NFL Week 15

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That last guy was Keith Nichol

Keith Nichol is a wide receiver who is currently an unrestricted free agent. Before the 2009 season, Nichol competed against sophomore Kirk Cousins for the starting quarterback position. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Nichol

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woody39

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Great to see Cousins get a short to see what he can do! Does anyone think that he may have a shot of usurping RG3 and keeping the starting job. If Shanahan gets fired at the end of the year and a new coach comes in with no ties to either quarter back it could happen. :icon_smile:
 

backrow

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It's not Shanahan that wants RG3, it's Snyder... Cousins was picked by the coach.

Btw, finally an interesting Thursday Night game, for their last TNF. Go Decker!
Welker is ruled out.

Here's hoping for a big Woodhead presence, too
 

goyim

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I'm rooting for the Chargers and I hope Rivers has a good game. He might be the only white man left on the planet who has seven kids with the same woman.
 
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Lew

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I'm very excited to hear about Cousins starting over Griffin. Most of us here know how blacks will usually play harder when playing for a black coach or when there's a black quarterback but in this instance I think they'll play harder for Kirk Cousins. I'm guessing the corn-ball brother isn't very well liked in the Redskins locker room.
 

Extra Point

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Great to see Cousins get a short to see what he can do! Does anyone think that he may have a shot of usurping RG3 and keeping the starting job. If Shanahan gets fired at the end of the year and a new coach comes in with no ties to either quarter back it could happen. :icon_smile:

That's an interesting question. My guess would be no, regardless of how well Cousins plays.

The Redskins management spent three 1st round picks and one 2nd round pick to acquire Griffin. They're using Griffin to promote a political agenda. Cousins apparently is Shanahan's guy and Shanahan is probably gone after the season. For these reasons they'll probably stick with Griffin no matter what.

If Cousins does well the most likely scenario is that he gets traded so there will be no competition for Griffin. Griffin's new backup will likely be a black player, to make sure the position stays black.

Of course, you never know...
 

FootballDad

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The only way that Cousins has a chance to take the job for next season is in the unlikely scenario that Shanahan is retained. After Shanny is canned, Snyder will hunt for a coach who will bring out the "greatness" in Gremlin.
 

Fortitud3

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2 of the best offenses with 2 of the worst defenses. Should be a good night for Manning and Rivers. Hopefully the Chargers win.
 

woody39

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The only way that Cousins has a chance to take the job for next season is in the unlikely scenario that Shanahan is retained. After Shanny is canned, Snyder will hunt for a coach who will bring out the "greatness" in Gremlin.

I do think he has a chance if Shanahan stays but i naively thought that a new coach may let the best man win, probably wishful thinking on my part!
 

woody39

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Anybody give the Chargers a chance tonight?

I think the way River's is playing this season and a heavy dose of Woody could give them a chance, plus Keenan Allen has looked good recently it must be said. If Weddle can have a stormer tonight and hold the secondary together they could keep the Bronco's to 25-40 and they could have a sniff.

No Welker could be a blow to Manning, will mean they can double up on Decker and Thomas take away his options on the outside.
 

Fortitud3

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Anybody give the Chargers a chance tonight?

I think the way River's is playing this season and a heavy dose of Woody could give them a chance, plus Keenan Allen has looked good recently it must be said. If Weddle can have a stormer tonight and hold the secondary together they could keep the Bronco's to 25-40 and they could have a sniff.

No Welker could be a blow to Manning, will mean they can double up on Decker and Thomas take away his options on the outside.

Best thing the Chargers can do is take advantage of Julius Thomas being a crappy TE.
 
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I can't see the Chargers winning, but all signs point to a shootout. I started Woodhead AND Matthews in fantasy football, so I'm hoping the Bronco defense is as bad as I think it is. Losing Welker and Gronk this week has killed me.
 

woody39

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I think the Denver front seven can create some pressure on Rivers but the secondary is terrible and their linebackers are poor dropping into coverage, bit of play action passing and dink and dunk to Woodhead and Gates could do the trick for Denver tonight.

Woodhead should have a field day against their linebackers should be a big mismatch for Denver to exploit and Matthews should create enough up front to open things up for Rivers and co in the passing game.

I am talking my way into an upset may have a look at the odds!!
 
