My humble opinion on why the run game sucks

[Henry]

Same things said about Jordan Reed over and over. Just sayin...


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And Reed didnt go into last season as the starter. And there were two other guys on the team with extensive starting experience. (Now there are three).

And we got real lucky.

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[Boone]

I'm not discounting your concern - it's valid. I'm just saying that Jones being unable to be a productive starter is not pre-ordained. The point I'm making with Reed is just that he was painted as soft and unreliable by the majority of fans and he certainly has silenced most of that talk. I hope Jones does likewise but I do get the concern.


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[Henry]

I hope he does too. Stranger things have happened.

Again, Im not really down on Jones so much as I am the overall plan at RB. Jones had better be the next Reed or I fear we're in a lot of trouble at the position.

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[Fear The Spear]

And frankly, i wouldnt be TOO worried about it if there was someone, anyone, behind him that had a modicum of starting experience. Thompson, the only other non-scrub on the entire team, has exactly 0 starts under his belt, and is even a bigger injury risk than Jones is. That's crazy. In my opinion.

Although it's been said....many times.... many ways....
the RB position is the one place that you're more likely to have success plugging in an inexperienced scrub, more than any other position. History has shown this time and again, on teams all over the league.

 

[Elephant]

I don't believe that for a minute. Good runners are not a dime a dozen. Sorry.

Not a dime a dozen, for sure...but there is a point to be made about plugging a RB in from any level of acquisition, i.e, any round, trade or free agency, then watching him succeed.

 

[Henry]

Color me cynical, but our o-line is pretty bad at run blocking. They look pretty good at pass protection, but some might say it's because of Kirk's quick release.

Some would be wrong. Just watching the games you can see how much time Cousins has. Dan Marino he ain't.

Right now, I think our o-line is over rated. It ain't all Jones...but, he's just not that good. Look at how he compares to Alfred in his first year.

I have my own theories. I don't think it's the line. And frankly, I don't even think it's Jones, though his durability sure isn't helping.

 

[Ax]

The running game has struggled under Gruden because......................it's an afterthought.

Gruden has done good things with our passing game. Having healthy players like Reed and DJax, and a QB he likes, who has so far excelled at the short passing game, has us performing above average throwing the football. Being a pass first league, this is a necessity. Of course, it's fragile success. Any one of the three characters mentioned above goes down, and the passing game could easily drop back to below average. They have to prove that our depth has improved. And I believe it has. But we need to see it happen to be sure.

Which brings us back to the run game. Quarterbacks want to throw the ball. Jay was a QB. The running game is a red headed stepchild to him. He talks it up, but to date, his actions don't back it up. Giving lip service isn't getting it done. This preseason should be so run heavy that we all bitch and complain it. Hasn't happened. It appears, at least to me, that a stud RB might have to fall out of the sky. One so good that even Jay Gruden can't misuse him. Could Jones be that guy? Sure he could. I hope he is. Be we haven't seen it yet. Preseason results, good or bad, are pretty meaningless.

I'm hoping we're intentionally using ultra vanilla runs all preseason. And that we've come up with some wrinkles to improve the run game, that are waiting in the weeds for Pittsburgh when they come a calling opening night. Blowing people of the LOS is my preferred method of running the ball. But if wrinkles is what works, then by all means, wrinkle the hell out of it. And stay committed to it.

 

[Goaldeje]

Can't say it any better than that.

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[Henry]

Thats pretty much my theory.

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[Fear The Spear]

Henry, and tr1....
Alfred rushed for 1600 yards in a year that he started out as an inexperienced 6th-round rookie out of a small school.
People could have easily called him an "inexperienced scrub" at that point. Just one of many possible examples.
So, who's to say that a 7th Rounder out of Georgia couldn't do the same thing ?
The good teams do it all the time.

 

[Bulldog]

All of this doesn't change the thought that to avoid being caught short in the backfield, we need to bring in a veteran back over the next 1-2 weeks before the opener to at least fill a depth role for us going forward.

It's just prudent insurance.

We may be more of a passing team now under Gruden but there is still short yardage and goal line to consider as well as the fact that both Jones and Chris Thompson have a habit of getting dinged.

 

[Boone]

Henry, and tr1....
Alfred rushed for 1600 yards in a year that he started out as an inexperienced 6th-round rookie out of a small school.
People could have easily called him an "inexperienced scrub" at that point. Just one of many possible examples.
So, who's to say that a 7th Rounder out of Georgia couldn't do the same thing ?
The good teams do it all the time.

I agree with the premise that (with the exception of a handful of backs in the league), it's mostly a plug and play system at RB in the NFL. Almo's first season was an outlier that I don't think we should draw any conclusions from. Almo is a motivated hard-nosed back and always has been. But he's no special talent. He looked like one in 2012 because teams had to worry about RG3 taking off and the pistol offense had defenses totally on their heels. We could've put a high school running back in with RG3 and he'd have been serviceable imho. That's not taking anything away from Alfred - he had a helluva year. But I don't think it's a coincidence that he never again had that kind of a season. That he didn't was less about him, and more about defensive coordinators figuring out how to stop the pistol and running QBs.

 

[Henry]

Henry, and tr1....
Alfred rushed for 1600 yards in a year that he started out as an inexperienced 6th-round rookie out of a small school.
People could have easily called him an "inexperienced scrub" at that point. Just one of many possible examples.
So, who's to say that a 7th Rounder out of Georgia couldn't do the same thing ?
The good teams do it all the time.

Yes, it does happen. It does not, however, happen all the time, which is why when you DO find a player like that, it's generally not a great idea to casually cast him aside. I mentioned this last year, when the subject of Jones possibly being the Next Great Thing came up:

The Redskins, a pretty much run-heavy team since the 80s, have drafted 17 running backs over the past 25 years (not including this year). Exactly two have been pro-bowl quality, long-term starters: Stephen Davis and Alfred Morris. If you want to throw in Reggie Brooks and Ladell Betts, only four draftees over that span have ever topped 1000 yards. Drafting a starting-quality RB is simply not all THAT common.

We could certainly sign a free agent, or trade for a guy. That's worked for us a few times. Of course, we didn't do that this year.

So hopefully we'll get lucky for a second time in five years. It could happen. But no, it's doesn't happen all the time.

 

[Beans]

A new center would be a great start.

 

[Bulldog]

I think the plan was to take Ryan Kelly in the draft but Indy took him a couple of picks earlier.

Then I thought the Redskins might draft Zack Martin's brother, a center out of Notre Dame, in Round #3.

But McCloughan explained when Kendall Fuller dropped he was the best value in the draft at that spot.

But all of this doesn't mean that we can't or shouldn't look for a veteran to backup Kory or even push him a bit.

We know that LeRibeus and Long are not going to push Kory at center.

 

[Fear The Spear]

A new center would be a great start.

Wow, dude. Thanks for makin that happen. Please wish more often.
Did you genie give you a couple more wishes ?