Just a side note, I blame Bradway & Herm for everything. After this season, I'll start to lay blame at the door of TANGINI. But for the first 2 seasons, as far as I am concerned they get a little bit of a pass.
If you do it right you have an H-back with skills similar to Chris Baker. Very few teams do it right, but the ones that do tend to be very successful.
Oh, it's a nice concept, you've got no argument there. But I don't think we're going to see a lot of successful H-Backs until they are used in that capacity more in college. It kind of reminds me of the NT position in that respect. How many players come out of college ready to be a true NFL NT? Very few, because so few are used earlier in their careers in that same capacity, and therefore they essentially have to learn the position on the run... With the H-Back, the issue is that you have very few FBs coming out who are big enough for the position, and you have very few TEs coming out with legitimate experience lead blocking out of the backfield... It certainly has the potential to replace the FB in most NFL offenses, but, until a team is able to find that rare gem who picks up the position quickly, think they should stick to using a traditional dual-threat FB
I'd rather have a battering ram for I formation than a guy who catches passes out of the backfield. A Mack Strong/Lorenzo Neal/Tony Richardson type although those are hard to find.
I live in Tampa and this is the first year genius Gruden got his running game working (even with the loss of Pontiac Williams) What changed? Hate to tell you but Hackett, Becht and now Askew. Becht and Askew are running blocks all day long and the genius lets Garcia bounce two passes off Becht’s stone hands for old times sake every three games or so. I saw Becht in a restaurant right by their training facility the other day and his table was surrounded by broken glass and dropped food.
Cursing TB for taking Askew and Cursing him for not taking enough lineman is a different discussion. I agree that TB should have take more/better OL in his tenure, but that does not make the Askew pick a bad one and now that he has made the Pro-Bowl, it is should be considered a very good one. One of the big knocks on TB on this board was always his lack of Pro-Bowl draftees. Now one of his picks is in the Bowl and he still gets bashed. TB is just everyones favorite whipping boy I guess.
All this should tell you is that the scouting department is doing a good job in identifying talent and that our coaching staff does a very very poor job of cultivating it. One year in Tampa with good coaching and he goes to the pro bowl. Coaching here in NY sucks... there is no other way to say it. The Jets can draft all potential pro bowlers, but if you can't DEVELOPE the talent, the Jets will always suck.
I've said it a thousand times, Askew was a wasted talent. I pointed out how improved his blocking was several times also. He was a stud in College and has excellent hand (Even though rarely used) This was another player we let go in a spot we never replaced. Typical.
I lol'D at this. But I agree, Askew was terribly underused. I am happy for him that he's finally in a place that uses him. And amazingly, Hackett did know exactly how to run this offense, just pound the run and throw a few short passes with Chad. Chad has his best seasons under Hackett, and managed to put up a 90 QB rating with his rotator cuff torn.
BJ's a stud. I'm happy for him he deserves it. I still can't understand why he hasn't been given more of an opportunity to play RB in the NFL. I think he can be so much more than just a rock solid blocking FB.
