness, the shiftiness Manningham used to beat Culliver last season. Hixon and Randle are big receivers. Culliver can handle big receivers.
Expect Eli Manning to avoid Culliver on Sunday.
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Grant,
What is your email address?
grantcohn@gmail.com
Holy crap you just throw that up there? OMG! I’m gonna hit you up via gmail like crazy.
So, how long will it be before you declare Cully the BEST CB in the NFL? Gone are Revis and Woodson, and frankly, the only competition is Patrick Peterson. With Donatell as coach, I’m not sure Cully hasn’t already surpassed PP. I can’t wait until he grabs an INT with green in front of him, so we all may BEHOLD his supremacy!
I dunno Johnny, Antonio Cromartie has been backing up his bold talk, he might be playing the best right now.
Grant
Not seeing how Culliver is the teams best CB. 2 big reasons:
1 He isn’t a starter. You’d start your best CB.
2. We don’t give CR all that money.
I know you’ve been a fan of his since day 1 and that’s cool. But if Culliver is the best, the coaches aren’t proving it. The GM doesn’t sign CR. The owner doesn’t pay all that money.
Culliver by far has been the best cornerback on the 49ers five games through the season. It isn’t close.
Absolutely agree with Grant here. Culliver is far and away, our best CB talent wise. He’s not the most important though. That would be Rogers because we ask a lot of him and plays a lot of different roles. But Culliver is the most talented. Great size, speed, great ball skills, tackler, and he’s our best CB in press coverage. Another solid off-season and it wont even be close. He’s just need a little more experience and some fine tuning in his technique. I read someone where Moss said that of all the Niner CBs, Cully was guy that gave him the most problems in practice. I think that speaks volumes.
Grant
If you’re right here(I think not) then Culliver is the starter. Afterall, there are 2 starting CB’s. Culliver hasn’t unseated my guy T. Brown. You haven’t explained how you are right yet how Culliver isn’t the starter. Culliver may not have mastered all the skills that a CB must have yet. Things that go beyond the obvious.
Do you still have the game on DVR? Culliver was beaten for a TD pass. The QB missed him. I don’t recall seeing Brown or CR get beat like that. Brown in fact was in better position for a deep ball with no help than the WR. Even his INT, Culliver was beaten. A poor throw again led to the INT. Not so much great coverage skills.
It’s not like any of the CBs (or safeties) are playing poorly.
Despite the fact that 4 of their 5 opponents were passing teams or were forced into passing mode because of the 49ers’ big leads, the 49ers have surrendered an average of only 181.2 yards passing per game (2nd best in NFL) and 5.8 yards per attempt (best in NFL). In addition, opposing QBs have a passer rating of 76.2 against the 49ers (10th best).
Moreover, the secondary is doing all of the above with a pass rush that ranks tied for 19th in terms of sacks.
Consider not the rants of DS. He is good for Alex-gobbling and little else…
Johnny
Why not consider not worrying about me. And your the first to mention AS in this thread. You are what you claim I am. Obsessed with AS. You have lots of company, so don’t fret.
DS
Yer a douche. Everyone knows it. Yer knowledge is in your hands.
It’s “You’re”. Way to show me up. Your contributions on this page so far:
1. Plan on spamming Grant with emails.
2. Calling a post a rant. It got some decent replies. Until you came here.
3. Insulting a guy when you can’t even spell the insult right.
3 for 3.
Next
I said it after we drafted him! “Cullivers Island” Its coming!!!
hmm… i dont know, Culiver has rarely been beat throughout 5 games. He is the most consistent CB thus far. I’ve seen CR get beat a few times and was beat the most during camp.. granted, it was camp.. but culiver is a rising star.
I agree. I’m really suprised he’s not starting over brown yet. But i think Fangio likes his rotation now. I can see Culliver being our #1 in the near future.
It’s great that he doesn’t have to start. We have a system and the players in place to allow these guys to develop, which is awesome.
