Julius

[playmakers]

To start off, Im not a Julius fan nor am I against Julius. My point being is Im not trying to start a MB!!! vs Julius thread.



Heres my question. What has happened to his elusivness?? His rookie year vs the Bears and Seahawks he would get those draw plays and make two or three guys miss. TOday, Julius has none of that flash to his game. He seems really stiff when he runs. I think he put on too much muscle personally. When was the last run Julius had that was similar to the ones against the Bears on Thanksgiving and the Seahawks on MNF. Or, hes dawging it in the offseason and is out of shape. Tonight when we got the ball back after Lindell missed that FG right before half Julius was giving a draw play on the first snap, on that play was his oppounity to show the runs he had back in the day. He was caught for only a 5 yard gain but there was lots of potentional for more. Am I the only one who sees the difference from then until now? Opinions

 

[zeroburrito]

he is still elusive. he just happens to suffer from glaucoma.

 

[Rack]

I think his game just moves too slow most of the time. He gets in the secondary (on rare occasions) and he slows down to make his juke. He needs to burst towards and attack the safety then make his move.


He's one of those guys that if he gets a hole and no one ever gets in front of him, he can take it all the way. But he won't usually make something happen on his own.


I think he was elusive early on cuz it was all new to him (Playing in the NFL) and he got tunnel vision while running the ball. I think he just ran on "nervousness" early on and at times it paid off for him. But now that he sees things better and everything is slower for him, he doesn't get that "nervous twitch" anymore.

I really don't know, it's just one theory.


Whatever the reason is irrelevant, he's an average RB. Nothing more. But I'd rather have JuJo back there then Troy Hambrick so I'm not gonna get too upset about it.


Hopefully McFadden will be our lead back next year and The Barbarian will remain in his current role.

 

[AdamJT13]

Tonight when we got the ball back after Lindell missed that FG right before half Julius was giving a draw play on the first snap, on that play was his oppounity to show the runs he had back in the day. He was caught for only a 5 yard gain but there was lots of potentional for more.

There wasn't much potential for more. The safety was coming straight at him, and there were defenders to his left and right. Julius cut outside, trying to avoid the safety and get out of bounds (there were less than 30 seconds remaining). The guy Owens was blocking came off the block and hit Julius before he could get out of bounds. (The ref also gave us a bad spot -- Julius was hit just across the 50, and they marked it at our 49.)

If Owens could have sustained his block, Julius might have been able to squeeze past that guy for a few more yards down the sideline, but there wasn't anywhere for him to go straight ahead.

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

I remember thinking this guy could juke while barely losing a step his first year. There was even an article that Mick wrote about it. I'm not sure. I remember him getting that high ankle sprain against the Eagles. Was that when it all started going downhill?

 

[Rack]

I remember thinking this guy could juke while barely losing a step his first year. There was even an article that Mick wrote about it. I'm not sure. I remember him getting that high ankle sprain against the Eagles. Was that when it all started going downhill?

No it started before that IMO.

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

No it started before that IMO.

You're right. I just jumped on pro-football-reference.com and he was great to finish the 2004 season with a 29 carry 149 yard performance against the Giants.

We start the 2005 season and it's:

26 carries for 93 yards
22 carries for 81 yards
26 carries for 85 yards
22 carries for 76 yards
16 carries for 72 yards (before he went out with the high ankle sprain)

He came back and he basically was just the same back except for a 34 carry 194 yard game against Carolina.

I'm not sure. Something happened in the offseason before the 2005 season began. Or perhaps he just wasn't as good as we all thought to begin with.

 

[Rack]

You're right. I just jumped on pro-football-reference.com and he was great to finish the 2004 season with a 29 carry 149 yard performance against the Giants.

We start the 2005 season and it's:

26 carries for 93 yards
22 carries for 81 yards
26 carries for 85 yards
22 carries for 76 yards
16 carries for 72 yards (before he went out with the high ankle sprain)

He came back and he basically was just the same back except for a 34 carry 194 yard game against Carolina.

I'm not sure. Something happened in the offseason before the 2005 season began. Or perhaps he just wasn't as good as we all thought to begin with.

I think that's the answer right there.

 

[nicodywill]

I think he put on too much muscle personally.

