Archer: Garrett: Claiborne's status to be determined

[Carp]

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne sealed Sunday’s win with an interception, but it might not have sealed playing time in the future.

When asked if Claiborne will continue to earn the same amount of playing time going forward, coach Jason Garrett said, “We’ll determine how we’re going to play guys as the week goes on.”

Despite the interception, Claiborne struggled against the St. Louis Rams, giving up a 51-yard touchdown in the second quarter and a 38-yard reception in the third quarter, and he was the closest defender on the Rams’ final touchdown in the fourth quarter. He also missed a tackle on a 16-yard run and had an illegal contact penalty.

The Cowboys chose to rotate Orlando Scandrick, who was making his season debut after missing the first two games of the season due to a suspension, and Claiborne as outside cornerbacks depending on the Rams’ personnel Sunday. Claiborne played 53 defensive snaps; Scandrick played 51, missing the final two after getting kneed in the back.

Claiborne acknowledged after the game he “pretty much stunk it up” before the interception.

“Mo was just in situations in yesterday’s game where he was isolated by himself and they made good throws and catches against him,” Garrett said. “His technique on each of those plays wasn’t perfect and they had success for different reasons on each of those plays where he got beat, and he just needs to continue to learn and grow and develop as a player.

“Confidence is a huge part of playing this game at every position, and there are probably degrees of confident. You can feel a certain level of confidence that allows you to play, but then when you’re really playing your best football, intuitively you know you have that much more confidence. You just know what you’re doing, what your technique is, what you think they’re going to do, how you’re going to be able to attack it, so I just think there are levels of it. So I don’t see a player who is playing without confidence, but I know when you play well, your confidence grows.”

Scandrick started Sunday’s game and started 15 games last season. He was glad to be back after missing the first two games. He was credited with five tackles.

“I’m going to defer that to the coaches, why they did it, how they did it,” Scandrick said after the game when asked about the rotation. “I played when I’m called on to play.”

He could be called on more this week against the New Orleans Saints.

 

[boozeman]

Oh yeah, Garrett talks tough now, but he'll be playing a lot against NO.

 

[Cotton]

 

[Cotton]

 

[Cotton]

Claiborne decision shouldn't be tough
September, 23, 2014

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas – The best players play. It seems a fairly obvious statement, but it is not always true in professional sports.

Sometimes money, personalities and front-office desires can overtake that simple mantra.

If Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett wants to maintain credibility not only outside the locker room but also inside, then Morris Claiborne cannot play starter’s snaps.

“It really doesn’t matter where guys come from,” Garrett said. “We’ll evaluate them and see who can play best. We’ll do that again this week and determine how we play guys all throughout our roster.”

The Cowboys gave up their second-round draft pick in 2012 to move up to No. 6 in the first round to take Claiborne. But he’s yet to live up to those expectations or come close to the player the Cowboys said had their highest defensive back grade since Deion Sanders.

Whatever the reason, it just hasn’t happened. And it doesn’t look like it will ever happen.

Even owner and general manager Jerry Jones has said Claiborne is not the guy they thought he would be, but he also said he can be a good player. The Cowboys talk about Claiborne’s ability to play the ball but they always have to reference his time at LSU, not the first 28 games of his career.

In training camp, Garrett frequently mentioned Claiborne’s increased competitiveness in practices. It was good to see, but he was still beaten way too frequently as well. And then Claiborne hurt his shoulder and did not play in a preseason game.

The Cowboys shouldn’t question whether Claiborne should start over Orlando Scandrick. That’s a question even the unwashed masses in the media can figure out. Scandrick is a better player. The Cowboys have to determine whether Claiborne should play over Sterling Moore in the sub packages.

Moore played well in the slot in Scandrick’s absence to start the season because of a suspension. Garrett said Moore could play outside if needed as well. Claiborne played 53 snaps against the St. Louis Rams last week. Moore played two.

Garrett has made this type of decision before. He benched Bruce Carter more than once last year when the linebacker was struggling badly in favor of Ernie Sims. They benched Will Allen last year for J.J. Wilcox at safety, eventually cutting the veteran in a move that might have been too hasty in retrospect. Garrett put right tackle Doug Free on notice in the past, rotating plays with Jermey Parnell, and saw Free respond with better play.

Claiborne’s struggles are not for a lack of work. He put in the time in the offseason to get stronger and more fit. He put in time with the coaches. But something is missing. He talks confidently but he does not play confidently.

Maybe the end-of-game interception against the Rams turns a light on for Claiborne and he figures it out.

The New Orleans Saints come to AT&T Stadium on Sunday with an offense that can spread defenses out like no other. If the Cowboys continue to roll with Claiborne, even as their third cornerback, and he continues to get beat, then they must do something.

