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The key to the runing game this year. (sleeper)


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I believe the key to the offense has been underneath our nose for over a year now. Its a no name blue collar running back whose name has not been sneezed on since the vikings game. A Vikings game in which he was uber productive looking like he was born for Gibbs counter trey. 26 carries for 118 at 4.5 yards a pop and 1 td. This back I speak of is Ladell Betts. He seems to have been lost somewhere in all the CP trade and Draft hype of the last year. Did anyone else see this man bring his A game in his lunch pail every opportunity?

This is my first post but have been viewing for possibly 2 months. All I have seen is whining about mike williams (glad we didnt pick him) and how Gibbs has lost it. bah Humbugh. Where is the positivity and good vibe. Our football god is back in charge!!! Yet, all I see is negativity towards him.

:dallasuck

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Originally posted by 3rd Generation Die Hard

I believe the key to the offense has been underneath our nose for over a year now. Its a no name blue collar running back whose name has not been sneezed on since the vikings game. A Vikings game in which he was uber productive looking like he was born for Gibbs counter trey. 26 carries for 118 at 4.5 yards a pop and 1 td. This back I speak of is Ladell Betts. He seems to have been lost somewhere in all the CP trade and Draft hype of the last year. Did anyone else see this man bring his A game in his lunch pail every opportunity?

This is my first post but have been viewing for possibly 2 months. All I have seen is whining about mike williams (glad we didnt pick him) and how Gibbs has lost it. bah Humbugh. Where is the positivity and good vibe. Our football god is back in charge!!! Yet, all I see is negativity towards him.

:dallasuck

No I actually saw Betts miss blocks fail to pick "must have" make able first downs. Other than speacial teams, I don't think that Betts did anything to impressive. I still think that Rock should be given a chance.

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Didnt mean to pre maturely post that but here is the rest

(cont. from pervious post)

Anyways my running game next year consists of 10 hard nosed runs by betts. 15 "game breaker" carries for portis.

by gamebreaker I mean pitch outs stretch plays reverses and possibly screens. these plays specifically all designed to get portis loose in the open lookin for the home run. This will keep portis fresh for the game and fresh for the long haul.

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Betts will probably be given more chances this year, but I don't think it's fair to use the Vikes game as an example of his usefulness. He did perform well against them, but they gave up 125 yards-per-game last year. He was below what the average back got off them... ;)

Nick

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thanks for the welcome, with me the skins glass is always half full.

Im not looking for a dethroning of CP yet a lightning/thunder combo. My only complaint with CP is he looks for homerun too much.

Granted Vikes D was ssuspect last year they WERE a PLAYOFF team and betts made the most out of his chance. If I remember correctly he had a few REAL NICE special teams run backs and thats not even his genre

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What was missing from last years running game compared to the Gibbs I era was the clock eating runs. This year White (5th round pick) and the return of Jansen and the addition of Rabach, will help us chew up time at the end of the game. I think Portis is a great back, but he cannot run through the middle and pick up 4 yards a carry at the end of the game. Our fullbacks should also help us push it into the endzone when we get inside the five.

Also, the deep passing threat, with Ramsey to Moss and Patten will not allow the defense to stack everybody on the line. This will give Portis the room he needs to break big plays.

I like our off season. We may not be the off-season champs of '05 but we will a competitive team on the field.

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Again welcome,

I think Betts and Portis is a good mix.

I'm not suggesting a Thunder/lightning approach, because I don't think that works (Alstott and Dunn was the best of that combo that I've seen and still it wasn't the best).

But, Betts has some qualities that Portis doesn't and vice versa.

I'd love to see CP carry 20-25 times with a 5yd/carry average, with Betts carrying 10-15 times with a 3.0-3.5ypc but alot of converted 3rd downs and 4-6 TD's (mainly goal situations).

I think mixing these guys up and using Betts more will help Portis in the long run with his yards and his endurance in a 16+ week marathon.

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Originally posted by 3rd Generation Die Hard

This is my first post but have been viewing for possibly 2 months. All I have seen is whining about mike williams (glad we didnt pick him) and how Gibbs has lost it. bah Humbugh. Where is the positivity and good vibe. Our football god is back in charge!!! Yet, all I see is negativity towards him.

You haven't been reading very many posts lately then.

The naysayers are being driven back :)

Don't classify posts by Hooper and a few others as representative of the whole. The fact is, I'd wager it's about 10% that are eternal fatalists.

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Betts is a good backup. He doesn't quite pound the tough yards or break big plays, but he's solid as a change of pace/speller for Portis.

White will be the puncher that Betts really can't be. It should allow Betts to perform in a more natural role rather than trying to be a battering ram.

I like all the backs and Betts will have a nice nitch next year.

btw... Welcome!

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I think not having Jansen last year as well as the inconsistent/poor play of the LG and C positions caused the running game to suffer.

If we can keep the current starting lineup intact and get better play out of Dockery we might solve a lot of the offense's problems. I think White and the other RB we picked up in the draft may help out in short yardage situations.

I do like how Betts and Portis fought for the extra yardage last season.

MC :logo:

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Betts is a better fit for Gibbs offense, but his achilles heel is his inability to pick up the blitz. This is why Gibbs' original intention of making him the 3rd down back was so horribly wrong and backfired (see Ravens game).

Putting Betts in for entire series to spell Portis is the way to go. I agree he should get 10-15 carries a game.

-----------------------

First Generation Riggo-toni

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Originally posted by Die Hard

You haven't been reading very many posts lately then.

The naysayers are being driven back :)

Don't classify posts by Hooper and a few others as representative of the whole. The fact is, I'd wager it's about 10% that are eternal fatalists.

This isnt turning into a family fued between diehards is it?

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I like Betts and hope he works out but he will not if he doesn't pick up blitzes on 3rd down.

He needs to simply not whiff anymore and he will become more valuable to our team. ST-wise and backup RB-wise he is pretty effective, but in 3rd down situations where he is needed (to be a complete solution) he has underperformed and needs to clean it up or he will get unseated by an up another player that can block.

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I said last year that what this team seemed to lack that other Gibbs teams had was that “Hammer” that you could feed the ball to when you had third and one or when we were on the goal line. That’s why I was excited to see us draft not one but two potential “Hammers”. I certainly don’t feel that either pick was wasted.

I would have loved to see Betts emerge as more of a power back last year but other than one solid last game he wasn’t as productive as I hoped he would be. When he got chances in close he couldn’t punch it in. He lacks the break away speed of Portis as well. He’s a nice back up though.

If I remember correctly Rock was given the chance a couple of times last year to be a short yardage guy too and it didn’t work out. That’s not to say that he didn’t make contributions in other ways. He was solid on special teams.

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Couldnt agree more on the ravens game, gotta give ed reed credit on the play seeing as he was DPOY and much faster than betts. i should have rembered the playing seeing as it unfolded in front of my face 6 rows back in the endzone he scored in. Betts for a series sprinkled in every 3rd series or so with white or broughton busting it open on the goaline sounds like a game plan to me!

Now we need to reteach ourselves on the forward pass

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