The Devil In Stevan Ridley's Details

[BradyFTW!]

Going back on the coaching tape, you can see a three or four occasions when the hole was there and he didn't hit it. That's three or four too many IMO.

It was a very good performance, but not perfect. You can bet BB is ripping him a new one fore those mistakes and not bothering to care about those 125 yards.

So it's worth discussing.

Only one occasion jumped out at me; when did the ones that you saw occur?

 

[Snake Eyes]

Regarding Barry Sanders, let's take a look at the QBs he played with:

- Rodney Peete
- Bob Gagliano
- Eric Hipple
- Andre Ware
- Erik Kramer
- Scott Mitchell
- Dave Krieg
- Don Majkowski
- Charlie Batch
- Frank Reich
- Scott Mitchell

Not exactly guys who lit up defenses with their passing. Any good team is going to take away what the opposition does best, with the Lions it was Sanders, I think any criticisms of him should take that into account.

 

[ausbacker]

I posted it in this thread already.

You sir, are a liar.

 

[UK_Pat37]

Only one occasion jumped out at me; when did the ones that you saw occur?

I caught two in the first and one in each of the third and fourth.

There are. A lot of people on here who think his performance was flawless but he's still got a lot of issues. He still needs to hold the ball high and tight and he still spins into the odd hit and he lowered his head on that TD run. He has got better at covering up when tackled though. It's not perfect, but he has improved and those things can continue to be improved.

 

[1960Pats]

Going back on the coaching tape, you can see a three or four occasions when the hole was there and he didn't hit it. That's three or four too many IMO.

It was a very good performance, but not perfect. You can bet BB is ripping him a new one fore those mistakes and not bothering to care about those 125 yards.

So it's worth discussing.

One of my favorite things about Belichick is the way he minimizes even the good performances. That was true when a reporter mentioned GJBE not having fumbled and BB said that he saw him fumble in a preseason game. I simply had to laugh at that one.

 

[pdangle]

On the other hand, Green-Ellis had 4 runs of 15+ yards all of last season. Ridley had 6 yesterday alone. I'll take the guy who's scarier, even if his worst plays are a little worse.

Nice post!

Also, all yards are not created equal. A 1st down run of -2 yds is probably not much worse than that 1 yard gain in the same situation as far as expected win increase from the resulting small decrease in the chance of getting an eventual first down.

However a much needed long 2nd or 3rd down run of 12+ yds, or whatever gets you the first down to be precise, is tremendously more valuable than a 5yd run that still forces you to punt in the same game situation.

As far as forcing teams to respect the run, although tough to confirm statistically, you'd have to say that if it increases your chance to win as in point #2 above, the opposing team would have to respect it if THEY want to win.

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