I think Barlow should definitley be the goal line back, though. Even though he hasn't looked good running the ball, he's looked excellent on the goal line. That's probably because he has such wide shoulders he almost creates himself a hole where he can just dive into the endzone. I'd like to see Houston start and I've been calling for it since last year. Even though this team is weak at run blocking, they're better than last year, and Houston averaged 3.7 YPC last year behind that horrid line.
The missed block in the TB preseason game (I know, it's preseason, but we could have been playing RAMSEY because of it) scared the daylight out of me. I'm not of the option that Houston is better than Barlow. Houston's "big" game today was 12 for 48 I believe.. or something like that. We need better OL play. Houston did play good today though, I'll say that.
The offensive line will gel and then you will see much better run blocking... You saw it for yourself in the 2nd half of the INDY game when we started to run the ball effectively. Eventhough Barlow didn't do much yardage-wise in the 1st half, our commitment to the run punished the colt's D and put the colts pass rush back on it's heels. I am looking forward to seeing if James Hodgins has some of the old punishing blocking that he had with M. Faulk left.. I am really not sold on Askew as our starting FB.
Leon Washington looked pretty good running the ball in the 2nd half, maybe he should get more carries.
I'm still for Leon Washington and Cedric Houston splitting carries. Washington is a breath of fresh air, not so much bursting through the line, but when he does, he can outrun the defenders and make him miss with the jukes and what not.
You guys need to chill out with the running back threads... we have a different back that steps up each game. I am sick of Barlow. He should be cut immediately. Sure, he's great in goal line situations because he only needs a yard or two... he gets a yard or two every freakin time he gets the ball, regardless of whether hes on the 1 or the 50. Leon Washington should be our starter, and Cedric Houston should cycle in. Washington is quick and angular, almost Tomlinsonesque. Houston can pound the line when we need small yardage.
Houston is our best rb we should use him and washington as a sort of willie parker routine and the jets will do fine. I think that we can use houston in the redzone because he was doin fine in the redzone against the bills when he scored
