Hey Josh McDaniels, can we please end the Danny Woodhead experiment?

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

I like having a woody. It keeps my wife happy too.

:verycool:

 

[DocHoliday]

I expect to see Vereen to eat into Woody's snaps. Hopefully that happens this week. Vereen is faster, bigger, and catches the ball better...oh and he can break more tackles.

Actually Woodhead smokes him in the 40. 4.33 vs 4.5

 

[JJDChE]

I like having a woody. It keeps my wife happy too.

:verycool:

Unfortunately it's a very small woody.

 

[DocHoliday]

Woodhead's unsung role is as a pass catcher.

Best passcatcher in the RB core we've seen so far. And as the SB demonstrated, it's a useful role.

 

[Sicilian]

His numbers dropped a significantly.

touches: 131 > 95
YFS: 926 > 508
YPC: 5.6 > 4.6
YPR: 11.1 > 8.7
TDs: 6 > 1

I thought it was 'meh'.

Again though, maintaining those numbers was never really realistic. 5.6 per carry and 11.1 per catch are GREAT numbers. The fact that he went to down to "pretty good" numbers for a RB on his touches doesn't make the year meh, it makes it good, as opposed to great.

His decreased touches is a direct result of the addition of two additional running backs as well as a renewed focus on the TE. His TD's are the same thing. In the red zone, we still had BJGE, Ridley for some spot snaps, and very rarely was Gronkowski NOT open in the end zone, and when he wasn't, Hernandez was. The drop in TD's for Woodhead had much less to do with how he played, and much more to do with how special a year we got our of those two TE's.

 

[JJDChE]

Again though, maintaining those numbers was never really realistic. 5.6 per carry and 11.1 per catch are GREAT numbers. The fact that he went to down to "pretty good" numbers for a RB on his touches doesn't make the year meh, it makes it good, as opposed to great.

His decreased touches is a direct result of the addition of two additional running backs as well as a renewed focus on the TE. His TD's are the same thing. In the red zone, we still had BJGE, Ridley for some spot snaps, and very rarely was Gronkowski NOT open in the end zone, and when he wasn't, Hernandez was. The drop in TD's for Woodhead had much less to do with how he played, and much more to do with how special a year we got our of those two TE's.

meh, I'm not convinced.

 

[Nunchucks]

Actually Woodhead smokes him in the 40. 4.33 vs 4.5

He may run that in shorts, but he definitely does not run that fast in pads. He is a meh kick returner as well.

 

[PUKingPumpkin]

Can we once and for all discard the notion that Woodhead is not fast enough, is not athletic enough, or gets by on his 'smarts'? Look at the Combine/Pro Day stats for these three guys. And while we're at it, let's lay off Edelman as well:

Height/weight
Woodhead-- 5'7" / 197 lbs
Ridley-- 5'11" / 225 lbs
Vereen-- 5'10"/204 lbs
Note: Ridley obviously bigger, but Woodhead weighs nearly as much as Vereen but is 3" shorter. Btw, Edelman is 5'11" / 195 lbs.

40 yd dash
Woodhead-- 4.38
Ridley-- 4.54
Vereen-- 4.49
Note: Woodhead is significantly faster than both Vereen and Ridley. Btw, for those who also think Edelman is not athletic enough, he ran a 4.52.

20 yd shuttle
Woodhead-- 4.20
Ridley-- 4.21
Vereen-- 4.28
Note: Woodhead is as fast as Ridley and faster than Vereen. Edelman, btw, ran a 3.92.

3 cone
Woodhead-- 7.03
Ridley-- 6.78
Vereen-- 6.95
Ridley significantly faster than both Woodhead and Vereen (who are pretty close). Edelman? Ran a 6.62.

225 lbs. bench press reps
Woodhead-- 20
Ridley-- 18
Vereen-- 31
Note-- Vereen blows away both Woodhead and Ridley (though Woodhead does more than Ridley). Yes-- Edelman was significantly weaker with only 14 reps.

Vertical leap
Woodhead-- 38.5"
Ridley-- 36"
Vereen-- 36.5"
Note: Woodhead outleaps both Ridley and Vereen by 2". Edelman did 36.5"

Summary-- please stop making a bunch of assumptions about the relative athleticism and speed of Woodhead vs. his peers. Oh-- think twice about knocking Edelman as well in terms of athleticism.

 

[BananaRepublican]

Let me put it this way, say we traded both Woody and Ridley to Bal for Rice (will never happen, but work with me here). Who do you want to see lining up in their backfield?

What's the down, distance and play call?

 

[brdmaverick]

OP, I had the exact same observation in their week 1 win at Tennessee.

The difference between Woodhead and Ridley was night and day.

I actually did not have the same feeling in week 2. While Ridley was clearly better, I would not have classified Woodhead as 'ineffective'.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

The problem is that he's only generating 19 yards/g with those 7 atts.

Ridley picked up 17yds with his final 7 carries of the game Sunday; sample size is an important thing. With a guy that gets as few touches as Woodhead you can't accurately gauge his effectiveness after two games. This is especially true when he lost ~40yds last game because of an issue with playcalling/blocking on one play and a hold on another. Given his history with the team and the absence of any clear physical or mental issues with him, calling for him to be replaced after two games doesn't make much sense.

