Torry Holt: Tavon Austin’s Biggest Impact Will be on Special Teams

Geez, hate to think of him as just a special teams gimmick. I was hoping for more Welker-like contributions than Devin Hester v2.

zn wrote:

“They want to run it more than they passed it, so that means there will be less opportunities for (the receivers). Where can (Austin) help the ball club if he’s not getting a lot of opportunities on the offense?”

I’m not sure that’s necessarily true. I think they will pass it plenty. I have less of a handle on this part of it but I also think they will rotate WRs, so it’s not certain he will be crowded out in a numbers game. I do think they fully intend to set up a fair number of big strikes, and Austin can do that, as we know. I don’t think this will be Seattle. In 2012, Bradford was tied for 7th in the league with Manning for the number of passing plays of 20 yards or more. I expect that to continue…in principle, a play action offense with Stacy should not be that different from a play action offense with Jackson.

.,..

Ah, a voice of reason tacking back up the pieces of falling sky.

I like your version better. Thank you.

Dak wrote:

I respect Holt’s opinions since he’s played WR at a high level. And, I understand his concern about Austin’s production. But, Austin is not going to ever be a Torry Holt 80-catch-a-year guy. He will be a quick strike guy, though, and if he can get you 10-12 TDs in this offense, he will be a monster contributor. I also thought that in the 2-minute drill at the end of the first half, he showed that he could get open for short sideline passes that he could keep the chains moving at times. I think he can still be a “go to” guy in certain situations, just not a traditional No. 1. And, I’m sure from Holt’s perspective, Tavon was picked too high not to be that No. 1 WR.

I have no idea what Torry is talking about.
Tavon has been ‘quiet in camp’ ?
I think Tavon will be a dangerous weapon
that defenses have to account for on every down —
assuming:
1 Tavon stops dropping passes, and
2 he can stay healthy.

Those are open questions.

But as we all know, he’s not a “WR”.
He’s an “X factor” player. He’s a little
of this and a little of that. Whatever
you wanna name it. A TD-maker, maybe.

w
v

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by wv.

Not sure what to make of Torry publically stating his opinion on a player like that. It’s not his usual style to be so specific. Doesn’t he help out in OTA’s or something?

I wonder if he’s indirectly trying to light a fire under Tavon’s ass. Or maybe he’s just being candid.

He’s a quick strike stealth bomber. He might touch the ball 5 times but he’ll still roll out 200 all purpose yards…..on some occasions anyway.

I do believe he will do damage as a receiver when they bring 8 guys up to stop Stacy and company.
# holtgettingmedown

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by Herzog.

Coach Jeff Fisher admitted the Rams need to get Austin the ball in space more — just don’t expect to see that during the preseason.

“We just have to give him the ball,” Fisher said. “Give him the ball in space, because we all know what he can do with it. And so we’re doing some different things. Probably won’t show a whole lot in the preseason, but I’ve (sic) very pleased with where he’s at right now.”

i’m hoping this is what it is. just save the secret weapon for the regular season.

he’s the most explosive player on the rams offense. you have to use him. in the passing game. in the running game. let’s go tavon!

InvaderRam wrote:

and also to add to that. i don’t expect tavon to become more physical this year. to be able to break tackles and be a complete route runner capable of taking on physical cornerbacks.

but i do expect him to become a better route runner. to have more confidence. to think less. and more than anything else to have better hands. those things alone should be enough to make him a significant contributor.

i’m hoping for around 65 catches 700 yards receiving. 30 rushes 300 yards rushing. that combined with punt returns could provide the rams with some explosiveness.

last year he had 569 yards from scrimmage over 13 games. projected to a 16 game season that is 700 yards. so i think 700 receiving and 300 rushing is a realistic goal from year 1 to year 2.

Okay that’s how I see it too, generally speaking.

My own view of this is that TH was just remarking on things he saw Austin doing in camp practices. But, my intuition is that they won’t be using Austin during the season the way they do in camp practices, and that at the same time they are not going to show those plays during camp. I think they will integrate Austin lots of different ways but that it will be gameplan specific, game by game, and not something an observer will see during the summer.

