The Run Game

kidhawk · Sep 24, 2018

I've been saying since early in the pre season that we have a solid runner in Carson. I think his style and abilities are exactly what we need back there. He does have to work on his blocking as I think that's where he has some weakness, but he's only 7 games into his NFL career (at least I think that's the right number with 4 last year and 3 this year), so I believe that will improve.

My biggest concern right now is offensive philosophy. We had a good run attack against the Cowboys that helped open up some of the passing game. The problem as I foresee it, is we had a lead from the first score onward. What will happen when our opponent jumps off to the first score again? Will Pete call on Schotty to "take some shots"? I really don't see us being able to win with an unbalanced offense. We need to be able to run the ball consistently and allow the passing attack to feed off of that. We can't just abandon it if we get behind or if we have a couple of carries with no gain.

If we want to see this offense ever be a top 5 (heck even top half of the league at this point) offense, we need to run the ball consistently and not abandon it on a whim.

12thbrah · Sep 24, 2018

I think the game plan we had against the Cowboys was perfect. Ball control offense and win time of possession.

Hell or high water. RUN CARSON RUN!

SoulfishHawk · Sep 24, 2018

And they finally did what they said they were gonna' do. Some of those drives when we had the 18 point lead, or even 11 were basically 3 runs and a punt, eat up clock. Cool.
I would think after 32 touches yesterday for Carson, that maybe Davis would get some carries to help w/the load, fresh legs and runs hard.

AROS · Sep 24, 2018

They have to stand by their philosophy period. RUN FORREST RUN!

No matter what is going on in the game (unless we find ourselves down 3 scores) you keep plugging away on the ground, mixing it up with play action. It's the best way to success in our system. Russ is cleaner, not getting killed, and able to work his magic (when the running game is effective).

Sgt. Largent · Sep 24, 2018

It's a tough way to try and grind out wins week to week, trusting your young defense to keep the game close and protect leads while you wear your opponent down with you run game.

But that IS how Pete wants this to go.

Is it sustainable? Yes, the run game part is, especially when you get Britt and Pocic back, with Fluker we should be able to continue to run.

But on the defensive side? Idk, I think we're going to see as many Denver performances as we home Dallas performances............cause that's what inconsistent defenses do, play inconsistently.

kidhawk · Sep 24, 2018

Sgt. Largent":2339m7ct said:
It's a tough way to try and grind out wins week to week, trusting your young defense to keep the game close and protect leads while you wear your opponent down with you run game.

But that IS how Pete wants this to go.

Is it sustainable? Yes, the run game part is, especially when you get Britt and Pocic back, with Fluker we should be able to continue to run.

But on the defensive side? Idk, I think we're going to see as many Denver performances as we home Dallas performances............cause that's what inconsistent defenses do, play inconsistently.

Running the ball with success gives the offense easier 3rd down conversions keeping them on the field longer and also takes some of the pass rush pressure off of Wilson, which can lead to more scoring drives. More scoring and more rest for the defense (IMO) are both ways to improve a less talented defense and keep opponents scores to a minimum

quadsas · Sep 24, 2018

I love Carson, hes the kinda back we need. Therefore, feed him the damn rock, we dont even have Baldwin, cant depend on the receiver core and all Carson has shown us is that he can do his job

Seymour · Sep 24, 2018

After 3 weeks I give :2thumbs: to Carson and a :| to Penny. He had another fumble this week and is averaging 2.2 YPC for the season.

The importance of running the ball is obvious, but I just hope Carson stays healthy because I have zero trust in the rookie at this point.

semiahmoo · Sep 24, 2018

kidhawk":tnpe26vn said:
I've been saying since early in the pre season that we have a solid runner in Carson. I think his style and abilities are exactly what we need back there. He does have to work on his blocking as I think that's where he has some weakness, but he's only 7 games into his NFL career (at least I think that's the right number with 4 last year and 3 this year), so I believe that will improve.

My biggest concern right now is offensive philosophy. We had a good run attack against the Cowboys that helped open up some of the passing game. The problem as I foresee it, is we had a lead from the first score onward. What will happen when our opponent jumps off to the first score again? Will Pete call on Schotty to "take some shots"? I really don't see us being able to win with an unbalanced offense. We need to be able to run the ball consistently and allow the passing attack to feed off of that. We can't just abandon it if we get behind or if we have a couple of carries with no gain.

If we want to see this offense ever be a top 5 (heck even top half of the league at this point) offense, we need to run the ball consistently and not abandon it on a whim.

Agreed. And Wilson really needs to have some kind of legit run threat to help keep defenses honest and not able to merely focus on containing him. He's not a strong enough QB overall to get away with that.

