He Just Doesn't Have That Breakaway Speed Anymore

[Riggo-toni]

Let's face it. We all love him. He's been a huge contributor to putting points on the board and picking up lots of yardage. He's a true warrior and a team leader. But, we can do without his cap numbers next year. Sure, he could renegotiate for a cap neutral contract this year, but he's lost a step. I know everyone says it's the blocking, but he's just not breaking open like he used to. He's not the same runner. He's not pro-bowl material anymore, and besides, we've got better guys to replace him. It's not like releasing him is gonna come back and haunt us - he's almost thirty.

So let's just cut Brian Mitchell.

Vinny Boy 2000

What? Whom did you think I was talking about?

[@DCGoldPants]

his only ring is still and will always be in washington. Mitchell can hate the Skins all he wants.....Philly isn't winning it this year and when he retires and goes into the HOF.....the Skins get credit for him. Its not a choice.

[Riggo-toni]

Maybe I was being too subtle here. i was trying to point out the similarity between people's comfort level with letting Davis go now, just like many felt when Mitchell was given the boot. Like Mitchell, I think Davis still has a couple good years left in his tank, and I'm not sold yet on Watson or Betts. If he'd take a pay cut, We could pay SD more to stay here than most other teams will offer, and remain cap neutral.

[Skins57]

Originally posted by riggo-toni

Maybe I was being too subtle here. i was trying to point out the similarity between people's comfort level with letting Davis go now, just like many felt when Mitchell was given the boot. Like Mitchell, I think Davis still has a couple good years left in his tank, and I'm not sold yet on Watson or Betts. If he'd take a pay cut, We could pay SD more to stay here than most other teams will offer, and remain cap neutral.

I could not agree more

[DeathByLinebacker]

You guys may be absolutely right, but I'm not sure it's worth worrying about at this point. I think that decision is already final.

Hopefully SD will end up in the AFC.

[kleese]

SD could offer to PAY the Redskins, and I still wouldn't want him back-- and I could care less where he goes. Yes, he could hurt us if he played for the Cowboys or Eagles, but at least we'd know he'd fumble if it was a close game

Time to move on and cut the fat. And despite the numbers, despite fan favortism, Davis IS part of the fat.

[MRMADD]

kleese:

SD could offer to PAY the Redskins, and I still wouldn't want him back

How soon we forget!

I find it shocking that everyone watched Wuerffel play this year and still wants him back next year as a backup (which guarantees that he will play at some point), but they don't want Davis back. That's unreal.

Chris Samuels made some awful plays when he was injured. Just awful. No one wants to get rid of him.

Stephen Davis was also injured. He came back into the Titans game, injured, and sparked us to victory.

Stephen Davis is a very very good player. Even if he has lost a step, he's better than Watson or Betts. He's proven it on the field. Yes, Watson and Betts had one good game -- but that's a pretty flimsy reason to get rid of Davis.

[SkinsThug]

Davis rules.

Not only does he rule, but all bruiser backs that run downhill and hit the hole with power and speed rule.

Ballerinas in tutus suck. :puke:

[The Evil Genius]

I am sorry - did Mitchell cost more than 1/7 of the team cap? Stephen Davis does next year.

Its been rehashed a million times, but when Davis's party signed the contract - it was supposed to only last 3-4 years. It was back-ended like a mofo because the Skins were 100% sure that SD was the real deal.

The irony about the Mitchell release was that it wasn't even the biggest release blunder - letting Larry Centers go last year was. :doh:

[NVskinsfan]

Originally posted by riggo-toni

Maybe I was being too subtle here. i was trying to point out the similarity between people's comfort level with letting Davis go now, just like many felt when Mitchell was given the boot. Like Mitchell, I think Davis still has a couple good years left in his tank, and I'm not sold yet on Watson or Betts. If he'd take a pay cut, We could pay SD more to stay here than most other teams will offer, and remain cap neutral.

I disagree here.....It is time for a change. He doesn't fit into the offense Spurrier is going to run. However, he has been the heart and soul of this team for the past years, but it is time to change runing backs. Even DALLAS is going through what we are. Emmitts days in DALLAS are over too.....why? Because of the cap and age.

Keep the jerseys, they will be collector items in the future!

[Riggo-toni]

Originally posted by The Evil Genius

I am sorry - did Mitchell cost more than 1/7 of the team cap? Stephen Davis does next year.

Its been rehashed a million times, but when Davis's party signed the contract - it was supposed to only last 3-4 years. It was back-ended like a mofo because the Skins were 100% sure that SD was the real deal.

The irony about the Mitchell release was that it wasn't even the biggest release blunder - letting Larry Centers go last year was. :doh:

We could renegotiate SD's contract to where he gets around $4m next year, but his hit is cap neutral. If he wouldn't renegotiate, then by all means, cut him loose.

And I agree cutting Centers was an unforgivable and costly blunder by a certain arrogant douchebag who thought Donnell Bennett was a capable replacement :gus: :cuss: :cuss:

[SPare]

I don't think that any of us thinks the same about Davis that we thought about Mitchell in 2000.

