The Evolution of Eric Berry

And I NEEDED a break from criminal law. So I had a few hours to kill.

I’ll say “Urc Berry (aka Eric Berry)” next time

About to slice him in half.

They’ll take you when they please…

I did watch that play several times, and I have to tell you (all homerism aside), that this was a close, close, close, close call. It could easily have been a non-call.

That said, you’re right that he was responsible for taking away 6 points, regardless of whether it’s a good call or not. Penalties (unless absolutely horribly called) are on the player. Don’t leave any doubt it’s clean.

Rec’d and front paged.

So what you’re really saying is

It’s nice that you had way too much time on your hands today

Questioning pick value is a rational thing to do. 5th pick is high for a tackling safety. Give it a year and he may be the best SS in the league, tacklin wise. Urc Burry was drafted that high because of the aforementioned, and his potential to do what he’s been doing pass defense wise, ie, breaking up passes, and pass recievers. By the end of next season, he could be the best there is.

but I also don’t think Berry will be a run stopping safety. His athleticism, instincts, football IQ, and work ethic are all stellar, and when the game starts to slow down for him, I think we will be in for a surprise regarding his INT numbers (recognizing a route, or catching a clue from the formation combined with his speed should put him in position to jump routes). Also, as our front seven continues to improve he may not be used as much up on the line, and his PD and INT numbers should reflect that.

No one (and I mean no one) every thought Berry was a BAD pick (as in will be a bust in the NFL). Those that wanted to pass on Berry wanted to do with the intention of picking up a NT or an OL or even a LB or QB early….and taking Earl Thomas later to address the safety position.

And although your article shows that Berry has improved as the season has progressed (which is kind of to be expected to begin with) it doesn’t do anything to address the idea that a Belcher replacing LB, or an Edwards replacing NT may have had a bigger impact on the run game.

Berry is doing well, for a rookie, but his 2 INT’s were both terrible throws that hit him right in the bread basket. He HAS blown coverage several times. He HAS given up several big plays, and a couple that may have cost the game. He HAS NOT been the pick-6 miracle that so many people were swearing he would be (and he never was in college either, which is what confused me).

He’s still a rookie, and no one expects a rookie to do anything more than make mistakes on the field and continue to learn (well, no one but the fools that think a player out of college can make an instant transition to the NFL). Berry MAY become the best safety ever to play in the NFL. Berry MAY drop like a rock in his sophomore season and settle into a slightly above average player. We just don’t know yet.

However, if you look at Earl Thomas’ production (from a much later draft position) and Rolondo McClain’s production…. the question still remains. — Should we have taken Rolondo to replace Belcher (stopping the run) and Earl Thomas (stopping the pass) to play in the secondary instead of Berry?

It’s way too early to make that call…..but it’s still very much a work in progress.

And the only player personnel change was at the safety positions.

Yes, I think Berry was well worth the #5 pick.

he’s an extremely FAST guy who can hit, who is durable, smart, and, as MNChiefsFan points out, is working his way into the coverage game. A quiet, textbook tackle that stops the run attempt short of the 1st counts as much as an INT in my book, too. And the guy with the big INT numbers is maybe getting picked on a lot. Everybody loved Mighty Mouse, a few years back, including opposing QBs. Not saying Thomas is bad. Mayock rated him higher than Berry. So far, I’m pretty satisfied with KC’s choice.

Just remember, though, having dissed picking a safety @ #5, it’ll be hard for you to defend 1st-round LB picks down the road…

A big question about this 3-4 coming into 2010 was its ability to stop the run. Coaching emphasized the run support role of the rookie SS, at least imo. I think he was often SUPPOSED to bite hard, at the expense of pass defense, to just make damn sure that the other guys weren’t going to run on the Chiefs. I think Berry gives the KC secondary a lot more flexibility than Earl Thomas would have, although he’d be fun to watch in 1-on-1 coverage.

Troy is an absolute game changer…when he plays, he’s the best player on the field. When Berry plays, he isn’t even the best player in the secondary. Burry has a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go to be concidered in the same breath as Troy

But I agree with the new resident Fanpost whore, he’s come a long way.

It would be unfair to compair a rookie safety to one of the all-time greats, but lets do it anyway…

Eric Berry 2010:
Games Played: 12, S-Tack: 54, Assists: 15, Total Tackles: 69, PD: 5, Sacks: 2, Int: 2, FF: 1

Tory Polamalu 2010:
Games Played: 12, S-Tack: 48, Assists: 12, Total Tackles: 60, PD: 8, Sacks: 1, Int: 4, FF: 1

Troy Polamalu 2003 (Rookie Season):
Games Played: 16, S-Tack: 29, Assists: 9, Total Tackles: 38, PD: 4, Sacks: 2, Int: 0, FF: 1

Numbers don’t tell the whole story, but MAN Berry’s numbers is looking pretty @#$in sweet.

And good point on injury setting someone back. Lewis has actually been pretty good. Exceptional for a rookie, in fact.

The only reason I even brought him into it was that many still seem to believe Lewis is better in coverage, and as of late that hasn’t been the case.