What we need, as you said, is for our passing attack to feed off the run game. That's what we did during the glory years and it worked very well. Of course, we had Beastmode at its prime so that made the choice a lot easier but Carson is showing some real deal potential out there right now. Hope he can keep going.

SoulfishHawk · Sep 24, 2018

He won 9 games last year, and would have been 11 or 12 were it not for wide right Walsh. All behind a worse O Line than this season.

semiahmoo · Sep 24, 2018

Aros":1hnmpyq7 said:
They have to stand by their philosophy period. RUN FORREST RUN!

No matter what is going on in the game (unless we find ourselves down 3 scores) you keep plugging away on the ground, mixing it up with play action. It's the best way to success in our system. Russ is cleaner, not getting killed, and able to work his magic (when the running game is effective).

Yes on all points you made.

Smashmouth run game is what the team (especially RW) needs.

Will be interesting to see if the play calls stick w/that plan against some tougher run defenses. (I was surprised how weak the Dallas D seemed at times. Thought they were better than that.)

Mad Dog · Sep 24, 2018

I like that we showed toughness. Always moving the line of scrimmage is something that's been missing the last few years under Cable.

I like that ifedi was not heard from in the boneheaded mistake department. Maybe the kid can learn.

I like that we kept at it even when the Boy's were figuring it out in the second half.

I like that we scored a smash mouth up the gut rushing TD. Seems like forever since I've seen that.

I like that we seem to have some actual depth on the OL for once. Hunt did not look outmanned at center despite his small stature. Fluker is a mauler. Sweezy is the best backup guard we've had. It's nice to know Fant is there if we lose a tackle for some reason.

I like that you can beat a pretty good defense in the NFL without a ton of imagination but with a ton of guts, toughness and execution.

TheHawkster · Sep 24, 2018

The cowboys are a bad offense.
If we got behind early, would the plan have changed?
100% yes.

It's a good win for the defense.
Workman like for the offense.
If Pete can win and show nothing, he'll do it every time.

Own The West · Sep 24, 2018

Been too long since we've had the I-formation in our playbook.

I'd complain that Carson and Penny spend too much time dancing at the LOS instead of hitting the hole, but even that is an improvement over dancing 3 yards behind the LOS because the defense found the hole(s) first.

toffee · Sep 24, 2018

In the meantime, Raider with their stars on OL, Marshawn, and Cable:

Oakland Rushing
CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Marshawn Lynch 19 64 3.4 1 9
Doug Martin 9 43 4.8 0 15
Martavis Bryant 1 4 4.0 0 4
Keith Smith 1 0 0.0 0 0
Derek Carr 2 -2 -1.0 0 -1
TEAM 32 109 3.4 1 15

32 carries for 109 yards and average 3.4

Cable magic lives on.

sutz · Sep 24, 2018

If they stay with it, the YPC will improve. I'm not really worried about that.

I am worried about giving Carson the rock 30/game. That's not really sustainable. So yeah, we need Penny and/or Davis to step up and share some of the load. If the team runs over 30 times, that's great and helps us maintain that "Pete" game style. But you need to spread that around a little bit, at least. Keeping my fingers crossed that Carson stays healthy. Gotta love the guy's drive. That 11 yard 1st down run in the 4th quarter was almost like classic Marshawn. But that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't pounded the rock for 3 quarters like we did. In many ways, you run in the first 3 quarters to set up runs like that in the 4th.

All in all, a great game to build on and keep improving. I imagine there are plenty of things to learn from, but still a good outing for a somewhat patched together O-line.

chris98251 · Sep 24, 2018

Now all we need is a true lead blocker for Carson and Penny, Madden isn't it.

Hockey Guy · Sep 24, 2018

SoulfishHawk":36z6c8zt said:
And they finally did what they said they were gonna' do. Some of those drives when we had the 18 point lead, or even 11 were basically 3 runs and a punt, eat up clock. Cool.
I would think after 32 touches yesterday for Carson, that maybe Davis would get some carries to help w/the load, fresh legs and runs hard.

I think they wanted to reward Carson & get him that 100+ yard game, which wasn't secured until very late, otherwise I totally agree they probably would've gotten some fresh legs in there after the defense was softened up by Carson.

The Run Game

kidhawk

Well-known member

12thbrah

New member

SoulfishHawk

Well-known member

AROS

Administrator

Sgt. Largent

Well-known member

kidhawk

Well-known member

quadsas

New member

Seymour

Active member

semiahmoo

Active member

SoulfishHawk

Well-known member

semiahmoo

Active member

Mad Dog

Well-known member

TheHawkster

Active member

Own The West

Well-known member

toffee

Well-known member

sutz

Well-known member

chris98251

Well-known member

Hockey Guy

Well-known member

Similar threads

Latest posts