Alex Smith can be the FedEx air/ground player of the week. Here’s your chance to vote:
http://www.nfl.com/voting/players-air-and-ground/2012/REG/5
I already voted for him.
How many times?
49 times, Claude.
Damn, I need to catch up. I only voted once.
Hey,
I voted too! I’m a Smither now. I’m trying to terminate the hate!! I love me some Alex. ( In T.O.’s crying voice) ” That’s my quarterback!” Okay Claude, I’ll vote once more…… I think. Lol.
They gave him a lousy highlight. It should have been the one where he dropped in into VD’s bread basket. I voted 67 times.
23J/Smither – I knew you’d come around.
You dissed Shaun Hill and CK7, they will be crushed. Lol
Finally, 23jordan came to his sense. I’m proud of you dude.
49erkid,
You’re english is horrible kid. I came to my sense alright! Lol
49erkid,
You’re english is horrible kid. I came to my sense alright! Lol
I think the word you are looking for is “your” Jordan.
Ouch.
Really. If Jordo is going to try to be “that guy”, he better have it down airtight.
Your and You’re have to be the most consistently incorrectly used words in this blog.
Someone just a few posts ago tried to insult another blogger for incorrectly using “your” when they meant “you’re”, when they too had just previously done the same thing.
The English language has it’s uses, but clearly it’s not hear in this blog! (Did anyone pick up on the wrong word homonym I used in the last sentence?)
Grant, quit making bold proclomations to appear as if you know how to evaluate DB play. Culliver is the 49ers 3rd string CB. If he was the best he’d be on the field on base downs.
Chris Culliver has more tackles, interceptions and passes defensed than Carlos Rogers despite less playing time. He also has more interceptions and passes defensed then Tarrell Brown.
I think when Grant says best CB, he means that he has played the best when he is on the field.
For example it would be like if Gore took 65% of the carries and only avg 3.5 per carry, and Hunter took 35% and avg 6.5 per carry. Would it be far fetch’d to say Hunter is the best back on the team eventhough he’s not starting?
I tends to believe that the best corners on any team sees less action and balls thrown their way…. Raw stats never tell the full story and while I think Cully is a rising star, he’s not yet on the level of Brown or Rigers…
So I guess Aldon wasn’t the best pass-rusher on the team last year because he was a 2nd stringer right? It’s a team…guys play roles for the good of the team. Cully is good enough to start. But he plays a role for us and it works. But you would have to be blind to watch him on Sundays and not see he’s the most talented of the bunch. QBs have tried him every game and every game, he’s made plays. He has more PD’s and ints than both our starters with less snaps. He just lacks the experience Brown and Rogers have. But even that won’t be enough of a excuse next year to keep him from being a starter.
Excellent points. The Aldon example is right on.
Grant,
It would be cool if you could profile some of the coaches that would likely be promoted when the coaching staff gets poached this offseason. I can’t imagine Roman doesn’t get offered a tremendous opportunity when the season ends, and that would leave a huge void from a playcalling standpoint. Is Geep Chryst a capable replacement? How would this change affect the offense, if at all?
Great idea. I’ll see what I can do.
I can definitely see Roman leaving w/in 2 yrs. He’s young and hungry, and has had a great mentor in Harbs.
I would imagine that Harbs would take over play-calling if this happened, and possibly promote a guy like Geep to OC mostly for his input and advising.
Leo,
Roman may be gone at the end of this year bro.
I know this will be a minority opinion but I just don’t see Roman as a head coach yet. I think he has some play calling quirks that get way too conservative at times. Also when I see or hear him speak it seems he needs some development in the leadership department. He seems like he’s really good in a supporting role but I just can’t see him taking home the leading actor oscar yet. I’m sure he will eventually be a head coach either in college or the pro’s but it seems to me he needs a few more years of seasoning.
He may very well not be ready and I agree with your points, but he will receive offers. If they win the Super Bowl, he may be offered a NFL head coaching job. I remember how surprised I was when Green Bay hired Mike McCarthy as HC after his one year stint here, but he is one of the best HC’s in the NFL. Hopefully he is around here for at least a couple of more seasons.
