Yeah, that's right, I said it. With the way our offense is shaping up, and the way Leon is committing himself to these running plays, and also to his pass blocking, I think starting Leon as the primary runningback gives the Jets the best chance at success. Teams are going to be playing us tight, as we've seen in the past three running games while the 1's are in. I watch Leon run and I watch Thomas run and it's not even close in my mind. Thomas Jones, as much as I loved the heart he showed last season, does not hit the hole fast enough to gain any meaningful yardage on most plays. And he may be losing a step before our eyes. We're going to need a serious spark in the offensive backfield to help Sanchez get his feet wet, because teams will be headhunting the rookie from day one. Not to mention, if the team is going to give Leon a contract that carries top 5 runningback salary, we need to find out if he can carry the load for a full season, like, immediately. Dear Rex Ryan, Start Leon. Now.
I don't think Leon can handle all those carries. He is a small guy, after all. If he's injured we are screwed. What makes Leon explosive is the change of pace. Jones goes in there pounds the line and if he's like he'll get more than 3 yards. Then Leon comes in and breaks everyone's ankles. On another note lets have richardson run the ball more... richardson = a stronger jones.
I'm not saying I'm not on board with this, but Thomas Jones had a shitty Pre-Season showing last year as well. I remember the "Cut Thomas Jones/Thomas Jones is a bum" threads saying how he lost a step and he goes down upon contact and then went on to have a monster season. Maybe he's just trying to take care of himself now that he knows we're going to be pounding the rock. But Leon has shown he can carry the load and is a threat whenever he touches the ball. I don't know about starting LW over Jones, but I'm glad we have choices in our backfield going into the season.
The Jones brothers are only good for one thing: tiring out a defense so that the team's real number one back can dominate in the second half. I agree, though. I can't think of a single thing Leon Washington doesn't do as a running back.
It's funny, that seems to be what Jones does. His yardage just creeps upwards all season and before ya know it, he has over 1k rushing. He still looks slow though.
Fact is, we're never going to find out if Leon can handle the carries until they actually give him the carries. If they start him now, before they give him some giant contract, they can find out if he deserves the contract. This is the perfect time to find out if he can handle a full-time load of starting carries. That 'small guy' argument is a load of pig poop. There have been dozens of 'small guys' that were starters in this league. Those guys would never have had a chance to prove it if they were going by your strict and nonsensical philosophy. And Thomas Jones, well, he doesn't pound shit, my friend. He doesn't hit defenders hard, and he goes down quickly. Teams have had far more trouble in the past 2 weeks taking Leon down than they had tackling TJ.
I'm not sure if he can do that and return kicks but he does look bigger and stronger right now than ever. If they are going to start him which it's looking more and more like he is going to ge the majority of the carries, they need to pay him.
Ryan has said to the public he wants Leon to get around 300 touches this season. That is rushing and passing combined. Vagina Coach gave him less than 80 carries last year. That's less than 5 carries a game for the most explosive player on this team.
We're going to need that change of pace during games and then you bring Shonn Greene's fresh legs in the 4th to carve up whatever is left of the defense. Maybe we could switch that shit up from game to game. Maybe we hit certain teams with TJ and SG, and then hit them with LW in the 4th. I'm just not going to make an assessment about TJ in the Pre-season. He's been in this same boat before. Leon tho has impressed year after year without a doubt.
Mangini just liked to play it safe. He was concerned that leon might cause a tear in the fibers of time and space and release ghosts all over the city.
and if he is the #1 back, then there is no way he would return kicks, and that is where he is the most dangerous.
jones is a slow starter, i expect him to put it together in the first few weeks of the season curtis martin was the same way with the amount of running rex wants to do i think it's important to have a big back do the majority of the work (jones) and then have an explosive back (washington) to go after them once they are tired.
Hard to say, I think. Field position is important in any game, but with a rookie QB, it may be more important than ever. At the same time, I think Ryan has enough confidence in his O to level out the risk/reward of taking him off ST and making him #1. Personally, I would think having an explosive player on O is more important than on ST.
Well, if rumors are to be believed, the Jets have a 5 million dollar offer on the table. He's looking for 6. I think that they will need to start him and find out if he is the goods before they pay him as a top 5 back in this league.
While that may be true, Mike Westhoff has shown he is capable of making scrub Jets players look like Pro Bowl kick returners. I'd rather have a Pro Bowl runningback than a Pro Bowl KR any day of the week.
We may be reaching that natural transition from Jones to Washington in terms of main-buck duties running the ball. We'll have to wait and see. Jones is certainly running out of time as far as standard life expectancies for backs go. I see us milking that as far as we can and then Washington and the new guy will start to pick up the slack. How has the rookie been? I haven't been keeping very close tabs this preseason.. hopefully he's progressing nicely as well.
Thomas Jones never hit the holes fast, he will still rush for 1100 yds+, hes just not a game changing back. Hes a game manager rb i guess u can say
