Morris Claiborne's second season with the Dallas Cowboys has not gotten off to the greatest start. The cornerback an former first round draft pick out of LSU has battling to retain his job as starter with the team, something that was officially taken away from him during the team's 30-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers. Now, head coach Jason Garrett is giving the young player a piece of reality.
Claiborne was beat multiple times by Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen on Sunday. He was targeted four times in man coverage and was beat each time. This resulted in Claiborne getting benched in favor of Orlando Scandrick. The cornerback may be struggling with a shoulder injury that is limiting his productivity, but overall he is having a hard time adjusting to NFL-style of play.
Currently, Claiborne is ranked last among Cowboys defenders. Garrett is upset that the young corner has yet to adjust the learning curve since coming over from college and has a lot of work to do towards improvement.
"Technically, you go back at each of the completions against him and you say, 'Hey, you should do this. You should do that.' But I also think confidence, playing that position, is critical," Garrett said, via ESPNDallas.com. "And usually those two things work hand in hand. When you're playing technically sound and you have ability, you tend to have more and more confidence because you're in the right place. They went to him too much in this ballgame, and they were too effective. He's just got to play better, and he will play better."
Claiborne was simply exposed while covering Allen. The wide receiver caught three of five passes for 80 yards against the cornerback. Dallas expects more from a player they moved up from No. 14 to No. 6 to get. Garrett said that college players simply need to adjust their level play to the talent around them.
"The quarterbacks and receivers in this league are very good. Guys at the college level, they don't face the expertise or just the level of play, the level of skill that these guys have, so sometimes if you're a more talented player, you can get away with being a little late to the ball because you can come back," Garrett said.
Owner Jerry Jones simply said that Claiborne along with Bruce Carter simply had some work to do. He stressed the coaching staff would do a better job of correcting the player's mistakes and allow them to become better individuals.
