The Data Confirms Christian Gonzalez Set a Record for Bad Pass Coverage Sunday That May Never Be Equaled
It's very possible that some time soon, someone will come up with a bigger understatement than Christian Gonzalez calling his performance Sunday "a bad game." To steal a line from the late, great Roger Ebert, his game against the Packers "soars above ordinary badness as the eagle outreaches the fly."
What's less likely is that anyone will top (bottom?) just how dreadfully awful it was. So hideous that no words, certainly not "bad game" could do it justice.
To do so requires turning to science:
Note especially that passer rating. While some people dismiss it as a metric, and I concede it's weird and incomprehensible, it works. It's a fair a measurement of performance as any ever devised. (Years ago friends of mine at Cold, Hard Football Facts proved that the difference between both QBs passer rating was behind only points scored when it came to determining which team wins any given game.) And Jordan Love's 158.3 when targeting Gonzalez is a perfect rating. Meaning he couldn't have been more efficient with his passes if Gonzalez stood on the sidelines, the Patriots played 10 guys, and chose not to cover Christian Watson and Matthew Golden.
It also means that we witnessed history:
Yahoo Sports - Green Bay wide receivers Christian Watson (eight targets, seven receptions, 171 yards, one touchdown) and Matthew Golden (10 targets, 10 receptions, 164 yards, one touchdown, including 126 yards in the first quarter) were the beneficiaries of the leaky coverage by Gonzalez. …
Golden and Watson's totals marked just the second time in Packers' franchise history when two players eclipsed 150-plus receiving yards and scored a receiving touchdown in the same game, joining Don Hutson (five receptions, 207, three touchdowns) and Andy Uram (four receptions, 174 yards, three touchdowns), who combined for 381 yards and six touchdowns in a 55-24 victory for Green Bay over the Chicago Cardinals on November 1, 1942.
Pro Football Talk - According to Next Gen Stats, which uses player tracking to determine which defensive back is in coverage on every pass thrown in every game, Gonzalez had a bad game against two Packers receivers that was unlike anything seen before. …
Gonzalez is the only defender, as far back as Next Gen Stats go (since at least 2018) to allow more than 80 receiving yards in coverage to two different players in the same game.
All of which is the bad news, and it needs to be acknowledged. When the highest paid cornerback in NFL history is making history that leads us to references to Don Hutson, Andy Uram, and the 1942 Chicago Cardinals, that deserves a mention. When a guy with the ink still drying on his $135 million contract and who's seen as a generational talent gets Eiffel Towered in ways that Next Gen Stats has never witnessed before, it can't be ignored. No matter how much I wish I could.
But here's the good news. Possibly. Potentially. All his history also does happen to have some historic precedence.
Let me take you back to the ancient history that was 2017. One month into the career of the Pats last highly paid franchise corner, Stephon Gilmore. The link is broken, so I can't post it. But I can tell you what I wrote at the beginning of October that year, in a blog filled with photos of Patriots defensive backs standing around while Gilmore plead his case to them about what just went wrong after another explosive play surrendered:
There's a holocaust of wrong going on with this defense right now:
--Last year they gave up 15.6 points per game, best in the league. This year it's double that.
--All four quarterbacks they've faced have had 300 yard games.
--They've surrendered 156 more passing yards than the No. 2 team. That's a bigger gap than between teams 2 and 7.
--The difference in total yards between them and No. 2 team is bigger gap than between teams 2 and 14
--Like I said in the KJR, they've given those QBs a passer rating close to 2016 Matt Ryan.
--They're giving up 10.0 AY/A. Meaning teams are averaging a 1st down with every throw.
Let the record reflect Gilmore and the rest of the team put in the work, found a solution, and became great again. They finished 5th in the league in points allowed. Went 14 straight games without allowing more than 27 points. Went four games allowing only single digits. Went to the Super Bowl (which was another matter entirely). Got Matt Patricia a head coaching job. And the following season won the Super Bowl with Gilmore making the key play:
Kevin Dietsch. Shutterstock Images.
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And the season after that, Gilmore was the DPOTY.
The point I'm making is that the truly great don't let a bad game (or four) affect them. They figure it out. They return to the mean. And retake their rightful place among the best in the league. Christian Gonzalez has been That Guy ever since he stepped on the field as a rookie. He didn't just suddenly forget how to cover elite receivers. And Sunday in Munich is going to be his personal Statement Game of all Statement Games, just like it was for Gilmore nine years ago.
Because this is what the truly great do. Expect more of this from him starting now.
Thearon W. Henderson. Getty Images.You heard it here first.