http://www.sicemdawgs.com/2015/05/video-todd-gurley-interview/

not just a power running attack. but a running back capable of busting long plays running or receiving the ball at any given time. gurley’s got power and speed. a healthy gurley that is…

Then we must agree to disagree. Rams had the 10th pick overall. You think other teams found O-line help after the Gurley pick? I do.

that’s how teams stay mediocre. picking for need over quality. there was nobody on that offense that would keep a dcoordinator up at night. no one a defense had to game plan for.

at least now they have a chance with gurley to have that type of player. so i think it’s worth the risk.

bnw wrote:

Zooey wrote:

bnw wrote:

Again it doesn’t have to be an ACL. As serious an injury as an ACL. Any of those four enter the league as injured as Gurley? The Rams have such great need other places and RB wasn’t one. An injured one at that. Great expectations for TA which haven’t materialized is this deja vu? Is this what our draft board does for the offense? Will this extend the Rams streak of 11 years since a first round pick on offense has been worth it? This pick makes my stomach churn.

Whom would you have taken? Waynes? Peat? Parker?

I do not follow the draft unless our first pick is very early as to be reasonably predicted like Bradford first overall or Long at 2nd overall. RB was not an area of need. O-line immediately comes to mind.

i wouldn’t have minded cameron erving. but gurley is way better than erving i would think. i think they needed playmakers. and no wide receivers were available.

cornerback woulda been another alternative. i’m not loving the secondary so much.

also. i think that the los angeles opportunities group will present to the owners, and maybe not this next meeting but at some point they will recommend the rams and the chargers.

i would think they would want at least one of the owners to be able to take on a stadium project by himself. neither davis nor spanos could do that on his own which is why they went into it together. that will be one thing going against them.

bailey is going to be good this year…

britt should be fine.

quick and austin are the unknowns i think at this point.

laram wrote:

InvaderRam wrote:

the arizona run at the end. and the chicago bears run where he stops on a dime and reverses. beautiful runs.

Invader when you get a chance check out this Football Outsiders breakdown on TA.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2014/factors-tavon-austin

well the article refers a lot to his lack of physicality. he’s too easily pushed around on routes, and he struggles to maintain balance when he takes a hit. those are all things i agree with. his hands last year were bad. yeah. that seems correct.

still. i think he can be a useful player. i don’t think he’ll ever live up to his draft status. but i see him as a valuable player. i see him as a rich man’s amp lee…

ha!

I don’t agree.

He does catch passes, and does do a combo of things in the passing game. IMO he is only a “failure” in that regard if someone expected him to be a pure receiver.

He also can run the ball out of the backfield.

And he can also return punts.

As for what Fisher said…he tellingly states (just paraphrasing not directly quoting) “one thing he CAN do is run past you downfield.” That is, he ends up talking about what Tavon is CAPABLE OF (presumably, capable of, so far.)

I also think there’s this mistaken view out there that says they didn’t use him to on deep routes. Well, yeah, they did. They did it with Bradford and Clemens. I don’t think they bothered to do it with Davis. They did do it with Hill, Hill just never threw to him.

Anyway, Tavon is controversial. That makes discussing him very interesting. And as such, lots of people with different opinions Declare The Truth Of Tavon. I do it myself, though part of me also tries to remember that there are widely different views on this. When it comes to that, I am personally more aligned with invader, who sees a guy who isn’t prepared or ready yet. What’s the difference between a player who CAN’T (do XY or Z) and a player who DOESN;T KNOW HOW TO YET (do XY or Z). I think sometimes people don’t account for the intangibles stuff–like when is a player lacking in a particular talent and when is he just playing without confidence or with mental hesitations. My own view is not that he is a “failure,” my view is that he needs to improve in a couple of areas, and that like Quick he’s slow to do it. This is the disadvantage of taking highly talented guys out of spread offenses—they are not pro ready, and sometimes take a couple of years to get it worked out. That makes them harder to judge.

