Charles Woodson...

[Angry Pope]

Charles Woodson, 33, becoming elite player

By Jerry McDonald

Updated: 11/21/2009 07:04:33 PM PST


It was nearly a decade ago that veteran cornerback Eric Allen sat in the Raiders' locker room and said he fully expected Charles Woodson to go from Pro Bowl cornerback to defensive cornerstone.

It wasn't enough for Woodson to lock up the opposition's best receiver. Allen thought Woodson had the skills to be an every-down game-changer, a player who had to be accounted for on every snap.

Woodson was a natural, electric and charismatic — it seemed inevitable he would be among the NFL's elite players.

Allen probably never guessed it wouldn't happen until Woodson turned 33 and as a member of the Green Bay Packers, who host the 49ers today at Lambeau Field.

Woodson is coming off his best game, forcing two fumbles (one with a non-tuck sack of Tony Romo, the other on a strip of receiver Roy Williams) and intercepting a pass on the 1-yard line in a 17-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys to keep the Packers in the playoff chase.

"It was one of the better games I've ever seen a defensive player play," Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers said.

"The best I've seen him since I've been here," coach Mike McCarthy added.

"They put Woodson on me, and I couldn't get off him," Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said.

Rather than anchor Woodson at left cornerback, Capers utilized him much as Allen had projected years ago, putting him in positions to be a blitzer, pass defender, tackler and ball-stripper.

"Me being able to move around, nickel, dime, safety, you don't know where I'm coming from or if I'm coming, and that's a positive," Woodson told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "It's going to throw some people off."

Woodson's eight seasons with the Raiders were successful but ultimately unsatisfying. He made the Pro Bowl his first four seasons but not the last four, which were derailed by injuries and his well-documented distaste for practice and preparation.

Woodson played in 106 games with the Raiders, intercepted 17 passes and scored two touchdowns. After being tagged their franchise player twice, Woodson left as a free agent and joined Green Bay, his only major suitor.

Vilified for losing Brett Favre, general manager Ted Thompson ought to be celebrated for snagging Woodson, who has 24 interceptions and five touchdowns in 55 games as a Packer.

The film sessions Woodson once bragged about sleeping through apparently are of some use as he has matured.

"He's a very instinctive player," Capers said. "He studies tape. He's smart. Over a period of time, quarterbacks know that. You throw the ball close to him, he's got as much of a chance of coming up with it as the receiver."

[RF34]

Woodson signing with the Pack was a genius move......but Thompson is still an idiot for letting his ego get involved with the whole Favre thing.

[boknowsvt]

Like we don't have enough to be down about, you bring up losing Woodson. The guy's been gone 4 years now, get over it.

[CrossBones]

Like we don't have enough to be down about, you bring up losing Woodson. The guy's been gone 4 years now, get over it.Get over it? Are you serious? We fucked shit up right there. The guy was, and still is, an elite corner in this league. We let him walk when we could have made a long term deal to keep CW in a Raiders uni for his entire career. Another notch in the Al Davis genius gun. Al is going down the same rabbit hole with Aso and we'll likely have that fucked up next year.

[SoCalRaider]

Wood was one of my all time favorite players... but he just had a bad run of injuries his last few seasons here and Davis thought he could fill the void with Aso.... I'm happy for Wood that he's still dominating.... on the flip side of the coin... I think the importance of CBs is highly over-rated.... Keeping him wouldn't have changed much around here.... but at the same time... having both him and Aso in our secondary would have been a lot of fun to watch....

[YodasBeast]

Now just imagine if we still had Woodson locking down one half of the field and Aso locking down the other....Of course, the opposing teams would still run on us all day and just rape the LBs, but imagine....:D

[boknowsvt]

Woodson, like most veteran players, didn't want to play here post 2003. He had a shitty attitude and needed to go.

[DarthRaidor]

Woodson, like most veteran players, didn't want to play here post 2003. He had a shitty attitude and needed to go.

Exactly. Wood didn't want to play here anymore.

[Angry Pope]

Get over it? Are you serious? We fucked shit up right there. The guy was, and still is, an elite corner in this league. We let him walk when we could have made a long term deal to keep CW in a Raiders uni for his entire career. Another notch in the Al Davis genius gun. Al is going down the same rabbit hole with Aso and we'll likely have that fucked up next year.

Rep to you Bones...

