Why does 1st round pick Sony Michel play like a jag?

[203Pat]

I've always liked him, still do. yesterday was not an anomaly it's who he is.

Lol so he has been hiding his production from us for the last 19 games?

 

[Wozzy]

The play I'm thinking is Sony smashed a blitzer, giving gave Cam enough time to spot both Harry and Edelman crossing towards the left sideline. Edelman iirc had a man on him and also drew the zone defender. Harry's route was shorter.

Anyway, the blitzer crashed full speed into Sony and it really caught my eye how much it looked like that defender simply bounced off a wall. It was a thing of beauty.

That was the play that led to this...



And Harry was correct and Romo stated it in the broadcast, Cam should have made the easier wide open throw to Harry underneath, he almost got Edelman killed. Thing is... I think he may have been throwing to Harry and let it sail, I don't know.

 

[DaBruinz]

Sony played like the RB we expected out of the first round. I’m rooting for him to have more success however I’m still intrigued with Damien Harris. If I remember correctly he was the favorite to start coming out of camp.

With the way that RBs around the league have fallen due to injury, having Harris coming back is a good thing.. It means that they have depth that will be downright scary..

 

[Wozzy]

Ok I’ll say something controversial. Sony had a fire lit under him after the 1st qtr. he started attacking the line after that. Is it possible that Ivan Fears has preached patience and following his blocks to Sony, thereby taking away some of his aggression? I do wish Sony had an extra gear but he had a great game today

Taylor's early success had as much to do with fresh legs as it did scheme change and reverting from an inside rushing attack to attacking the edges using toss and sweep plays, Romo mentioned this several times in the broadcast.

The Raiders took a page out of Seattle's book early and wouldn't allow any rushing inside by committing to the run and also blocking running lanes from Cam. McDaniels realized this, and it took a few series, that teams are going to make Cam beat them with his arm and try to take away the run. Forcing the Raiders to go side to side was smart, it slowed the pass rush and opened up the interior rushing game for not only Sony but Cam.

 

[Ian]

Quick note, ESPN Stats and Info was wrong about this one...although they must have been only looking at regular season. Michel had a run for 40yds in the Second quarter of the Divisional round against the Chargers in the 2018/19 postseason.

 

[203Pat]

 

[Bill Lee]

I've always liked him, still do. yesterday was not an anomaly it's who he is.

I think the hang up most people have is about the draft position, not about the player or his play.

If they'd let go of that and just appreciate the player for who he is and what he does, they'd be a lot happier, IMO.

 

[neuronet]

Lol so he has been hiding his production from us for the last 19 games?

He didn't have a great season last season, had surgery in the offseason which could explain it. Rookie year he was good. I'm a fan. In the playofff run up through the SB win he played well. Not saying he's a superstar, but I think he's very good. I do agree first round was a surprise but whatever we have a good running back calling him a bust or comparing him to Maroney seems silly.

 

[203Pat]

I think the hang up most people have is about the draft position, not about the player or his play.

If they'd let go of that and just appreciate the player for who he is and what he does, they'd be a lot happier, IMO.

I don’t think you can look at Sony's career without factoring in his draft position. He was supposed to be special, he was supposed to be the guy we saw at Georgia. Instead he is being pushed to perform when he loses snaps to an UDFA in year three. I am not sure what he does that makes him special, I have seen Lagarrette Blount finish more long TD runs than Sony and I don’t think anyone would qualify Blount as "special". He should not be getting ran down in the open field by a LB. Nicholas Morrow is number 50 who reels him in pretty easily and he is a guy who ran essentially the same 40 time coming out of college. I don't know what happened but the Georgia game breaker is gone and we have to settle for a plodder who will likely finish under 4 ypc again this year.

 

[Twentytothree]

....the Georgia game breaker is gone and we have to settle for a plodder who will likely finish under 4 ypc again this year.

So far this season he has plodded to a 6.7yd average, best among all RBs with more than 20 attempts. Picking on him after yesterday's game seems somewhat pathological.

 

[DaBruinz]

I don’t think you can look at Sony's career without factoring in his draft position. He was supposed to be special, he was supposed to be the guy we saw at Georgia. Instead he is being pushed to perform when he loses snaps to an UDFA in year three. I am not sure what he does that makes him special, I have seen Lagarrette Blount finish more long TD runs than Sony and I don’t think anyone would qualify Blount as "special". He should not be getting ran down in the open field by a LB. Nicholas Morrow is number 50 who reels him in pretty easily and he is a guy who ran essentially the same 40 time coming out of college. I don't know what happened but the Georgia game breaker is gone and we have to settle for a plodder who will likely finish under 4 ypc again this year.

