I've had concerns regarding his viability as a RB since before he was drafted. But what do I know? He is obviously physically remarkable with a lot of tools, so I assumed he just needed to get used to the NFL game. Well, a 1 1/2 years into it I don't like most of what I'm seeing.
The often repeated remarks by all is he can't catch (Largely true.) but he's a great short yardage back, (Not necessarily.)
So against the Saints I decided to focus on his touches, few though they were, and difficult game though it was. Yeah, OL play still needs to improve, etc., etc., etc. And, yes, he originally was being used mainly in short yardage plays, and yes he hasn't gotten that many touches. But the question is, does does the RB maximize his gain for whatever he encounters on the play?
When a play isn't perfectly blocked or the hole doesn't open, or is only a crease, what does the player do? Some will bounce it into another hole, or outside, and if that isn't possible, stick their nose in and wiggle and push. No, you're usually not going to get a 15 yard gain, but you might get 3, 4 or 5. The subtle skills associated with this appear to be as much instinctual, or at least psychological, rather than learned. Some players have it, some do not.
On two consecutive plays I watched Andre approach the POA, and there wasn't much there. What did he do? He stopped! And he waited to get slammed to the ground! Which the Saints' Williams was more than happy to do.
I know it's early in his career, but I don't really see it for Andre Williams. Maybe in another system? I don't know. But he just feels an awful lot like another Tyrone Wheatley or Ron Dayne. I just no longer have a lot of positive expectations for him based on his style of play.
"too MUCH patience"???
I think Williams took this style too literally, and he's trying to be a "patient" runner.
In his defense, last year, he had very poor vision, very poor. Williams, I thought, looked better in the pre-season this year and had the look of a "patient runner". I think Williams has taken it too far...he needs to find a better mix of "patient runner", and "getting what little you can while you can get it".....IMHO
Cannot cut
has no feel for the game
no second effort
cannot make anyone miss
give him a 8 ft hole and he will clobber the poor guy downfield who tries to tackle him
and then lose his balance
Darkwa and Vareen are our only talented backs
I'll give Jennings an A for extra effort though
but he fumbles and stumbles
Quote:
it might be argued that he has too MUCH patience. He just doesn't react fast enough to what he's seeing, or he just doesn't have the bag of tricks to deal with it.
"too MUCH patience"???
Yeah. If you just stand there waiting to see what's going to happen next on a poorly blocked play, you'll find out very quickly in the NFL. You've got microseconds to process what you're seeing, and react to it. It's so much faster than in school.
I'm in the camp of hoping we see more of Darkwa who has the explosiveness that's been lacking at the position and he also appears to have some power.
Cannot cut
has no feel for the game
no second effort
cannot make anyone miss
give him a 8 ft hole and he will clobber the poor guy downfield who tries to tackle him
and then lose his balance
Darkwa and Vareen are our only talented backs
I'll give Jennings an A for extra effort though
but he fumbles and stumbles
This is very negative! And overly dramatic! (But unfortunately, a pretty good summary.)
Except I wouldn't be so rough on Jennings. He can still be productive though it looks like his physical tools have declined.
Without a gaping hole, Williams either runs straight into an OL's back, or stops and waits to be tackled
IMHO Jennings is still underrated and underutilized - they're balancing carries to try and go with who's hot and keep them all healthy, but Jennings is still the dual threat RB that can thrive in this offense
Of course, being limited at TE makes that harder to rely on
I agree he looked better at the end of last year and has regressed.
He isn't a good fit for the WCO. I haven't given up hope until I see him get about 15-20 carries (and some passes) in a couple of games to see what he can do. Giants can't afford to do that right now which is why he should be "inactive" more often.
