Left Wanting

On the cusp of training camp, I was really looking forward to CB Terrance Wheatley. In his lone start in his rookie season, Wheatley was in Marvin Harrison’s back pocket. He mirrored Indianapolis’ primary receiver step for step and defended two passes that night.

Unfortunately on the second pass defended, Wheatley injured his wrist. Wheatley was placed on injured reserve and missed the rest of the season. I was hoping with eight weeks and the off-season to recover, Wheatley pick up where he left off. Heck, I was hoping he would be better.

But when the preseason games started, Jonathan Wilhite out-played Wheatley, and it was obvious. Wilhite even got a 99-yard pick six against Washington. It was an arousing appetizer for what I hoped would be a better meal of a season.

12 weeks later, I’m not satisfied. The preseason tease was just that. Wilhite might be providing solid coverage, but he’s not making plays. It’s disappointing that after nine games Wilhite has just one interception and four passes defended.

Let’s put that in perspective. He’s tied with rookie safety Pat Chung and receiver Randy Moss in interceptions. Rookie corner back Darius Butler has twice as many interceptions and the same number of passes defended as the third corner.

Yes we have high standards when it comes to cornerbacks. We were fortunate enough to have Ty Law for his prime years. And he was followed by Asante Samuel’s two years of brilliance. I wasn’t expecting Wilhite or Wheatley to be the next in line, but hoping for the next Jimmy Hitchcock or Tyrone Poole didn’t seem like asking too much.

We forgave Wilhite for being toasted by the Colts’ Reggie Wayne two weeks ago. He was right there with Wayne, but Reggie is one of the league’s best. But I’m tired of Wilhite being good company. He needs to do more.

J-Dub isn’t the only one not pulling his weight of expectations. I endorsed the trade that brought Derrick Burgess from Oakland to New England. He didn’t bring any emotional baggage that he may had developed while playing for the Raiders. In fact, Burgess didn’t bring any baggage at all, which explains his two sacks through eleven games played.

Talk about packing lightly. I thought he had a good year or two left in him. It’s not like I was expecting the Burgess from his first three years with the Raiders that totaled 35 sacks. Several would be been nice. Right now, Burgess is still five short of that with five games left to play.

Before the season started, I said I wanted Willie McGinest back in “55.” I favored McGinest in hopes he would rush the passer well enough as a lineman instead of a linebacker. But it was Burgess who first wore the digits before Seau returned as an “in case of emergency” linebacker. If this was college football and it was an honor to wear the number of past greats, then it’s appropriate that Burgess was downgraded to “53.”

Head coach Bill Belichick recently praised Burgess for making the transition from defensive end to the hybrid Burgess plays now. I don’t share that praise. Congrats on adjusting, but Burgess isn’t fulfilling his first objective which is to sack the quarterback.

New England is on pace for 27.5 sacks if The Boston Herald’s Ian R. Rapoport’s math is on the money. If Burgess doesn’t add to that total, I’ll be more than happy to see him go on his way and move on to another team. I would say pack your bags Derrick. But with two sacks, he’s already packing lightly.