Consider our RBs.

[MapleLeaf]

I just thought I would throw up some opinions about what I saw with our RBs.

Julius Jones. Is it possible for any young RB in Dallas to be more hurt than Julius has been the past two years? He has great stats for games he has played, but he teases us incessantly with his talent and lets us down with his play.

How do you go from week 16 to week 17 and justify the difference between those two numbers? Is it as simple as his injury? This is his third year and if he can't put the package all together for 16 games 2006/07 we may have to consider ourselves snake bit and go back to the draft.

Marion Barber. This guy has been a pleasant surprise. Now I won't go and push him into the starting lineup just yet because he may have a bit of Troy Hambrick in him - great stats as fill in, but diminished returns when he is the principle runner.

What he does bring is hard running and he has shown the ability to get tough yards. He seems more determined than Julius at times to break the initial tackle. He's shown he can be a decent second RB - I wouldn't expect much more yet. There's alot to carrying the load in a ball control offence for 16 games.

Lousaka Polite. If we can secure a real FB he may have difficulty keeping a roster spot. His principle jobs are special teams, lead blocking and release valve for the QB. I don't think he excelled at any of the three. If the offensive line is shored up look for BP to go two TEs more often and drop the FB out of the equation.

Still looking for someone who can fill Johnston's position.

Tyson Thompson. Great speed, but lousy runner. This guy has terrible moves - quite frankly none. He seems to run straight into piles and doesn't work to make people miss. But his blazing speed makes up for the weaker parts of his package. The problem is a good angle will always catch up to a sprinter.

He's young so we need to get him another year in TC, but if he can develop into a runner with some anticipation -- watch out! So far he has just solifdified the third RB/kick returner position. He can be easily supplanted by another special teams demon.

This upcoming year the only ones who have a good chance at a roster spot are Jones and Barber. Polite and Thompson will have to fight their way onto the roster.

Offseason homework:

Jones rents a room in Emmitt's basement and learns the finer points of staying healthy from a man who has defied all odds with his size and the longevity of his career.

Barber builds more bulk to ensure his durability over a 16 game season in case Jones isn't the man this year.

Polite gets a "whack a mole" game from Jones and Barber so he can figure out which guy to hit first.

Thompson gets a hula hoop and the entire NFL Films library of Barry Sanders' career to get some "wiggle" back into his hips.

 

[Billy Bullocks]

How do you go from week 16 to week 17 and justify the difference between those two numbers? Is it as simple as his injury? This is his third year and if he can't put the package all together for 16 games 2006/07 we may have to consider ourselves snake bit and go back to the draft.

Uh,if you watched the games, the O-Line actually showed up for Carolina...for the run AND the pass...hence we won.

Marion Barber. This guy has been a pleasant surprise. Now I won't go and push him into the starting lineup just yet because he may have a bit of Troy Hambrick in him - great stats as fill in, but diminished returns when he is the principle runner.

Again, if you watch the games, you would see that your point is SO off. Hambrick had real good numbers purely as a backup...when he started sans 1 or 2 games, he was crap....if you can't see the pure difference in talent between these 2, I can't help you.

What he does bring is hard running and he has shown the ability to get tough yards. He seems more determined than Julius at times to break the initial tackle. He's shown he can be a decent second RB - I wouldn't expect much more yet. There's alot to carrying the load in a ball control offence for 16 games.

I still beliee next year things come together, and JOnes doesn't pick up ANOTHER fluke injury..however, Minnesota is a very run heavy team, look at them this year, so to some extent, Barber HAS done it.

Lousaka Polite. If we can secure a real FB he may have difficulty keeping a roster spot. His principle jobs are special teams, lead blocking and release valve for the QB. I don't think he excelled at any of the three. If the offensive line is shored up look for BP to go two TEs more often and drop the FB out of the equation.

Most of the really succesful backs in the league have very good lead blocking FB's....don't scrap the FB on this team just yet, especially if you want a power running game. Campbell is a good blocker, but he's not that great a lead blocker. He's too tall.

Still looking for someone who can fill Johnston's position.

One of the better blocking FB's with receiving ability of all time, not likely to happen too soon.

Tyson Thompson. Great speed, but lousy runner. This guy has terrible moves - quite frankly none. He seems to run straight into piles and doesn't work to make people miss. But his blazing speed makes up for the weaker parts of his package. The problem is a good angle will always catch up to a sprinter.

Besides the fumbles he had at the end of the year, he was a VERY solid kick returner this year. He seems to have solved a need we have really had trouble filling recently. He showed flashes of potential in the pre season, and for a guy who played 1 YEAR of major (SJSU not really too major actually) college FB, he doesn't look half bad. Speed Kills, and it can't be coached.

This upcoming year the only ones who have a good chance at a roster spot are Jones and Barber. Polite and Thompson will have to fight their way onto the roster.

Agree with all but Thompson.

Offseason homework:

Jones rents a room in Emmitt's basement and learns the finer points of staying healthy from a man who has defied all odds with his size and the longevity of his career.

Emmitt isn't our RB coach...and what he did can't be coached, that's why he was so great. The vision, the toughness, the quickness. Jones can live whereever he wants, but he wont just learn to avoid injury...PS, his injuries have both been kind of fluke ones, that could have hapened to anyone.

Barber builds more bulk to ensure his durability over a 16 game season in case Jones isn't the man this year.

You quetion is durability why?

Thompson gets a hula hoop and the entire NFL Films library of Barry Sanders' career to get some "wiggle" back into his hips.

Because how many RB's have u seen what Barry Sanders could do?

 

[sago1]

Don't consider Thompson's college a major one and he wasn't there long enough to get a drink of water. With his speed doubt any of his HS or college coach tried do anymore with him but hand off. In TC he needs to show some improvement for Parcells to keep him, particularly if again hopefully we get a good crop of young players in the draft, UFA & FA. Parcells sees the same problems we do & this year not going to lthe necessary players.

BTW: Don't know whether to blame Parcells or Jerry Jones for poor PK candidates we brought to camp. Read in at least 1 media article (don't remember where but it was 2 weeks or more ago) that Jones nixed the idea of paying some money to bring in good PK. Don't know if article some effort to legitimately shift blame from Parcells to Jones or whether Jones still interfering too much and still unable recognize talent which is necessary to be good GM.