Finding Cedric Houston is like trying to find Waldo. You know he's out there but what kind of situation did he get himself into this time and how long and tormenting will it be before you end up just putting the book down and go and make yourself a ham sandwich Mangini.!!?? Joking aside. I think you gota get houston and barlow in there and platoon them.
If Houston could perform as well as some of you seem to think, why wouldn't Mangini have put him in? Maybe it's something as simple as not being able to follow the audibles, but that matters. I don't understand what the love affair with him is anyway. He looked okay, not great, just okay, in the latter part of last season, when no one was putting any effort in anymore. Can anyone give me a valid reason Houston should be on the roster, much less starting? I agree Blaylock must go (except on ST) but Barlow is the only chance we have at a possible #1 with the group we currently have.
I think it is more that he should get his cut at the ball. Blaylock was given a golden opportunity and didn't capitalize on it. He should not be given the start in Buffalo. While Houston has not shown he is a true #1 back or even a real solid #2 for that matter, he deserves a chance. I think it is part of knowing at the end of the year precisely what to do with our RB future.
I think Houston looked better than anyone else we have currently, based on pre-season and the end of last year.
Both the end of last year, and in pre-season this year Houston was playing against lower-grade talent. He still wasn't breaking anything of signifcance. He's too small, and does not move east-west well enough to play in the NFL on a regular basis. Barlow is the only guy that has shown he can pick up 3 yards against real defenses. That's all we need. Our offense is based on Chad throwing. The run's only purpose is to set up Chad for play fakes, and to make the opposing D respect us. 3 yards on first down is good enough to accomplish that. At times, we will only need those 3 yards for a first. Houston is not going to provide those yards. Playing him only opens up opportunites for D's to cheat up on Chad. No different than Blaylock.
While Houston is NOT fast, as least he runs hard unlike Derrick Blaylock, who fall on the slightest contact. At the end of last season he performed fair for a 3rd string RB running behind an even shittier O-line than they have now.
It really does come down to that. Its no use arguing about who is back there, b/c as long as the oline continues to struggle we will find little success with the run. Still, i'm not sure why mangini likes blaylock so much. It's pretty confusing that he continues to get the lion's share of carries and houston doesn't even play. It's definately about something like audible pickup or pass blocking b/c as far as strictly running the ball goes, houston should be in the mix.