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I think the Denver front seven can create some pressure on Rivers but the secondary is terrible and their linebackers are poor dropping into coverage, bit of play action passing and dink and dunk to Woodhead and Gates could do the trick for Denver tonight.

Woodhead should have a field day against their linebackers should be a big mismatch for Denver to exploit and Matthews should create enough up front to open things up for Rivers and co in the passing game.

I am talking my way into an upset may have a look at the odds!!

This is one of those games that has high scoring written all over it ........ so, it will probably be 17-14. I wouldn't mind seeing Weddle pick off Manning. It'll be interesting to see how much Ronnie Brown we see tonight. Any is too much.
 

woody39

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This is one of those games that has high scoring written all over it ........ so, it will probably be 17-14. I wouldn't mind seeing Weddle pick off Manning. It'll be interesting to see how much Ronnie Brown we see tonight. Any is too much.

Don't jinx it mate, it's half one in the UK, staying up for a hopefully good game lol.
 

TwentyTwo

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Danny Woodhead is proving to be the best pass catching RB in the NFL with 65 receptions; can't ask for more...but he does not get to carry the ball enough to get into a rhythm. Hoping he can improve on the 3.9 avg per carry...(he did have 7 for 42 last week/6.0 avg!)Looking for him to bust a long run tonight! They need to give him a chance to utilize his Barry Sanders-like running skills with some toss-sweeps instead of always between the tackles.

Would like to see a "breakdown" of his carries....the few Chargers games I was able to catch this season...they are questionable the way they use him running. Give him 17 carries in a game & he easily goes over 100 yards!
 
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Danny Woodhead is proving to be the best pass catching RB in the NFL with 65 receptions; can't ask for more...but he does not get to carry the ball enough to get into a rhythm. Hoping he can improve on the 3.9 avg per carry...(he did have 7 for 42 last week/6.0 avg!)Looking for him to bust a long run tonight! They need to give him a chance to utilize his Barry Sanders-like running skills with some toss-sweeps instead of always been the tackles.

Would like to see a "breakdown" of his carries....the few Chargers games I was able to catch this season...they are questionable the way they use him running.

As much as I would like to see Woodhead get the ball more in the running game, one thing we can't really complain about is that he does get targets in the red zone. Granted, that's mostly because they have screwed up 1st and 2nd downs, but I'll take it.
 

backrow

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both Weddle and Woodhead were picked by the broadcaster as 2 of 4 Chargers difference makers.

we can only wish Danny actually gets a chance to make difference tonight
 

dwid

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Danny Woodhead is proving to be the best pass catching RB in the NFL with 65 receptions; can't ask for more...but he does not get to carry the ball enough to get into a rhythm. Hoping he can improve on the 3.9 avg per carry...(he did have 7 for 42 last week/6.0 avg!)Looking for him to bust a long run tonight! They need to give him a chance to utilize his Barry Sanders-like running skills with some toss-sweeps instead of always been the tackles.

Would like to see a "breakdown" of his carries....the few Chargers games I was able to catch this season...they are questionable the way they use him running. Give him 17 carries in a game & he easily goes over 100 yards!
The problem with toss sweeps and off tackle runs in the traditional sense would be for them to use him more in traditional sets instead of Matthews, but there was a play the Patriots used ONCE and he posted a career long of 50, a toss out of shotgun that was called a "shovel pass", it went like a few millimeters forward and called a reception. The rhythm thing, I don't think Danny needs that as much, he was used more creatively in 2010 and had some big runs, still not enough to get into a rhythm, I do believe his biggest run was not out of shotgun against the Colts. 12 to 14 touches is enough to keep me satisfied, its just HOW they use him. I would be satisfied with 1k from scrimmage a season, but with a little more on the running side. Of course I would be thrilled to see him as an every down back but I don't think we will see that, as we have seen when Matthews is out he still splits carries. But of course, it will be harder to reach 1k dividing up his touches more evenly, but thats where the scheme comes in, if he is breaking out bigger plays and averaging closer to 5.6 like his 2010 season then shouldnt be a problem.

