Julius' Rookie Year to Now: A Theory

[Doomsday101]

Jones had some big game and is still capable of having the big games but he is not consistent in his running. In games where he has had the big days he has gone through big holes normally off draws but your running game can't consist strictly off draws. People can blame the line all they want but good RB help their offensive lines by making people miss and breaking tackles. As good as our line was in the 90’s Emmitt Smith made it better. Heck no other RB could do jack behind that same line

 

[superpunk]

Carolina 2005. So, super, whats your excuse there. Also He had a pretty big game against Seattle last year in the playoffs.
And you did notice that none of those runners you mentioned are exactly chopped liver either. But go ahead with your agenda....

Against Carolina the blocking was superb, I covered that in my post - I'm sure you can read.

Seattle played a deep umbrella coverage and let Julius do whatever he wanted to. There's no "agenda", and if there were, I'm not sure what it would be. I've applauded Julius' "effort" this year, he's giving it all he's got.

The problem is, what he's got isn't very good.

 

[Doomsday101]

Against Carolina the blocking was superb, I covered that in my post - I'm sure you can read.

Seattle played a deep umbrella coverage and let Julius do whatever he wanted to. There's no "agenda", and if there were, I'm not sure what it would be. I've applauded Julius' "effort" this year, he's giving it all he's got.

The problem is, what he's got isn't very good.

Have you noticed that for what ever reason Jones biggest games have happened aginst the Panther and Seahawks.

 

[burmafrd]

Haters never quit. I guess it makes them feel better or something.

 

[Doomsday101]

Haters never quit. I guess it makes them feel better or something.

Myself I don't hate Jones but I have eyes and it is not hard to see the spark that Barber brings to the offense and those who cover the games continue to mention the same thing.

 

[burmafrd]

Not saying he does not bring a spark. BUT it also does not happen all the time either, does it?

 

[Doomsday101]

Not saying he does not bring a spark. BUT it also does not happen all the time either, does it?

More times than not. I like Jones but it is not hard to see who the better back of the 2 guys is. I don't care about Jones speed because it is usless if you can't break into the open. Barber runs a 4.4 something not as fast as Jones but this is not a track meet and Barber speed is good enough. Heck Smith ran 4.5's and it did not hurt him. I agree we need both backs in the game but more and more people are seeing what many around here have been saying and that is Barber is the best RB on this team hands down.

 

[superpunk]

Haters never quit. I guess it makes them feel better or something.

What does this even mean?

 

[silverblue]

Jones rookie to now theory:

injuries

 

[Hostile]

Not the best angle, but his legs aren't tiny, but they sure aren't Emmitt-sized.

I wasn't trying to say his legs are tiny. I am saying they haven't developed in proportion to the mass gains of his upper body and I think it has tipped his center of gravity higher and given him less balance.

Someone else brought up his durability and compared him to Fed Taylor. I think that was a sound point, but my question would be rather simple. Why doesn't he train his lower body along with his upper body in proportion? It can be done. I agree that he is more durable now, but that also might have something to do with sharing the load.

To me the biggest difference between his rookie year and now is the balance. He seemed to have amazing balance as a rookie and since those early days he seems easily brought down by one tackler.

Regarding the scouting reports about him, those are very accurate and are the best proof that he simply is what he is. The stats about his production being steady are also compelling.

Overall a good discussion minus the one stupid post about toothpicks on Barber and Emmitt. Leave it to a Skins fan to say the dumbest thing in the thread. Par for the course.

 

[Rack]

Carolina 2005. So, super, whats your excuse there. Also He had a pretty big game against Seattle last year in the playoffs.
And you did notice that none of those runners you mentioned are exactly chopped liver either. But go ahead with your agenda....

OMG. He points out a few games and you point out 1? 2?

He brings statistical evidence to the table. You bring nothing.

You accuse him of having an agenda... WHAT AGENDA?

You, however, being the Notre Dame homer that you are, OBVIOUSLY have an agenda.

If JuJo had gone to Louisiana Tech you wouldn't give two craps about him and you'd be screaming for MB3 to start.

Homers never quit. I guess it makes them feel better or something.

Fixed. And it's referring to you, Homer.

 

[dmq]

Julius should always be in a position where he is working in space. Every time he does it, he picks up 8 or 9 yards. Run him up the middle and he'll get 1. A good OC will pick up on that. I see it more now than in the beginning of the year. Hopefully the zen master JG has picked up on it.

 

[silverblue]

Julius should always be in a position where he is working in space. Every time he does it, he picks up 8 or 9 yards. Run him up the middle and he'll get 1. A good OC will pick up on that. I see it more now than in the beginning of the year. Hopefully the zen master JG has picked up on it.

Yeah, I can't understand why we have not run any draws or screens to Julius late in games this year at all. Those will produce the type of runs everybody remembers from that seattle game a few years ago. Maybe it is just the blocking, but I think our O-line is big and strong enough they can learn to at least run block in the middle decently.

