Do you think he would have more than 29 career catches at this point and 4 TDs?
Let it be known I wasn't a Jeffrey guy and for me to sit here and say that's the guy they should have taken is silly of me. Others could make that point. I can't.
Lolwut?
Sure, if you're 12 & arguing w/ 8 year olds...
Here are the receivers projected stats over 16 games with Bradford as QB:
Tavon Austin:
66 Catches
450 Yards
4 TDs
Chris Givens:
41 Catches
674 Yards
0 TDs
Austin Pettis:
57 Catches
573 Yards
9 TDs
Brian Quick
20 Catches
448 Yards
2 TDs
Jared Cook
59 Catches
786 Yards
4 TDs
Pettis was the biggest loser of Sam getting hurt.
The Quick pick at #33 was a head scratcher for every draft guy I read, heard, or spoke with. I challenge you to find one resource that had Quick anywhere near #33. You see it all the time, a team falls in love with a "secret" player and just has to have him regardless of what his value is. That's fine, but not at the top of the 2nd round.
Drafting well means understanding where players are slotted and moving in the draft if necessary to align with the value of the player. The Rams did that last year with both Austin and Ogletree. When you draft scared at the top of the draft you lose at the draft in the long run.
Would Quick have been available at 65? My guess is probably. But that's short sighted. The question is was he going in the top half of the 2nd round because they could have traded down from #33 and taken him lower in the 2nd round to hedge their bet and picked up another draft pick.
I don't go to see all the practices at training camp but I did go to the draft this year, and I learned a lot talking with a lot of people. And the Quick pick was viewed as a rookie GM mistake almost universally.
I don't think anybody here has given up on Tavon Austin either. Sucks he hurt his ankle right when he was starting to turn it on.
It's certainly possible that he could bust, but that's not out of the ordinary for any team. Just curious though ... did you do any scouting of Pead prior to the draft that year? Or after? Meaning, the available film of him at Cincinnati. I didn't see any indication that he would be a bad RB, but of course the one thing you can't account for is the mental aspect (dedication, acuity) of a player.
Its like "arguing" with someone who doesn't want to even consider an alternative. And they are basing all of their opinion on raw statistics that have no bearing on the true reasons why they are what they are.
Its fantasy football mentality through and through
After Gilyard...and now Pead...I say stay the hell away from Bearcat footballers. Ever taken a gander at the Cat players in the NFL? A startlingly mediocre bunch the lot of them outside of 1 or 2 players.
To be fair, I've yet to really see you ponder the alternative to YOUR theories and analysis. I've seen you talk up Pead, defend the WRs because of the QB chucking the rock....
But what is this WR bunch DOESN'T improve? Then what? Most of them, sans Austin, will have 3+ years in the system. If they're still the same player next year, haven't we unwisely used those WR investments? What if Quick can't catch back on even with Sam back?
To say this WR corps doesn't have massive questions is silly. It's one of the more "the freak if I know what they'll give me" units in the NFL outside of the Panthers.
You talk about matching up WRs to specific coverages. Is it wrong to want a WR that can beat all types? I've seen to see a WR since Holt able to do that.
And YES. This WR bunch does have the ability to be effective with the power run scheme we seem to have fallen back on out of necessity.
Ability to do so, however, and actually doing it is another matter though.
Like I keep saying. We'll see. I hope Snisher has made the right choice and is right about this WRs. Because that's a crap ton of wide outs to have to admit after next year need lots of upgrades.
Are also feeling foot loose and fancy free?Well. I have to thank everybody for airing all their concerns. That leaves me to be carefree about the whole subject.
Without Bailey, there is just a higher risk of continuing the subpar performance at WR, and that's a valid concern. I think they need another guy.
I'm really trying hard to articulate what I'm talking about here with regards to how this offense is structured, Fro. Pettis isn't the best WR we have, and I hope I didn't make it sound like I think he is. He's the best at what he does. If you need a clutch catch, he's your guy. If you need a zone buster, Givens is your guy. If you need to roll coverage on deep ins, Quick is your guy. If you need a receiver that other teams game plan for, Tavon is your guy. If you need a seam buster, Cook is your guy. If you need a guy who is almost always single covered by a linebacker, Kendricks is your guy. And if you need to trot out a personnel grouping that's designed to isolate any one of them, then you have a ton of latitude.
IMHO:
....
2) With everything the Rams did in off-season, it's clear the Rams have shelved the fans' hope of becoming the next generation of The Greatest Show on Turf. Robinson-not Matthews/Watkins, Mason-not a WR, Schottenheimer-not any other available OC, Defense, Defense, Defense. With Mason and Stacy successfully running the ball 35 times a game and a dominant defense, the need for an elite receiving corp is somewhat diminished, no? It worked for Seattle and San Francisco and Fisher has clearly jumped on that ship.
3) Ball control is what Schottenheimer does best, which is why the Zac Stacy emerged last year and the Rams played respectively after Bradford went down. Bradford's injury forced the Rams to go to a ball control offense. The pick of Robinson and Mason clearly shows that Fisher and Schottenheimer are thinking ball control first with the ability to quick strike through the air at a moments notice.
4) The name of the game in ball control is field position, which requires a dominating defense (check, by adding Greg Williams, Donald, Joyner) and elite special teams (big check if and when they get the penalties down). Take away the penalties, add a year of experience and the Rams arguably have the best special teams in football (Minnesota and the 49ers can give good arguments).
5) Wasn't Tavon Austin supposed to be the answer for the Rams' game-breaking WR needs? At least that's what I heard a billion times before and after he was drafted (heard a lot of other crap, but let's ignore that).
....
8) Pettis is a Schottenheimer staple. He blocks well, has tremendous hands and runs his routes well. Name another receiver on the Rams roster that does all three of those? Bailey will in the future, I believe. TJ Moe, very well may (and why he was brought in). You won't see Pettis on very many highlight reels but he does bring a smile to Schottenheimer's face. Every time Austin or Givens dropped a pass or missed a block, or Quick ran a crappy route, it was Pettis trotting out on the field for a key play. If Pettis is cut, it will be because of the emergence of Bailey (now delayed) or Moe as Schottenheimers new security blankey.