We know that his talent will be missed, and that he will go somewhere else and perform at a high level. Those of us who aren't sad to see him go, however, realize that in order to keep him, the skins would have to make some serious sacrifices in the rest of the team, if not now then in 2-4 years.

In short, I want to see Davis on this team, but I don't want to see him in place of the starting DE, DT and G that everybody seems to think are the key needs of the team in the year ahead.

As for the Mitchell decision, that one was a screw up royale, but only in hindsight. If you remember, our punt returns in 1999 were awful for the most part, kick returns weren't much better, and Mitchell was doing both. Deion looked to be the answer to both, in addition to being a starter on defence.

Now, in the end, I don't think that we really miss him much as a returner (at least, not until this year). Where we really could have used him in 2000 is as the backup RB, where neither Skip Hicks nor Adrian Murrell seemed to be able to score with 6 chances from the 1 inch line.

He was missed, but as a running back and not really as a return man.

[Riggo-toni]

Deion's runback against Tampa bay aside, I think we DID miss Mitchel ALOT in 2000. Geez, how many friggin punts did Deion fumble:doh: And all the times he was fair catching with nobody w/in 10 yards of him. He was HORRIBLE, while Mitchell went to the ProBowl. We got a bit back on our feet when we signed Metcalf, and Quezzie was doing okay when we dropped him, but Mitchell has been sorely missed on punt returns, at least in my opinion.

[Skeletor The Invincible]

Look, we all know Davis is a good runner, and I will never speak of this again, but Let me just say that Davis DOES NOT FIT THIS OFFENSE, even if he takes a pay cut, I, too, do not want him back.

He could go somewhere else to a power running team and perform adequately.

[NavyDave]

Actually back then I was on the see ya B Mitchell bandwagon.

S Davis was and still is our primary offensive threat and if the Spurrier system had the sense to use him in the beginning we'd be talking wild card easy.

I'm not a fan of the primary passing game it tends to lead to your team being SOFT.

And opposing teams not respecting your running game thus blitzing nearly every play see the lambs

[jimster]

Mitchell's last year with the 'Skins he didn't act like he cared- he fair caught everything and had the lowest numbers of his career to date-cutting him woke him up. I would of cut him too, but now I miss him because he's playing like he used to .

Davis will be missed, but this is a different offense, and that's the direction we're going in(not to mention alot of money for a player).

Overall the future looks bright.

[Mad Mike]

Here we go again.

Look, even if his salary was not an issue, there are issues with Davis in this offense and he helped create them. Can anyone remember davis saying "I need to hold on to the ball better"? or anything that in any way would indicate Davis taking responsibility for his own play? Yet Davis took several opportunitys to criticize Spurrier. That's not going to endear you to any coach or team.

Davis has in the past been a valuable member of this team. For that I thank him and wish him well. But it is best for all concerned if we move on. This team has won numerous championships without Davis and we will do so again. While attempting to ride Davis and without a passing game, we have only one short playoff appearence. (actually that playoff year probably had our best passing performance in years) SkinsThug can keep his bruiser backs. I'll take a complete team any day. And BTW, if Betts goal line run was a ballet then Al Gore is a conservative.

[Art]

The bottom line is whether or not you can supplant Davis in this offense and get fair production out of the running back position? Obviously the answer is yes. We have four 100 yard rushing performances by a running back this year and three of them belong to someone not named Davis.

This is a different offense folks.

This is an offense that requires the running back to take a the ball very frequently in the standing position. That's not what Davis is. Either you change the offense or you change the player and since I don't think Spurrier's going to change, Davis is simply not an ideal fit. He's obviously still a great player and he'll probably have a 1,500-yard season with someone else while we juggle two backs with around 600 yards and everyone will bemoan the fact that we lost Davis, when in fact no one will notice that with Davis we'd probably be worse off as an offense than we'd be even with two guys just getting around 600 yards because Davis would require more carries, he'd get a lower yards per carry, and he'd force the offense to be more traditional which ultimately plays against what Spurrier wants.

I wish Davis the best. Even if he were to play for a very reasonable contract I don't know that he is the player we should play around at this point. In fact, I'd probably, at this point, be pretty upset if we kept him given how poorly he appears to do within the offense. Of course, that can all change when Kenny Watson is seen dancing and getting pounded against Dallas this week and Betts can't get anything going either .

[yank]

Whether it's from injury or age, SD has lost something from the last 3 years. Both his straight ahead speed and, more noticeable, his lateral agility are dimished this year. There has been a striking contrast between SD and Kenny Watson's ability to move laterally to find what open space has been there. His carries on plays to the outside routinely ended up in lost yardage.

While speed and agility hasnt necessarily been the biggest part of SDs game, he couldnt afford to lose any of what he had. His yards per carry has suffered - 4.0 vs Watson/ Betts - 4.66

Add in his 4 fumbles, 3 of which were turned into TDs and SD has just not been the asset he used to be - at almost any price.

Dallas has a good run D - let's see if Watson/Betts can do better against it than SD did (2.5 yards/carry).