Quote:
Originally Posted by orange
All true. But on Thigpen's potential game-winning drive, he was absolutely bailed out on three plays by a hall-of-famer at his best.
Gonzales went back to pick up an errant throw off his shoetops and still managed to back up for more yardage to keep the drive alive early.
He boxed out perfectly to draw PI on the goal line (note to NFL coaches - ALL receivers should get off-season coaching in basketball).
And he stole a risky pass into high traffic away from the defenders for the touchdown. That final drive was ALL Gonzales.
He even set up the potentially winning play on the conversion - breaking away from a mugging and making himself available deep in the endzone if Thigpen could have got the ball there. But Thigpen COULDN'T get the ball there - he didn't have the arm strength to muscle it there falling backwards as he tried, and he didn't have the savvy to set and step into the throw and take the hit, nor the elusiveness to juke the pass rusher and buy an extra half-second. He just didn't have any of the "specialness" that sets the great ones apart.
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Again, I am not sold on Thigpen, but he has far better arm strength than Cassell.
I certainly am not going to begin to compare him to any great ones, but a couple of things you mention, stepping into that throw, and a couple of poor decisions in which Tony bailed him out are things that can be learned through experience, or in the case of throwing it up for Tony to bail, that's just what you do with Tony.