They dont expect or teach rbs to do that at fsu, so you're right, he needs to learn how to block- its the weakest part of his game.
A RB who can not pick up the blitz will NOT become a premir back in the NFL. Edgerin (sp) James was the best a picking up the blitz with CM 2nd. I loved the way CM will sacrifise his body standing up a 250 pound blitzing LB who's on a full run. On pass plays, CM has been our best "body gaurd". Right after the snap he would run up a few yards and look side to side and then "BAM" he would run right into the blitzing dude. The "opposite" of a RB's instincts. When many teams send the RB out as a safety valve, we almost always kept CM in just due to his awsome commitment to protecting the QB. We would send the full back out and keep CM in. That says a lot.
Jtuds, I agree with everything you said. I even like Washington a bit. While I somewhat agree with the assessment of his blocking skills, I attribute the backfield blocking problem to our lack of a good FB. We are missing guys like Sowell. That converted TE who got hurt was who this CS hung their hats on. Bad choice. You have to have a backup plan, and we didn't. Chad is fine from what I've seen all preseason. I agree with the opinion that he looks like he is actually throwing harder than in the past. His accuracy was a little off, but I thought that had more to do with throwing off-balance again, as he has in the past when the pocket breaks down. He had looked to have shaked that off in the previous two games, but it reared its ugly head again in the Giants game again. D'Brick is just fine. He made a mental mistake on that false start. He was trying to time the play, rather than pay attention to the snap count. No big deal. Good job by Mangini to immediately talk to him. I don't forsee too many problems with him. As a rookie OLine started, I am actually impressed he hasn't had more mental lapses yet. He is obviously committed to showing why he deserved to be picked so high. On the same note, Mangold has been pretty solid as well. The defense is way beyond what I expected. Think about this. Our best player is playing in a position that doesn't utilize his strengths. Rhodes was asked to step up and be a leader, and he has done it. We switched our defensive scheme to a 3-4, without a capable NT, and we have transitioned it pretty damn well. I think we handling the rush much better than last year, which is a definite plus. We are playing the pass pretty damn well also. Even Eli had to admit that our D shut him down pretty well. It may be a pretty big stretch of a prediction, but I am pretty sure our D will be in the middle of the league this year. It's not going to be a great year. Some of us are realistic about it, some are overhyped, and some are ready to call for blood. We are rebuilding, and that's the end of it. We're between 4 and 8 wins. Half our wins will be lucky. No big deal. Every game is progress. The only thing I have to sort of disagree with is Jolley. He is a total waste. He is lost most of the time. He's been in the league too long for mental mistakes like he makes. Not just this week, but every game he gets into for more than a couple plays. It isn't worth wasting any more time and effort on him. Bounce him and lets move on.