Without a gaping hole, Williams either runs straight into an OL's back, or stops and waits to be tackled
IMHO Jennings is still underrated and underutilized - they're balancing carries to try and go with who's hot and keep them all healthy, but Jennings is still the dual threat RB that can thrive in this offense
I keyed in on Jennings last game and saw the tragedy
he is very sow tot he opening....has no pop in his acceleration
picture Harris bursting upfield and hitting second gear when he saw the hole
Jennings has one of that.....Williams just stops like Dayne and that little feller who hurt his neck
Without a gaping hole, Williams either runs straight into an OL's back, or stops and waits to be tackled
IMHO Jennings is still underrated and underutilized - they're balancing carries to try and go with who's hot and keep them all healthy, but Jennings is still the dual threat RB that can thrive in this offense
I keyed in on Jennings last game and saw the tragedy
he is very slow tot he opening....has no pop in his acceleration
picture Harris bursting upfield and hitting second gear when he saw the hole
Jennings has none of that.....Williams just stops like Dayne and that little feller who hurt his neck
So we are not the only ones seeing what we are seeing.
Of all the BCs but for Snee, Herzlich was the best pick
Unfortunately when he's in , Ds are at the advantage because they know they will plug the whole 95% of the time and the play is done. The OL knows what they are and when he's in you can see their confidence as a unit go down, and with his lack of success you can see his go down as well.
Going into a play with the key components only about 1/3 confident of success for the play, makes Ds like a cat in heat with a 'honey' nearby.
Ok, I guess that is not worse than just stopping, but it certainly is not effective, and I have no clue why an NFL back should ever be approaching the LOS with his back turned to it.... If he was watching where he was going he would at least stand a small chance of making someone miss and getting positive yards....
It reminds me of Jacobs and Bradshaw. Bradshaw could make something out of nothing better and navigate smaller openings better than Jacobs could behind the same line. Williams is like a shorter version of Jacobs. Really good if he gets up to speed but needs to be in a straight line and untouched until he gets to the LOS.
Is the pro game that different (from college) for RBs?
Take the ball and run ... seems simple enough.
It reminds me of Jacobs and Bradshaw. Bradshaw could make something out of nothing better and navigate smaller openings better than Jacobs could behind the same line. Williams is like a shorter version of Jacobs. Really good if he gets up to speed but needs to be in a straight line and untouched until he gets to the LOS.
I think he'll be fine too. Just not an NFL RB for a whole lot more seasons. But then, both Dayne and Wheatley had some limited success after they left the Giants, so maybe he will. I wonder if more of a spread offense would help him?
Plus, with almost zero ability to be a threat as a pass catcher, any team doing just a little bit of a research can tell what is going to happen when he comes into the game.
Been tracking this for a few weeks now. This season, Williams has been on the field for 41 passing snaps (6 more on Sunday). He has been targeted for a pass ONCE.
That's it. ONE target.
The guy is a useful back who is capable of filling a role, but he's not good enough (imo) to get a roster spot without contributing on ST.
Darkwa, on the other hand, is a core guy on the KO team, etc.
Williams would have to be a legit #1 or #2 to deserve a roster spot without contributing on ST.
He's not that.
If we continue to follow the present insane path of patchwork quilting the oline, why not just plugin quick backs and start airing out the football like the Patriots do? The very fact that we are still talking about this oline for 3 seasons now speaks of incompetence from the top down to the coaches...
THAT IS 90 percent of why he is here
Darkwa has a lot of nifty RB skills and instincts, even if he is not physically equal to some other RB's. You can even see it in his college game. He's quick, has good vision and is very skilled at using leverage. Any time a not particularly massive, supposedly 215 lb. RB runs OVER a 280 lb. DE, that's BIG TIME use of leverage.
I've read that several times on here and I wonder what game you guys are watching. Ofcourse I wonder the same thing about a lot of the comments on here.
Jennings is an above avg. runner with good receiving skills. He's no L.T.for sure but he can get the job done as seen with his game winner a few weeks back with his break away run and broken tackles on the way to the endzone.
He simply needs more touches. But he's definitely not slow to the hole,and his skills have not diminished as some have stated.
He's a big back so ofcourse he's not going to have the quickness of a david Wilson,or even a shane vareen.
For a man his size I would say he has good quickness and decent speed.
You guys on here just read something and try and run with it the rest of the season even if it's not true. I've seen it on here a million and one times.
I'd say to you that you shou.d stop keying on certain players and being judgmental because your judgment is a little off to say the least.
Leave the evaluation of players up to the (football)people.
Vareen returns kicks. Jennings blocks punts. Darkwa makes tackles.
What does this guy do?