So what's the deal with Alex Collins??

How is it possible that Pope and more shockingly George Farmer are playing ahead of this guy? Is he in the doghouse, or is he just not that good? PC made it seem like he'd be playing last week or this week-- the coaches seem to be pumping him up in comments talking about him transforming his body and doing well in practice.

I just curious if there's a deeper story that I'm unaware of. I love seeing Rawls play and Pope had some great runs. Hopefully the running game has turned a corner.

thoughts?

Still maturing and growing perhaps.

They must surely believe in him or he would have been waived by now. There's no doubt Pope is currently ahead of him though.

Rawls is elite, Pope has the ability to be close to Rawls, and imho, is a similar runner, and Farmer is an elite physical talent.

It's numbers, and I don't think AC was ever a good practice player. He's more of a bruiser that needs holes opened for him, and we aren't getting that from our cobbled together line.

He's a good runner, but the numbers are not in his favor. IMHO, he's slightly above Turbo intalent, a good backup who would be an average starter and requires a lot of carries to get going.

He's just unlucky in that Pete & John are magical when it comes to finding great backs in the middle of nowhere.

ivotuk":phzd662s said:

Rawls is elite, Pope has the ability to be close to Rawls, and imho, is a similar runner, and Farmer is an elite physical talent.

It's numbers, and I don't think AC was ever a good practice player. He's more of a bruiser that needs holes opened for him, and we aren't getting that from our cobbled together line.

He's a good runner, but the numbers are not in his favor. IMHO, he's slightly above Turbo intalent, a good backup who would be an average starter and requires a lot of carries to get going.

He's just unlucky in that Pete & John are magical when it comes to finding great backs in the middle of nowhere.

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Calling Rawls elite might be a bit of a stretch. 1056 yards in 18 career games.

He does have the potential to be elite, though. He looked really good yesterday.

They have admitted they goofed on AC, he jigs it when he needs to stomp it. I think he's a insurance only, on a team right now due to uncertainties of Rawls, and Pope and the injury to Prosise

Terry Poole
Jimmy Staten
Jesse Williams
Jay Howard . . . Oops
Mark Legree
EJ Wilson

Every year there is at least one mid round pick that flames out within a year or two. Collins is probably that guy this year.

Collins is slow to the hole and doesn't have the Marshawn ability to run through arms. He doesn't seem to have that burst like Rawls does when he needs to change directions and then explode. He isn't even a pounder from what I have seen, on goal line he doesn't explode and punch through even when the hole is filled.

HawksHawksHawks":3k3n4ebd said:

ivotuk":3k3n4ebd said:

Rawls is elite, Pope has the ability to be close to Rawls, and imho, is a similar runner, and Farmer is an elite physical talent.

It's numbers, and I don't think AC was ever a good practice player. He's more of a bruiser that needs holes opened for him, and we aren't getting that from our cobbled together line.

He's a good runner, but the numbers are not in his favor. IMHO, he's slightly above Turbo intalent, a good backup who would be an average starter and requires a lot of carries to get going.

He's just unlucky in that Pete & John are magical when it comes to finding great backs in the middle of nowhere.

Click to expand...

Calling Rawls elite might be a bit of a stretch. 1056 yards in 18 career games.

He does have the potential to be elite, though. He looked really good yesterday.

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Not a stretch, he was our leading rusher last year. The only thing that holds him back is injuries, and if he can learn to not hammer in to defensive players, he may have fewer of those.

Last year he averaged 5.1 YPC, yesterday, 7.1

So we'll have to agree to disagree

jlwaters1":17criyb7 said:

How is it possible that Pope and more shockingly George Farmer are playing ahead of this guy? Is he in the doghouse, or is he just not that good? PC made it seem like he'd be playing last week or this week-- the coaches seem to be pumping him up in comments talking about him transforming his body and doing well in practice.

I just curious if there's a deeper story that I'm unaware of. I love seeing Rawls play and Pope had some great runs. Hopefully the running game has turned a corner.

thoughts?

Click to expand...

Farmer is a different type of RB. You saw it on the dropped pass. He is in there to be that dual threat running / catching and not power run up the middle. They are using him more like C J was being used.

Pope had some really nice runs when we were running out clock. Everyone knew he was running and heck he went the same route back-to-back plays and picked up nice chunks of yards. He is playing better than AC from what I have seen so not really surprised by that one. Opposite to that I think most people here has remained surprised on how AC had the roster spot over Pope........

A couple coaches apparently told Collinsworth that Pope is the best pure running back (or something along those lines, it was very high praise) they have ever seen. Which only makes me wonder more about why they released him earlier. Maybe they felt obligated to give AC the first shot and realized it wouldn't work. I guess they got lucky that no one else hung on to him. I'm glad.

