Quote:
Originally Posted by Flugel  You're right about Bernie's comments and they wouldn't have been said if he didn't have some prior issues with it. My prefix of fan-atic is conversing with your logic and reasoning. You're probably looking at me the same way an Irish Pub owner would if I asked him to exchange his Guinness Beer out for O'Douls. "Why I've still gotta eat loddy!" The 5 receptions in cruddy passing conditions showed me some things I think he's getting (luckily one of them is better QBing). We can all laugh at me later if this another thing your buddy Flugel got wrong. |
Nah, I wouldn't look at you like that. Asking for the O'Douls in the Irish pub would be blasphemy. You aren't going that far....lol. The fan-atic in me would love to see Cribbs become a legit WR and would love to read more into what he did yesterday. I am just keeping that inner guy of mine in check for right now. I'd agree on the better QBing, which has got help him, and all the WR on the roster. I have seen Cribbs have 5 catches in a game before, so I can't get too giddy. The TD grab was a great catch. Catching the ball has never been my concern w/ Cribbs. It's all the little things at WR that concern me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flugel My point was/is that the BEST guy on the team for the punt team gunner position is the guy who is BEST at consistently breaking through aggressive double team press jams at the line of scrimmage with a time urgency. That person was easily Cribbs in recent past and prolly still is. Therefore, I'm thinking there has to be an inevitable transferrability of this same skill over to the WR position. Does that make sense especially considering there will only be 1 corner jamming Cribbs in press?
IMO, when he was multitasking returns, punt as well as kickoff coverages, receiving, QBing and even RB - I doubt he was practicing to beat press coverages very much of the week or practice sessions. Aside from that, I'm not confident our QBs always saw who was and wasn't open. Cribbs is a strong guy that should be able to get better at this with more experience and practice at it. He's not a weakling or sissy like Northcutt was. Plus, I think his 212 pounds outweigh alot of corners today that need to be more agile than physical. All this said, I would have always tried to use him as a slot, which essentially puts him 1 yard back and 1 yard over from the hip of the last guy with a hand down on the line. Hard to jam this receiver AND it usually draws the 3rd best corner of the opponent. In zone coverages we can drag him across 2 hook zones like NE likes to do with Welker as Moss clears people out deep. |
Getting off of guys hitting you and pressing when gunning on
PR and getting off press coverage are very different. For
PR coverage, all you are doing is getting away from the guy and running down field. Heck, they can knock you out of bounds and it doesn't matter. For coverage, you have to get off the press and get into the route you are running, while not messing up the timing between you and the QB. The whole purpose of jaming a WR at the line is to mess up that timing. Not to mention if you get knocked out of bounds, you are pretty much done on the play. There really isn't much similarity between the two, outside of a guy hitting you at the line.
I am sure Cribbs has been practicing that since the day they started trying to make him a WR. If the team hasn't been having practice that and sent him out on the field lines up at WR, expecting him to go out in routes, they have failed majorly.
Getting against that zone and finding that spot is great. But it's not like the O knows when they first come out of the huddle that the opposing D is going to be in zone. That's a read and adjustment at the line. That read/adjustment has to not only be made by the QB, but the WR as well. Last year Cribbs struggled mightly at making the read and adjusting his route. So far he looks a little better at that. But it's preseason.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flugel The intrigue with Cribbs to me has always been his ability in open space. I'd rather hear "I cannot" from him before I believe he cannot coming from the media. It's not like ANY of our receivers here have been spoiled with nice passes in FRONT of them since he's been here. |
Getting him the ball in space is what makes him on O in general so appealing, because he can create, break tackles, and make plays. But it's always easier said than done. I don't think you'd ever hear "I cannot" from Cribbs. That just doesn't mean he actual can.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flugel And I DO agree he has had some struggles with changing from a RUNNING QB to a WR. Hines Ward didn't do it overnight and he's had much better QBs helping his cause there. Wes Welker was an All State RB in high school where he became a slot Receiver at Texas Tech before going to Miami to be a STs ace. I don't think he became an overnight success at WR in this league until he got to NE. Then he had Brady threading needles unlike we've had here plus Watson commanding respect over the middle and Moss stretching Safeties deep. Oh boy is it nice to dream about what an environment can do for a work ethic type like Cribbs. I'm pretty confident Cribbs wouldn't have sucked in NE in Welker's role the last 3 years or so.
- Tom F. |
Ward came into the league in 1998. In 1999 he caught 61 balls for 638 yards. So yeah, he needed a year to adjust to his new position.
Welker came into the league in 2004. In 2005 for MIA he caught 29 balls for 434 yards. In 2006 he caught 67 balls for 687. It's why no one could believe MIA let him go, let alone go to NE after that season. Because then he became the 1,000 yard receiver for NE in 2007.
I am not saying it's an easy transition, because it's not. It isn't an easy transition for a college WR to the NFL. This though is something like year 3 or 4 of the Cribbs at WR experiment. He needs to make a huge leap this year, and I am going to have to see it to believe it.
It seems that you are unregistered. Please register with us by clicking here.
08-23-2010
Linear Mode
