By Matthew Marczi
End-of-season player exit meetings are not something that we are often privy to as outsiders of the football world. Generally, we only get a glimpse into that world when a player is asked by a reporter how the meeting went, if the player is willing to discuss it.
Still, it’s not generally a hard concept to grasp, and we have a pretty good feel by now of how Mike Tomlin and his staff likes to operate, and we see all the game film, so it’s not an overly difficult project to simulate. If we were to administer the end-of-season player exit meetings, it might go something like this.
Player: William Gay
Position: Cornerback
Experience: 7 Years
Most fans, it seemed, were glad to see William Gay leave in free agency after the 2011 season, and not many welcomed him back to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2013 after spending one season with the Arizona Cardinals.
But try to re-envision the 2013 without Gay, who was called upon to take over the starting cornerback spot from Cortez Allen while the latter worked out the kinks in his game—and his body—as the nickel back.
Gay played in every game—in fact, he’s never missed a game in his seven-year career—making 11 starts and playing nearly 1000 snaps, grading positively by Pro Football Focus in every category of his game.
While he’s prone to miss a tackle every now and then (which is frankly common in the secondary), he finished the year with less missed tackles than anybody else in the starting defensive back field.
He had a particularly strong game playing the run, most notably against the Buffalo Bills, during which he made 11 tackles, nine solo, mostly in the run game. He also had the second-highest run-stop percentage among cornerbacks last year, behind only Tracy Porter. But that wasn’t the only area in which he played well.
Outside of the disastrous game against the New England Patriots, which was the season low-point for nearly the entire roster, Gay’s coverage overall was quite solid, allowing under 60 percent of the passes in his target area to be completed. He gave up 52 total receptions for under 500 yards, third-least among cornerbacks who played at least 75 of the team. The longest pass he allowed went for 31 yards, and his quarterback rating allowed when targeted was just 72.9.
His .91 yards allowed per snap in coverage was top 10 in the league. He also allowed just one touchdown during the year as the primary defender, and he made up for that with an interception returned 21 yards for a touchdown. He also caused two fumbles, one of which came off a cornerback blitz for a sack, which was recovered and returned by Will Allen.
What Gay may lack physically in terms of size, speed, and strength, he generally makes up for mentally. Having him on the field allows for a more diverse and exotic defense, because he has the ability to cover other players’ assignments. While he may be best suited for the slot, he has shown once again that he can be relied upon to step in when others fail.
Previous Articles In This Series
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – QB Ben Roethlisberger
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – WR Antonio Brown
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – WR Emmanuel Sanders
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – TE Heath Miller
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – T Marcus Gilbert
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – G David DeCastro
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – G Ramon Foster
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – T Kelvin Beachum
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – RB Le’Veon Bell
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – C Fernando Velasco
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – FB Will Johnson
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – DE Brett Keisel
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – NT Steve McLendon
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – DE Cameron Heyward
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – OLB LaMarr Woodley
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – OLB Jason Worilds
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – ILB Lawrence Timmons
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – ILB Vince Williams
Steelers End Of Season Player Exit Meetings – CB Ike Taylor