If Woodson should make the HOF, Al will quickly point out that it was him that brought Woodson into the NFL.

[Angry Pope]

Woodson, like most veteran players, didn't want to play here post 2003. He had a shitty attitude and needed to go.

Woodson is only 33 years of age now.

Like we don't have enough to be down about, you bring up losing Woodson. The guy's been gone 4 years now, get over it.

Thought we could sneak this one in between the 10,000 Jamarcus sucks posts...you pretty sharp Bob...

[boknowsvt]

Woodson is only 33 years of age now.



Thought we could sneak this one in between the 10,000 Jamarcus sucks posts...you pretty sharp Bob...
Randy Moss seems to be pretty good too. Why don't you start a thread about that as well?

[Angry Pope]

Randy Moss seems to be pretty good too. Why don't you start a thread about that as well?

You just did. Now follow it by saying that he was one of those old veterans that didn't want be here. I will spot you his age..he is 32 now.

[hawaiianboy]

He's hung in a lot longer at corner than I thought he would with the way he seemed to be breaking down at the end with us... Bresnahan tried a lot of the things that they are doing with him in GB, but unfortunately the guy kept keeping hurt... Kind of pisses me off that he goes to GB and then finally becomes someone who studies film and a true locker room leader, things that were lacking when he was here... He's a pleasure to watch, one of my favorite players...

[Angry Pope]

He's hung in a lot longer at corner than I thought he would with the way he seemed to be breaking down at the end with us... Bresnahan tried a lot of the things that they are doing with him in GB, but unfortunately the guy kept keeping hurt... Kind of pisses me off that he goes to GB and then finally becomes someone who studies film and a true locker room leader, things that were lacking when he was here... He's a pleasure to watch, one of my favorite players...

The two seasons prior to his last one here he played nearly all the games...missing two or three. His last season here he broke his leg..it happens. He also had a shoulder injury which played through.

Al seemed to think he was going to last awhile as Woodson signed two franchise tag tenures, one of which was about 10 million dollars if I remember correctly.

Probably Woodson could see the condition the team was in, coaching and leadership and decided to leave. He received good money from the Packers.

The Packers offered him $3million dollars bonus if he made the Pro Bowl in two of his first three years of his contract. That is incentive to study film, plus a more stable environment, and at 28 years of age when he left, that is when they start to mature.

[Diceq]

Exactly. Wood didn't want to play here anymore.

Darth-This is the key to our problems-Talent retention. Had we extended him one year prior to his walk year, all of the bad feeelings would have been avoided and we'd have an elite player. Same with Moss.
We need a GM to anticipate these issues and avoid them

Same road we are headed down with 52 and 53, and Huff, and Seymour.

[hawaiianboy]

Awesome performance today... :bow:

7 tackles, 1 sack, two forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 2 INT's, 1 TD and held Megatron to 2 catches for ten yards... and yet they give the Player of teh game award to the offensive guy as usual..


Al should have paid him eleventeen billion dollars to stay...

[Jack's sore libido]

I can only imagine the kinds of things we could do on defense if we had Asomugha and Woodson both starting.

Here's a big FUCK-YOU to Phillip Buchanan for getting in the way of that.

[gannoncannon]

Here's a big FUCK-YOU to Phillip Buchanon for getting in the way of that.

ugh, the self-proclaimed "Show-Time"... :shakehead:

[boknowsvt]

If we had kept Woodson, there was no way we could have shelled out the dough for Nnamdi.

[RF34]

...is a Packer. :shakehead:

[YodasBeast]

If we had kept Woodson, there was no way we could have shelled out the dough for Nnamdi.

You don't know Al very well, do you?

He would have creamed himself to have two lockdown corners.

[Raiders757]

You don't know Al very well, do you?

He would have creamed himself to have two lockdown corners.

Agreed. Woodson was let go before Al even knew what he had with Scrabble.

[boknowsvt]

You don't know Al very well, do you?

He would have creamed himself to have two lockdown corners.

Would and could are two different things.

[Angry Pope]

Woodson and Aso would have staggered contracts where they wouldn't come due at the same time. So yes, we would be able to afford both. Being that they are corners, Al would have made it happen.

[Angry Pope]

Packers CB Woodson donates $2 million to Michigan hospital

Associated Press


ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Charles Woodson wants to be known as more than a football player.

Donating $2 million to the new University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital gives him a chance to do that.

Charles Woodson visits with 14-year-old Todd Bonnici at the University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital.

