The point of playing Walton was putting the best 5 lineman on the field at any one point. Walton was a disaster, but you have to believe the coaches saw something that told them that the best formation was with Richburg at G and Walton at C with the players they had. Its like patching a dam with gum.
I think they wanted Walton there because he was a veteran and they would be much more comfortable with him making the OL line calls. It's my understanding that in McAdoo's system, the center makes the OL calls, not Eli, who did that under Gilbride.
That said, one of the reasons why they drafted Richburg was they felt his intelligence set him apart from other centers in the draft.
I just feel like they would have been better off trying to find out more about some of the other OLs like Mosley and playing Richburg at his natural position.
Did Richburg benefit from playing? Of course. But I wish it had been at center.
would LG Mosley-OC Richburg been that much worse than LG Richburg-OC Walton?
Since Mosley has not come close to winning a spot, I would have to say yes, it could have been worse. Imo Mosley has a fight just to make the roster this year, unless there are more injuries.
If no injuries last year wouldn't the interior of
Schwartz / Richberg / Snee or Jerry been alot better. An ideal situation for a rookie center sandwiched between 2 vets.
Injuries just destroy your depth and really limits the possibilities.
Hixon said he initially thought he injured his right calf on his circus touchdown catch. Hixon even briefly returned to play in the third quarter before sitting out the rest of the game. He said he feels no pain in his knee and even appears to walk without a limp.
"There was no pain at all in my knee, that is why I was thinking it was my calf,"
this seems like foreshadowing for the year we will be having.. by week 16 i bet at least 3 starters aren't on this roster yet
..Walton was a waste last season. He didn't provide good play and did not help this team build for the future. Eric is right on this. Heck even if Mosley is a waste, they could have put Walton at G instead. Richburg got good experience starting and I am glad he did. It would have been better though if he got that at center.
Richburg playing at guard last year opposed to Center was nothing but an optic.
He was undoubtedly learning the line calls with the offense right alongside Walton every step of the way. He started at guard, but if anything happened to Walton, he would have been the backup center. It's not like he didn't prepare that way.
But he's played Center for years. He is a Center. The transition from college center to NFL center isn't that you have to re-learn the position. It's learning to recognize defenses, tendencies, and refining technique to a higher level. Those are things you can still do while playing guard.
it seemed like they felt obligated to play him even when he struggled the entire season. Injuries are going to happen but DL is the deepest position on the team.
I don't think it was an obligation to play Walton so much as
I will continue to mention that I truly believe this is closely related to strength and conditioning. The injuries we are seeing could be because...
1. Lifting too heavily without the appropriate rest.
2. Poor/insufficient stretching
3. Overall flexibility, not just the major muscle groups.
4. Over=training or under-training prior to OTA's
5. Medical team not closely monitoring every player for signs of weakness in muscles, etc
Last year we copied the "Navy Seal" routine that worked for Philly.
GPS's on the players body and wired to computer's determined practice time, water breaks, stretching breaks etc.
TC has tried everythng, been flexible and open. To write as if simple breaks and the absence of stretching was part of the regime is simply wrong.
Sometimes you flip a coin and it comes up heads five times in a row. On that sixth flip there no guaranteed compensation, the laws of probability says you're still at 50-50.
I laughed when I heard about the GPS. So knowing a player's location helps prevent injuries? I also did not say that stretching was absent.
Take Cruz's injury for example. I read as much as I could about it online. Most of what I found was that the tear occurs from being over-worked or it occurs after it has deteriorated. It just does not happen to a healthy tendon. I imagine that the doctors may have noticed something if there was a picture taken of his tendon at some point prior to the injury. One would say that his injury occurred the moment he went down in that game. I say that the injury occurred long before that day but it finally completely snapped that day.
Walton was in the backfield so much I thought he moved to fullback
Sure...
The point of playing Walton was putting the best 5 lineman on the field at any one point. Walton was a disaster, but you have to believe the coaches saw something that told them that the best formation was with Richburg at G and Walton at C with the players they had. Its like patching a dam with gum.
That said, one of the reasons why they drafted Richburg was they felt his intelligence set him apart from other centers in the draft.
I just feel like they would have been better off trying to find out more about some of the other OLs like Mosley and playing Richburg at his natural position.
Did Richburg benefit from playing? Of course. But I wish it had been at center.
Since Mosley has not come close to winning a spot, I would have to say yes, it could have been worse. Imo Mosley has a fight just to make the roster this year, unless there are more injuries.
If no injuries last year wouldn't the interior of
Schwartz / Richberg / Snee or Jerry been alot better. An ideal situation for a rookie center sandwiched between 2 vets.
Injuries just destroy your depth and really limits the possibilities.
Hixon said he initially thought he injured his right calf on his circus touchdown catch. Hixon even briefly returned to play in the third quarter before sitting out the rest of the game. He said he feels no pain in his knee and even appears to walk without a limp.
"There was no pain at all in my knee, that is why I was thinking it was my calf,"
this seems like foreshadowing for the year we will be having.. by week 16 i bet at least 3 starters aren't on this roster yet
Fixed it
Link - ( New Window )
He was undoubtedly learning the line calls with the offense right alongside Walton every step of the way. He started at guard, but if anything happened to Walton, he would have been the backup center. It's not like he didn't prepare that way.
I understand.
But he's played Center for years. He is a Center. The transition from college center to NFL center isn't that you have to re-learn the position. It's learning to recognize defenses, tendencies, and refining technique to a higher level. Those are things you can still do while playing guard.
Hope you're right. Thanks for the info.
1. Lifting too heavily without the appropriate rest.
2. Poor/insufficient stretching
3. Overall flexibility, not just the major muscle groups.
4. Over=training or under-training prior to OTA's
5. Medical team not closely monitoring every player for signs of weakness in muscles, etc
GPS's on the players body and wired to computer's determined practice time, water breaks, stretching breaks etc.
TC has tried everythng, been flexible and open. To write as if simple breaks and the absence of stretching was part of the regime is simply wrong.
Sometimes you flip a coin and it comes up heads five times in a row. On that sixth flip there no guaranteed compensation, the laws of probability says you're still at 50-50.
Take Cruz's injury for example. I read as much as I could about it online. Most of what I found was that the tear occurs from being over-worked or it occurs after it has deteriorated. It just does not happen to a healthy tendon. I imagine that the doctors may have noticed something if there was a picture taken of his tendon at some point prior to the injury. One would say that his injury occurred the moment he went down in that game. I say that the injury occurred long before that day but it finally completely snapped that day.