I do agree that Westy can turn anyone into a great KR guy, but his coverage units were the worst i've seen out of him last year. There were rule changes I think 1 or 2 years ago that essentially made it easier for KR's, but that has to get better.
I have discussed football w/ you for a few days and already you bore me. have someone who can read and absorb info read you the posts so you can better understand what is written. One of the reasons we got him was b/c he also returned punts. I'm fine w/ another guy back there IF he can catch the ball and make good decisions. That will be proven in camp, preseason and early in the reg season. I guarantee you of the rookie or other players don't prove they can do it that leonhard will be back there.
I got it pretty well. You tried to say that Kyle Wilson's PR skills were of null importance because that is what he did in college and that plenty of returners who had great success in the college game had failed in the pros. You also said Which is a completely overblown statement and a misunderstanding of how the draft works. You also said that any team I put together would be Despite the fact that I want to save my hard-hitting, undersized safety for the defense so he can continue to be a hard-hitting leader for the defense in light of the fact that there are better punt return candidates currently on the team and I don't think that a player who had never proved to have fumble problems in college and had been listed as a cornerback with great hands and had been an all-state WR in high school would be disposed to suddenly developing catching or fumbling problems in the pros when all the evidence points to the contrary. Nor did I ever mention Wilson's draft spot, or any player's draft spot for that matter, as a reason why they should start at any position. I did say that Conner was a great value due to his potential to help the team immediately at special teams on kickoff and punt coverage and his potential to help the team long-term as a fullback when we picked him with minimal risk in the 5th round in exchange for a 7th round pick and a player who was on his way off of the team to begin with. Don't really see how that is saying that he should start because he was picked in the 5th round but feel free to interpret however you want, I guess.
I am very pumped after watching that. What our STs has needed for a while was not only a solid PR, but a gamebreaker. Imagine what kind of field position he'll give us with all of the 3-and-outs the defense is going to get?
I'm willing to bet it will negatively impact our running game's stats. Only because we're going to have that much shorter of a field between the start of the drive and the endzone.
Yeah it probably will, this is another little example of why stats don't mean shit....so many factors weigh in.
Right. It's not something that I would be upset about in this case. If Wilson turns out to be anywhere near as good as he was in college than he'll probably be as much of a help to our offense as to our defense.
Seriously- have someone who knows how to read take a few minutes and break down these posts for you. you are afraid to put leonhard at PR and you value unproven picks over proven players so yeah it's safe to assume you'd have a rich kotite like affect on whatever team you were building. In 2009 he averaged 10.4 per punt return, in the NFL for the NY Jets Jerricho Cotchery averaged Jerricho Cotchery averaged 10.3. For his college career Wilson averaged 12.6 per return, Desean jackson averaged 15.2 per return a year ago. You guys are acting like we have Devin Hester, we have no idea if wilson can be a good PR in the NFL, based on his college #s playing in a weaker conference I would say the chances are greater than he will not be a big time PR.
I think that McKnight will end up being used more as the PR than Wilson for a couple reasons. The most important being that Wilson will be getting more regular snaps. Ryan pretty much gave Wilson the nickel role in his press conference. The nickel in our defense is a borderline starter. If both show in TC that they are sure handed and get us good field position on punts, I think the guy that is used less on offense/defense will get the nod. Second I think Wilson's return style is better suited for the NFL kick return game. In a lot of Wilson's punt returns I see him either getting the edge or hitting a lane fast with his speed, like a great kick returners do. Good PRs tend to be more elusive than fast. Sometimes they are both like Deon, Bush and Hester; those are the great ones. I don't see Wilson as being very elusive or as elusive as McKight. Because of that I feel McKnight projects as the better PR. I know Wislon would have led the nation in PRs but I don't think that would have been the case had he played in a stronger conference. Don't get me wrong, he's good but but not as good as his numbers would suggest IMO. I've seen a lot better PRs coming out. I'm sure I'm about to get ripped for the afore-mentionedthere but that's my take.
And of course some people will use that to claim that our running game is less effective and it's all a result of letting TJ walk and trading Leon.
And then I'm going to realize that I made a huge mistake and change the channel to a program that isn't stupid enough to refer to Mark Schlereth as an expert.
I don't think it's a significant enough difference to negatively impact the running game 'stats' that much.
As of now its probably Brad Smith's to loose at least for Kick Offs, I dont know how the staff feels about Cotchery and Leonhard on PR. I would say that McKnight probably has the best chance to contribute. I remember going back to earlier last off season and Ryan mentioning that he didnt want Leon returning kicks because he wanted him to be more of a focal point in the offense and less so on special teams. I know McKnight is sort of like the new leon, and I think his playing time in the backfield will determine how much returning work he has
It really depends on A) how effective the defense is, B) how effective Wilson will be as a rookie PR and C) how much more we pass the ball. I wouldn't be surprised to have the 10-15th ranking rushing offense if all of those click.
When we brought in McKnight and Wilson, we brought in two guys with return experience who can contribute right away on special teams. Brad Smith was good but he was not spectacular as a kick returner. His best skill on KR has always been as a lead blocker for Leon. I think Westhoff and the rest of the CS want to put him back in that roll.
I don't know that we'll see that much of a drop. If the defense is very effective, it could result in shorter fields, but it should also result in a higher possession time, more plays run, and a continued reliance on ball control and the run game to keep our defense fresh. With a solid passing game, we could see the run game drop to the bottom of the Top 10 and still be highly effective, but 15th seems low to me.
For argument sake, assume the defense is marginally better than last year because, let's face it, it can't get too much better. Add 2 YPC for KR return, and really the only factor is how much more passing is involved in the offense. I doubt it really drops that much.
I was stating pretty much the best case scenario for all three of those factors. If our defense shuts teams down as an elite unit, then Wilson gets us back into enemy territory with consistency, then our passing attack thrives in the second half as a quick strike under the pass-happy rules that Goodell keeps instituting, the running game could be near-relegated to clock eating duties. We both know that we don't live in a perfect world. But I'm starting to believe in the best case scenario lately for some reason.
The defense can get FAR better than it was last season. The entire league from a defensive perspective took a collective step back in terms of performance. I don't know if it was due to the change in rules or just because a lot of the previous elite units had rosters in flux, but when a team like the Jets gets as few sacks and turnovers as ours did, and can hold teams off with no true pass rusher and swiss cheese depth at corner, things aren't quite Defensive Utopia. This defense was nowhere near elite. With a solid 4 man rush, plus this secondary in a healthy year, they can turn the ball over with consistency and also get to the passer. 2009 was just the beginning. I will bank that Rex's defense, if not in 2010 then in 2011, is spoken of in the same breath as the 1999 Ravens and the 1985 Bears. What they did in 2009 was pure coaching. Now we'll have the talent to do inhuman things on the field.
