Remaining Holes............

[bulldog]

Henry.

Of the four players you mentioned: Centers, Sellers, Murrell and Hicks.

Let's be honest for a moment. Only Centers and Sellers contributed a d*** thing to the team last year.

Marshall Faulk gained in one half of some games what Hicks and Murrell contributed in 16.

Those guys rarely left the bench. Hicks wasn't even on the special teams returns/coverage units.

A complete waste of a roster spot. Murrell couldn't even make it as the #3 back on the Panthers this offseason.

Pathetic.

So, let's not compare apples and oranges. We didn't have a backup tailback in 2000 that could play a lick and we still don't.

At FB, Bennett is a good blocker and capable runner. And with one player we accomplish what it took TWO roster spots to do last year, as Centers was a liability in the running game.

The previous poster was correct in noting that those 80 catches should be distributed so that Alexander gets 30 more, so Davis gets 20 more and so the rest go downfield to our WR's who hopefully in the WCO are getting good RAC yardage off the slants and crossing patterns.

[Henry]

Again Bulldog, let's not forget the debate here is over this statement by Art:

"On offense, we are worse off at quarterback and running back. We are talking about depth here, and not talent at the starting spot obviously. So, I do think it would be nice to add a fairly competent running back to bring this position back up some."

It may be your opinion that the Redskins have better talent, depth and versatility at the FB spot with Bennett than with both Centers and Sellars. Personally, I think you guys are getting a little carried away with blaming them for Norv's refusal to show a little creativity on offense. We will just have to agree to disagree on that one. But hey, if Schott feels more comfortable with his guy so be it.

My main concern is halfback. I do agree that Hicks and Murrell were next to useless last year. But there are still better than NOBODY, which is what we have right now. Nobody. Nobody means, "Hey Zelenka, Davis is out for the season and we need Bennett at RB, so do you want to try FB?"

That's very bad. We are worse off depth-wise at RB. We need more bodies at the position.

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Hail to the Redskins!

[ by Henry on June 14, 2001.]

[Art]

Ding, ding, ding. Henry's got it. Bulldog, with due respect, you can not possibly believe your own writing when expressing that the Redskins are not worse off now than they were a year ago at the running back position. It's really not hard to grasp. Right now we have Bennett. Last year, we had Sellers, Centers, Hicks and Murrell.

I don't care how good Bennett may be. I don't care how much some will pooh-pooh the Centers loss. The fact that we are discussing here is the depth of our ability at these spots, and at the moment, we are dramatically weaker than we were a year ago, even if we MAY be stronger, in your opinion, at starting fullback.

Any argument to the contrary is foolhardy to be kind. You don't get better by subtraction very frequently. We didn't add a Pro Bowl fullback here. We added an ok player with adequate skills who is marginally better at running, somewhat better at run blocking, substantially worse at pass receiving and no better than a draw at pass blocking.

Just in an even swap with Centers, I'd take Centers. I think most of us would. Just because you didn't like how he was used does not take away from the effort and professionalism he brought. Nor does it take away from the fact that teams did have to account for Larry Centers in at least a passing way since he was a threat to make a play out of the backfield.

While Terry's stats are compelling evidence that Centers feasted on plays in which the team needed a bigger pop, the fact also remains that Centers was fourth (I believe, maybe fifth) among all running backs in pass yardage. Only 15 players were ahead of him in catches.

Centers averaged 5.4 yards a carry, while the superior Bennett got 24 yards on 27 carries to go with his two receptions, and, I don't believe he made the Pro Bowl as a blocker to compensate. If Centers was a liability in the running game, what is a full back that had 24 yards on 27 carries?

Certainly I'm overstating Bennett's performance last year as a negative, and I acknowledge his career leads one to think he is at least a bit more dangerous as a runner than Centers has ever been, but, we aren't talking about Earth, Wind and Fire here guys.

Bennett is an ok player. He'll fit in well with Marty's scheme. He knows it and he is a good worker. I'm sure he'll be fine. But, for my money, I'd rather have Centers in an even swap. I'd certainly rather have Murrell and Hicks as opposed to no one backing up Davis at the moment. An honest conclusion to this argument is that we are weaker, at least in terms of depth, than we were last year, and arguing against that is probably not scoring many points with the Boy Scouts.

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Doom is in the box.

[NavyDave]

From a production standpoint we haven't lost a thing with departures of Hicks and Murrell. Murrell was soo good that after he had signed a contract with a new team this offseason he was cut when another free agent running back became available.

J George IMHO is an upgrade over BJ. BJ was a waste of draft picks. Centers received alot of his receptions because defenses knew dead arm couldn t throw a consistent deep ball and as we saw Centers becamethe instant outlet.

Remember when everyone was asking why the high number of dumpoff passes last year?

We don't need a name player to backup SDavis. Maybe a rookie may surprise we'll see.WE have six weeks of deadtime and I'm sure Marty will have it covered

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Yes I'm paid to think and I need a raise

[bulldog]

Actually, Art, I did recognize your point that we needed to add another tailback at the end of one of my posts. My main argument was about the fullback position specifically.

Sorry for the misunderstanding as "running back" to me meant tailback.