 

[JJDChE]

Can we once and for all discard the notion that Woodhead is not fast enough, is not athletic enough, or gets by on his 'smarts'? Look at the Combine/Pro Day stats for these three guys. And while we're at it, let's lay off Edelman as well:

Height/weight
Woodhead-- 5'7" / 197 lbs
Ridley-- 5'11" / 225 lbs
Vereen-- 5'10"/204 lbs
Note: Ridley obviously bigger, but Woodhead weighs nearly as much as Vereen but is 3" shorter. Btw, Edelman is 5'11" / 195 lbs.

40 yd dash
Woodhead-- 4.38
Ridley-- 4.54
Vereen-- 4.49
Note: Woodhead is significantly faster than both Vereen and Ridley. Btw, for those who also think Edelman is not athletic enough, he ran a 4.52.

20 yd shuttle
Woodhead-- 4.20
Ridley-- 4.21
Vereen-- 4.28
Note: Woodhead is as fast as Ridley and faster than Vereen. Edelman, btw, ran a 3.92.

3 cone
Woodhead-- 7.03
Ridley-- 6.78
Vereen-- 6.95
Ridley significantly faster than both Woodhead and Vereen (who are pretty close). Edelman? Ran a 6.62.

225 lbs. bench press reps
Woodhead-- 20
Ridley-- 18
Vereen-- 31
Note-- Vereen blows away both Woodhead and Ridley (though Woodhead does more than Ridley). Yes-- Edelman was significantly weaker with only 14 reps.

Vertical leap
Woodhead-- 38.5"
Ridley-- 36"
Vereen-- 36.5"
Note: Woodhead outleaps both Ridley and Vereen by 2". Edelman did 36.5"

Summary-- please stop making a bunch of assumptions about the relative athleticism and speed of Woodhead vs. his peers. Oh-- think twice about knocking Edelman as well in terms of athleticism.

This is about production on the football field, not a track meet.

 

[JJDChE]

Ridley picked up 17yds with his final 7 carries of the game Sunday; sample size is an important thing. With a guy that gets as few touches as Woodhead you can't accurately gauge his effectiveness after two games. This is especially true when he lost ~40yds last game because of an issue with playcalling/blocking on one play and a hold on another. Given his history with the team and the absence of any clear physical or mental issues with him, calling for him to be replaced after two games doesn't make much sense.

Not replaced, used less.

 

[Mack Herron]

This is about production on the football field, not a track meet.

Not only that, but people latch onto one stopwatch reading and draw general conclusions about how fast a guy is. Anyone who has run knows that times can vary considerably and not to place too much weight on a single reading (especially one made before major knee surgery). I have watched many games and practices and I believe that Woodhead is no more a 4.3 guy than I am. He is not even a 4.4 guy. On the field, Vereen looks to be clearly faster than Woodhead, to say nothing about genuinely fast guys like McCourty. There are lots of great running backs who are not fast, and Woody may be one of them, but it is misleading to cite one 40 yard dash time from years ago and compare it to a single reading from another player taken at another time and place.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

Not replaced, used less.

Sorry, saw you being a little hard on Woody :beatingcoming: in a thread about "ending the experiment" and jumped to conclusions.

 

[aluminum seats]

This is about production on the football field, not a track meet.

That's not on topic to the poster's point. He was talking about Woodhead's speed and athleticism. The OP's first word to describe Woodhead was his "smarts" as opposed to Ridley, who the OP said was "fast" and "strong."

It's a common thing: call the white guy "smart."

 

[woolster22]

That's not on topic to the poster's point. He was talking about Woodhead's speed and athleticism. The OP's first word to describe Woodhead was his "smarts" as opposed to Ridley, who the OP said was "fast" and "strong."

It's a common thing: call the white guy "smart."

So now I'm being racist? Time and again he has been trusted in big spots not because of his big play ability. I could care less about stop watch numbers, Ridley plays faster. He dictates to the defense and gets the extra yards far more often than woody could hope to. Ridley runs through an tackles where woody is stopped. You want to argue otherwise?

 

[Deus Irae]

So now I'm being racist? Time and again he has been trusted in big spots not because of his big play ability. I could care less about stop watch numbers, Ridley plays faster. He dictates to the defense and gets the extra yards far more often than woody could hope to. Ridley runs through an tackles where woody is stopped. You want to argue otherwise?

You're comparing two runners with different styles and complaining about the style of one. Guess what? Woodhead runs like a smaller, 3rd down back. Ridley runs like a somewhat larger, 1st down back. They're not supposed to be the same.

Or, to put it another way: Woody is Faulk and Ridley is Dillon/Smith.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

I expect to see Vereen to eat into Woody's snaps. Hopefully that happens this week. Vereen is faster, bigger, and catches the ball better...oh and he can break more tackles.

If you're thinking Vereen is a tackle breaker prepare to be disappointed.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

This is about production on the football field, not a track meet.

So replace the guy who has produced on the field with the guy who hasn't?