The Morency Mystery- Pete Prisco Aricle

[wist43]

Of course the OL is the penultimate factor in a successful running game...

I can't believe you guys are actually trying to compare Morency to Johnson, or Holmes, or whoever...

Artose Pinner is probably a more apt comparison.

[wist43]

Funny how Priest Holmes couldn't carry a mediocre running backs jock when he was in Baltimore, but when he got behind a special, rare line he set the league on fire.

Precisely.

Morency played behind one of the worst lines in the NFL in Houston. He played behind an average line last year...and one that was learning a new scheme. Despite that, he has a career 4.4 ypc average.

Sure, he remains unproven in terms of consistency over time. But to claim he is completely useless going forward when his stats are pretty decent in the limited time he has been given a chance is illogical.

Have I ever claimed Morency is "completely useless"??? Of course not... I like him as a change of pace/part time player. I think he's ideally suited to that role.

Despite what they have him listed at (210 lbs), he plays much smaller than that, and RB is a position of attrition... small RB's that make it as every down players are rare.

Small RB's, small OL, third and inches a passing down - to a power football guy like me, it's pretty demoralizing.

Atlanta finally abandoned the "small" philosophy... that day won't arrive in GB fast enough for me. Perhaps there's a 12 step program I can go into???

[The Leaper]

Have I ever claimed Morency is "completely useless"??? Of course not... I like him as a change of pace/part time player. I think he's ideally suited to that role.

This is what I do not understand. You claim Morency is fine as a "situational" player...although "situational" typically means short yardage/3rd down back...but then you say that Morency is a liability in that exact role.

So just what the hell "situation" is Morency good at?

Wist, we all know you want to run the Lombardi sweep on every play. That isn't happening anymore. We have a zone blocking scheme. We don't run a power run attack. As such, Morency is precisely the kind of back who will excel the majority of the time. I agree he may be a liability in short yardage...but I don't think we've seen enough of him in that role to make a firm judgment on that yet. Even if he is a liability there, we have other roster spots available where you can get that production from.

Is it nice to have a power run scheme? Of course it is. However, under the salary cap, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to build one that will stand the test of time. Elite OL players in those schemes demand huge dollars, and eventually will either eat up cap space needed to improve other vital areas of your team or will leave via free agency for a huge contract.

Look at KC...dominant run for 4-5 years, but how many playoff wins do they have to show for it? Their defense sucks...largely because of the vast amount of money they've thrown into their offense...primarily at RB, TE and OL.

Look at Pittsburgh...they did manage to win a title, but only after barely squeaking into the playoffs and going on a magical run. The previous year to that wasn't pretty...neither was this past season. The power run game hasn't done much for them either.

To me, it doesn't matter what scheme you run. Both schemes have been run with a high degree of success when run correctly. The key is getting players that fit the scheme and having coaches that are capable of coaching the scheme.

I think you are trying to fit Morency into a power run game that we just don't have anymore. I'm not sure that we are trying to have an "every-down" back anymore. If you look at his talents and strengths in comparison to the system we now run, I fail to see how you would write him off as no better than a "complimentary" player. Warrick Dunn isn't a powerful runner...but he is a very good back. You will need to pair him with someone else, but in today's NFL that is where things are heading anyway.

[BooHoo]

At least the guy is putting in hours to learn the position and excel. For this I tip my hat to him!

[Joemailman]

I'm looking forward to seeing how much Morency can improve with the advantage of getting to go through training camp with the Packers, which weas not the case last year. As the article stated, when the Packers acquired him, he had to learn his 3rd offensive scheme in 2 years. I think he has a shot to be very good in this system. If, once we get into the season, he is still not making the right cuts with regularity, then my outlook will have changed. For now though, I'll enjoy my Kool-Aid, thank you very much.

[BooHoo]

I will stay on the Morency bandwagon for now myself!

[wist43]

Have I ever claimed Morency is "completely useless"??? Of course not... I like him as a change of pace/part time player. I think he's ideally suited to that role.

This is what I do not understand. You claim Morency is fine as a "situational" player...although "situational" typically means short yardage/3rd down back...but then you say that Morency is a liability in that exact role.

So just what the hell "situation" is Morency good at?

Wist, we all know you want to run the Lombardi sweep on every play. That isn't happening anymore. We have a zone blocking scheme. We don't run a power run attack. As such, Morency is precisely the kind of back who will excel the majority of the time. I agree he may be a liability in short yardage...but I don't think we've seen enough of him in that role to make a firm judgment on that yet. Even if he is a liability there, we have other roster spots available where you can get that production from.

Is it nice to have a power run scheme? Of course it is. However, under the salary cap, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to build one that will stand the test of time. Elite OL players in those schemes demand huge dollars, and eventually will either eat up cap space needed to improve other vital areas of your team or will leave via free agency for a huge contract.

Look at KC...dominant run for 4-5 years, but how many playoff wins do they have to show for it? Their defense sucks...largely because of the vast amount of money they've thrown into their offense...primarily at RB, TE and OL.