This was what I thought as well, I mean have you seen what he actually looks like he's built like a line backer, he's huge. He's like wider than he is tall. He came to the under armour outlet store here in San Marcos to sign autographs after last season.

 

[sk0aL]

Go to YouTube and watch the Julius Jones rookie season compilation video.

It's like night and day. He had excellent field vision, elusiveness, and was extremely explosive to the hole. People say Parcells coached the life out of him, but it's hard for me to believe you simply forget skills like that. I often wonder if JJ's past injuries have hampered him more than we know.

 

[Rack]

Go to YouTube and watch the Julius Jones rookie season compilation video.

It's like night and day. He had excellent field vision, elusiveness, and was extremely explosive to the hole. People say Parcells coached the life out of him, but it's hard for me to believe you simply forget skills like that. I often wonder if JJ's past injuries have hampered him more than we know.

Not really. A lot of times he missed the whole completely but still got yards cuz of all his dancing around.

I think what really happened is teams got enough game film on him, saw what he does best and took that away.

I remember the saints that year saying he got most of his yards on the draw play. And that's the truth. But it's not difficult for a defense to take ONE play away from a RB. A great RB can get yards on more then one type of play. JuJo simply isn't great and he never was. He's always been an average RB who just happens to have a breakout game every once in awhile.

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

Not really. A lot of times he missed the whole completely but still got yards cuz of all his dancing around.

I think what really happened is teams got enough game film on him, saw what he does best and took that away.

I remember the saints that year saying he got most of his yards on the draw play. And that's the truth. But it's not difficult for a defense to take ONE play away from a RB. A great RB can get yards on more then one type of play. JuJo simply isn't great and he never was. He's always been an average RB who just happens to have a breakout game every once in awhile.

You took the words right out of my mouth about what the Saints were saying that year. That was right after the Seahawks game if I remember correctly. I remember thinking "Ha. Right. Trying to tear down our next Emmitt." It sure seems like they were right though doesn't it?

He seems to need the extra time to see things develop. When he has to just run a basic run play, he goes running into the line never having really made a decision about what he's going to do about that linebacker coming around the outside. He just plows into where the hole is supposed to be and falls down.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

I've said it before....I think he is washed up...EVEN at a young age....I think he was never an EVERY DOWN BACK and that 3 game span where Parcells tested his will by giving him more carries than any RB in Cowboy history did it for him. Don't laugh...it can happen....look no further than Clinton Portis...he is already a shell of himself and he is not even 25. Using him as an every down back for a couple of years robbed him of his explosiveness

 

[burmafrd]

So three games with 30+ carries messed him up? Do you know how STUPID that sounds?

 

[Nav22]

From the NFL.com recap after we lost to Oakland 19-13 in 2005...

"I know they think Julius Jones is the next Emmitt Smith," Oakland safety Stuart Schweigert said. "I played against the guy in college and he's a good running back, but he's not a great running back. We knew we were going to shut down the running. That allowed us to get some sacks and pressure on Bledsoe."

Sums it up pretty well. Julius' failure to pan out and become the back we all thought he could be has hurt. He's just very average... a lower tier starting NFL RB.

Whatever, he's likely gone after this year.

 

[playmakers]

Maybe Parcells messed with his confidence???

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

So three games with 30+ carries messed him up? Do you know how STUPID that sounds?

JuJo has lost his explosivness...anytime your legs are gone at his age, you have to consider the fact that he is not built to carry the ball 30+ times a game...I am saying that span of games proves this out

 

[Gordon]

I'm an ND fan and loved the trade down for the extra pick in the draft, and loved JJ the first couple of years.. But lately he's beginning to seriously wear on me. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for the while and was on the "Parcells ruined him" train, but he just can't break a tackle to save his life. If he gets a giant hole, he's explosive to the hole and then in the open field he's still able to make a move or two.. But we only get one of them once a game if we're lucky. Our OL is improved significantly, but not enough to improve JJ, IMO. He needs like the 2004 Chiefs OL.

 

[Crown Royal]

There is one major difference between Jones rookie year and ever since then:





Tony Sparano and the Run Blocking.

 

[the kid 05]

There is one major difference between Jones rookie year and ever since then:





Tony Sparano and the Run Blocking.

true, but you have to give thought about how hes running more tentavily now. he doesn't seem to make a cut to the out side or juke and make a defender miss any more.