iceblizzard69
☠️ Banned ☠️
I don't know why people thought all those picks and money was worth it for Gruden. He is a very good coach but Tampa Bay gave too much and I always thought that they did.
Originally posted by Saint Greg
Ricky didn't play nearly 5 quarters of football......Deuce was never taken out of the game.....not on third down, not for a change of pace....He played 5 quarters of football
Originally posted by chambers84
your right, Miami is so good that they didn't even need Ricky in the 4th Quarter. **** if we are that good every week, I say take his ass out of the game for the whole second half, and you will never come close to seeing that first round pick you speak of. .
Originally posted by ckparrothead
The one point that phinstd brought up that I would harp on most is the fact that Deuce did get 31 carries.
Yes, the Detroit defense is significantly worst than the Bucs defense (though the comparison isn't as unfavorable as SOME would like to think if you isolate just RUN DEFENSE).
Yes, the Buccaneers defense is rather smallish. Their MLB Shelton Quarles is a schrimp, everyone knows it, everyone admits it. Their D is built the same way Miami's is. Two big DTs surrounded by five undersized speedsters. This is not even a matter up for question. Give it up.
So overall, 31 carries for 109 yards vs 20 carries for 111 yards and 2 TDs...WHATEVER. Don't compare those, cuz it doesn't matter. Though I agree that we will see what happens when Deuce faces the rudderless Detroit D (of course if he does worst I'm sure Brad will make it a point to come on here and say that the Detroit D that the Saints faced was much better than the one the Phins faced, for some reason or other...bank on it). I say do not compare them cuz its not a good comparison.
DEUCE DID WELL! He surprised people with his durability. He gained good hard yardage against a tough D. RICKY DID WELL. He surprised people with his outside speed. Both backs surprised in areas that were SUPPOSED to be their weakness.
But the only thing that I'LL say is, why is it that Deuce McAllister is getting 31 carries in a game? Of course the easy answer from a Saints homer is that Deuce is just THAT GOOD, and you have no idea why anyone questioned his durability in the first place. WRONG, sorry but thats not acceptable. Because, though certain Saints fans will try their best to convince everyone that Ricky was a talentless weirdo with small hands, nobody involved in the process denied that Ricky Williams is a very talented back. When Jim Haslett explained his move he didn't deny that Williams was a good back. Remember that the BOTTOM LINE was that it took 1st and 2nd round picks to pry Ricky Williams away from Jim Haslett...whilst SOME people would have us all believe that Jim wanted to just GIVE Ricky away cuz Deuce is so ooobviously the superior back. Remember Jim's explanation of why the Saints will be ok without Ricky? Ricky's a good back, but it takes 25-30 carries a game for him to do his damage (very true, please see his yards per carry from carries 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, and 21-25 as his ypc increases in each range). Deuce can do his damage without getting as many carries (ie he's faster and will break the big one). In other words Deuce is the more friendly back for an offense built around Aaron Brooks...an offense of speed. Not a caretaker QB offense...an offense of power, featuring the likes of "scrub" (according to Brooks) Jay Fiedler.
If I were a Saints fan I'd be happy with the win. Happy that the coaches did what they needed to do in order to get the win. But if Deuce continues to see 25-30 carries a game, I would openly question Haslett's thinking for getting rid of Ricky Williams. Because the bottom line is if you asked NFL pundits what back they would rather have to pound the ball for you 25-30+ times a game I would guarantee you that all but one would pick Ricky Williams over Deuce McAllister (there's ALWAYS one oddball). So it might be time to start questioning if Aaron Brooks is really worthy of having the offense built around him, or if rather the most effective way of winning might in fact be to take a little bit of the responsibility out of Brooks' hands and give him a guy that can take 25-30 carries a game and keep the offense running.
Thats my thoughts