It took Lynch a year to figure out the blocking scheme and do well. Maybe they think Collins needs the same time to learn.

mikeak":2rw6gufr said:

jlwaters1":2rw6gufr said:

How is it possible that Pope and more shockingly George Farmer are playing ahead of this guy? Is he in the doghouse, or is he just not that good? PC made it seem like he'd be playing last week or this week-- the coaches seem to be pumping him up in comments talking about him transforming his body and doing well in practice.

I just curious if there's a deeper story that I'm unaware of. I love seeing Rawls play and Pope had some great runs. Hopefully the running game has turned a corner.

thoughts?

Click to expand...

Farmer is a different type of RB. You saw it on the dropped pass. He is in there to be that dual threat running / catching and not power run up the middle. They are using him more like C J was being used.

Pope had some really nice runs when we were running out clock. Everyone knew he was running and heck he went the same route back-to-back plays and picked up nice chunks of yards. He is playing better than AC from what I have seen so not really surprised by that one. Opposite to that I think most people here has remained surprised on how AC had the roster spot over Pope........

Click to expand...

I think Pope has more yards on one carry than AC has had all season.

^ Yes, Pope likely does have more total yards than AC already; more carries too. Nice that he got an opportunity to spell Rawls and did reasonably well, especially on the big run.

Someone posted video links in another thread. The Rawls hilight reel of last night is brilliant!

Did anyone catch what Colingsworth(tv announcer) was paraphrasing what PC told him how Pete has never seen a running back as mercurial or fluid as he Pope is..(paraphrasing Collingsworth paraphrase of PC).

I thought it was quite an endorsement and then had trouble wondering why he would release the guy in the first place.

Bobblehead":3w0mrlxm said:

Did anyone catch what Colingsworth(tv announcer) was paraphrasing what PC told him how Pete has never seen a running back as mercurial or fluid as he Pope is..(paraphrasing Collingsworth paraphrase of PC).

I thought it was quite an endorsement and then had trouble wondering why he would release the guy in the first place.

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Someone in the first place had whispered in his ear?

Bobblehead":2djem40w said:

Did anyone catch what Colingsworth(tv announcer) was paraphrasing what PC told him how Pete has never seen a running back as mercurial or fluid as he Pope is..(paraphrasing Collingsworth paraphrase of PC).

I thought it was quite an endorsement and then had trouble wondering why he would release the guy in the first place.

Click to expand...

He said something along the lines of him being an RB savant. That he was just naturally talented.

As for Farmer I'm guessing they see him as cj prosise lite.

Bobblehead":1wqwkgft said:

mikeak":1wqwkgft said:

jlwaters1":1wqwkgft said:

How is it possible that Pope and more shockingly George Farmer are playing ahead of this guy? Is he in the doghouse, or is he just not that good? PC made it seem like he'd be playing last week or this week-- the coaches seem to be pumping him up in comments talking about him transforming his body and doing well in practice.

I just curious if there's a deeper story that I'm unaware of. I love seeing Rawls play and Pope had some great runs. Hopefully the running game has turned a corner.

thoughts?

Click to expand...

Farmer is a different type of RB. You saw it on the dropped pass. He is in there to be that dual threat running / catching and not power run up the middle. They are using him more like C J was being used.

Pope had some really nice runs when we were running out clock. Everyone knew he was running and heck he went the same route back-to-back plays and picked up nice chunks of yards. He is playing better than AC from what I have seen so not really surprised by that one. Opposite to that I think most people here has remained surprised on how AC had the roster spot over Pope........

Click to expand...

I think Pope has more yards on one carry than AC has had all season.

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I think so too..I can't understand why the guy gets a thread a week because he hasn't done anything.

Collins was inactive this game, though I am not sure why I think they felt Pope had a better chance of staying in the practiced squad than Collins, possibly due to draft position. Who knows what they saw in Collins over Pope. Maybe they were just really trying to keep both of them. All worked out I guess, and really like what I see in Pope.

I would bet he is and has been a favorite in college of either pete or John, and I bet it's John. I think Pete is giving him every possible chance this year to prove he wants it and belongs here. If they release him, it will be because they have exhausted trying to get him on the same page as the coaching and the mentality of this team.

Judging him just from his play, it doesn't look like he wants it. Goes down way too easy. I'm guessing he is not here next year unless he really turns it around. Might be the same kind of thing Cmike had, where he came here as knd of a star. Collins had a lot of success in college, and probably thought it would be that easy in the pros.

You don't hear the other players talk him up much either, so it could be some locker room stuff behind the scenes, and Collins just doesn't really want to be here.

Fumbled.

/thread