Jerricho Cotchery emerging as the new No. 3 WR

[Pahn711]

Re: Jerricho Cotchery emerging as the new No. 3 WR

He hasn't done it here yet, and comparing his career production to Ward, that argument doesn't fly with me.

I'm not even saying he won't prove to be good down the stretch for us, but what you guys are saying implies you are counting out both Ward and Sanders, and I'm not prepared to do that.

I haven't said anything about Ward or Sanders...

I merely stated a fact: Cotchery has proven himself to be a legitimate 70-80 catch 800-1000 yard WR...

Right, which means zip if Sanders and/or Ward take back the third and fourth receiver spots.

[JUST-PLAIN-NASTY]

Re: Jerricho Cotchery emerging as the new No. 3 WR

It may be age, injuries, or whatever you want to offer as a reason...But Ward is no longer an every down player. When Ward is on the field, there in no team afraid of walking 8 in the box and holding single S high to cover over top of Wallace. That wasn't a big deal over the years because Ward could account for "1" in his blocking assignment. Ward just can't account for "1" on every play anymore. His agility is limited. So that formula is not working. Proof is between the white lines. Next game where Wallace & Brown are on the field in base...Watch the safeties. There is hesitation to bring the SS in the box if at all and if they do the FS has to play CF and is out of position and vulnerable to many patterns. I have to give some credit to BA...He is doing a pretty good job of recognition and designing the plays for the soft spots. BA was always just trying to attack over the top of the coverage with Wallace but he realizes teams are defending that #1 and the soft spots are inside the hashes in front of the FS, shallow stops, and I also saw him take some shots on the corner route when the FS holds. If BB & Wallace show they could hit some of the corner - post corner routes....What things it could open up for Brown on the other side.

[Slapstick]

Re: Jerricho Cotchery emerging as the new No. 3 WR

Right, which means zip if Sanders and/or Ward take back the third and fourth receiver spots.

Which, at this point, is a fairly big IF.

It would seem that Cotchery has already beaten out Ward (which seems really strange to type) and Sanders had a knee scoped (which I had a few years back...he should be out for at least the Chefs game if not longer)...

Unless Tomlin wasn't blowing smoke when he spoke about personnel groupings and attacking a defense...which is a much, much smaller if IMO...

[Pahn711]

Re: Jerricho Cotchery emerging as the new No. 3 WR

Right, which means zip if Sanders and/or Ward take back the third and fourth receiver spots.

Which, at this point, is a fairly big IF.

It would seem that Cotchery has already beaten out Ward (which seems really strange to type) and Sanders had a knee scoped (which I had a few years back...he should be out for at least the Chefs game if not longer)...

Unless Tomlin wasn't blowing smoke when he spoke about personnel groupings and attacking a defense...which is a much, much smaller if IMO...

Probable, sure. But theres enough IFs in this conversation for me to be uncertain about how the wide receiver lineup will shake out in the following weeks. I'm certainly not gonna anoint Cotchery the number 3 receiver based on a 2 catch for 29 yards game.

[flippy]

Re: Jerricho Cotchery emerging as the new No. 3 WR

The exciting part about Cotchery becoming part of the offense now is it could pay dividends on the final drive in the SuperBowl if we're down and need to come back.

The biggest missing piece in the last SuperBowl drive was a WR to step up on that last drive.

Now I'm feeling like we've got a couple guys who could make some plays.

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Jerricho Cotchery emerging as the new No. 3 WR

Cotchery ready when the Steelers need him

By Ralph N. Paulk, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, December 26, 2011



Jerricho Cotchery does a lot of things well, but exercising patience isn't among them.

The veteran wide receiver spent the first half of this season waiting and watching from the sidelines. A tender hamstring limited his playing time, thus disrupting his transition into an evolving Steelers offense.

It's not what Cotchery imagined when he signed a free-agent deal with the Steelers only days after Plaxico Burress opted to return to New York instead of Pittsburgh. Realistically, Cotchery accepted the role of trotter opposite the Steelers' thoroughbreds — Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders.

Cotchery appears to have hit his stride just in time as the Steelers (11-4) prepare for their regular-season finale in Cleveland on Sunday - a must-win game to keep their AFC North title hopes alive.

"Initially, I saw all the weapons here which made me think a little bit," Cotchery said. "Once I came for my visit, I realized it's a special place.

"I looked in the mirror and asked, 'What do I see?' I looked like a Steeler. I felt like this was the place to be."

