Well, yeah, any game plan you have is going to involve people staying healthy. The bottom line is that you have backups in this scenario if someone does get hurt, which hopefully no one will. Aside from Leon (obviously) this is pretty much what we did this year though it wasn't really intentional. towards the end of the season Shonn Green had fresh legs and really kicked ass for us. I'm basically just saying I think we should try to keep all three. If we do mix up the carries throughout the season that's fine, coupled with the fact that Sanchez is much better now and we can let him throw it more often and have less carries.
If you switch Leon and TJ, I think this would be the best option. We need to feed Leon the ball and let him do his thing. TJ should be a fallback option to Shonn and possibly goalline touches....
I agree with both Greene and Jones running style leaves them open to more injures. Thats why I feel that keeping jones or getting another RB to complement TJ Greene and Washington would still help. It did hurt us when Greene left the game against the colts and not having Washington. Look at how we tried to use TRich in the game. It felt weird. seeing him trying to run with the ball. I heard people say we do have woodhead but thats not good enough. But RB is the least of our problems.
Whatever TJ and the Jets FO decide. I'm eternally grateful to him for his leadership (especially this year) and whats hes bought us game days, hard nosed no nonsense rushing.
TJ got a lot of carries this year and that hurt him down the stretch. Personally, I think he's got one, maybe two years left in him at the most. That said, he can still be very productive, so it makes sense to bring him back for 15 carries a game. Between him, Greene and Washington, we should be able to pound the ball 40 times a game. That said, we should be drafting someone to take over. I don't think Woodhead is that guy, but someone in the 4th-6th round range should be fine.
OK sorry about the typo What Im saying is, Jones is DUE for an injury because he is old (for a rb). He is at the end of his career imo. He got those stats b/c of the oline and he is a solid rb. Im not saying he isn't solid. Curtis Martin was solid towards the end of his career, never got hurt, but eventually got hurt because of his age. All I'm saying is that he could very easily get an injury due to his age and mileage. Maybe injury "prone" was a stretch.
He does remind me a bit of the Burner, but a little bit more late Burner than early Burner.. Meaning he is running with good size and power. Any comparions to Micheal Turner are a good sign for me, Turner is a stud running back when healthy..
I understand also that we are all really excited by greene but remember that he only lit up in the playoff when defenses are banged up and tired what is he going to do against a fresh defense as a starting role is a mystery!!
CMart had a knee problem,and Herm let him play. Curtis might have had another year left, but Edwards ran him into the ground. Edwards, the liar, who said he would never let a player play if he could endanger his career, later admitted he should not have let Martin play "with a knee that was all torn up". We can get another quality year from Jones, IF he doesn't have nearly so many carries next year. Rememeber, that scum bag Edwards, the liar, who said he would never endanger a player, forced Pennington back into that game with KC after he tore up his shoulder for the second time. Edwards ended CMart's career a year early too. Remember when he took a swing at Raye, the Jets RB coach when he inserted Jordan to spell Curtis? At least Ryan went to Greene once TJ got banged up. Thing is, Greene seems very injury prone. Not only do I want TJ back along with Greene and Leon, I want another RB on the roster. Woodhead aint that guy. He has to be limited so his legs stay fresh all year. This is the thing about older RB's. Run them too much, and yeah, they will wear down the way Curtis did. Reduce their touches. Keep their legs fresh. Let Greene carry more than Jones does. Get another RB that can play ST's and serve as depth.
Thomas Jones has been able to avoid injuries due to his running style, which consists of a lot of misdirection and not a lot of powering through defenders - but a guy with legs his size is going to end up racking up the injuries late in his career fairly quickly. He was next to useless on Sunday, because he was nicked up. That's what happens to runningbacks when they get his age. If we hold on to TJ, he needs to be used as a COP back, because his durability is sure to fade at this point.
How many feature RB's got through the season without injury? I said it earlier. look at how many "young" RB's got hurt this year as feature RB's. Turner, Jones-Drew, D Williams, R White, M Barber, C Williams, Jacobs AND Bradshaw, P Thomas, Portis, Westbrook, they all got hurt, and many of them are not long in the tooth. Jones didn't get hurt as much as worn down. Greene, now he got hurt, several times. Jones isn't a CoP RB. But he can't carry the ball as many times as he did this year, or he'll be useless come playoff time, like he was this year. We need both Jones and Greene spitting carries, Leon is the CoP, and we need another guy who can pound the ball for depth, because there is no way that even the combo of TJ and Greene will be enough next season. These days, a run oriented offense has to have 3 ball carriers and one CoP RB, like Leon. You have to count on the fact that one of the RB's will go down.
Who is R. White you keep mentioning. I'm trying to think of what running back that is, but I keep drawing a blank. The only RB I can think of right now with the last name White is Lendale White.
I never said that Greene was the answer as a full-time runner. His injuries do concern me, and I'm not sold that he can stay healthy for an entire season. I'm also not sold on Jones remaining an effective back while sharing primary carries with Greene at this point. Jones is going to wear down fast in his career twilight, and we need to have a plan in place for it - I agree that stockpiling backs is the best option. But I don't necessarily think that Jones is a requirement for that platoon. Runningbacks are the most replaceable commodity in the league, especially behind an offensive line like we have.
If I'm not mistaken, Jerome Harrison is a FA for this upcoming season. I think that could get interesting in Cleveland, in addition to Jamal Lewis's waffling on retirement. Mangini would love to get some of his guys in Cleveland. Any chance of packaging Jones and Rhodes to try to upgrade a position of greater need, or hell, even upgrade Rhodes? Say Jones, Rhodes, and a 1st for their 1st to maybe grab say Eric Berry or something like that. I don't know...just throwing some ideas out there. I know neither of those guys are worth a ton in a trade, but we've fleeced Cleveland before, I wouldn't mind doing that again.
Jones is not a requirement, especially not with three backs who are raising heavy injury concerns. If we do not add a back this offseason, it would be best to let Sanchez take a few more throws and try and keep the touches down to around 200-220 for the season each - maybe 230 for Leon if they are predominantly catches near the sideline. I would not be against picking another halfback high in two years to sure up this running corps.
Something tells me that this year's draft is going to be DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE... but I don't think taking a low-round runningback is out of the question.
