NFL Week 9: Mid-Season Bandwagon

[Tyche]

That's kind of my point. I don't deny he has talent; he's a good RB. I'm just saying his receiving yards wouldn't be anywhere near where they were if the Ravens have the receiving options that Denver has, and Denver's backfield as a whole makes up for the lack of a backfield as a whole that Baltimore has outside of Rice. He fits; great. I'd still rather have two above-average RBs than one good-but-not-earth-shatteringly-great RB.

Yes, he would. He would honestly probably have more and 20+ touchdowns. That's Cam's whole offensive schtick.

[Marootsoobutsu]

Yes, he would. He would honestly probably have more and 20+ touchdowns. That's Cam's whole offensive schtick.

So, your claim is that if the Ravens had better options than Rice, they'd ignore them utterly. If the Ravens had the options Denver has, the team would still probably be scoring about as many points as it is now, maybe 7 more per game on average. But it would be spread a hell of a lot more. Rice would probably have more rushing yardage than he has now, just because the defenses would worry about more than a RB and a TE, but I have a hard time seeing his receiving yardage go up if the Raven shave more receiving threats.


As for the rest of the Ravens backfield... right now they have Willis McGahee, LeRon Mclain, and Mat Lawrence. McGahee used to be not awful, but he has no where near the upside of Moreno, and he isn't anywhere near what he was. Again, I'll take Buckhalter, Moreno, Hillis, over Ray Rice and the lolwuts.

[Tyche]

My claim is that the Chargers had every bit of the WR talent that Denver has or better, and LT still had a fucking ton of catches and receiving yardage. Cam Cameron throws the ball out of the backfield a lot. Providing more depth at WR for the Ravens would spread the field open, and Cam would still continue to call on his RB as much as ever to catch the ball out of the backfield.

[Demosthenes11]

scary passing games open up the short passing game
sup wes welker

[recuperi]

As for the rest of the Ravens backfield... right now they have Willis McGahee, LeRon Mclain, and Mat Lawrence. McGahee used to be not awful, but he has no where near the upside of Moreno, and he isn't anywhere near what he was. Again, I'll take Buckhalter, Moreno, Hillis, over Ray Rice and the lolwuts.

So let me get this straight. You're equating Buckhalter to Rice in this situation? If so, that's lol by itself. Buckhalter has touched the ball 84 times, which is about half of what Rice has. In my mind, I was assuming before that Moreno was the guy you saw competing with Rice, since they're both the young guys in the backfield.

And then you talk about upside. Where do you see the Broncos' backfield in 2 years? Buckhalter will be 33 by then, and Hillis won't be any larger of a factor than McClain, who has a good year or so in FB experience in the NFL over Hillis to begin with.

RK TEAM ATT YDS YDS/A LONG TD YDS/G FUM FUML
13 Baltimore 206 929 4.5 50 11 116.1 3 1
18 Denver 218 889 4.1 45 4 111.1 4 2

I'm just baffled at how you can say you prefer middle of the pack with little scoring production. Regardless of whether or not they have to dump it off to Rice more or not, do you not believe that with those *superior* weapons Denver has, the backs should be averaging at least the same yardage per catch and carry as, if not higher than, those of Baltimore?

If you admit you'd prefer them on account of homerism I'd totally understand, but outsider's perspective says no


edit: Last few sentences might not make sense since I stopped caring halfway through

[recuperi]

I'd kill to have a running back that could run behind a broken line though. It's great that they haven't fumbled or anything, but that doesn't really matter when they don't move the ball either.

[Kyo]

I wanna see an essay rebuttal.

[Headspace]

Baltimore got beat by the Bungles twice. They're terrible, what discussion is this?

[Marootsoobutsu]

So let me get this straight. You're equating Buckhalter to Rice in this situation? If so, that's lol by itself. Buckhalter has touched the ball 84 times, which is about half of what Rice has. In my mind, I was assuming before that Moreno was the guy you saw competing with Rice, since they're both the young guys in the backfield.

And then you talk about upside. Where do you see the Broncos' backfield in 2 years? Buckhalter will be 33 by then, and Hillis won't be any larger of a factor than McClain, who has a good year or so in FB experience in the NFL over Hillis to begin with.


I'm just baffled at how you can say you prefer middle of the pack with little scoring production. Regardless of whether or not they have to dump it off to Rice more or not, do you not believe that with those *superior* weapons Denver has, the backs should be averaging at least the same yardage per catch and carry as, if not higher than, those of Baltimore?

If you admit you'd prefer them on account of homerism I'd totally understand, but outsider's perspective says no


edit: Last few sentences might not make sense since I stopped caring halfway through

1) Never said I prefer Buck to Rice; never compared the two. I just think that Rice is the *ONLY* RB on the Ravens still worth a damn. I think Buck has about a year, maybe two left, tops. He's not longevity, certainly. Moreno of course has his career, and if the Broncos offensive line decides to remember how to run-block, he'll do well.

2) Rice is currently handling the ball on about 1/3 of Baltimore's plays. Keep that up, and his career will get cut short... it'll be a nice career while it lasts, but it'll get cut short. That's why I like Denver's backfield: Buckhalter got hurt, and Denver still had Hillis and Moreno that can do a credible job. If Rice gets hurt, the Ravens have... McGahee? The Broncos backfield has done a mediocre job; the Ravens backfield is similarly mediocre. They've scored more, but I'd really put that down to play calling: Denver has chosen to throw, Baltimore to run. I *wish* Denver would choose to run more in short-yardage situations, and the lack of that is puzzling, but that's coaching, not players.

3) It's not so much that I think Denver's backfield is ZOMGAMAZINGBESTEVAR! It's that I think the Ravens have one very good player, one average player, and two crap players. I think Denver has two good players, one average player, and one crap player.


There are several backfield's I'd take over Denver's... I just really don't think much of the Ravens backfield as a whole. Depth is of paramount importance to me, and while Denver's isn't loaded with superstars, it's deeper than Baltimore's.

[Tyche]

Ricky Williams would carry the ball 35 times a game when Miami first got him from the Saints. That man was fucking abused before he decided that smoking trees was more important. He's 32 now. He stared at that brick wall that RBs are supposed to hit at 30 and bulldozed that motherfucker. These are men, we have better medical care, better nutrition, better weight training, better recovery equipment...to say that his career will be cut short because he's touching the ball alot is offering foresight with which you have no insight to. Kid could play til he's 35 and be fine, or he could tear an ACL tomorrow and never be the same. Speculation on career longevity is exactly that, speculation.

[Sol-Blackguy]

Baltimore got beat by the Bungles twice. They're terrible, what discussion is this?

I thought the Baltimore discussion was settled the last time they played the Cardiac Cats. Everyone expects the same defense from 2000, but that's not the case. Bad draft picks, Matt Stover being traded to Indy, and Rex Ryan going to the jets was a huge blow. Baltimore's offense is 5th or 6th in the league but the defense and special teams is suffering. Steve Hauschka is a horrible kicker and the defense coordinator needs to blitz more. And don't let that 80+ yard return for a touchdown fool you, special teams needs some work.

[Gadritan]

That was just way too easy.

Baltimore got beat by the Bungles twice. They're terrible, what discussion is this?

Ocho failed me in 20man. I dun wanna' hear it.

[Sol-Blackguy]

Might want to lock the thread. You don't want Seno to complain about the NFL threads again.

[Ishido]

Might want to lock the thread. You don't want Seno to complain about the NFL threads again.

Actually, I do.

[archibaldcrane]

Chilling in the ER, got 3 liters of saline and some anti-nausea meds. Fucking food poisoning