Nice article here by Kareem Copeland on Woodson’s evolving role on defense. The article talks about how Woodson was essentially playing safety a fair amount in yesterday’s game. For a while now in fact, he has been playing both safety and CB – depending on the play calls from Dom Capers. This article has a nice breakdown of this.
One interesting thing I noticed last night watching the Steelers play the Colts was just how similar Woodson and Polamalu function out there. Both creep up at the line and then either blitz, run down a runner, fake the blitz and drop into coverage – etc. Both create nightmares for QBs as QBs worry about what they might do. I don’t think it would be a stretch to argue that part of the reason for the success of both LeBeau and Capers is their decision to use players like Woodson/Polamalu in these roaming/havoc causing roles. Just makes sense and at the very least – casts an annoying doubt in the mind of the opposing QB.