In a way Garrett’s job could depend on it.

 

[DLK150]

His status should be on his ass on the bench until further notice.

 

[Clay_Allison]

We won't have any choice but to play him. NO is going to use a lot of multi-WR sets and we only have so many CBs

 

[Carp]

Jerry Jones: Morris Claiborne isn’t what we hoped for

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 23, 2014, 11:25 AM EDT

In the 2012 NFL draft, Cowboys General Manager Jerry Jones traded both his first-round pick and his second-round pick to St. Louis to move up and draft cornerback Morris Claiborne with the sixth overall pick. So far that’s not looking like a great move.

Jones says he still has hopes that Claiborne is going to turn out to be a very good player in Dallas, but he admits that through two-plus seasons, Claiborne hasn’t been the player the Cowboys believed he was when they pulled the trigger on that trade.

“Is he what we had hoped for at this point when we drafted him with the sixth overall pick, giving up the [second-round] pick to go up to the sixth pick to get him? No,” Jones said on KRLD-FM, via the Dallas Morning News. “But he’s going to be a good player.”

Claiborne had a late interception on Sunday against the Rams, but St. Louis quarterback Austin Davis was also picking on Claiborne all day until that point. Claiborne has to play better than he did on Sunday.

The two picks the Cowboys traded away turned out to be Michael Brockers, who is now starting for the Rams at defensive tackle, and Alshon Jeffery, whom the Bears drafted after a trade with the Rams and who has become one of the best young receivers in the NFL. Jones probably wishes he had stayed put and used those picks on the same two players, rather than using both picks to get Claiborne.

 

[boozeman]

Believe it when I see him benched.

All this means is that we are drafting a CB high in the next draft.

 

[Texas Ace]

Believe it when I see him benched.

All this means is that we are drafting a CB high in the next draft.

The sad thing is, we probably do need to entertain drafting a CB, although I really hope we don't do it in the 1st round.

We have a bust on one side and a 50 million waste on the other. Carr isn't horrible, but he isn't all that good either, and he certainly isn't worth what we're paying him.

So instead of trying to sign one in this overpriced market, we're better off drafting a young one with ability because we are going to need one next season if the upcoming offseason goes how I think it will.

 

[Smitty]

You find value picks at CB in the mid rounds all the time. Don't force it, you have two starters in Carr and Scandrick. Just look for a value when it presents itself in this draft or the next.

 

[midswat]

True, but this team sucks at two things:

1. Finding value in the draft
2. Evaluating cornerbacks


We got Scandrick, and thats nice. But look at every other mid round corner we've drafted since whenever... Jacques Roges, Nate Jones, Pete Hunter, that fourth rounder from last year we just cut, plus other people, do you want me to continue? Hope not because I'm out of names. But you get the point, maybe.

 

[Smitty]

Yeah, I get it, but you can't just assume that you can only find starters in the first two rounds.

 

[midswat]

You can and should when you have Jerry Jones as a GM.

 

[Cotton]

True, but this team sucks at two things:

1. Finding value in the draft
2. Evaluating cornerbacks


We got Scandrick, and thats nice. But look at every other mid round corner we've drafted since whenever... Jacques Roges, Nate Jones, Pete Hunter, that fourth rounder from last year we just cut, plus other people, do you want me to continue? Hope not because I'm out of names. But you get the point, maybe.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

True, but this team sucks at two things:

1. Finding value in the draft
2. Evaluating cornerbacks


We got Scandrick, and thats nice. But look at every other mid round corner we've drafted since whenever... Jacques Roges, Nate Jones, Pete Hunter, that fourth rounder from last year we just cut, plus other people, do you want me to continue? Hope not because I'm out of names. But you get the point, maybe.

I think we just suck at scouting corners period. I also think if we got better safety play we could get by with average corners. When your safeties are bad then tend to make even exceptional corners look bad.

 

[p1_]

Believe it when I see him benched.

All this means is that we are drafting a CB high in the next draft.

Fucking count on it. And they'll over value the player....AGAIN

 

[Deuce]

I don't think we suck at drafting as much as we suck at talent development as a whole. Besides WR's which any dummy can play...who, other than our high picks, have panned out in the last 5 years? Scandrick was a 4th, but he slid on draft weekend. He wasn't projected there and he's showing why. But there are no more Jay Ratliff's on this team who were picked, developed and became contributors.

 

[Smitty]

Scandrick was a 5th.

 

[BipolarFuk]

Maybe teh Jer can secretly call Pete Carroll and ask him who they would take when the Cowboys are up to pick in the mid rounds.

Give him that wink and point and Carroll's bank account mysteriously grows.