Forget Chris Harris Jr.’s last performance against the Steelers
Chris Harris Jr. may be one of the best, most-consistent cornerbacks in the NFL, but as we head into the postseason, all anybody can remember is his disastrous performance against Antonio Brown — and it was disastrous. On 13 targets, Harris gave up 12 receptions for 137 yards and two touchdowns, scoring the lowest PFF (-4.5) grade of his career.
In fact, since he entered the league in 2011, Harris has only graded lower than -1.0 (a “Red” grade) five times, none of which had come in the last two seasons. Actually, Harris didn’t have a single negative game in 2014, and he had just three in 2015 (all between -0.3 and -0.7) before his performance against Pittsburgh.
All of which is to say … Chris Harris Jr. is an unbelievably good cornerback.
Pro Football Focus has had Harris graded as a top-six cornerback in each of the last four years (he was No. 1 in 2014 and No. 3 this season), which is something no other cornerback can say, and that includes Richard Sherman, Darrelle Revis, Patrick Peterson and anyone else you want to throw out there.
Harris didn’t get lit up by Antonio Brown because he’s a bad cornerback; he got lit up because (a) Brown is great, (b) he was probably due for one bad game and (c) Wade Phillips asked Harris to do what no other defensive coordinator would ask their No. 1 cornerback to do: Try to stop Antonio Brown man-to-man for four straight quarters, an impossible task.
If Brown does end up playing this weekend, I can promise you that Phillips won’t do that again. I can also promise you that Harris won’t give up 12 receptions for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
