Cornerback Carlos Rogers knows the perception. He just can’t worry about it, especially if he continues to do what he’s supposed to do: stop receivers from catching passes.
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The fact that he drops an interception here and there won’t cause him to lose sleep.
“I’m still upset, it’s not that I’m blowing it off,” he said, “but I’m not going to get myself down where I get myself out of the element of my game and worry about, Let me catch this, make sure I catch the interception but I keep giving up first downs. I don’t like guys catching the ball on me period.”
Rogers dropped one pick in Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Colts (safety Kareem Moore dropped two). Rogers had his hands on another pass, but tight end Dallas Clark knocked it free. Rogers, though, focuses on something else: He’s in position for those picks because of his coverage. He’s dropped several this season and it’s been a problem since his rookie year. Yes, this is where we bring up the drop pass vs. Seattle in the playoffs that would have resulted in a touchdown and 10-point lead.
“I think about [the drops] and think I should have had a pick,” Rogers said. “I should have four or five, probably leading the league or at the top. But my main thing is I’m not going to get myself down because someone outside here is talking about Carlos dropping picks. I’d rather cover my man, cover the top receiver, lock him down, not let him catch the ball and I drop a pick vs. a receiver scoring touchdowns on me, keeping the chains moving, throwing the ball in my direction and I can’t defend him. But, oh, I got a pick that game. That’s not gonna sit well with me.
“When I catch them it will turn around and be something big. I don’t get myself down on it. I continue to work, continue to catch. When I catch them I catch them. When I don’t, I won’t sit on my bed and pout about it.”
He does know that dropping a pick vs. Peyton Manning is difficult simply because you want to limit his time with the ball. But he also knows it was probably more important for him to capitalize on opportunities in the past.
“Years before when I would drop them because we had a sorry offense, ‘Oh, Carlos needs to pick it,’ ” Rogers said. “No, move the ball on offense and score some points and it wouldn’t be so bad….[But] it’s always big when you don’t capitalize on a chance to get a pick.”
