A safeties impact

[Dallas Iowa]

I have been thinking about this and curious if anyone else has noticed that a stud safety can make or break your defense.
Polamalu out in Pitt and that defense is a little above average, the same with Ed Reed, and Bob Sanders.
Now you look at some stud safeties that changed teams, Brian Dawkins, Darren Sharper. The Broncos and Saints were terrible defenses last year. Now you move a stud safety in and now they are pretty good defenses.
Just curious if everybody else is starting to see that the position that used just be a small linebacker/slow corner, is the position you need on your defense to be really, really good.

 

[Miller]

Great post and one that bring up some interesting points. Troy P's presence in that Pitt Defense is undeniable, and we have all seen the difference that Sanders makes to the Colts. They are big time play makers that is for sure. With the swing in the NFL to a more passing league, Safeties are kinda like your MLB of old. They have a huge impact due to their presence in the middle of the field and they can not only have a big impact in the running game, they are around the vertical passing game as well. They simply can effect games in more ways than other players.

 

[Dallas Iowa]

Another one I forgot and haven't really watched enough Bengals games to know, and as a cowboy fan don't want to say this but what about Roy Williams in Cincy? was a bad D and now they are pretty good.

 

[Miller]

Roy Williams has been on the IR for quite some time, so that one would not hold.