Forte is in beast mode and does not have a history of injuries. He is also on my fantasy team. Powell can keep the bench nice and warm as far as I am concerned.
They will use Powell more as the season rolls on. The problem is that he's not exactly a complementary back to Forte. He's very similar just not nearly as good. We had 2 really close games early in the year, why downgrade at running back in these close games just to keep Forte "fresh.?" if you are 0-2 it doesn't matter much if your running back is fresh. What they do need is a complementary back to Forte. A physical runner to wear the defense down late in games or to leave a mark physically on the defense so Forte can take advantage. Idk if they will find that for this season and Powell's certainly not that guy. That need is simply a strategic one. I am not too much worried about Forte's carries - - he is a workhorse back and is used to this kind of workload
Powell is the type of back you save for later in the season when Dlines are sore and beaten up, he can run with power but also has the burst to the second level, I have no issue with using him sparingly at this point.
Forte was fresh coming into the regular season having a light offseason of work. He's been an absolute force thus far through two games and not only that, but we've yet to establish an early lead. If we can jump out to a two possession lead against Kansas City there's no doubt in my mind we'll see a lot more of Powell but with the ways Forte can line up as a receiver, catch out of the backfield along with his pass protection ability there's been no reason to take him out of the game thus far. Powell will get his touches as the season progresses but at the same time Forte is a real X-Factor in which opposing defenses must fear which in return opens everything up for our receiving weapons and vice versa.
Bowles seems to like to "ride the hot hand" & always have the fresher lesser used back in his back pocket for later in year.
Killer 1st 6-7 games >> Use our best guys. Forte has to play and play a lot. All these hard games early might be a blessing in disguise. Jets traditionally play up or down to their competition. Hope our Jets play like contenders and get used to winning. Hopefully the tough games will become a spring board for our team. Definitely makes it exciting.
the short answer is this last season ivory and powell had different skill sets. ivory was an inside bruiser, powell was a better receiver and blocker and had a little more edge speed. This season we have forte who has the same skill set as powell but is overall better at everything.
This season is shaping up to be like a lot of other seasons where the games we expect to be really tough, the Jets end up stealing some of them, but I also expect to drop games that we expected to win.
I think we'll see him if Forte slows down any in the next two games. Otherwise, expect him to get most of his work on the other end of the bye while we let Forte rest up a bit before our last 3 games (divisional opponent must wins).
Powell's ability to run with power between the tackles has always been underrated by fans on this forum and continues to be. He's not a punishing runner, but I have seen him each season break LB and S tackles in the second level and gain extra yardage. This is why he's such a valuable rotation back. He's an all trades player. The season he wasn't used in short yardage situations is that the Jets had specialists for that (I.e. Ivory) so they saved him for the receiving and pass blocking duties. The guy can do everything well, he's just not great in any of those aspects.
I agree he is a very complete RB, doesn't have a weakness in his game and I love having him. But forte is a complete RB as well that is just better. They are both the same type of back, forte is just better. Subbing him out for powell is a downgrade, where last season, powell was an upgrade in most situations over ivory
Forte runs with little power between the tackles and relies on his vision and shiftiness to find holes, and he's excellent at that. Even with our small sample of him with the Jets, it's obvious that if there is no hole, he is going nowhere. He's a niche back, but it suits him and he finds success, I'm glad to have him. But Powell has some skills that Forte does not, and I think we'll find a lot of value in that later in the season.
Forte and Enunwa are both in Beast mode so why switch things up? If one of them cools down or wears down we have good subs ready