ROFLMAO.. Yeah.. He reeled Sony in SOOOOOOoooo easily.. after 38 yards.. Only haters would make such an ignorant comment..

 

[203Pat]

ROFLMAO.. Yeah.. He reeled Sony in SOOOOOOoooo easily.. after 38 yards.. Only haters would make such an ignorant comment..

50 is basically jogging until the 40 yard line in Patriots territory. Once Sony hits the open field he reels Sony in by the Raiders 30. 30 yards is what it took for a 5th year UDFA LB to chase down our first round pick running back. I know you don't generally know what is going on but that isn't a good thing.

So far this season he has plodded to a 6.7yd average, best among all RBs with more than 20 attempts. Picking on him after yesterday's game seems somewhat pathological.

He has had 26 carries so far this year which is about 8.5 carries per game which is also pretty bad for a first round pick running back. If he finishes the year with 200+ carries at 4.5 ypc I would happily eat my words but I think we all know he cant do that at this point. I am not taking away from him for yesterday's game. He ran well but I think yesterday was the anomaly and what we have seen in the last 19 or so games is who he is. What I am saying and have been saying all along about him is there is nothing about him that is special. A dynamic back is turning those into touchdown runs. Hell even Largarette Blount seemed to find a way to finish off big runs.

 

[Simpelton]

Delete pls

 

[Simpelton]

Remember Michel is the workhorse and the guy the run d plans for. He is needed to grind in the trenches to create opportunities for other backs like burkhead to be the change of pace backs.

Even if Michel isn't getting a ton of yards per carry he's still a big part of the offense and IMHO none of the other backs could handle his workload

 

[Ring 6]

They need to trust in Cam enough to open it up so teams can't key on the run game, he has to prove that their trust is justified.

He throws some balls that make you shake your head and wonder why.

Watching him after twenty years of Brady and there's a new set of fingerprints embedded in my couch arm.

Sony looks like Sony did in 2018 with good blocking, his blocking in 2019 was atrocious.

What they actually need to do is run effectively enough to make the defense sell out for the run to then throw passes against a weakened pass defense. You have to be able to both run and throw. Good offenses employ there strength to make the defense over commit to it, and therefore allow their weakness to have an advantage. The result causes them to look balanced and the defense is off balance.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I think given that Michel looks like he can catch passes, and was given that opportunity because White was out, I think play-calling by MickeyD is more of a factor than Michel not having the actual skills as a pass catcher. When White is available seems Michel was relegated to a narrow predictable set of run-only packages. This may not be Michel's fault but rather the play calling. And then we backwards rationalize, that Michel can't pass catch. When he clearly can.

.

 

[BB4PRez]

I get it he was drafted in the first round. But often there are less than 20 players with first round grades and Sony was taken at the end of the first. Was I hoping for better? Yes. But, I think he is better than a jag and showed that his rookie year and yesterday. Likely played hurt last year. From what I have read, Sony seems to have the right work ethic etc. BB seems to care more about some of those attitude intangables at this point in the game.
Competition does seem to bring out the best in people. Lets hope yesterday leads to more of the same..

 

[Bill Lee]

I don’t think you can look at Sony's career without factoring in his draft position. He was supposed to be special, he was supposed to be the guy we saw at Georgia. Instead he is being pushed to perform when he loses snaps to an UDFA in year three.

Sorry, but it seems you have a lot invested in a lot of narratives, and you're making yourself unhappy if not miserable for no reason.

I'm sure no one working for the Patriots said Sony was supposed to be special, that kind of stuff comes from mediots. Some times the 31st pick turns out to be special, some times they don't. Some times sixth round picks like the GOAT turn out to be special. We have a UDFA running back that looks great, and a UDFA DB too. According to a player rating service, the best player we had on the field yesterday was our 6th round LT. This should be all the evidence you need to see that there is at best a loose correlation between draft position and performance, especially with this team.

The draft is largely media hype. They have a lot of airwaves to fill in the off season so it gets a lot more attention than it is worth. The "experts" can maybe get the first three to five picks right, then the predictive ability gets worse pick by pick. Look how many "mock drafts" aren't worth the time spent on them. Yet they have three days of airwaves to fill, not to mention countless hours beforehand, so they continue to generate a lot of stuff that evidence shows is going to be wrong, just to make it look like there's a cause and effect relationship in place when there really isn't one.

In short, your mental model of the importance of draft position does not match up well with reality. As I wrote, you'd be a lot happier if you just appreciate the players for who they are and what they do rather than fixate on their draft position.

 

[denverpatsfan]

Loved those catches yesterday. Something he couldnt or wouldnt or was not asked to do last season. Looks like he has good hands afterall.

 

[Bill Lee]

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