Direckshun
03-25-2013, 08:51 PM
I've been scouring the scouting reports, YouTube vids, all that good stuff this scouting season. And I've discovered something about myself: I've started evolving away from the bigger, bruising RBs and the tougher possession WRs, and started favoring more athletic, nimble skill position players.
I don't think I was always this way. Back when this team had Larry Johnson bruising people inside, a punishing offensive line, and two of the better punishing possession receivers in Gonzalez and then Bowe, I was all about the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust philosophy.
But Jamaal Charles' gamebreaking ability, along with some of his peers like Chris Johnson, Mike Wallace, and Torrey Smith, has started changing my mind.
Keep in mind, I've always thought speed was incredibly important, but now I'm thinking it's speed that truly breaks the back of defenses, not simply out-muscling the other team.
Jamaal Charles is the perfect example of this. Compared to Larry Johnson, Thomas Jones, or Peyton Hillis, his incredible speed (a.) doesn't require the OL to open massive holes for him to make noise, and (b.) it puts tremendous pressure on defenses to make sure they are playing every gap perfectly.
That's why I really do wonder why this team doesn't just draft somebody like Gillislee or Ellington and just go pure speed in the backfield. Charles, Gray, Gillislee with McCluster options.
And I think the team should seriously make an aggressive move and draft Marquise Goodwin, the track star receiver out of Texas.
Most of us on this board have played sports, I played basketball and, more comparably to the receiver/cornerback battles, I played a lot of soccer. And there is nothing more miserable than having to guard somebody who is genuinely much, much faster than you. Playing somebody stronger than you sucks as well, but you can compensate for a lot of that with strategy and technique.
But speed guys? They don't even have to be talented. Remember Jacoby Forb de-pantsing Brandon Flowers a couple years ago? Flowers is by far the superior player, but all those ballskills and that coverage ability doesn't mean shit if they can't ****ing catch you. Now you have to dedicate two players to guarding this guy, simply because he's ****ing fast. And I think that's exactly what Goodwin projects to be.
Makes me wonder why teams don't do that more often. Just go with pure speed packages, like a less braindead version of what the Raiders did in the 90s and early 00s. Pack as much speed on the field as possible, and give your offense the two best tackles you can find to protect your QB, and do more than just take the top off the D, eliminate the top altogether.
What exactly do you lose with going pure speed? You might have trouble pounding the ball in on the 1, but if you have effective receivers on the outside, you don't have to go into your traditional goal line offense, ever. You might have trouble tossing jump balls in the endzone, so just run creative hot routes that allow for smart, quick slants rather than those grotesque corner lobs our QBs have been flailing with for ages.
Just some thoughts on speed, more than anything. I think giving this offense more deep threats (rather than just Avery) and our rungame more homerun hitters can open up opposing defenses.
I don't think I was always this way. Back when this team had Larry Johnson bruising people inside, a punishing offensive line, and two of the better punishing possession receivers in Gonzalez and then Bowe, I was all about the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust philosophy.
But Jamaal Charles' gamebreaking ability, along with some of his peers like Chris Johnson, Mike Wallace, and Torrey Smith, has started changing my mind.
Keep in mind, I've always thought speed was incredibly important, but now I'm thinking it's speed that truly breaks the back of defenses, not simply out-muscling the other team.
Jamaal Charles is the perfect example of this. Compared to Larry Johnson, Thomas Jones, or Peyton Hillis, his incredible speed (a.) doesn't require the OL to open massive holes for him to make noise, and (b.) it puts tremendous pressure on defenses to make sure they are playing every gap perfectly.
That's why I really do wonder why this team doesn't just draft somebody like Gillislee or Ellington and just go pure speed in the backfield. Charles, Gray, Gillislee with McCluster options.
And I think the team should seriously make an aggressive move and draft Marquise Goodwin, the track star receiver out of Texas.
Most of us on this board have played sports, I played basketball and, more comparably to the receiver/cornerback battles, I played a lot of soccer. And there is nothing more miserable than having to guard somebody who is genuinely much, much faster than you. Playing somebody stronger than you sucks as well, but you can compensate for a lot of that with strategy and technique.
But speed guys? They don't even have to be talented. Remember Jacoby Forb de-pantsing Brandon Flowers a couple years ago? Flowers is by far the superior player, but all those ballskills and that coverage ability doesn't mean shit if they can't ****ing catch you. Now you have to dedicate two players to guarding this guy, simply because he's ****ing fast. And I think that's exactly what Goodwin projects to be.
Makes me wonder why teams don't do that more often. Just go with pure speed packages, like a less braindead version of what the Raiders did in the 90s and early 00s. Pack as much speed on the field as possible, and give your offense the two best tackles you can find to protect your QB, and do more than just take the top off the D, eliminate the top altogether.
What exactly do you lose with going pure speed? You might have trouble pounding the ball in on the 1, but if you have effective receivers on the outside, you don't have to go into your traditional goal line offense, ever. You might have trouble tossing jump balls in the endzone, so just run creative hot routes that allow for smart, quick slants rather than those grotesque corner lobs our QBs have been flailing with for ages.
Just some thoughts on speed, more than anything. I think giving this offense more deep threats (rather than just Avery) and our rungame more homerun hitters can open up opposing defenses.