Wow. You smashed?

BR just needs to be average on offense for them to be a tough team to play. I hope the Steelers offense returns to form or something close to it though. It will benefit the Chiefs to have the Ravens and Steelers beat the shit out of each other for two games this season.

I'd really love to see the plays you are talking about here.

It certainly would up the Ravens' strength of schedule.

Pittsburgh has the personnel to hold up against the Ravens' run game. If they can get a bit more production out of the offense, they could challenge Baltimore.

to stay in (the line-up)

and it is fixed (the lingering injury that's been rumored)

sentence was a little confusing, I guess.

And yes, I was smashed.

:thumb:

Yeah, I feel like Williams is actually a pretty good receiving back on swings/wheels. Where he doesn't excel as much as CEH is when he has to put his foot in the ground and change direction.

So a typical 'arrow route' that you'll see in Madden (stab route, angle route, whatever you want to call it) that has the RB changing direction hard and cutting over the middle - those aren't things that Williams typically seems to do terribly well. But man, he's really damn good on the wheel routes and no worse than average on simple flat/flare routes.

Now you try to line him up in the slot and give him a full route tree, he'll come up lacking. That's something CEH seems more capable of than Williams. But for the majority of the routes most RBs run, Williams is more than capable. But/for the fact that we didn't have a conventional 2 down RB, Williams skill-set would've put him in a 3rd down RB role. You don't do that with a guy that can't catch the ball out of the backfield.

Again - I feel like this is another example of running down Williams to boost the CEH pick and it's just not necessary. The idea that Williams isn't a well above average pass-catching back simply isn't supported by what we saw out of him or why he was brought here to begin with and initially asked to do. Williams is, at worst, a good 3rd down back mis-cast as an every down player. He most assuredly isn't some slug in the passing game who's indifference required we spend a 1st rounder on a RB to replace.

Veach and even Dorsey have shown in the past that they're not afraid to pass completely on strong and deep positions in a particular draft if there are other players they like better. I imagine that was the case this year, where all of the WRs kept pushing down other players they liked better, so they took those guys instead.

I wasn't pissed about them doing it this year, but I have been critical of them in the past (like in 2014 and a couple of those super deep CB years). However, now I may have to rethink that. There's something to be said for a do-the-opposite strategy when it comes to things like a draft. When other teams zig, you zag. It frees up your strategy and makes it so you're not always trying to predict the tier drop offs.

Of course, I don't think they're doing it on purpose necessarily. It's probably just coincidence.

I can recall atleast 2-3 plays last season where the ball hit Williams square in the back because he didn't turn back fast enough. Maybe a lack of communication or chemistry. I am hoping Deandre Washington sees some meaningful reps. Having watched him and Mahomes in college, I feel he can be effective.

I can think of one that went off his hip and another off the RB's back that was Darwin Thompson.

But man, sometimes that shit happens to everyone. The other team draws an NFL paycheck as well and sometimes they just screw stuff up for you.

To echo other posters, I'd kind of like to know the plays you're talking about.

I think Williams is pretty damn good as a receiving back. Two plays jump out in particular. One is in that 2018 game against the Ravens, when Williams almost didn't see the pass coming to him on 4th down to score. If he whiffs that, then the game is over. Chiefs lose. That catch and run was waaaay harder than it looks simply because it was a short pass. The other one was the 1st TD against the Texans in the playoffs. It's not an astounding jaw-dropping feat of athleticism that he demonstrated, nor was 2nd down in the 2nd quarter a particularly clutch moment, but it was still a VERY awkward place to catch the football. He had to keep running to make the play effective-- he couldn't stop and turn around for the ball. He catches it against the side of his body after just a split second of turning his head while still running. A very cool play, and both of them are plays that not every RB in the NFL can do.

You're probably right about it being Darwin Thompson and not Damien Williams.

I will try to go back and figure out which games, but all 3 were passes to the back right corner of the end zone, just like the one he said he couldn't see in the SB. I should have kept all my all-22 notes, but throwing them away was kind of my symbolic gesture saying that nothing else matters because we won the Super Bowl, we made it.

If you watch the play in the SB closely, I don't think he lost it, I think he just gave up on the play. On one of the plays during the season he sticks his hands out for the ball, but he had a serious case of alligator arms, which was weird because he was in no danger of being hit because he was about to run out of the back of the end zone. Mahomes looked very......frustrated or irritated is the best way I can describe it.

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Those were both excellent catches, no doubt. I am not saying he can't catch the ball out of the backfield. When Mahomes puts the ball right on him, he catches it. I was saying that after each of the plays where he didn't catch the passes in the end zone, Mahomes looked very frustrated with Williams.

I originally said that I believe that is why Mahomes and Reid may have targeted CEH in the draft, because if they were completely satisfied with Williams, the team would have probably looked to fill a different position.

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If it's truly a lack of communication or chemistry, that isn't likely to change by bringing in a couple new guys on a likely-shortened offseason.

I'm really not even convinced that's the issue anyway. For all we know, Pat could have been frustrated with himself or the situation as a whole.

CEH and Washington could prove to be more natural receivers than D Will, but personally I think he's pretty good. The only time I've ever been pissed with him was the drop he had in the end zone of the 2018 AFCCG against the Pats. It's been a while and I won't rewatch that game so maybe I'm even remembering it wrong, but from my memory it seemed like he didn't give max effort and just sort of nonchalantly cradled the ball in, which allowed the defender a chance to knock it away. I think we had to settle for a field goal on that drive which could have changed the outcome of the game.

I’m pretty sure Mahomes overthrew him or something. Can’t remember exactly, but I remember it being on Mahomes.