I agree. I was surprised he was interviewed for the Penn State job. Even at that level there’s a lot more than coaching players and game planning to the head honcho’s job. Maybe a Kent State or San Jose State level for 1st HC job; I think its hard to be an NFL HC without previous HC experience; e.g. Harbaugh at USD. But some owners/GMs/ADs want to have the hottest new commodity.
+1
Nice article on the 49ers Offense.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000078915/article/alex-smith-frank-gore-powering-49ers-dynamic-offensive-attack
Yeah, I have to say I’m not buying into your Culliver is #1 CB theory. I think he’s doing a fine job and is developing nicely. However, Brown and Rogers are on the field more and they both seem to be playing well as well. Either way you go, the 9ers seem to have an embarrassment of riches. Further proof that Baalke is doing a very good job.
Grant is correct on Culliver. I do recall Mr. Cohn predicted that the Bills would beat the 49ers…but that was a long time ago.
Carlos Rogers was 10th in the league in throws against. I need to explain, considering the group … that means he was targeted 106 times in 2011. The great DB’s are wayyyy below that number.
Keep in mind too that Culliver was a safety in college it’s amazing how far he’s come already. Better have cap space available in a couple years, he’s going to be expensive.
Paul,
53 of those 106 targets against Rogers were completions in the 1st half of the NFC Championship game. Cruz killed him!
The reason the 9ers are’nt starting culliver is it would force 2 players to cover in different schemes. even though culliver is playing the best the other 2 are playing well and they are all comfortable in the roles they are in.
How so old coach? Have CR be the 3rd guy, and he covers the 3rd WR or slot guy. Just as he does now. It doesn’t effect Brown at all. Culliver starts, with Brown as the other starter and CR comes in to take the slot guy. Subbing in for Culliver if there are only 2 WR’s and CR takes the slot position. If there are 3 WR’s then all 3 are in the same spots/same role as now.
I don’t see the problem here if Culliver started.
I somewhat I agree with Grant. Culliver passes the eye test. He’s been tested multiple times in multiple games on one-on-one coverage and he’s held his own. If he’s not best on the team now he def has the potential to be #1 guy in a year or so
How is Culliver not the Niners best CB? He has been targeted 16 times this year allowing only five catches for 38 yards. The reason he is not a starter is because we have two veterans who are not playing too terrible. We have the #2 pass defense in the league and Culliver is a major reason for that. Culliver allowed less yards than both Brown and Rogers in ALL THREE games he started and played over 90% of the snaps. Our coaching staff waits to give young players the starting position ala Aldon Smith. Culliver will no doubt be a elite CB in the league VERY SOON.
Nice breakdown Grant, but you’re jumping the gun on Culliver imo. He has improved, and his the most physically gifted CB we have, but he is still in diapers to borrow a line from Jerry Rice. I think the secondary as a whole have been excellent.
@ Grant, Jack, anyone with access to the All 22 film (not you jordan; I need someone who can report what’s actually on the film, not what he wishes was there):
Do you recall Chris Culliver covering a slot receiver on any plays in the Green Bay or Detroit games?
Claude,
I do not recall that. Why do you ask?
Claude,
You actually thought I would look for you. You’re a bigger azz than I thought you were.
jordan:
I wasn’t asking anyone to do any research for me. I was asking commenters (and the blog host) who likely had rewatched the game multiple times if they had noticed it.
I certainly wasn’t asking you to look at it as you are consistently corrected when you describe what you claim to have seen on the all 22 film.
And you’re exactly as much of an @ss as I thought you were.
@ Jack:
Someone on another blog insisted that Culliver has been playing “his fair share” of the nickel position against slot receivers this year. When I asked which games, he claimed GB and Detroit. I don’t remember that at all, but I deleted those games from the DVR and thought I would check with someone who has spent time with the all 22 film before I said more.
He has played 4 snaps all season in the slot. Like always, he’s been strictly on the left side.