And besides, I have no problem with him being a combined yards weapon and not, strictly speaking, a receiver per se.

Last year he was clearly held back by rookie head-swimming syndrome. I don’t think it had anything to do with Schott. There’s 2 ways to approach that issue. McD just had rookies go out and do what he drew up, regardless. That led to 2 of the surest hands on the team–Kendricks and Pettis–being confused, overthinking rookies with the dropsies. (In fact, so much so, that to this day a few don’t even realize Kendricks is surehanded. That’s how strong an impression his rookie confusions left in some minds.) Or there’s the Schott way, which is don’t ask them to do it if they can’t. If that’s all true (as I think it is) then Schott will be using Austin in more ways this year.

I see over and over, people saying, Schott had to figure Austin out. I doubt that, personally. Well no wait. I am sure that’s true to an extent, but not how the critics are presenting it–as something more than the ordinary. But in principle Schott would be no different in that regard than any other coordinator with a new, head-swimming player. If anything, Schott already had a near-Austin type in New York–Leon Washington. Washington was a back who returned kicks and caught passes, while Austin is a receiver who runs out of the backfield and returns kicks, so they are cousin species. Either way Washington was a multi-purpose weapons guy and heavier than Austin, but still there were similarities, and Schott found all sorts of ways to use Washington. So none of this was extremely new. So to me, it was never a problem of Schott figuring Austin out (that is more than the usual figuring a rookie out thing), it was more of a problem of yet another rookie (almost)receiver struggling SO Schott’s solution was to limit what he did, at first. (Especially since Schott’s offense depends a lot on sight adjustments, and most rookie skill players don’t arrive in the NFL already capable of reading defenses well enough to be comfortable with that.)

Anyway the combined yards thing is fine with me. Even with rookie syndrome and 3 missed games, Austin had 1246 combined yards (or so…that’s from memory), which was on pace for 1530 something.

And, I am more than okay with that.

.

ZN: I see over and over, people saying, Schott had to figure Austin out. I doubt that, personally. … Schott already had a near-Austin type in New York–Leon Washington. … Washington was a multi-purpose weapons guy and heavier than Austin, but still there were similarities, and Schott found all sorts of ways to use Washington. So none of this was extremely new. So to me, it was never a problem of Schott figuring Austin out (that is more than the usual figuring a rookie out thing), it was more of a problem of yet another rookie (almost)receiver struggling SO Schott’s solution was to limit what he did, at first.

These are nuanced issues and it’s impossible to precisely analyze things. You make some good balancing points. But.

My sense is that Schott DID struggle to figure Austin out. Not in a generic sense, not a matter of Schott needing to figure out how to use this type of player.

What I think Schott had to figure out were Austin’s limitations. I think the plan early in the season was to let Austin wreak havoc from within traffic. The expectation apparently was that Austin could break out of tight spaces. That’s the only way I can make sense out of their early season habit of simply tossing him the ball underneath without having done much to create space. I believe Schott had to learn that, good as Austin is, he isn’t THAT good.

Now you have Fisher saying on the record that they need to get Austin the ball more IN SPACE. Yep. To me, that’s been the issue all along. In my view, Schott had to learn that Austin, a truly special talent, was not nevertheless so special that he could create magic in heavy traffic.

From what I saw Saturday versus Green Bay, Bradford has no issues throwing Tavon the ball. Tavon caught both passes thrown his way for positive yardage. Sam keeps tossing Tavon the ball he is going to break a few. I think Torry is off base in is opinion of Tavon. Maybe a little jealous too.

Grits

InvaderRam wrote:

tavon will adapt to this league. and the coaches will continue to find specific ways in which austin can use his explosion to help this offense. i agree with you rfl. just the normal process of developing a rookie with a different skill set than your typical “wide receiver”.

I think we will see Austin do all kinds of things this year. The goal is 2000 combined yards–receiving, returning, rushing. The 3 Rs of Austinology.