lewis non-starting status (at this point a nickle LB) begs the question if he changed or something else changed... jason noted that he has gambled more & it was also suggested he was looking to give his stats a boost in a contract year (his stats were plenty good in previous years, & in fact i think his stats had shown an upward tick in just about every category for about three years... maybe he should have been content with status quo if so)...
it is also possible that opposing OCs got better at isolating him & exposing his coverage weaknesses... adam archuleta was not prioritized by STL because of coverage weaknesses, & after being allowed to walk was relegated to the bench in WAS...
oddly, though, a SS like roy williams continues to go to the pro bowl (though he probably shouldn't... he did have career high in INTs in 06 with like 5-6)... adrian wilson set the NFL record for sacks by DB in 05 & i think set or tied one for all players/defenders with two 99 yard return TDs (one on INT & one on FR), but coverage is not his strong suit... perhaps some defensive schemes are better at shielding coverage weaknesses of SS... or related point, some DCs are better at devising such schemes or operating better within existing ones...
the preference these days is for well rounded DBs... SSs that can cover (like polamalu) & FS that can tackle (ed reed & brian dawkins)... the need for this type of player has maybe become more pronounced with the burgeoning trend of spread offenses... some of the rule changes recently have notoriously favored offense & specifically passing attacks...
having a SS (that can cover) in this context is oviously desireable when teams are routinely splitting out four WRs & sometimes more... on the other hand, IND has done a great job in past two seasons of forcing defenses to space out LBs & safeties more to account for all the receiving weapons... & then run through gaping holes... so in THAT context, it is also helpful to have FSs that can tackle...
i'm guessing that it would be a bit harder for OC to isolate a FS in run support than a SS in pass coverage... because for RB to even get into third level presupposes the blocking scheme was able to get past both DL AND LBs... in passing game, a WR3 or TE in some cases just has to beat one man to get downfield, & with rule changes can't be pressed past 5 yards downfield...
but i wouldn't go as far as to say it suggests or we can conclude from that competent SSs are more important than their FS peers...
stud FSs like aforementioned reed & dawkins (& sean taylor) can be best defensive players on their teams... & some teams use SS & FS almost interchangably, which makes this issue (comparitive valuation of safety positions) a moot point...
its not like players like this are common, just because they are essential...
its probably not an accident that i had to use a recent pro bowl who's who & roll call to illustrate these issues with exemplars (polamalu, reed, dawkins)... some other up 'n comers that have the multi-faceted skill set & array of physical traits & talents to excel in run support & coverage, off the top of my head from recent draft classes, not necessarily by rank or chronological order... sean taylor, kerry rhodes, sean jones, gibril wilson, madieu williams, donte whitner & michael huff... the play of taylor, rhodes & jones arguably merited pro bowl more strongly than others (such as polamalu, who had down year, lynch, who had no business, as well as roy williams)...
safeties used to be like the proverbial ugly, redheaded, freckled step-children of the defense & it was a position you didn't want to play, being typically underappreciated & among lowest paid in NFL (excepting occasional HoFer & pro bowler like lott & easley)... reed's recent monster contract & the one polamalu will soon sign signal a sea change in the current eco-system of relative strategic importance of defensise positions within the overall scheme landscape, & a corresponding shift in valuation...
safeties seem to have been prioritized in draft increasingly past half decade or so... top 10 safety selection used to happen maybe few times a decade, if that... top 10 safeties like bennie blades, mark carrier & the late eric turner were extremely rare... in recent years we have had top 10 safeties in roy williams, taylor, & then TWO in 06 with huff & whitner... in 07, reggie nelson & laron landry are borderline top 10 talents, & it probably wouldn't be a huge shock if either or both were taken around there...
just think how dangerous DAL might be if nelson or landry somehow drops to them... they probably win at least 2-3 games more each of past two season with any semblance of decent FS play to complement the LB-like SS williams...
this thought is slightly out of sequence, but maybe serves as a good coda to convey sense of offense & defense trends battling each other like in an arms race escalation, or in the war of crypto experts constantly trying to keep up with attempts to circumvent these man-made coding systems with inherent flaws & unforseen weaknesses by hackers...
with rule changes favoring offenses & passing attacks, a team like IND with right offensive personnel can almost dictate to the defense their own personnel, formation & schemes (PIT in playoffs last year excepted
)... once a defense has SS & FS that can be used interchangably, with SS that can cover & has ball skills & FS that can tackle in run support, it makes that OVERALL defense much harder to attack (it still helps to have good DL that pressure QB & LBs stout in run support & that can themselves cover, so you defenitely need more than just good safeties)...
