There is no miracle cure for this ailment floating around out there waiting to swoop in and save the day. We made some pretty solid choices here recently and no one could have predicted that the two injuries were going to happen in the Eagles game and leave us in the predicament we are currently in.
I thought we would be smart to keep all 4 of the RB's that we have on the current roster, I was a little bit disappointed, when I saw that they had moved Collins back to the PS, when they brought Pope up. I think that at RB, you are going to have to expect that they are going to rotate in and out some with injuries throughout the season.
Running backs probably take more direct physical punishment than any other player on either side of the ball, and there will almost always be one or two of them out on the mend at any given time.
I don't know why everyone is freaking out about Collins, the kid was just starting to take shape about the time they finally game Michaels his walking papers.
All the coaching staff felt that Collins was a step up from Christin, and I think rightfully so. I think if we are going to known as a run Offense, we would do well to keep, all four RBs active and in the proceeding order, rotating them in and out regularly as well, Darrell needs to design and call in custom plays to capitalize on each of their individual strengths.
Thomas Rawls, C.J. Prosise, Troymaine Pope, and Alex Collins. need to all be active in my opinion. Rawls has already taken it to the next level and the other three need to follow his example if they want to be an effective part of it.
I have said my piece about needing to improve on the conditioning of our players, in an effort to reduce the number of injuries and the types of injuries that are showing up in every game this year, not just within the RB core, but across the board. To many of our players are simply falling short of where they need to be in order to stay healthy and play their positions at a higher level of execution, as I hear them repeatedly saying they need to, in order to succeed.
Some of our players are in tune with what it takes to achieve and maintain that level of fitness, i.e. Russell Wilson, Jimmy Graham, Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett, Chris Avril, Michael Bennett, Luke Wilson, and the list does go on. Those players that are coming out injured due to issues that are purely conditioning related are not living up to their potential and are leaving themselves venerable to these sort of injuries.
I can hear the rebuttals already, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say. If it weren't so, they wouldn't be having these issues they are having. it's not rocket science, I promise, it's simple ABC, 123 stuff to figure out and fix.
Everyone of these RBs are NFL pro quality in their own right, and because they are young rookies for the most part, Rawls be the exception and he's only just a short way out from being a rookie himself. Each one comes to the table with a uniquely different set of assets we can capitalize on, and if we handle them right, they are only going to become more and more effective at their positions.
If they want to drag up some has been or mediocre RB to fill In some, until Pope and CJ get their wheels back under them, and can return to the lineup, ok go ahead I guess. I don't think we are going to need them, I think that Thomas Rawls, has learned his lesson, and that is being evidenced by his new work ethic and attitude we've seen in his recover process since the first of this season. He is out there working his ass off daily, long after everyone else has hit the showers.
He knows that in order for him to be able to shoulder the load as running back for the Seahawks this year, that his being in absolute peak condition, is his only chance of being able to survive, all the abuses our opponents will bring his way, and believe me, they are going to do their damndest to see him off the field injured.
The old adage "knuckle up guard your grill" will never be more true than it will be for Thomas Rawls, these next few games. The thing I love about him is his attitude about it all, i.e., If you want a piece of his action, come on and get some
. He will put the hurt on you before you get a chance to put the hurt on him. You won't have to look for him, cause he is going to be foot deep in your ass once they hand him the ball.
Alex Collins is young, but he is smart, hungry, and is working much harder the past few weeks, striving to bring himself to a higher level of competitiveness and conditioning.
He is showing a lot of promise, I think, many are tossing the towel in on him, while he still has a lot of fight left him. It takes some of these players coming into the NFL, and playing in a few games to realize that the crap they were doing conditioning wise in college, isn't going to cut it, playing with the big boys in the NFL. These are the best of the best. Comparatively speaking only a small handful of the athletes in this country that have played football, with higher aspirations ever managed to make it to the college ranks, much less the pros. I think that Alex has that figured out now and is ready to do what he has to do to compete.
CJ and Troymaine, neither one did anything to bring about the injuries that have them off the field right now. They were both caught with unfortunate and unavoidable blows, that inflicted significant injuries on each of them. CJ took a helmet torpedo to his shoulder blade, and Troymaine had an overly zealous 300 and some pound lineman jump up and come down on his ankle.
I know I'm gonna take some flack from a few folks for saying so, but I truly believe that had both of these guys been at or near the same level of conditioning that Thomas Rawls is right now, that both of them might have been able to get up and walk off the field following those plays, they would have been sore and dinged up a little after the game, and reasonably so, but not out on the injured list. Thomas Rawls took similar if not more abuse during his time on the field, and while admittedly sore and bruised up the next day, he was able to absorb the abuse and play through it, i.e. walk it off and is ready to play come this Sunday. He couldn't do that at the first of the year.
If all these running backs will make the same physical, mental, emotional and spiritual commitment to their conditioning that Thomas Rawls has in his comeback, since the second injury to his leg at the beginning of this season, we will have the most effective and unstoppable running game in the NFL.
I'll go a step further and say if the entire Seahawk team would use Thomas Rawls current level of conditioning as a landmark for themselves, and that's not to say that some aren't already at that level or beyond, we would not be seeing nearly as many injuries and or the types of injuries as we are seeing this year, over and over again.
Someone will challenge and question my insistence the overall conditioning of the team is subpar, based on the thought that the Seahawks played thru 6 quarters of football in Arizona without collapsing, as evidence that they are all in superb condition. I say that is great, they managed to stay on their feet and fight through 6 quarters of play without being totally and completely spent.
My thoughts on the matter, was that they had all better be in good enough shape to play a full 6 quarters in any and every game they play this year, and against a lot more physical team than Arizona, because that is what can happen in each and every game we play between now and even in to the Super Bowl if we are lucky enough to find ourselves there again, and there is little reason to think we can't with some changes.
Our players should be able to do that in every game without any trouble at all. I'll say it till I'm blue in the face, if you are satisfied with mediocre results, ok so be it, be satisfied with mediocre conditioning, if you want to achieve greatness there is a price, if you are not willing to pay that price, then don't cry about not finding yourself in a position to achieve it.
You will hear great fighters tell people all the time, the real work was done in the gym, by the time they stepped into the ring the fight had already been won or lost by their hunger and willingness to do what was necessary to capture greatness when the opportunity presented itself. The work they did in the gym, made the job they did in the ring, all that much easier, and possible at all.
The dividing line between good and great is in your commitment to your own wholistic (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) level of conditioning. You reap what you sew. It's a pay as you go sport, it takes a lot to get a lot. I speak from experience and will be glad to share that here one day as well.
