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If looks are anything, the 23-year-old has already changed. His arms are huge. His body is more tapered. He lost 10 pounds and went from a 36 waist to a 32. “It was just a product of the work I have put in,” the bullish Williams said. “I did what I needed to do and I like how I feel right now. I feel faster, stronger, more flexible, more explosive than I have ever been. I am going to run with it this year.” |
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Can you really LEARN instincts? Tiki didn't develop it, he had it and obviously was quite productive when he limited his times coughing the ball up..Sanders, Jimmy Brown, AP were/are instinctive. I wouldn't say Emmitt Smith was, imho; he just ran through(what seemed like) tremendous holes with a great OL..
That's one of the problems as I see it, Bill. When he's in the game teams read run immediately. It's a whole different deal with more versatile RBs.
All this makes Andre Williams about a 4th string running back.
If he makes the team in 2016...great.
If he doesn't make the team...so be it.
Williams makes little to no difference in our Wins/Losses.
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when live bullets are flying, he needs to learn to feel the blocking and seams in the defense.
Can you really LEARN instincts? Tiki didn't develop it, he had it and obviously was quite productive when he limited his times coughing the ball up..Sanders, Jimmy Brown, AP were/are instinctive. I wouldn't say Emmitt Smith was, imho; he just ran through(what seemed like) tremendous holes with a great OL..
It remains to be seen, it's not impossible for a back to learn to feel play action and blocking better with reps and experience. He actually demonstrates it at times, but appears he gets tunnel vision when it gets real tight in front of him.
Tiki didn't demonstrate such great anything during his first four NFL seasons, then suddenly it began to click for him. It doesn't mean it will happen for AW, but he's not had a great deal of opportunity either with NYG rotating four backs.
Just thinking out loud here about something I've experienced and have seen others experience -- mostly in the arts, though. I gotta say that a better tennis game emerged for me with some mental reajustments. Maybe it applies to lots of other things in sports.
Actually, Imwas waiting for a PED suspension.
Remember the kid the Jets drafted no.1 from Penn State? Same thing.
Williams is a work-out warrior, not an NFL back where speed and power aren't enough.
Just thinking out loud here about something I've experienced and have seen others experience -- mostly in the arts, though. I gotta say that a better tennis game emerged for me with some mental reajustments. Maybe it applies to lots of other things in sports.
A) We all have physical and other talents that are mentally blocked. I've had several examples of this in real life - almost exactly in reverse though where I was great at something and then started to struggle with it badly by mental switch being tuned on or off.
But the only time I worked through unblocking mental limitations to practicing a "sport" was in MA practice and it took most of constantly working at it for 5 years... although at least one year or two of that was simply changing my body so that I could perform at MA. Williams clearly already has a super charged body for an RB.
Hard to say what it takes for the mental aspect to click...
Just thinking out loud here about something I've experienced and have seen others experience -- mostly in the arts, though. I gotta say that a better tennis game emerged for me with some mental reajustments. Maybe it applies to lots of other things in sports.
I think it especially applies to sports motions and sense of space that seem "uncanny." Reggie Jackson hitting 5 hrs in one world series is one example that comes to mind. Partly because some of those were hit off pitches that weren't close to the strike zone...
OBJ seems to hit that zone, not just in his awesome highlight receptions but just in the way he moves at times. Like when the CB said about him that "his hips lie!" And he cuts with a burst in an unanticipated direction.
I bet many of us can think about sports events when we saw it. Phil Simms throwing in SB 21...
LT on many plays throughout his career.
BBI has said no..We're moving on
Brandon Jacobs demonstrated similar issues early on in his career, and actually he still stumbled quite often as a veteran to follow blocks properly, for example.
Patience.
Who says he needs it taught to him. No you can't teach it, but you can develop it. In fact, every player does in some capacity. No one comes out of college seeing the holes like a veteran does.
You can claim he doesn't have the goods to develop that skill, but to bluntly claim "you can't teach it" as if he can't improve that skill is wrong.
That's what I wrote yesterday, and it still pretty well sums up my opinions about Andre.
Particularly, it's difficult to understand why the issue of balance is so rarely discussed when evaluating RB's, even in the press. Very simply, RB's with outstanding balance are usually good RB's to some degree, and those without it aren't. This was as true of Andre in school as it is now. The difference is that Andre is a big, very strong young man with better long speed than he's credited with having. And in school, the differential in these qualities between him and defenders was huge! Now they're less. And lacking the other qualities I described, they're not enough to allow him to be generally effective.
Problem is, it's almost like he's anxious with the ball. Like he's afraid of playing too slow. He forces the play. He is very jumpy with ball in his hands and as someone mentioned earlier, he doesn't let his blockers open things up for him. If he could learn this, he could be a beast. He's durable and strong as hell, here's hoping he capitalizes on what might be his last opportunity. Good thing is it seems we don't have to rely on him because we have pretty good insurance behind him.