 

[landryscorner]

Even my wife sees it, here are some of the problems that I have with jones,
1. he tends to comit so much to one lane that by the time hes trying to back out of it, hes already on the ground.

and
2. goes back to number one, he lacks vision

thats just what I see, shame because he has some speed, just not very good cutbacks, he depends so much on those clean lanes, but good backs improvise, like barber, how many times have we seen barber bouce back from a bad lane and make huge gains, this is the difference right here

 

[Doomsday101]

Even my wife sees it, here are some of the problems that I have with jones,
1. he tends to comit so much to one lane that by the time hes trying to back out of it, hes already on the ground.

and
2. goes back to number one, he lacks vision

thats just what I see, shame because he has some speed, just not very good cutbacks, he depends so much on those clean lanes, but good backs improvise, like barber, how many times have we seen barber bouce back from a bad lane and make huge gains, this is the difference right here

I agree. I think Barber does a better job of running off his blockers. He is not just slamming into the line of scrimmage he allows the blocks to happen and runs off the block to the opening

 

[silverblue]

Even my wife sees it, here are some of the problems that I have with jones,
1. he tends to comit so much to one lane

I actually think this is why Jones is starting games because he is a disciplined runner and early in games when defense is fresh you have to take that two yards if that is all the defense is giving up.

I think if Barber were to try and 'create' early in games it would lead to some losses.

 

[jimmy40]

Holy crap, Jimmy... are you sure that was written before he was drafted? That's like... spot freakin' ON.

Yep. NFL.com. He also had positives in the report but I can't find it on NFL.com anymore, I had to search my posts to find this.

 

[landryscorner]

I actually think this is why Jones is starting games because he is a disciplined runner and early in games when defense is fresh you have to take that two yards if that is all the defense is giving up.

I think if Barber were to try and 'create' early in games it would lead to some losses.

this does make sense, will we ever see barber start a game who knows?

 

[Verdict]

I don't think I'm alone in my belief that Julius Jones as a rookie was exciting and fun to watch. I expected great things from him. I think most of us did. He was setting goals of 1500 yards and 20 TDs and I was drinking the Koolaid.

Those expectations have never been met. Part of it is the emergence of how valuable Marion Barber is to the offense. I think denying that would be a bit foolish.

Julius put the onus on Parcells, but the Big Tuna is gone and the rookie phenom still isn't back. (I disagreed with his analysis on that robot theory BTW.)

He's playing well, please don't get me wrong. I am not complaining about his efforts at all. I'm talking only about the expectations after his rookie year.

What happened?

Does anyone remember how much muscle he put on in the 2005 off season? I said then that I felt he had limited his flexability and agility, and therefore his speed. Some scoffed at it. Nothing wrong with that.

More than ever I am convinced that my "diagnosis" was right. I see a tremendous difference in Julius' muscle mass from his rookie year of 2004 to now...for his upper body. I don't see nearly the proportional gains in his lower body.

Upper body is great for looking good for the ladies, but a RBs bread and butter are his legs. I think he is concentrating too hard on his guns, and not hard enough on his wheels. In doing so he has shifted his center of gravity higher. This makes him have less balance. Hence why we all complain that he is knocked over too easily any more.

I want you to look at the difference between his legs and Barber's. Look at Emmitt's. Look at Maurice Jones-Drew's, even as short as he is. Julius is more like Barry Sanders you say? Look at Barry's. All of them generate their power with their legs.

Julius' legs are not sticks by any wild stretch of the imagination, and he can certainly still have tremendous power and speed with the legs he has. But his legs were never the same huge power generators that those other guy's were. Where he has erred (IMO) is in pushing his upper body beyond where his lower body had an equal balance. He's certainly more durable with the upper body mass, but he is not near as fluid and he's too young to blame it on age slowing him down.

If he had worked his pistons as hard as he has his guns, he'd be so much closer to his lofty goals than he has been.

Just a theory.

I agree that Jones looked like he had promise his rookie year. Since then he has basically done a good job of shattering the image of promise he once had.

I would agree that Julius Jones' strength is playing in space. I think that is why he racked up pretty good yardage as a rookie. It seemed like he got a lot of his yardage on draw plays. If you think back, his rookie year, his strength has never been running between the tackles, unless it was in space on a draw play, or in a long yardage type of situation. I actually think that Jones would be much more sucessful as the third down back.

I am not sure his leg strength is currently the issue. It just seems like every play he runs into the back of one of his offensive linemen and falls down for a one yard gain. He has the vision of a one eyed blind man. I could see him going to a different team and having some success, but if he is used as a power running back I think it is a misuse of his talent.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Upper body is great for looking good for the ladies, but a RBs bread and butter are his legs. I think he is concentrating too hard on his guns, and not hard enough on his wheels. In doing so he has shifted his center of gravity higher. This makes him have less balance. Hence why we all complain that he is knocked over too easily any more.

If you ever saw Emmitt in his heyday, his thighs were damn near the size of beer kegs! :laugh2: Well, while that might be overstating it abit, but his thighs were quite a bit larger than my chest at the time and that isn't overstating it in the slightest. Of course I'm was only about 155lbs and rail thin then, but I bet his thighs were still over 40+ inches.