Who Is Sony Michel?

[IllegalContact]

Not if he's playing like he's playing. What happened to earning your playing time?

The same thing that happened to keeping your best WR

 

[RobertWeathers]

Granted i dont visit too many other boards , but i dont know if many fans turn on their team especially such a successful one so quickly and more importantly without rationale.

It's the football version of "Affluenza" .

 

[zimmy]

This thread has amazed me. Michel missed the entire pre-season and has played the equivalent of 1 and a bit games and we have turned on him?

The run blocking has been really poor so let's give him some time to settle in. He has plenty of talent and is a real dual threat.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Not if he's playing like he's playing. What happened to earning your playing time?

Why do you believe he hasn't? Have you sat with him in meetings and film study? Have you watched him in practice?

He's 2 games into his pro career and averaging 3.5 ypc behind a line that can't block and seeing 7 in the box defenses that have little respect for passing game.

You really need to recalibrate your expectations.

 

[SVN]

I know you have to keep the other team honest and all but the Pats needed to pass and flat out refused to last night.

I am not defending their play calling . They wanted to run at the lions and had to considering they were so poor in run defense. But shouldve chucked it out for the passing game with white all the way but I dont know how much wouldve changed. Not put michel in those situations where he had to run to get a first down in critical situations. The line did us no favors. Plus with a depleted passing attack, the main chunk plays are going to come from gronk so we have to run the ball right now to keep us in manageable situations where every one else also becomes effective.Heck they couldnt even block on a 3rd and 1 - lions were in the backfield before michel go the ball.

 

[mcmurtry86]

This thread has amazed me. Michel missed the entire pre-season and has played the equivalent of 1 and a bit games and we have turned on him?

The run blocking has been really poor so let's give him some time to settle in. He has plenty of talent and is a real dual threat.

Why do expect him to be a "real dual threat"? He wasn't much of a receiver in college and looks awful in the pass game thus far. He might develop into one over time but the pass game isn't a strength of his currently and might never be. It can take years for a RB to blossom as a receiver and develop trust with the QB.

Michel shouldn't be seeing passes his way other than dump offs when everyone else is covered. Even then, I don't think he has shown enough to be trusted. More White, less Michel as a receiver.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Why do expect him to be a "real dual threat"? He wasn't much of a receiver in college and looks awful in the pass game thus far. He might develop into one over time but the pass game isn't a strength of his currently and might never be. It can take years for a RB to blossom as a receiver and develop trust with the QB.

Michel shouldn't be seeing passes his way other than dump offs when everyone else is covered. Even then, I don't think he has shown enough to be trusted. More White, less Michel as a receiver.

They want defenses to play them honestly. If White is in there they'll know pass and tee of on Tom. If Michel is in their, they'll know run and snuff it out.

With that said I do agree Michel doesn't quite have the passing game down yet. Hopefully that'll improve.

 

[BradyFTW!]

This thread has amazed me. Michel missed the entire pre-season and has played the equivalent of 1 and a bit games and we have turned on him?

The run blocking has been really poor so let's give him some time to settle in. He has plenty of talent and is a real dual threat.

Yeah, I don't blame people for being frustrated because spending a first round pick on a RB should pretty much by definition mean he's an exceptional talent who stands head and shoulders over his peers coming into the league, and that's a billing that Michel hasn't lived up to at all.

But as you said, it's been 2 games and the guy didn't have a preseason. The early signs don't look great, but it's way too early to be forming a strong opinion on the guy, and at least as a runner I think he's actually been pretty solid and done in by some really bad line play. His receiving game was really bad last night - going to have to earn that dual threat label in the pros and he won't earn it by dropping multiple passes like he did. And it's hard to evaluate his pass blocking so far because the Pats pass so rarely when he's on the field, which kinda suggests to me that the pats don't trust his blocking yet.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Why do expect him to be a "real dual threat"? He wasn't much of a receiver in college and looks awful in the pass game thus far. He might develop into one over time but the pass game isn't a strength of his currently and might never be. It can take years for a RB to blossom as a receiver and develop trust with the QB.