This is the problem for Sproles as well, he often just gets carries up the gut out of shotgun to keep defenses off guard, they ran him out of singleback set last week off tackle and had a season long of 38, I think career long run for the Saints, or second longest, with one not going too much farther. Woodhead is more explosive, and looks to have more left in the tank. Off course Sproles gets more variety than Woodhead. Luckily Woodhead doesn't have many carries so that 6.0 ypc carry last week bumped him up from 3.7 to 3.9, so it wouldn't take much to get him mid 4 ypc range.

I keep posting this video to show how to use Woodhead in the running game.



Look at :31 seconds, shotgun formation with one back, Livas lined up as a wr goes in motion, its like a regular running play and the tailback lined up in shotgun is the lead blocker, that would work so well and keep defenses guessing when they are in shotgun, rather than the typical Woodhead up the gut play.

Also at 50 seconds as well. 1:13, similar to the ghost motion play with an h -back going to lead block with Livas going to the right while the halfback goes off left tackle, Livas was a little too fast for that h-back to be effective but I think with the right personnel it could work better, ,well a little more patience to follow blocks would have worked
3:11 out of offset I formation, similar to the ghost motion, deception and a lead blocker, 7:09, qb under center, tailback used as a lead blocker, 7:22 offset i, qb fakes the toss to the tailback going right with Livas in motion going right out of the slot with the fullback blocking, 7:31 similar to the ghost motion with a lead blocker

[video=youtube;v31pT_20LYc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v31pT_20LYc[/video]
at :31, :50, 1:13, 3:11, 7:09, 7:22, 7:31 are the plays I am talking about in case you missed it

at 31 seconds and 50 seconds are my favorite, I just get tired of seeing quick and fast scatbacks like Woodhead get minimized in the run game with just quick draws up the gut to keep the defense honest out of shotgun, they could do so much more with some space to run

In this case, maybe I could see Ronnie Brown lined up a little more, maybe for the plays where he would be the up the middle threat or the option to be the lead blocker depending on what play, with the ghost motion its what Rivers reads the defense as doing, which is what it is, an option play, the qb reads what the defenses are reacting to and decides which back to handoff to, not sure how great Matthews is up the gut, and not sure how good of a lead blocker he would be, so this could even lead to Ronnie Brown putting up some decent stats.

Running up the gut, even if he does get to the second level, its more about quickness than straight line speed which Woodhead has plenty of, wideouts simply aren't that great of blocking, so you have like at least 4 guys to have to make miss. If he ran more conventional plays getting to the second level he would have one or two, which is what we saw in the Jets preseason game, and he had some big runs.

but these plays change that, he can run out of shotgun lined up in the slot like he often does, and still run conventional running plays that a regular halfback does, he would break some long ones. Livas just wasn't that talented, otherwise due to his skin color hed be in the league due to his special teams ability, these plays would produce some big things with Woodhead and to a lesser extent Sproles.

Imagine a shotgun play with Woodhead in the slot running off tackle with the other back being the lead blocker!

Im going to post this in the Woodhead thread so it doesn't get lost. If coaches cared about winning they would take notice. I brought this up on the Saints forum but inserted Sproles name instead of Woodhead, and they ran the ghost motion play several times against Carolina for the first time in years, a play they used to run with Deuce McCallister up the middle and Reggie in the slot on the end around. They didn't use Sproles but had a wr come on the end around, it caught the defense off guard and kept them guessing. It had been since 2006 since they really ran it and after the post with others commenting, the Saints ran it. Maybe I should post it on the main Chargers board.

coaches have been willing to utilize new things from the college level, so this shouldn't be any different. He isn't just a Kevin Faulk, he so much more but Im afraid he won't ever get used to his potential.

I know this is a long post (like many of mine) but anyone interested in schemes and how Woodhead could be better utilized and not necessarily be utilized in just a "traditional way" to get some bigger plays with staying in a similar role as a tailback in shotgun and lined up in the slot, should read it read and watch the video. Feel free to comment and expand on any ideas.
 
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goyim

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Don't know if you all just saw the play but Weddle showed some incredible leaping ability by knocking Manning's pass down at the line.
 

PamelaOC

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Decker with only one reception in the half. :sad:
 

Upside

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Von Miller is strictly a one-dimensional pass rusher. He's useless in coverage and well below average against the run. For some reason, I see him fading out in a few years like Merriman.
 
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