Look at Pittsburgh...they did manage to win a title, but only after barely squeaking into the playoffs and going on a magical run. The previous year to that wasn't pretty...neither was this past season. The power run game hasn't done much for them either.

To me, it doesn't matter what scheme you run. Both schemes have been run with a high degree of success when run correctly. The key is getting players that fit the scheme and having coaches that are capable of coaching the scheme.

I think you are trying to fit Morency into a power run game that we just don't have anymore. I'm not sure that we are trying to have an "every-down" back anymore. If you look at his talents and strengths in comparison to the system we now run, I fail to see how you would write him off as no better than a "complimentary" player. Warrick Dunn isn't a powerful runner...but he is a very good back. You will need to pair him with someone else, but in today's NFL that is where things are heading anyway.

Don't know that I feel like doing the research to either confirm or refute your assertions wrt the Chiefs and Steelers, but I will make a couple of comments.

KC has had a dominant line for several years - offense starts up front; you, I, and everyone else in this forum know's that. No way can you make the argument that spending $$$ on your OL is a bad investment.

As for the assertion that $$$ was disproportionately invested in the line as opposed to the defense, I'd have to see the numbers on that... but, I know they've signed some FA's to pretty big contracts on the defensive side of the ball - recently, Surtain, Knight, Law, Edwards, Bell, et al... and, they've either underperformed, or they simply didn't worked out. I believe they've also missed on more than one 1st round pick, Ryan Sims comes to mind.

It isn't as if they've ignored the defense at the expense of the OL, they simply have stunk as an organization at identifying defensive impact players, and putting them in a scheme where they can be successful.

As for your contention that I may be imposing my version of what a RB should look like, i.e. a power back, into the ZBS - I am not doing that in this case. I am looking at Morency, and seeing a guy who plays the game small, and I don't think you can play the game small and be an every down player - regardless of system.

Yes, I would prefer a bigger back, i.e. Ahman Green... if it's not going to be Ahman Green, I want it to be a back that is as big, tough, and fast as Ahman Green was.

That's what I want... I'd say, "so sue me", but I'm fighting this fight alone and I know the jury would sooner hang me as give me a last meal.

So there!!!!

[Bretsky]

Of course the OL is the penultimate factor in a successful running game...

I can't believe you guys are actually trying to compare Morency to Johnson, or Holmes, or whoever...

Artose Pinner is probably a more apt comparison.

Completely agree

Priest Holmes showed some very nice talent before he left Baltimore. But Jamal Lewis was the man there.

Morency to a top tier RB at this point....

[Bretsky]

Funny how Priest Holmes couldn't carry a mediocre running backs jock when he was in Baltimore, but when he got behind a special, rare line he set the league on fire.

Precisely.

Morency played behind one of the worst lines in the NFL in Houston. He played behind an average line last year...and one that was learning a new scheme. Despite that, he has a career 4.4 ypc average.

Sure, he remains unproven in terms of consistency over time. But to claim he is completely useless going forward when his stats are pretty decent in the limited time he has been given a chance is illogical.

Several in here have already did an analysis of Morency's 4.4 yard average. I believe Harvey pointed it out best. His best games were nicely padded by facing terrible defenses.

I fail to see why anybody would use his 4.4 yd average as a plus or minus with so little carries.

[Bretsky]

IMO Morency is a decent complimentary RB. Tag teaming with a guy like Ahman Green, who is better, would suit his role fine.

He has to show me a lot more to start pouing the kool aide in this cup

[Freak Out]

The running game is a complete crap shoot with Green gone. Morency and all the other RBs have to prove they are able to do the job. Rb is the only position on the team where we really don't know who the starters will be. TE and Safety may flip flop a few names but other than that there are not many ???

[BallHawk]

Morency to a top tier RB at this point....

B, the emoticons are still going to be there tomorrow. Don't use them all up at once.

[The Leaper]

Yes, I would prefer a bigger back, i.e. Ahman Green... if it's not going to be Ahman Green, I want it to be a back that is as big, tough, and fast as Ahman Green was.

Well, you won't hear me argue that point. I'd rather have Ahman Green in his prime as well. That's a no brainer. However, those kind of players are rare...and who was available that really provided that? Lynch was off the board in the 1st...and I'm not sure anyone in the 2nd round who was a bigger RB necessarily had the skill sets to play in a ZBS attack as a feature back.

As for those who criticise that Morency racked up stats against poor defenses...SO WHAT? Are you ignoring the fact that the OL in front of him also was mediocre? Morency has played primarily behind poor lines...so the fact that he has found moderate success, even against poor defenses, is a positive. I never said it was evidence that he is a future Pro Bowl RB. I said it was evidence that the kid deserves a chance to prove himself full-time before he is written off as merely a "complimentary" player.

Warrick Dunn has played small during his career...and he's been pretty damn good. Sure, you need to also have a dependable short yardage back to utilize with him...but why is that such a difficult feat to accomplish that we should make it mandatory that we always have a big feature back who can carry the ball 320 times every year? If a tandem can put up 1600 yards and provide reasonable success in all aspects of the offense, who the hell cares if the production is from two guys instead of one?