Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
Yes, mass*acceleration. But that's my point w/ Hyde - in the 2 strides from him taking the handoff to the point of impact, there is little distinction between what Thompson gives you and what Hyde gives you in terms of that acceleration element. Thompson pulls away AFTER the hole, sure - but not before it.
And I'm not talking missed tackles either; again, that's open-field running. That's the kind of stuff that Thompson will excel at because he has excellent balance and runs with good pad level. I'm talking about what happens if you CAN'T get to the open field either A) because you don't need to or B) because conditions just won't allow for it.
I'm not saying that Hyde's more likely to break a tackle and cruise into the end zone. I'm saying that when he takes the ball at the snap and someone's beaten their guy at the line and is closing as he takes the handoff but you just need a yard, he's the guy that's gonna have the ability to drive that guy back at impact.
And I'm not saying this will be the case strictly because of his weight - if the guy's become tentative and is gonna try to dance there, then he's useless. He still needs to actually show that he's an NFL caliber back with the same willingness to take/deliver punishment that he's had in the past. It all presumes he's not washed. I'm saying I don't think he is and if that's the case, there's simply not a replacement for having more mass in some instances. And I want to have a guy like that in this backfield, be it Hyde or Williams or someone else - I want a guy that's gonna take the rock and just hit it with some weight behind it.
Ideally we never need him but we just might.
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Sure, I get your point and I 100% agree that Thompson is not and will never be - no matter how much mass he puts on - the guy to plow through a hole which gets shut.
Unfortunately we had the back who could do both, break thru the hole and kill a couple backs on his way to the first down, and we let him go.
Good idea, bad idea, it was discussed at length and everyone is entitled to his own opinions. A back with such an attitude is not born every day though, and that is a fact, despite what some may believe.
So we will have to live with this. We will need more than one man to do what Hunt used to do last year, and our offense will be more predictable.
That being said could be Hyde and Thompson are the way to go.
Or we may buy back Kareem from the Browns LOL