Michel shouldn't be seeing passes his way other than dump offs when everyone else is covered. Even then, I don't think he has shown enough to be trusted. More White, less Michel as a receiver.

That’s pretty much what he’s seeing in the pass game. Dump offs to left side. He’s not running the same routes white is nor should he be.

 

[sambam94]

I know it's early, but nothing in his game stands out to warrant a 1st round pick. I haven't seen any burst, quickness, power, or wiggle in his game. He looks like a JAG so for. I hope he proves me wrong, but one would think a RB picked in the 1st round would have something that stands out in the eyeball test. The Lions rookie RB showed me more last night.

 

[sambam94]

You can kind of tell if a back will be good just by how he plays when he is the featured back. Yes, the ol were turnstiles but There was just no elusiveness or noticeable speed. He likely will turn into a good rb, but kind of expected game changing talent. I was expecting a bigger Dion Lewis from the hype this summer.

exactly how I feel. You can usually tell right away if a RB has something special in his game.

 

[archstanton543]

exactly how I feel. You can usually tell right away if a RB has something special in his game.

Or you get someone like Lawrence Maroney who was pretty great in his first year and then fell off. I see nothing like that with Sony...and I don't think a full training camp would make that much of a difference. Running back is not a skill position.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

exactly how I feel. You can usually tell right away if a RB has something special in his game.

There was only 1 game changing back in the draft and he went 2 overall. All the backs taken around him the only one doing anything is kerryon.

 

[Peachhead]

I think Michel has looked relatively good in his limited amount of action.

The struggles of the offensive line in run blocking, and the overall struggles of the team have masked his seemingly positive contributions. He has quick feet, good vision, and power to finish runs. He appears to get yards when there are seemingly none to get.

I've liked what I've seen, although it seems that isn't a universal opinion.

The thing is, Michel did well when running up the middle. Which would indicate the O-line was doing it's job. Michel's struggles were on runs out wide. Which would indicate he doesn't have quick feet.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

The thing is, Michel did well when running up the middle. Which would indicate the O-line was doing it's job. Michel's struggles were on runs out wide. Which would indicate he doesn't have quick feet.

Could also indicate he’s not all the way there yet. He missed preseason.

And both the quick hitter stretch runs to the outside were most definitely on the line. The defenders almost got to the handoff before Sony did.

 

[Triumph]

This thread has amazed me. Michel missed the entire pre-season and has played the equivalent of 1 and a bit games and we have turned on him?

The run blocking has been really poor so let's give him some time to settle in. He has plenty of talent and is a real dual threat.

Sony missed the Jaguars and Lions games too.

 

[JackBauer]

The thing is, Michel did well when running up the middle. Which would indicate the O-line was doing it's job. Michel's struggles were on runs out wide. Which would indicate he doesn't have quick feet.

Didn't see anything wrong with his feet. What I did see were blue shirts behind the LOS before he even hit the corner.

 

[IllegalContact]

The thing is, Michel did well when running up the middle. Which would indicate the O-line was doing it's job. Michel's struggles were on runs out wide. Which would indicate he doesn't have quick feet.

this is not true....not in this instance anyway........when you're getting tackled in the backfield by 2 safeties, it means they're packing things in....probably due to the fact that the WR's could not get any separation in man to man.....and gronk was doubled......they were living with 8-9 in the box

 

[primetime]

Michel's confidence catching the ball might need work but to say he needs work in the passing game is far from true. He's looked very good in pass protection already, which isn't surprising because it was something at which he excelled in college. That's a much more difficult skill to develop than catching the ball, especially when you consider the lack of time he had to practice routes with Brady.

LeVeon Bell averaged 3.5 yards per carry his first season, and in his first two games he had 16 carries in each for all of 37 and 56 yards. Like Michel, he missed a significant part of training camp.

I know it's a wild thought for this forum, but maybe hold off on the judgment for a minute.

 

[ensoul]

BB picked a guy with in the first round that should have been taken in the 5th or 6th round.