Should Darius Butler start even when Vontae/Powers return?

[sfgiants5518]

Butler serves up a score

Having now bounced out of Carolina as well as the New England defensive backfield it would be easy to think that Darius Butler is on close to his last chance in the NFL and he is trying to make the most of his opportunity with the Colts in the last two weeks. Earning his first start at left corner since Week 4 last season Butler was solid in coverage capping off his performance with one fortuitous interception and one that showed a ball hawking ability to capitalize on a dreadful throw from Blaine Gabbert. From early on it was obvious that the Jaguars were principally targeting short routes and consequently the Colts just started to sit off of and jump these routes. That tactic caught them out when Cassius Vaughn was beaten on a hitch-and-go by Cecil Shorts but that wasn’t until Butler had made the decisive play of the game by jumping an out route to pick off a pass left infield by Gabbert, the cardinal sin on such throws. At the moment this is just an isolated performance from Butler but what a play like this can often do is buy you some time in the lineup to prove yourself; the onus will be on Butler now to capitalize on that to keep his spot.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blo...guars-week-10/

What do you think? He did force 3 turnovers, but it was Blaine Gabbert throwing the ball. Should we keep him as starter when our 2 starting CB's return from injury? Or just put him in Nickel.

I actually like this team's CB depth.

[sfgiants5518]

Apparently Arias is considering it:

#Colts' B.A. says Butler, after three-turnover game, could factor into starter mix even after CBs Powers, Davis return from injuries.

https://twitter.com/pwilson24/status/266993590331400192

[matthollabak]

Powers' injury history as well as his lack of success this year has me thinking he may not be back and I wouldn't be surprised if he lost his starting job.

I don't think Davis if healthy will be taken out of the lineup however, we need to see why that #2 pick was given for him and to take him out of the lineup would have everyone up in arms.

I'm seriously wondering how Powers would do in a safety role? I had high hopes for Tom Z, but he has been pretty bad in coverage this year. Powers' strength is playing zone as a cover 2 CB and he has always been a pretty good tackler for a CB, so I wonder if those tools would translate to safety? IMO he is out manned trying to take on guys one on one and may thrive at the safety position which usually plays more like a cover 2 corner and could utilize his skills which aren't translating that well with him getting picked on quite a bit.

I liked Butler as soon as I saw his story, glad to see him taking the chance we gave him and running with it.

[Theriot2]

Over Powers yes. No way over Davis.

[Colts2180]

Over Powers yes. No way over Davis.

Ditto. Plus lets not forget what Vaughn has done this year. Hes actually been pretty good too. The biggest weakness this team had has become one of its strengths lol, funny how that turns out.

[jacquewho?]

I'm still not sold on Vaughn as a starter, I definitely do think Davis is our best but next to him it's up for grabs. Powers just hasn't impressed me. Butler has been doing decent and he really made a statement this last game against the Jags. I want to see how he does in these next few weeks, but I'm gonna try to not be hard on these guys cause we go against Brady the next game.

[ponderingpluto]

I could see him as a starter opposite davis, but we will need them all going against Brady. Im pretty concerned with Gronk in this game.. Im not saying the B word, but we need to take him out of the game. Plus Hernandez is probably going to be back so the more cover guys the better for this one.

[sfgiants5518]

Why did Powers regress so much? is it change of scheme?

[Theriot2]

Why did Powers regress so much? is it change of scheme?

That would be my best guess. Kinda sucks though.

[OldStyleCubbies]

Even though they've been playing decent, I still have absolutely no confidence in our secondary going into any given game.

[matthollabak]

There were quite a few people disagreeing with me when I said part of the reason we were going after so many CBs before the season could be that Powers just wasn't making a good transition to the new scheme and we needed to find 2 starters and not just 1...it doesn't look so far fetched anymore.

I didn't think he would be this bad and picked on all season, but I had my worries about him matching up man vs opposing #1 WRs.

[matthollabak]

Ditto. Plus lets not forget what Vaughn has done this year. Hes actually been pretty good too. The biggest weakness this team had has become one of its strengths lol, funny how that turns out.

Throwing **** at the wall until something sticks turned out to be a great strategy as opposed to the old Polian/Caldwell system where you pick a guy and stick with him no matter how bad he preforms.