Better Play design probably helping Mcfarland

So far, McFarland has been more Dri Archer than Darren Sproles. Warren hasn't just been a better runner and blocker, though he is better by far in both areas. He has been more explosive. At some point, you need to stop focusing so much on what a guy can do in shorts and look at what he can do in full pads on game day. if you do that, you understand why it would be foolish to take snaps away from Warren and give them to McFarland.

 

I don't understand why McFarland vs. Warren is even an argument. After watching Warren sub for Harris last year, it's not even close. Warren is miles ahead of McFarland at RB. Warren had several impressive runs last year. I can't remember ONE impressive run by McFarland and he's been on the team longer than Warren.

 

Oh yeah!!!! How about that swing pass to McFarland where He had 15 yards of open field, and only one player to beat, and He ran straight into him, and didn't even get a 1st down. Oh wait.... I'm agreeing with You with that... LoL

 

https://stillcurtain.com/posts/is-2023-finally-year-steelers-rb-anthony-mcfarland-jr-01h6y6ay23sm

This would be a completely different conversation if he was a special teams ace but he's not. If so, they could find a spot for him and draw up plays specifically for him to use his speed.

However, just like the jet sweep topic, the perception of McFarland might be different than reality. At least in my opinion. He's only had 42 total carries in the three years he's been here, with only 9 of those coming in the last 2 years. As I'm sure we're all well aware, running backs need carries to get in a rhythm.
I'm certainly not saying he should be RB2 over Warren because I feel he's earned it but maybe there is something to what the article above eludes to. Was he really given a solid chance?

 

I think you missed the point ..Lets try it 1 more again .. Mcfadden is a scat RB we had a non Scat friendly QB.. Then we had a 1st. year QB who per the Coach limited the playbook, so now the playbook is getting opened up and we have a guy who can turn those great in shorts plays into great in pads plays and as a added bonus it spreads the field and forces the Defense to play a certain way ..

I have no doubt that Mcfadden will have a nice package this season if he stays healthy.. I won't even get into how they are using the Jumbo package meaning the OL as a FB or as a extra TE with multiple shifts and multiple motions all of which our favorable to the Scat game. I actually Coached and designed this type of Offense for years..

So my focus is not on Football in shorts ,it is on how do you make splash plays ? Hence the package we will all see for our scat RB .. We actually called it the Scat game .. It is a complete Offense in itself with some of the best Offenses in the NFL running a lot of it .. So it is really not the guy at the Scat Back position and more the play design and pre snap calls and motion are the devil in the details , but of course you need that speed and agility for the open field because that is the essence of the Scat Game .. My man is our guy and as such is exactly why you take snaps from whoever you need to take them from...

 

McFarland is very fast but he has poor football instincts. The play @STD was talking about was a 3rd down play and he turned the corner with an open field ahead of him. For who knows what reason he stopped running and started dancing and was tackled short of the sticks and the team had to punt. Other times he gets the ball and his legs are churning a hundred miles an hour but he isn't going anywhere. He has no patience, doesn't know how to follow his blocking or any other nuances of the position.

 

Opportunities should be earned, not given. Warren started last training camp behind McFarland in the pecking order, earned his shot, and took the No. 2 job. Then he did a great job in it.

 

I got your point. They had two mobile quarterbacks last year. McFarland entered training camp ahead of Warren, a rookie free agent, and still couldn't do better than fourth on the depth chart.

In case you haven't noticed, despite his speed, McFarland has not shown any ability to make splash plays at the pro level. Warren, on the other hand, has done so. McFarland hurts the team in many ways. He is a lousy blocker in blitz pickup. Unless he is returning kicks, he is useless on special teams. I get what you are envisioning from him, so spare us the "I coached this" crap. Back up your points with actual facts and evidence, not a resume that may or may not be real. You still haven't come close to addressing the real problem. Speed guarantees nothing. Any Steelers fan should have seen that lesson in action with Dri Archer. Apparently, you missed those classes.

 

Fair points Dri had the wrong QB and poor play designs ..I like Warren and I agree he needs to get his share as well.. I was backing my points up with facts because I have at least 4 full playbooks of the Scat Game and wished we had a chalk board so I could draw up plays and show you who the Defenders are on each concept that the Offense is targeting to attack ..1 of those is mine I created it based on what Defenses are trying to do and what each players responsibilities are ..I had a lot of success and IMO our OC is trying to do something similar ..I like that a bunch as we have not scored the ball well in years ..We had a saying about how to we Improve our Redone Offense? It's simple just score before you get there.. Of course we worked on that aspect of it , but we literally put more focus on splash plays ..

My favorite type of Offense is actually line up and hit them in the mouth , but truth be told the Scat Game is years harder to stop..I learned this 1st. hand on both sides of the ball .. As such it is a big part of the KC and Bengals game plans ..Again I am glad our OC is going all in to make it a part of our attack..

