Charles Tillman’s Stripping Prowess Will Make Your Balls Drop
Presenting an interesting and new statistic from Football Outsiders: the forced drop. Contrary to what it sounds like, it occurs when a receiver drops a ball without contention from the primary defender. And guess who “forced” the most drops in 2009?
“Based on film breakdowns of the 2008 season, more NFL receivers dropped passes when Tillman was the primary defender than any other cornerback in the league. Of the 113 passes thrown in his direction, 10 were dropped.”
I’m still unsure what this means or says, if anything, but Kevin Seifert was in the right ballpark with suggesting Tillman’s known ball-hawking–the guy seems to always be stripping the ball from someone–keeps receivers on edge.
[...] Oh. And the defense. Yeah, about those guys. The secondary is mostly horrible, linebackers injured and defensive line — inconsistently underwhelming . But, Peanut Tillman did play well this evening and it appears like his back is back okay. In fact, his rejuvenated performance told us what we already knew: His stripping prowess can make balls drop. [...]