The school announced Woodson's gift on Thanksgiving before he played for the Green Bay Packers against the Detroit Lions.

Then, he intercepted two passes -- returning one for a score -- forced a fumble, recovered it and had a sack.

"It was a good day," Woodson said after Green Bay's 34-12 win in Detroit.

His donation will support pediatric research by The Charles Woodson Clinical Research Fund in the $754-million, 1.1-million square foot hospital scheduled to open in 2012.

"He's really studied and tried to understand what the issues are in doing research in pediatrics," Dr. Valerie Castle said. "What most people don't know is that less than 10 percent of the National Institute of Health budget goes toward research in pediatric disease.

"When you study those patients, you often times get clues to adult diseases."

Woodson hopes to attract the world's best researchers who want to help children with cancer, heart disease, kidney disorders and autism.

"I want to be part of that symbol of hope," Woodson said. "So that they can say, 'I know I can beat this thing and there's people out there who will help me beat it."'

Woodson said during a visit to Ann Arbor earlier this month that becoming a father in January motivated him to make the gift, altering his outlook on life.

"It can change a lot," he said.

Lloyd Carr, his coach at Michigan, hopes Woodson's gift pushes his peers to also give back.

"I think it's going to have a significant influence across the athletic world that he decided to do this," Carr said.

Woodson acknowledged feeling awkward about allowing a FOX TV reporter and crew to follow him as he visited patients on an off day in November, but said it was part of his mission.


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"Half of the battle is about awareness," Woodson said. "When I signed on board to be a part of this team, that was going to be part of the deal. Part of making it work is me being a face or spokesman.

"I guess what bigger days can we do it to bring awareness to the cause when everybody is watching a Thanksgiving Day game?"

The native of Fremont, Ohio, helped Michigan win the national championship in 1997. He won the Heisman Trophy as a cornerback who also played wide receiver and returned punts.

His memories from college on and off the field led to him giving back financially.

"It was probably best three years of my life that I can remember, other than having my son," Woodson said. "When people still see me, even though I have been in Green Bay and Oakland, they still talk about Michigan."

[Jack's sore libido]

If we had kept Woodson, there was no way we could have shelled out the dough for Nnamdi.

If we had kept Woodson, Nnamdi might not have the reputation he has now to demand that kind of coin, because teams might actually throw a few passes his way.

[Angry Pope]

Randy Moss seems to be pretty good too. Why don't you start a thread about that as well?

John Bowie was waived 11-25-2009

[Raidermania12]

Woodson was supposed to be a Raider for life, nonetheless more power to him in GB. Ever since college he was a naturally great CB, and those our the guys who play at a high level for a long time rather than track stars who happen to play cb.

[Rupert]

Get over it? Are you serious? We fucked shit up right there. The guy was, and still is, an elite corner in this league. We let him walk when we could have made a long term deal to keep CW in a Raiders uni for his entire career. Another notch in the Al Davis genius gun. Al is going down the same rabbit hole with Aso and we'll likely have that fucked up next year.

But Woodson didn't practice, skipped meetings, and generally didn't want to do what other players had to do.

Sound familiar?

[Raidermania12]

But Woodson didn't practice, skipped meetings, and generally didn't want to do what other players had to do.

Sound familiar?
Only did this when pussies were in charge. Gruden didn't bitch about him, nor has mccarthy.

[SoCalRaider]

But Woodson didn't practice, skipped meetings, and generally didn't want to do what other players had to do.


You must be confusing the Raiders with another football team. Everybody in this organization doesn't practice... and skips meetings... and blows things off... That's what happens when a coach has no authority to keep players in line.

[Rupert]

Only did this when pussies were in charge. Gruden didn't bitch about him, nor has mccarthy.

No. Sorry. Those rumors were running for years and started under Gruden.

Those rumors are always pretty easy to believe because Al is a players' owner and rarely backs his coaches (also part of the rumors of what pissed Gruden off).

Ya know, you either believe the rumors or discount them. I just log them.

I just find it really entertaining when the same rumor is repeated, not corroborated, just repeated, a couple dozen times and that's used as evidence for its veracity. LOL!

[Raider Bill]

Only did this when pussies were in charge. Gruden didn't bitch about him, nor has mccarthy.

In Green Bay the coach can fine the players. Not the case here. The old fool owner spoils them like a bunch of rotten grandkids.