Two-time All-Pro wide receiver and ESPN analyst Chris Carter was on “Mike and Mike In the Morning” Friday where he made some pretty bold statements regarding Lions wide-out Calvin Johnson. First Carter believed that Johnson isn’t among the top five receivers in the game today. The receivers he does list include…
- DeSean Jackson
- Reggie Wayne
- Greg Jennings
- Larry Fitzgerald
- Roddy White
- Andre Johnson
I don’t have a problem with his list. It’s his opinion and the receivers he does list are all very good. What’s perplexing is when Carter says that teams don’t have to double team Johnson to take him out of the game (hence my Chris Carter might be high title)…
“Calvin Johnson, right now you don’t have to double team him to take him out of the game.”
Carter reportedly came to this conclusion by watching game film. However it is still trying to be determined what game film he was actually watching. Maybe Carter got confused and was watching game film on Dominique Johnson because for the most part Calvin Johnson was double-teamed in almost every game.
The only games where Johnson wasn’t consistently double-teamed was when the Lions played the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets.
In a game against the Packers Johnson was held to one catch which was a 44-yard reception. Other than that Charles Woodson stuck by Johnson on every single play. However Tom Kowalksi of Mlive.com points out that Woodson had a lot of help over the top in shutting Johnson down for the most part.
In the game against the Jets, Darrelle Revis who is arguably the best corner in the game, played a lot of one-on-one with Johnson and did a great job holding him to one catch for 13 yards. But when the game was on the line the Jets began to double-team Johnson to ensure he wouldn’t be making the big play.
Carter spent a lot of time in the league where he was an extremely effective receiver and certainly knows passing schemes. However you can bet that every single defensive coordinator in league has to develop a game plan specifically for Calvin Johnson. This is attention that most receivers in the league don’t garner.
Source: ESPN, Mlive.com