Cotchery envisioned himself as someone quarterback Ben Roethlisberger could lean on, particularly in the red zone. After all, that's where he excelled during his seven-year tenure with the New York Jets. He was a magician in cleats, snaring almost everything within or out of his reach.

"I had the hamstring injury early in the season, so no one was able to see me in action," Cotchery said. "The only time they saw me was in preseason.

"I feel like over course of time, the staff and everybody sees what I have to offer. I had to come in and do my part."

Taking advantage of an injury to Sanders, Cotchery worked himself into the rotation.

He showed his effectiveness last Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers, when he led the Steelers with five catches for 93 yards. However, he played sparingly Saturday and was held without a catch in the team's 27-0 victory against the St. Louis Rams in the home regular-season finale.

"I knew it was going to be tough getting some playing time," Cotchery said. "I just put it aside because my vision of things changed because I see how they build championship teams here. We have a lot of quality guys who can make plays. So, there's no reason to panic when someone gets injured."

Cotchery was on the field for 58 snaps against the 49ers, compared to nine for Hines Ward. Those aren't inconsequential numbers, considering his 93 receiving yards against San Francisco were only 22 shy of his season total.

Cotchery didn't see as much action against the Rams, in part, because Ward was more involved in the offense in what could have been his final home game with the Steelers. Ward finished with four catches to leave him five shy of becoming of the eighth receiver in NFL history to record 1,000 receptions.

"It's not hard for a veteran guy to come in and pick up on the system. All the systems are similar in lot of ways. It's the terminology that's different," Ward said. "The quarterback believes in him. Right now, he's getting his attempts. Basically, it comes down to him making plays, and that's what he's been doing."

[url="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_773680.html#ixzz1hgyE69iJ"]http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... z1hgyE69iJ[/url]

[StarSpangledSteeler]

Re: Jerricho Cotchery emerging as the new No. 3 WR

When we have Wallace, Brown, Sanders, Cotchery, Hines, Heath, Saunders all healthy and ready to roll....will we finally run a full blown high octane, quick strike offense like we did against Tennessee, 3/4 of the Patriots game, and the second half of the Ravens game? Will we put the pedal to the metal and beat teams down by throwing, throwing, and throwing some more? Or will we still find the need to revert back to the old tendencies of get up by 10 and get real scared to turn it over so turtle up, go 2 or 3 TE, run, run, and then face 3rd and longs?

Time to fully commit to a fast paced quick strike offense. If Arians can't design it without having 15 'stay' patterns in the gameplan or shutting down the offense and grounding the ball once they get a 10 point lead, then find someone who can design and run that offense next season. Get someone with balls enough to look Ben dead in the eye and tell him to quit pump faking to a wide open WR 10 yards downfield and passing them up to take a shot 30 yards downfield to a double covered WR that has shown no ability to get physical and take the ball off of a DB.
TAKE THE 10 YARD THROW.
RUN PASS PLAYS FROM THE SHOTGUN TO GIVE HIM MORE TIME INSTEAD OF 5 OR 7 STEP DROPS AND LOOONNGGGG DEVELOPING ROUTES!!!!!!!
IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO BE UNDER CENTER, THEN DESIGN ROUTES THAT ARE SHORT AND QUICK TO GET THE DB'S OFF OF YOU!
HIGH PERCENTAGE THROWS!
MAYBE RANDY FICHTNER IS THAT GUY!
IF YOU HAVE 3 OF THE FASTEST AND QUICKEST AND SHIFTIEST WR'S IN THE LEAGUE AND PLAN TO RUN A FAST PACED OFFENSE, THEN GET OLD MAN ROONEY'S 1970'S LOVE AFFAIR OUT OF THE PICTURE AND GET A REAL FIELD INSTEAD OF A PASTURE!!!
USE YOUR SPEED TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!!!
I WANT A F'N REMATCH VS. THE PACKERS!!!!!!

I agree with pretty much everything you've said here. Our WR's are too quick after the catch for most CB's to handle. So play to their strengths. On the other hand, neither Wallace or Brown are very good at battling for the deep ball. And Ben is only average with his accuracy on the deep ball. So why keep throwing that pass?

[flippy]

Re: Jerricho Cotchery emerging as the new No. 3 WR

While a real field to take advantage of team speed sounds nice in theory, if we had a good field, we may not have Ben for the rest of the season.