Yesterday, the NFL announced that Charles Woodson won Defensive Player of the Year. Most football fans agreed that the Defensive Player of the Year was going to be either Charles Woodson or Darrelle Revis, both cornerbacks.
Jets coach, Rex Ryan, obviously disagreed with the voting when he said, “This, in my opinion, was the best year a corner has ever had, the most impact a corner has ever had in the National Football League. That’s my opinion. Apparently, that wasn’t how everybody felt.”
Counting Stats
So, who really deserved the award? First, the counting stats.
Charles Woodson
74 Tackles
2 Sacks
4 Forced Fumbles
1 Fumbles Recovered
9 Interceptions
18 Passes Defensed
3 TDs
Darrelle Revis
54 Tackles
0 Sacks
0 Forced Fumbles
0 Fumbles Recovered
6 Interceptions
31 Passes Defensed
1 TDs
A quick look at the normal counting stats seems to agree with the voters choice of Woodson for DPOY. He has two more sacks, four more forced fumbles, three more interceptions and two more Touchdowns. The one stat that Revis leads Woodson in is passes defensed.
Revis fans claim that Passes Defensed tells more of the story. They’ll normally cite the following quote from Peter King on Twitter, “revis played 9 games this year mostly isolated on players who have made at least 1 pro bowl. none had more than 35 receiving yards.”
Coverage
Using Pro Football Focus, lets look at both Charles Woodson & Darrelle Revis in coverage.
Charles Woodson
76 Thrown At
39 Receptions
51.3 Completion %
8 Penalties
448 Yards
11.5 Average
172 Yards After Catch
5 TDs
51.8 NFL Rating
Darrelle Revis
111 Thrown At
41 Receptions
36.9 Completion %
4 Penalties
425 Yards
10.4 Average
145 Yards After Catch
2 TDs
32.3 NFL Rating
These numbers seem to support the idea that Revis is a better shutdown corner. This season, Quarterbacks threw at Revis more than Woodson and he responded by holding them to a 36.9 Completion % and a 32.3 QB Rating, while drawing less flags. Woodson’s numbers are nothing to scoff at, Pro Football Focus had him as the #2 coverage corner in the NFL, but Revis clearly had a better season in coverage.
Run Defense
Although not as important as coverage, lets use Pro Football Focus again to look at Woodson & Revis in run coverage. I’ll use their Stops statistic, which is defined as “Cumulative number of solo defensive tackles made which constitute an offensive failure (including sacks).
Charles Woodson
69 Tackles
4 Assists
8 Missed Tackles
37 Stops
Darrelle Revis
47 Tackles
4 Assists
5 Missed Tackles
14 Stops
These numbers give the edge to Woodson against the run game. According to Pro Football Focus, Woodson is the best NFL cornerback against the run and it isn’t even close. His 37 Stops is number on in the NFL among Cornerbacks. Pro Football Focus gives Woodson a score of +15 against the Run, second best is Antoine Winfield at +6.8 (Revis is at +0.4).
Rushing the Quarterback
Of all the jobs of a Cornerback, this is definitely the least important. Once again, lets use Pro Football Focus to see who was best at pressuring the opposing team’s quarterback.
Charles Woodson
6 Quarterback Pressures
2 Quarterback Hits
2 Quarterback Sacks
Darrelle Revis
0 Quarterback Pressures
0 Quarterback Hits
0 Quarterback Sacks
It looks like the Jets rarely, if ever, sent Revis on a blitz. Woodson on the other hand plays in a 3-4 and occasionally blitzed the quarterback. Obviously each cornerback plays in a different defensive scheme, but this edge clearly goes to Woodson. Pro Football Focus had him as the 3rd best cornerback at rushing the quarterback (behind Brandon McDonald and Brandon Flowers).
Conclusion
Both cornerbacks had incredible seasons. Since 1981, only two other cornerbacks have ever won the award (Rod Woodson in 1993 & Deion Sanders in 1994). The fact that this award was between two cornerbacks speaks volumes about the seasons they both had.
My take is that Darrelle Revis had one of the greatest seasons a shutdown cornerback could ever have in the NFL. The Jets put him out on an island and asked him to shut down the opposing teams’ best wide receiver – and he did. Most years he would clearly be the best cornerback in the NFL – and frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year.
While Revis is the best coverage corner in the NFL, I believe Charles Woodson is the best all around cornerback. He was the best cornerback in the NFL against the run and one of the best in coverage and pressuring the quarterback. He forced 13 turnovers (7 more than Revis) and scored 3 touchdowns (2 more than Revis). Revis had a great year, but Woodson was even better.
I didn’t get to see a whole lot of football this year so, first a question, who was Charles Woodson covering? Second it would seem to me that if Woodson had three more interceptions and almost 40 less balls thrown at him; that, woodson sufficently shut people down to the point where quarterbacks wouldn’t want to throw at him.
Ultimately, Rex Ryan is an a-hole. They were both worthy choices, so freaking out that one got it over the other is stupid.
Yeah, according to those stats, Woodson intercepted the ball 12% of the time it came his way, compared to 5.5% for Revis. A 12% interception rate strikes me as ridiculously high; I suspect some WRs don’t catch that often (Butterfingers Braylon, I’m looking at you!).
The biggest difference not pointed out was Woodson had 11 tackles for losses “2 sacks and 9 stuffs” and attacked runningbacks near, at or behind the line of scrimmage. Revis is a SPEED BUMP tackler “contains runningbacks like a kicker” he lets the runner bring the contact to him. Revis will not attack the run therefore he has 2 tackles for losses in 3 YEARS. It comes down to a comparison to the likes of a Rod Woodson vs Deion Sanders. Most fans enjoy the shutdown abilities but GM’s and Coach’s will choose a Rod Woodson every Sunday, Monday and every other day that ends in a Y. There are two halves of a defender and at best Revis is adequate vs the rush. Those who believe Revis should win this season should have felt that Champ Bailey and Ty Law should have won in previous seasons.
Revis isn’t strong enough to strip ball carriers. Zero forced fumbles in 3 Years! Counting playoffs, total turnover forced Woodson 14 Revis 7.
Revis isn’t powerful enough to be utilized as a blitzer. He has a Half a sack in 3 seasons.
Revis isn’t strong enough to cover tight ends. Limited on coverage schemes.
To many times Revis had the ball clang of his hands where Woodson would come up with the interception. Please check out Jet’s game 15 in the last 2 minutes Revis could have ended the game with a int but didn’t and shortly after that play gave up the game winning touchdown. Woodson on the other hand made the same play vs Dallas to help preserve the victory or was that the forced fumble where both were in the Red Zone.