Skinsinparadise

SAM MONSON Terry McLaurin could be special…if his QB can get him the ball Lions cornerback Darius Slay is one of the best in the game. A week ago against Amari Cooper—who is one of the best route runners in the game—Slay allowed just three catches for 38 yards while breaking up two of the incompletions. This week, Terry McLaurin got behind him multiple times, but almost every time he did so, his quarterback was unable to hit him. Slay’s stats will look good — just three catches for 42 yards despite 10 targets to McLaurin, but the PFF grades will speak more to the number of times he was beaten by a rookie receiver who already looks polished enough to be a dominant force. McLaurin could have put up some huge numbers in this game if Dwayne Haskins had just been more accurate with the football. This is both very encouraging and concerning at the same time. https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-week-12-pff-senior-analyst-takeaways-2019

I didn't talk about him a lot on the draft thread, I did on occasion where I touted him among other receivers I liked but I got some opposition on him (though not from you) so I didn't push him like crazy there. There was one other person on that thread who liked him but he wasn't a regular so i can't recall who it was. Where I went to town on it was there were specific draft threads, separate from our usual draft thread, just for the day of drafting. And on that Saturday thread, I put together my list, McLaurin was on it among others (ironically ditto Harmon) And one poster who I respect, decided to take me on specifically for McLaurin being on my list. And that made me go town with my arguments for him on that thread, hours before we drafted him. So it made it cool and memorable for me. 😀 And maybe it reversed my curse from years before where in a similar fashion I put Doctson on the top of my wish list for the draft, the day of that draft, among the players I thought might be available at our pick. The cliff notes for McLaurin for me were: A. He wasn't their go to receiver yet in his limited sample his stats were sick when you look at TDs, YPR, Catch %. B. His combine numbers were sick. not just for speed but a bunch of variables. C. He's a well rounded player, good run blocker, special teams guy, etc. D. Urban Meyer-Ohio State coaches seemed to worship the dude -- intangibles through the roof. E. Like most of the touted receivers pre-draft, I tried to watch at least 4 games, and in the ones I watched the dude knew how to get open. Seemed like a good route runner. YAC guy, deep threat. He wasn't the YAC guy Parris Campbell was but McLaurin could hold his own when he had opportunities. So to me he was very worthy of a 3rd round pick. I thought he'd be good. But I admit I am surprised this good.

McLaurin was one of my dudes before draft. I wrote just about an encyclopedia about him, pushing him as one of the guys I wanted in the game day draft thread right before Saturday's draft day. Yes I'll keep bragging about it. 😀 But then again I did like Doctson before the draft so I was due to get one right! 😀 Having said that, I was similar to Breer's point below. I thought he would be good. I didn't know he'd be this good.

I watched the first game on coaches tape but not the others yet. In that game I saw Harmon (granted in limited snaps) beat press coverage, block well and even get open. In camp (at least when I was there) he was making almost as many acrobatic catches as McLaurin. So yeah I'd love to see more.

I recall there were two people on the draft thread, I was one of them, who liked Terry a lot. We had new draft threads running for each draft day and for the 2nd day draft thread, I wrote a long post advocating for Terry. I had one poster who I respect from the draft thread argue against me on the point on draft day, and we had a fun combative exchange on it, then another one argued with me, too. So it was tough for me to forget. And it was cool for me that I talked a lot about a dude who actually ended up drafted hours later. 😀 Still though he wasn't my top choice available. So I didn't foresee he'd be a superstar. I thought he'd be good but I didn't think he would be THIS good. And I did get the arguments against. We all get some right and wrong. But I did think he'd be good. And I did think it might be possible after watching camp that he'd be really really good, I talked up Terry even harder post camp. I was due to get one right, I was soo wrong about Doctson. 🙄 I did tout Harmon a little too but not as hard as Terry. So I feel vested in both dudes. My fav receiver though by far was Marquise. Terry and Harmon was among my favs in the next tier group. I liked both guys but i did like some receivers better. I'll give a rare prop to McShay and Kiper both would tout McLaurin a lot on their podcasts. Kiper had him in the first round in one of his last mocks but not his actual last one.

Terry breaking the MNF curse? hope so. I heard today they haven't won at home on MNF since 2012. That's crazy. I do think they beat the Bears. I think the Bears are overrated. I watched their Sunday game against Denver and I found them unimpressive.

I haven't zoned in on him rewatching that game but I noticed PFF gave him a decent score.

The focus here is on Cole

One thing about Guice is Peterson had the same injuries in his career, meniscus and ACL and clearly regardless had a good long career. I think we should see him for the last 6 games or so. It stinks but I am not crying over it the way most are in part because it gives him more time to rest the ACL. A doctor said the same. Usually it takes ironically half a season or so (a year later) for the ACL to feel right. Yeah McLaurin is looking like a stud. Harmon didn't get a lot of reps but looked good, too. If Reed comes back they have the makings of a good passing game.

I've started rewatching the game with coaches film, haven't got through it all yet. But watching it clip by clip was fun. McLaurin and maybe Harmon too are likely going to be good. McLaurin got open plenty even when he didn't get the ball. He ran what looked to me a number of crossers, comebacks, go routes. The played McLaurin off coverage versus press. They seemed frightened by his speed. He got good cushion to work with plenty. Their free safety seem to shade coverage his way on a bunch of plays, I attached a clip like that here, opening things underneath. Shades of Desean. Be fun to see this with Jordan Reed running seam routes. With Richardson on the other side, he and McLaurin alternated some going deep to occupy the safeties to open up crossers, etc underneath. On a play they stacked Richardson and McLaurin on the same side and that seem to make the Eagles safeties look nervous so I wonder if they do that more even though nothing much came out of that play. Harmon wasn't on the field a ton but it was interesting when he was. Got wide open on his first catch. On that one he has Quinn alternated positions at the last second where Harmon ended up running from the slot. On another one he didn't get the ball but he was pressed by the Eagles corner and Harmon out physicaled him and got open for an intermediate out route but Keenum didn't seem to see him. He blocked well, too, I show that in the 2nd clip. My point even when he didn't get the ball he made an impact.