When Jones starts running to the sidelines

[GimmeTheBall!]

Well, that is too bad.

Bad because that kid does not seem to have the ability to cut.

Twice I saw him go sideways and he just kept running to the sidelines with no thought -- or desire -- to make a cut and gain additional yards.

Wonder if this is something new or if he'a always been this way.

Heck, even Barber makes a cut every once in a while.

 

[HighTechDave]

Jones has no peripheral vision. When he looks straight ahead, he can't see anything left or right of center. I've been saying this for a while now. Here I watch him running behind a blocker, and all he needed to see was there was no one between him and the sideline, he could have been gone.

Think about when you saw Emmitt run, how he was able to follow the blocker, but was able to find the hole. His eyes never wondered, because he could see it was there. Also the defenders will watch the Backs eye to see where he is going, kinda like what they do with a QB

Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, no-look passes, had vision

Someone needs to tell Valley Ranch this, so we can get him fixed before the playoffs

IMHO

 

[Achozen]

I sometimes watch JJ's rookie year highlights and cry myself to sleep.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

I think he started off fine at the begining.

The Cowboys were determined to run the ball at the beginning, in particular the sweep was called alot.

Jones had 1 or 2 good runs in the 1st Quarter but digressed after that.

I just think Barber showed why mediots and fans go ga ga for him and not for Jones.

You can crunch the numbers and throw out alot of stats but things just happen when Barber is in the game, the guy is just a phenomenal player.

 

[ethiostar]

Well, that is too bad.

Bad because that kid does not seem to have the ability to cut.

Twice I saw him go sideways and he just kept running to the sidelines with no thought -- or desire -- to make a cut and gain additional yards.

Wonder if this is something new or if he'a always been this way.

Heck, even Barber makes a cut every once in a while.

What pisses me off most is that when he runs toward where the lane is supposed to be he often keeps his head (AND eys) down and simply believes the lane will be there. The problem with this is that the lane is not always there and he ends up running against LDs butt.

 

[mullet]

I sometimes watch JJ's rookie year highlights and cry myself to sleep.

So true. His highligt reel from his rookie year was unreal. Hard to understand what has gone wrong.

 

[FCBarca]

Pile Magent loves him some straight line running...Is there another 'featured' back that gets more 1 yard or no gain carries than Pile Magnet?

 

[Hoofbite]

So true. His highligt reel from his rookie year was unreal. Hard to understand what has gone wrong.

Lucifer Parcells.....

 

[khiladi]

I think he started off fine at the begining.

The Cowboys were determined to run the ball at the beginning, in particular the sweep was called alot.

Jones had 1 or 2 good runs in the 1st Quarter but digressed after that.

I just think Barber showed why mediots and fans go ga ga for him and not for Jones.

You can crunch the numbers and throw out alot of stats but things just happen when Barber is in the game, the guy is just a phenomenal player.

Garrett scripts the first few plays, which helps Julius. Jones only does good when he doesn't have to adapt and make cut backs to open holes. He has poor perpheral vision as the second poster on this thread pointed out.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

Lucifer Parcells.....

Is he related to Parcells?

Is he fat and arrogant, too?

 

[JokeyH]

I think he has very bad feet. I dont know what else to call it than that. I have been watching him for many games now trying to find out whats going wrong, and I think its his feet.
If there is a scrum, or pile, or just a guy on the ground, it always seems to trip him up.
Ive watched video of Tiki Barber, a back with similar size though I feel JJ is bigger in the upper body than Tiki, they are close to the same size. The thing is Tiki has very good feet.
I dont know maybe im wrong, but thats what I think it is.

 

[dthahn]

I saw those plays too. The problem was no open lanes for JJ to run in. There were defenders all around him and he had no place to run and no cutback lanes.

This happens to Barber too but Barber, in giving his extra effort, will go backwards to avoid tacklers and end up costing himself some yards although he was successful with it against the Patriots when he avoided the safety.

I think what many fans are thinking of is when JJ runs up the gut and if nothing is there he'll just go down rather than try to cut to one side or another to make extra yards on the play. Clearly, he is NOT an inside runner.