I think there’s little chance that he’ll be left on an island against Gates in this game like he was in the 1st half last time. My guess is they’ll do what they did in the 2nd half (with a lot of success) and have Berry and another guy right in Gates’ face, bumping him at the LOS and not letting him loose.

I also hope they send him after Rivers a couple of times early. It seemed key to our win against DEN that we rattled Orton early on, as opposed to the first game where we didn’t touch him for most of the first half.

Any excuse to watch the Chiefs play. Although like I said, watching the DEN game was painful.

But if he were still giving up big plays (like he was early on) he’d get passed by.

If you’re willing to cough up something like $75 to ProFootballFocus.

Too much for this poor student.

I did see a cowboys and aliens preview though… which looks awesome in a totally adolescent kind of way.

I’m waiting to hear back from the other schools I applied to. Some schools also don’t give out scholarship info until February. So I’ll likely make a decision then.

Sheffield is the only unknown, and he looked good in preseason.

So he is smart, and that’s not just hype. That’s good to hear. it seems like a lot of the “ceiling” for very athletically gifted players is based on how intelligent they are. It also controls how fast they improve.

I’d take either one, or even close to either one.

It’s already too late for you

And I feel stupid… I’ll replace that, thanks :)

The angle I had on the pic made it look like a 29. I wondered why I didn’t remember that play…

But he’s so talented at run support I imagine he’ll always be more involved in it than a normal safety.

If you look at Troy P, he still plays close to the LOS frequently, even though they have a very good front 7.

Edwards is a good starter, but I’d like to say he’s a GREAT backup for someone a little more dominant. You always want great LBs, but I think one better player at the nose redounds to the benefit of the LBs they have, more than a mere LB upgrade. What’s likely to happen is a little bit of both.

McGraw is an ok player, but he was asked to do way more than he’s capable of last year. And between the two of them we had the slowest S combo in the league.

Berry not only brings the wood, but he does it in a smart way. He seems to have great awareness of how far the runner needs to get for a 1st down and makes sure to stop him shy of it.

He would also be (IMO) especially aided by an improved pass rush. That’s a big deal for any secondary player, since it forces QBs to hurry throws and doesn’t allow receivers so much time to work.

You’re right, we are too impatient when it comes to rookies. I think we see so many picks (on our team and others) not pan out that we come to expect it.

Want an example of things going the other way? Look at Jairus Byrd. He had 9 picks last year as a rookie and was hailed as the 2nd coming of Ed Reed, and lots of people looked at Berry and said, “hey, why isn’t he doing that?”

This year? No picks at all. It just goes to show that while individual games are important, it’s much more important to watch progress over games.

I merely add that disclaimer as an easy out. That way, there aren’t any statements made that lead to a bunch of arguing, and I want to make sure I’m not misquoted.

I agree with you about the run support. I’m very excited about that. Like you said, he gets where he wants to go in a hurry, and he’s been applying that more and more against the pass as well.

Not much of a ceiling on this guy. The only thing that can hold him back is if he doesn’t work hard.

Technically, I’m pretty much still a newb. I’ve only been around since June (although I’d been lurking for more than a year without joining).

Especially when you can pause and watch exactly what direction a player starts off in, where he’s looking, etc.

That makes it much easier to determine what he’s supposed to be doing.

In your first pro game as a newly drafted rookie, against arguably the best TE in the league today?

Oh, I think I have an idea how.

Flowers is Flowers, Carr has gotten much better, and Arenas is proving to be a very good NB. I mean, depth is always good, but I feel like this is one of our better positions.

Or are you talking more for in case of injury? Like a vet who could come in a few games without a HUGE dropoff (ala Price playing S when Lewis and Mcgraw were hurt)?

I’ll have a lot more time after Friday. At least for a few weeks.

So I may try to do a few more like this one.

I have a safety fetish

And he doesn’t always get burned. But it’s a changeup pitch when PIT inverts their coverage, for sure. For all I know, Berry might end up being the guy they put outside 1-on-1 against the Vincent Jackson’s of the league, when they have the blitz on. I love Brandon Flowers, but I don’t want to see HIM singled-up against VJ very often.

And he deserves a ton of credit for the amount of improvement he’s shown in this area.

Looked to me like he was taking away his part of the field, and couldn’t do enough to help when somebody else let him through.

Yes, you have to analysis (sic) the amount of time the opposing QB has. Myself, I’d probably never send 3 until after my 4 or 5 scored a pressure, and preferably a knockdown, blocked pass or a sack. I’d rather single everywhere and send everybody else, no matter how good or how bad my corners are. If they’re good, you can single. If they’re bad, you have to blitz.

But I did take pass rush into account (which is why I mentioned it with the Dressen TD), and I only included blown coverages where it was pretty obvious what his job was based on where he started going and where he was looking when the ball was snapped.

Sure, there’s still a certain amount of margin of error here, but I stand by this analysis. I took pass rush into account, as well as where other defenders were on the play. I was pretty careful

The pick was more controversial in the sense that many didn’t want a S picked so high. I personally loved it.

It’s odd that you’re an EB homer but you’re arguing with a post that’s pointing out his phenomenal improvement… :)