Better Play design probably helping Mcfarland

Yeah, I'm not in that camp. I like Warren and he earned it. However, if this year just happens to be the McFarland coming out party, we'll all be the beneficiaries.

 

Technically his argument was that the current offense better suits a player like McFarland than it has in the past, therefore we should get him the ball. Past struggles were shrugged off based on scheme, and potential success is pumped up based on athletic ability and scheme fit.

I don’t agree with the argument (see post above) but I think it’s a better representation than just “give him ball bc he’s fast”.

Either way it’s a moot point bc I don’t see a world where Anthony McFarland gets too many in game snaps without an injury to Harris or Warren. They’re both better and more well rounded players and will be the only people getting the ball out of the backfield outside of a couple potential Connor Heyward short yardage carries from the FB position.

 

ok

 

Scintillating

 

His argument for McFarland possibly taking snaps from Warren was speed and his athleticism score. He insisted that the team needed more splash plays. That was the guts of it.

 

Cheers to you my friend it's always a pleasure..

 

https://steelersdepot.com/2023/08/e...e-athletes-to-play-more-situational-football/

Here is a nice read on situational guys being more important than they used to be and about creating mismatches .. Mcfadden is not mentioned by name , but it does state some Teams having 3 RB'S that do different things.. This supports what I am saying about the Scat RB position , he has a huge chance to have a break out year ...

 

Just got in from work finally found the run by Mcfarland and here is what I saw.. Great blocking a complete seal of the edge , it appears he showed some patience as the play was going into the 6 hole and he seen the edge and bounced .. 3 guys had somewhat of a angle ,but no one had a chance ..

This kid came out of school early and has had a lot of injury history ..It appears he has worked with his strength and condition coach and is probably a bit faster and may be stronger not sure on that? he clearly has that take it to the house type speed ..

All fans just pray he can stay healthy as he is ready for a breakout year ..The Team really didn't bring in competition ..Coach T talking about situational guys .. The other RB'S talking about how good he looks.. Pundits talking about him getting all kinds of separation in the passing game , and a OC who came from and used a lot of Scat game Offense , plus Coach T talking about I hope he carves out a bigger role ..

Don't forget the magic of the PWP pimp..

 

Bring back DHB! He will deliver #7 Lombardi trophy!

 

We got two North/South runners ahead of him on this team. We can't flip the script just to accommodate the 3rd RB.

I don't even believe he will stay healthy enough to be a major factor on this offense. All his potential snaps most likely will go to Young Heyward.

For McFarland to be a lock on this team he either needs to be an ace 3rd down blocker or be a special teams ace.

 

Nice avatar

 

It is tough to have a breakout year with two guys ahead of you who are both better backs. It is going to be even more difficult for him to be on the field much if tonight is any indication. Yes, he had a couple of nice runs. He also showed that he still sucks at picking up the blitz. It would be foolish to put him out there very often over Harris and Warren, who are both better in every phase of the game, including being able to help protect Pickett.

 

Funny, you are trying to say McFarland had a bad game.

McFarland is a better downfield receiver and outside runner than Jaylen Warren will ever be.

 

Go back and watch those two last season. The game film does not back up your claim.

Also, no, I didn't say he had a bad game. I said that he needs to show he can pick up a blitz and in that area, he sucked last night.

 

The big improvement with McFarland is his patience. Before when he got the ball he would just start running as fast as he could and run right into a defender or if he had open field he would start dancing around looking to make a move. Last night he waited for the blocking and turned on the jets at the right time. When he had open field there was no messing around.

 

McFarland got 6 carries all of last season. I think 3 the season before. Hopefully he used that time wisely.

 

Anthony 'Afterburner' McFarland

 

I prefer the style of Warren to McFarland. Warrens seems to be a straighter type runner with more burst. Reminds me more of a Chubb style runner.

 

My favorite part is making everyone bite towards the middle, and then busting it outside. I hope I have been totally wrong about McFarland.

 

There are 2 ways to pick up the blitz one is standing there and protecting the QB the other is as the hot route where the blitz is coming from.. So to your point of 2 RB'S being better than him at picking it up is true the flip side is he is just as much better at being the get the ball in space guy ..

It's called running multiple types of Offenses that have different ways to attack the Defense ..1 of those Offenses is the scat game with screens, shovel passes, draws, and swing passes ..None of those really put the QB in danger because he is not a great blitz pick up guy..

Another 1 of those is the spread where the RB spreads as a WR and you run quick routes , end arounds , bubble screens , and wheel routes .. None of these put the QB in more danger as well ..

The run he had last night could have been from our own GL and he still would have housed it.. Our other 2 RB'S would have been 15 or 20 yard gains ..

So my main point is it's on the staff to have packages that fit your Scat guy and not ask your Scat guy to be what he is not ..

IMO as Mcfarland was on the practice squad he ran the scout Team Offenses we played a number of Teams that ran those Scat and Spread Offenses and It is reasonable that our OC or HC saw some things that made them think hmm maybe we should be running some of that .. More proof of that is they really didn't bring in any peeps to compete with him..

So I still contend his package was built sometime last year and the staff was waiting on it to see if that thought process was correct..

 

A back has to be able to both run a hot route or block the blitzer. Otherwise, it limits what the offense can do and gives the defense an advantage. McFarland showed that he is still a poor blocker Friday night. But hey, he did turn the corner against a bunch of second and third-stringers.

 

https://theathletic.com/4781054/202...att-canada/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983

7. RB Anthony McFarland Jr.
You have to be careful saying a third-string running back had a good camp considering what kind of talent he is going up against. But that wouldn’t be fair to McFarland. He has had good camps in the past, but this one far exceeded his best, as the Steelers were trying to protect Najee Harris from unnecessary reps. Still, it might not be good enough to make the final 53. He could be in a numbers crunch come two weeks, but that doesn’t take away from what kind of summer he had.

McFarland might want to find a way to make something happen on a kickoff return Saturday. Even with the strong camp, this is at least one report that has him still fighting for a spot on the roster.

 

James Connor was not used a lot in 2017 mainly because he could not block the blitzer

Once he learned he got more snaps

 

2 different kinds of RB''S ..James Conner runs a 4.65 meaning a more Power RB not a Scat RB so to compare those 2 really means nothing .. As I stated above it is up to the Coach to design the right plays and the right type of Offense ..

A similar example would be Austin .. He is very small in stature so does that mean because you like to run toss sweep the home run threat never gets to play ? Of course not you run that sweep to the other side , you allow him to block by running a deep route that takes a Defender out of the box ,you run a fake sweep and throw to him behind it , you run a HB sweep pass .. I could keep going ,but the point is this is what Coaches are paid to do ..Find a way to use guys to their strengths and limit their weaknesses ..It's called a playbook..

IMO the number 1 job of an Offensive attack is to create mismatches ..We have seen a lot of evidence from camp that we are approaching that from multiple spots . I am stoked as we all should be because we need more splash plays and we need to score the ball a lot more this approach is a big step in the right direction...