 

[kgarza]

It's a combination of many things - bad feet, bad vision, and he's just kind of soft. He's a horrible blocker because he goes down so easy, and he's really bad at picking up the blitz. So that explains why you see him on the bench a lot later in the game.

Plus, Parcells wanted to make him into the type of runner he's not. BP wanted him to run hard and hit a hole between the tackles. Just not going to happen for a guy of his size, strength, etc.

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

I still like the combination...

 

[joseephuss]

I saw those plays too. The problem was no open lanes for JJ to run in. There were defenders all around him and he had no place to run and no cutback lanes.

This happens to Barber too but Barber, in giving his extra effort, will go backwards to avoid tacklers and end up costing himself some yards although he was successful with it against the Patriots when he avoided the safety.

I think what many fans are thinking of is when JJ runs up the gut and if nothing is there he'll just go down rather than try to cut to one side or another to make extra yards on the play. Clearly, he is NOT an inside runner.

Good points. I did not see any cut back lanes for JJ on those outside runs. There were at least one or two players that were coming inside out on him. His best bet was to get to the outside and hope the wide receivers could hold their blocks. JJ has his flaws and is probably no better than an average back, but I didn't see him do anything truly wrong on his few opportunities yesterday. If anything he played well. He made a couple of people miss and he broke some tackles.

 

[ethiostar]

I saw those plays too. The problem was no open lanes for JJ to run in. There were defenders all around him and he had no place to run and no cutback lanes.

This happens to Barber too but Barber, in giving his extra effort, will go backwards to avoid tacklers and end up costing himself some yards although he was successful with it against the Patriots when he avoided the safety.

I think what many fans are thinking of is when JJ runs up the gut and if nothing is there he'll just go down rather than try to cut to one side or another to make extra yards on the play. Clearly, he is NOT an inside runner.

I think i remember the plays you are talking about from yesterdays game. My comments above, however, was regarding a pattern i have seen for a while now.

I agree with you MBIII has a tendency to lose some yardage on some plays, but most of the time when he gets the ball and follows his blockers, he keeps his head UP, which helps him bounce it out if the hole/lane is not there. JJ on the other hand has a tendency to keep his head DOWN and almost blindly follow his blockers, which i believe limits his vision and causes him to run into piles, mostly his blockers arse.

 

[conner01]

he ran fine when we ran to the right, not well when running left. no holes there. but jones is gone at the end of the season anyways because he is a f.a. and we will replce him with a rookie.

 

[mmohican29]

Julius at some point became a downhill running back.... meaning he runs body forward for burst at the line of scrimmage. Parcells probably drilled this into his head that he must be an effective inside runner to make it in the league, and JJ not being a power back, could only do so by throwing his body through the whole head down and low to the ground.

This has ruined his vision and natural instincts as tailback. Now he runs sideways with momentum as well, instead of pausing or reading blocks, or using natural speed to cut back or get outside. It was Dorsett that was the textbook tailback. Waiting... waiting... seeing and exploding, or bursting head up and eyes forward inside the tackles ready to use the instinctual first move to evade defenders. Julius looked like he had this kind of promise early, but it's all gone sour.

He's still not a bad back, but he is a far cry from where MBIII is, and Barber's game while imperfect and not ideal, is very very effective because of his intangibles and grit.

 

[dbair1967]

I dont know why people jsut beat the dead horse to death here

in regards to JuJo though, you dont have the kinds of games he has had (I'm speaking of those big games) unless you have ability...he'll probably end up somewhere like Denver or Houston next yr and run for 1300-1400 yds, and then the fickle folks will say Jerruh was an idiot for not keeping him

David

 

[Clove]

It's pretty simple. He's not a great back. Some have it, some don't. He just wasn't born with this particular skill set, although he looks the part, he's NOT a talented back.

He's solid, a ton of backs are solid. Barber, supposed to be slow and all of that, but Barber makes people miss, cuts, looks for a hole, he'll drag defenders, he'll use his speed if necessary, that is called a guy who was BORN to play RB.