yeah. we are in agreement. he’s not going to be a dominant pure wide receiver. but i think there’s certainly the capacity to get better as a receiver. plus he contributes big plays in a variety of ways. he’s a receiver/runner/returner. he’s a slash player.

a little more on the not being pro-ready.

tavon came to west virginia as a running back. and converted to receiver his freshman year. he had 15 receptions the first year and then 58 receptions the second year. wasn’t until his junior year that he really took off. now i’m not saying he is going to have 100 receptions next year. but i think 50 receptions is reasonable. with more explosive plays.

as far as what fisher said. it could be open to interpretation. i take it as fisher thought they could have done a better job getting him in mismatches and getting him the ball where he could do damage. he also talked about lining him up wide. could it just be lip service? possibly. but for now at least i’ll take fisher’s word.

a couple things i disagree with on the original post.

1. i do think he has the stop and start quickness the rams thought he had. i think the main problems are his size and the fact that he is thinking too much when he is out there. he won’t ever be able to overcome the size problem, but as far as the thinking too much. he’s only entering his third year. i would think there is still room to grow there, and as he starts to think less and just react, maybe the production will start to go up.

2. also. the issue of using him properly. there could be some validity to the argument. fisher himself has alluded to the fact that he was misused in 2014 and that they plan to correct that this year. maybe cig has some ideas. maybe it’s just a matter of simplifying some things. regardless, fisher saw some issues on defense and adjusted last year. maybe fisher and cig saw some issues with the offense in 2014 and plan on making adjustments. maybe these involve tavon. maybe they don’t. but i don’t think it can just be dismissed.

worst case scenario at 9 months he’d be ready at week 1. as a reference point bradford tore his acl october 20 2013. he was playing in preseason games week 3.

gurley was injured november 15 2014. about a month. so maybe week 3 of the regular season.

of course you could take the extreme example of an adrian peterson who was injured december 24 2011. he returned for the first week of the following season. that would be unrealistic. still that gives gurley more than a month on peterson for recovery time.

wow. hang in there. mental illness can be a tough thing to come to grips with. for everyone involved. be well. and i hope everyone involved finds peace.

mark richt on todd gurley

http://www.rams-news.com/mark-richt-why-todd-gurley-is-the-best-rb-hes-ever-coached-or-seen-in-person-audio/

Agamemnon wrote:

InvaderRam wrote:

i don’t know what ag is talking about.

lol, that is what they all say.

haha. well you might have information that i don’t. with the way i understand the situation. while acknowledging that there might be details i don’t know about. i would have picked him in the seventh round. am i terribly upset about it? not really. in the end. things were done correctly. and if that means the rams do not get collins. i am ultimately alright with that.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 1 month ago by InvaderRam.

zn wrote:

His power is more subtle than bam. Marshawn Lynch is the bam power back who loads up to deliver the blow that he bounces off and continuers running. Todd isn’t like that and that is the biggest reason why I don’t think Todd is comparable to Lynch.

Watching Todd run he leans into the hit where the defenders can’t get that solid hit but ends up bouncing off, because of the leverage/angle. To me Todd is just a very smooth runner, nothing choppy or erratic.

I also think he is similar to Herschel Walker in the way they both run. Herschel would drive through a tackler a little more aggressively than Todd, but BOTH got the job done rather easily. Herschel was also a fluid runner.

well i like that if that’s true. the bam power backs who deliver blows absorb more damage in my humble opinion. and are more prone to wear and tear. gurley’s style should help him out. and for anyone who has seen the gurley injury, it wasn’t a contact injury. he planted awkwardly, and the ligament just gave out.

an aside. i was reading this article by the rams’ team doctor. and they focus a lot on retraining the muscles in that area to prevent those type of injuries. hopefully, it works and gurley doesn’t suffer future setbacks.

anyway. having that running style where he can avoid direct blows and still maintain balance. yeah. that sounds much better than just colliding head on into a 250 pound linebacker.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 1 month ago by InvaderRam.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 1 month ago by zn.