I honestly think you will see exactly what I am saying if Mcfadden can stay healthy.. And on a side note who wants to be the bell cow ,as the RB position has very little value per the NFL ? I predict a lot of Teams will split reps among 3 or maybe even 4 RB'S and as such the Scat RB may be a even bigger thing this season ?

 

That just confirms my suspicion that you have a blind spot when it comes to backs with speed. You vastly overrate them. That you think the scheme and quarterback were the reason Archer didn't produce makes that very clear. The reason he didn't produce is he sucked. He never caught on anywhere else. If he really had this great untapped potential, somebody else would have at least given him a shot, but that didn't happen. It takes more than speed to be a productive running back.

You are too focused on scheme and not enough on personnel. Warren blew by McFarland on the depth chart and then he spent the regular season demonstrating why that happened. You may want to go back and watch it. You missed some fun plays.

 

I see Pee Wee football theory is back again this year

 

From a local Trib article


In 2022, the Steelers used the preseason to identify Jaylen Warren as the No. 2 running back. In this camp, the Steelers might have found the third member of their hierarchy in fourth-year back Anthony McFarland. He has turned heads with the way he has flashed his speed during some impressive runs and receptions in the first two weeks of practices.

"I think he was a redshirt sophomore when we drafted him," Tomlin said. "We realized that some development had to take place there. To his credit, he's continually gotten better over his stay with us, and his role has kind of grown continually as well. ... I'm excited for him to see if he can carve out an increased role."

 

i will say mcfarland looked better last year and if he adds to that this year that is what he should be doing. warren earned his value by destroying people when pass blocking and then showed he can run and catch as well. the pass blocking caught the staffs eyes first. that has always been important to MT to increase reps for any RB. warren is continuing that this year so far. he's proven. if they are going to feature the run game as much as they say, the 3rd back better be able to do it all. he will be important this year more than any so far. it's a long season.

 

And Tomlin was so excited about McFarland that he cut him at the end of training camp. Of course no other team claimed him so they did bring him back on the practice squad last year.

 

The fact that he is speaking positively about him at this stage is a good sign Tomlin doesn’t throw that out for everybody during camp

He may stick as a number 3

He’s not going to be 1 or 2

 

He's going to get a chance starting tomorrow night to show that he has improved. He'll definitely make the team, there isn't much behind him on the depth chart.

 

That is my primary point, that even if McFarland makes the team, it should be as a third stringer who plays very little. McFarland may be faster, but Warren is a much better player.

 

That's a good one , but just to keep it clear it was HS Football in N.C. .. Each year I see more and more Teams in the NFL running schemes I understand fairly well.. On a side note you are lucky to have me back .. lol

 

And I was just thinking that

 

Do they still pitch the ball with the QB under center to get the running back outside the tackles?

I am trying to remember if this is something Ben had the offense do away with as he liked being in the shotgun, so much.

In the old days I remember Ben being under center, Willie Parker about 7 yards deep, and then a pulling guard moving and Ben pitching the ball to Parker going outside.

 

I think that there are a lot of valid points on both sides of the argument. I am glad that McFarland is showing well and has progressed as a player. It shows work ethic on his part and resolve from our coaching staff. At the end of the day McFarland will make the team if healthy and will be the #3 back on the roster.

He was given some opportunity his rookie year, but wasn’t ready for it in his development. He’s not shown that he is a guy that can create on his own, and our OL was atrocious that year. His second year saw another porous OL and not much development. He got better last year and showed a good bit of development. He got buried in the roster shuffle as Warren out performed him and Tomlin loved having Snell around for some reason. ST’s played some part in Snell making the team, but we just as easily could have cut him for McFarland and been no different. This year he’s built on that and shown even more progression.

it doesn’t matter that the offense is “better built” for a scat back than it was 3 years ago, because even our power back struggled. The OL sucked. It will be better for McFarland simply because there might actually be holes for him to run through. He has the ability to do well in open space and we might actually give him open space for the first time in his career.

His inability on ST’s is a bit concerning based on where he lands on the roster, but we have some good options otherwise that we could afford to hold him on the roster. My guess is that he starts the year as a game day inactive as RB3. I doubt we script packages or plays for him simply because we have a LOT of good weapons otherwise and I’d rather see a concerted effort to get the ball to guys like Heyward or Austin than force it into McFarland.

However… He’s definitely one of the 53 best players we have and if we have any injuries at RB, should be able to slide right into the secondary RB role pretty seamlessly. We will run Harris and Warren with Heyward as the emergency back and would slide McFarland in with any injuries.

 

I think you pretty well summed up the whole conversation. I'm not sure I read that anyone was clamoring for McFarland to be the #2 over Warren. At least not that I saw. IMO, there's a reason he's still around and if they find some plays to take advantage of his strengths, good on the Steelers and McFarland. If not, no skin off my nose. Ultimately, I trust that the Steelers know what they are doing with him infinitely more than I or anyone else on this board does. It only benefits the team and all of us if he succeeds.

 

At least one poster argued that they needed to get him carries ahead of Warren because he is faster. I guess he thought Dri Archer should have taken some carries from Le'Veon Bell, too.