Charles
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Wait a minute…………..The prevailing sentiment was that since Al Johnson put on 10lbs he’s a shoe in to win the Center gig………..because Big G doesn’t have the mental capacity to handle the line calls.
Let me apologise in advance but I’ve always believed that those opinions were born out of ignorance or simply failure to look at the entire picture. The development of the players.
Parcells threw out the leg injury that held back AL Johnson prior to training camp last season. He had an entire off-season prior to last years training camp to bulk up. He was 2 off-seasons and 2 training camps removed from the gruesome leg injury.
He was unable to hold off Gurode last training camp to solidify his position as the premier center on the offense. So all this talk about bulking up is quite frankly ludacris.
When are folks going to start questioning his talent level. It great he’s better in some aspects of the game (IMHO only 2nd level blocking), but it takes more than getting onto LBer’s and DBs to become a well rounded center.
Folks are so in love with the idea of having Al Johnson at center.
In Gurode’s case he was the only encouragement on the 2002 Oline. That’s not a hard case to make when you’ve got guys like Solomon Page and Kelvin Garmon etc etc He played exceptionally well for rookie center. He always strong at the attack, had a quite a few highlight mauls and was versatile enough to move over to guard when the injury bug hit, letting Matt Lehr man the center.
Parcells on numerous occasion has stated he mis-scouted Gurode in 2002. He stated he should have returned him to center. I doubt Al Johnson is drafted if Parcells made that decision before the draft.
Draft wise………..Gurode had a higher value than Al Johnson. Because of his versatility and infact he was a very good starting center for Colorado.
Folks question Gurode’s mental capacity to handle the Oline calls. I believe his versatility hurt his chance to really push Al Johnson cause he was coached at 2 positions, not given the luxury like Al Johnson to totally pour his abilities into the center spot. Well, that is exactly what happened this off-season. Gurode improved his training, was given a new one year contract worth $1.5 million and given the opportunity to focus on the center spot.
The battle still continues. AJ could come on strong, but as it stands right now it appears that Gurode’s focus at the center position is givng him the edge over the 10lbs AJ put on. Not to mention Parcell’s stated that AJ should learn the guard position……..because I think if Gurode runs away with the center gig, AJ better be able to play more than one spot or one of the young guys (guards) learning the center spot might take his roster spot.
Let me apologise in advance but I’ve always believed that those opinions were born out of ignorance or simply failure to look at the entire picture. The development of the players.
Parcells threw out the leg injury that held back AL Johnson prior to training camp last season. He had an entire off-season prior to last years training camp to bulk up. He was 2 off-seasons and 2 training camps removed from the gruesome leg injury.
He was unable to hold off Gurode last training camp to solidify his position as the premier center on the offense. So all this talk about bulking up is quite frankly ludacris.
When are folks going to start questioning his talent level. It great he’s better in some aspects of the game (IMHO only 2nd level blocking), but it takes more than getting onto LBer’s and DBs to become a well rounded center.
Folks are so in love with the idea of having Al Johnson at center.
In Gurode’s case he was the only encouragement on the 2002 Oline. That’s not a hard case to make when you’ve got guys like Solomon Page and Kelvin Garmon etc etc He played exceptionally well for rookie center. He always strong at the attack, had a quite a few highlight mauls and was versatile enough to move over to guard when the injury bug hit, letting Matt Lehr man the center.
Parcells on numerous occasion has stated he mis-scouted Gurode in 2002. He stated he should have returned him to center. I doubt Al Johnson is drafted if Parcells made that decision before the draft.
Draft wise………..Gurode had a higher value than Al Johnson. Because of his versatility and infact he was a very good starting center for Colorado.
Folks question Gurode’s mental capacity to handle the Oline calls. I believe his versatility hurt his chance to really push Al Johnson cause he was coached at 2 positions, not given the luxury like Al Johnson to totally pour his abilities into the center spot. Well, that is exactly what happened this off-season. Gurode improved his training, was given a new one year contract worth $1.5 million and given the opportunity to focus on the center spot.
The battle still continues. AJ could come on strong, but as it stands right now it appears that Gurode’s focus at the center position is givng him the edge over the 10lbs AJ put on. Not to mention Parcell’s stated that AJ should learn the guard position……..because I think if Gurode runs away with the center gig, AJ better be able to play more than one spot or one of the young guys (guards) learning the center spot might take his roster spot.
