Funny the way things work out sometimes (Our RB situation)
 

Last season most of us on this board (including myself) were down on Bilal Powell, calling him the "b" word :eek: after only a handful of carries in live action. Granted he fumbled and didn't wow anyone, we were kind of hard on the mid round draft pick.

Fast forward to this season. We want to return to our ground and pound roots, but cant because Shonn "I fall down on every first contact" Greene is stinkin it up! Powell has a great TC, shows some flashes in games, and look what we have here? Most of the board (including myself) clamoring for Powell to, at the very least, take some of Greene's carries away.

Now I'm not anointing Powell the next Barry Sanders, and I am not anointing him our next starting RB, but it's funny how things work sometimes, with starving impatient Jets fans LOL.

Personally, I'm looking for more Joe.

Similar story can be said for Ducasse as well. Need to have some patience with the raw and mid-round draft picks. Teams like the Steelers have been doing this for years-- they don't just plug and play...they groom their starters for a couple of years before they emerge as starters. You need to be able to do this to be a successful franchise.

yeah the Steelers take 2nd round picks and start them 6 years later.

Whatever, comparing the NY Jets to the Pittsburgh Steelers is akin to comparing White Castle Hamburgers to Beef Wellington.

Of any position RB is the quickest transition to the NFL. There are numerous examples of first year players having big seasons. So when a guy doesn't produce (or even get on the field) it's generally a bad sign.

That being said I'd love to be wrong about Powell. I don't know whether he worked hard in the off-season or he had the talent all along. But I'd like to see him get more carries this season.

I'm also surprised that McKnight isn't getting more game time. The guy has speed as evidenced by his KR numbers. Any explosiveness we could add at RB would be a big benefit.

Talk about missing the context of that post.

No one was comparing the Jets to the Steelers, just pointing out how the Steelers successfully develop players.

I agree - I think we were all justified to be a little down on Powell for the exact reasons you stated. And we'll all be glad to be wrong about him if he can continue to develop.

I don't know that Powell is much of a home-run hitter, but what I saw on Sunday was a guy who has the vision to get 5 yards on a play where Greene would have only gotten 2. That's huge when it comes to play selection on the next down.

More Vlad + more Powell/McKnight = more opportunites to keep the defense on its heels.

While your point about the transition from college to NFL RB is true, I dont think last year is indicative of powell's talent level. Greene was the starter last year, we had a very capable 3rd Down back/veteran in LT, and a second year player as the 3rd RB. There really wasnt an opportunity for a back, no matter how good, to crack the rotation last year.

This season, LT is gone, powell has put in a full year as a pro player, and most importantly we have a much greater statistical sample size to evaluate what greene can (or in this case cant) do....

Shonn Greene ran a 4.62 40 time, and that was at the NFL Combine. It's plain as day that 2012 Shonn is not nearly as fast as 2009 Shonn.

Powell ran a 4.54 at the Combine. He broke a bunch of very long runs in college. While he may not have elite NFL speed, he certainly provides way more speed than Greene, and he is (more) capable of taking one to the house.

I actually think Vlad can be a solid starter at RG when BMoore decides to hang it up, or we decide to part ways....He was in over his head at RT and the coaching staff realized it.....

for a ground & pound team, we're nowhere with any of them.
you gotta love the vikings, they don't call themselves G&P, but they have the best in the league.

I agree, and I really hope we are able to go RB early in the draft next year.

But I think Powell is the lesser of all the evils here for this season....

I was never down on any 2011 rookies because they had no off season. Still not sure about BP but you can not be a successfull running team with Greene as your featured back. He has no moves, no 2nd gear and does not make anybody miss. Plus he can't catch out of the backfield. I am more concerned about RB then any other postion on the Offense even without injuires. I am hoping Mcknight takes advantage of his oppurtunities because he can run inside and out and catch.

Not sure you can say that we were justified in being down on Powell for his production last year when he didn't have an opportunity to produce. He was behind Greene, LDT and McKnight. The guy wasn't drafted for last year, he was drafted for 2012 and beyond.

Its one thing if I guy like Trent Richardson doesn't impress in year 1 - he is getting the rock come hell or high water. Powell, OTOH, absent significant injury, had no real path to playing time. This year he does and he's doing well.

Plus, he was a 4th round pick. That's a guy who should ultimately contribute but realistically needs time to develop.

Fair enough. Think some of my concern resulted from the lack of any flashes whatsoever in the time he did see (pre and regular season) and the fact that he wasn't getting touches despite the LT injury, Greene's average-at-best production and the fact that the team wasn't showing much faith in McKnight.

But in hindsight, there was no minicamp last year, and Powell looks like a much different player in year 2. Either way, glad to be wrong about him.

These 2 could be keepers and are clearly more explosive then Greene. Both will have to work in improving their pass protection and blitz pickups

A taco would look better than Greene out there.


Make no mistake - Powell's chocolate covered average. We're desperate though. Desperate to stop seeing the ball handed off to a snowman.


Gimme more McKnight I say. He might actually take one to the house in my life time. When was the last time a Jet did that?

Oh ya.

Greene against SD in the playoffs. We're still trying to figure that one out.

Watching the first two games and some pre season the difference is in the actual game speed. Powell looks quicker. He hits the hole faster. Greene looks like a fullback when he hits the hole. Like a week fullback. Watching the game last night and it's amazing that the giants can have players rise to the ocasion and we play down to it. I would love to see any jet player be coached up, nOt with Rex here.

I agree that we need to see more Powell. McKnight on the other hand has been a liability in blocking and pass protection. On many occasions he missed the blitzer to allow an easy unblocked hit on the QB