RamzFanz
Damnit
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2013
- Messages
- 9,029
I don't think it's fair to put it into those absolute terms. There's no room for the natural progression that all receivers go through in their first 2-3 years if you say either Schotty is negligent or TA is average based on what's transpired in these first 10 games. Some of which, by the way, Austin was limited due to his performance the week prior. In the Jax game he dropped two passes, so they limited his snaps against Tennessee. A game in which they weren't going to target him much anyway because of the favorable matchups Givens and Cook posed. Not to mention Tennessee's vulnerability against the rush.
Which brings me to another point (in which I'm just speaking out loud).
I've seen, in this thread, criticisms about the coaches because our primary receiver regressed (Givens, I presume). Well, how can we on one hand expect Tavon to have record rookie numbers, get Cook involved, establish the run, and get Givens lateral production from his rookie year? What about Pettis? Does he get some of the distribution too? Can I let people in on a little secret? Givens' average yards per game last year was 46.5. This year, it's 46.3. Does regressing mean a drop-off of less than one yard per game now? People know what he can do and they take that part of his game away now. And then there's the fact that we have a backup QB who doesn't have near the same arm strength.
I understand the expectations. We should have crazy yardage in the passing game simply because we added Tavon and signed Cook. Can I ask what that's based on though? When you take into account the lack of a run game early on, spotty offensive line play, and now no starting QB? If the QB spreads the ball around to multiple receivers in a run-oriented offense, why does it mean that the OC doesn't know what he's doing? If Tavon isn't getting crazy yards, it's because he can't yet due to defensive coordinators not being stupid. Also, does anyone remember his comment about how it sounded like they were speaking a foreign language in the huddle this year? Think he can make a sight adjustment off of a pre-snap read yet based on that? And Schotty just now figured that he can run a pick play to spring Tavon? lol. C'mon.......
Let Tavon continue to get his feet wet, and all this talk about how the coaches can't design a game plan better than fans will slowly disappear.
All good points. You will note that I said "TA is just OK as a rookie receiver". I expect he will progress with experience.
The only play this season that I remember and can point to and say that was designed to get him the ball in the open field, he went 81 yards and a TD. I have been watching and waiting to see what he would do in the open field, and for the life of me, I can't remember another play this season. I could be wrong.
I just watched a Barry Sanders highlight reel to see how much he was like I remembered. TA really is very much like him. People forget that BS often went nowhere because the first guy to get a good grip on him took him down. The announcer was saying "and they said they just have to be patient and keep feeding him the ball... and right then BS found a hole and broke a huge run.
IMHO, that's what TA will be.
I don't have rewind but going forward I will tally his production based on if they get him the ball in the open by design or not. If they do, I will bet my last ROD dollar, he's going to explode.
"And Schotty just now figured that he can run a pick play to spring Tavon? lol. C'mon......." - Kind of, yes. He either just figured it out, or the players just figured out how to execute correctly, or he just decided to call it for what may have been the first time. Schotty has not been getting him the ball in the open field by whatever means he has available. That's a fact. He's barely been getting him the ball at all. As I remember it, he hit him 6 times in the flat or in tight coverage each of the first 3 games and when TA didn't light it up, he stopped.
It seems to me, they asked too much at first and they asked for the wrong things, then, instead of correcting their play calling, they gave up on him.