Better Play design probably helping Mcfarland

You are still missing my point. Washington doesn't have to take touches away from better players to have value because he is a beast of a blocker while McFarland is useless unless the ball is in his hands. Every snap McFarland gets is one that could go to Harris, Warren, Austin, or Robinson, who are all better players. They are already trying to find more snaps for Warren. They already have four receivers who need to get opportunities. They also have three tight ends who need to play. Don't forget Heyward, who already showed he can make big plays in real games, something McFarland hasn't done. He is a guy who is going to get most of his opportunities in the slot. He will also get some in the backfield. Those are snaps he should get over McFarland.

I keep bringing up Austin as a counter to the idea of using McFarland in the slot. Austin is the better option. He runs better routes. He is faster. He is a complete receiver. If you wouldn't rather see him out in a pattern over McFarland, I truly can't help you.

My argument about McFarland as a blocker isn't what he can do lined up at receiver. It is about when he lines up at running back. He can't be trusted to pick up a blitz. Go back and watch the game against the Bucs. Sirvocea Dennis, an undersized rookie, went right through McFarland on blitzes twice. Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of Dennis from his days at Pitt, but a veteran running back should be able to block him. McFarland couldn't because he is useless at picking up blitzes.

I think Levis was a good value early in the second round. I know opinions are all over the place with him, but given how poorly Willis played last season, I don't think it was a bad idea at all for the Titans to hedge their bets at quarterback.

 

It is a combination of snaps and targets. If Washington is going to be on the field, there are going to be plays that have him running a route. It is about having all options on the table when certain players are on the field. Washington doesn't limit their options the way McFarland does because he can be a threat as a receiver and he is a strong blocker. You can't say that about McFarland.

Austin was a primary receiver in college. He didn't just run gadget plays. He ran a full route tree. Based on that alone, I am confident that he is capable of running more types of routes than McFarland, a running back. Regarding the division of snaps for slot receivers, remember, they aren't going to be in four-receiver formations all the time. I assume they will have three out there most of the time, but there will be plenty of plays with only two or one. Remember, they talked about getting Warren more snaps. Some of those may come from Harris, but some will be with them in the backfield together. Some will be with Warren in the slot. We saw some of that late last season. Johnson and Pickens need to be out there most of the time. In three-receiver sets, they can easily rotate in Robinson and Austin. Now remember that they will also be finding snaps for Washington and Heyward. You keep trying to reduce it to just Robinson and Austin, but it isn't. Finding snaps for Warren, Washington, and Heyward will also affect how many snaps they might give to McFarland. Every one of those guys should be a higher priority.

 

Get out of the McFarland thread.

 

Blast and I are having a conversation. Kindly butt out, pun intended.

 

Pretty sure whoever wins this discussion will have the inside track to be the new OC next year.

 

logorrhea

 

https://steelersdepot.com/2023/09/y...-jr-finds-eager-advocate-in-qb-kenny-pickett/

More Love from his QB and more evidence supporting him being used .. So the #1 QB is backing him the #1 RB is backing him his Head Coach is stating he is the best in the RB room at certain things and it is up to the Coaching staff to get them in the game and maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses.. ie Don't ask your scat RB to pick up the blitz..

The only reason I mentioned FWP because if he was graded on blitz pick up he never would have played a down .. Our own #1 RB compared Mcfarland to Darren Sproles. Darren's last complete season he had like 500 yards rushing and 500 yards as a pass catcher plus he added another 300 as a return guy ..

If you compare the 2 Mcfarland is bigger and faster and looks to be a more polished route runner..

 

LOL. You're joking, right?

Even Parker was better picking up a blitz than McFarland. He was also a dynamic runner, something he demonstrated immediately even though he had even less work in college than McFarland. So much for that excuse.

The comparison to Sproles is even more laughable. How does he look like a more polished route-runner? Where are you getting that? A few highlights from practice? He certainly hasn't shown it in a game. McFarland is taller, but not stronger than Sproles, who was 190 pounds at 5-foot-6. McFarland might run faster for a stopwatch in shorts, but on the field, Sproles was much more explosive. He was a dynamic returner from day one. McFarland has shown nothing on returns despite ample opportunity.

Seriously, you're kidding, right?

 

To be fair, you're comparing one player who has been on the team and produced virtually nothing in THREE YEARS vs. a guy who was injured all rookie year and that is the extent of his "chances." As a matter of fact, Austin verbalized that he was ready to play towards the later stages of last year and Tomlin told the media "We don't know how to use him, he's never played in a stadium," at which point I got to say I am pretty sure Memphis did play in stadiums.

 

Stadium is shorthand for NFL stadium.

 

You just know the team is going to be good when the backup backup RB keeps getting talked about.

 

That comes with the honor and privilege of being on this board with PWP

This is not the first iteration of this type with his sponsorship

 

Oh? Guess I've missed that. Who was his last obsession?

McFarland is Willie Parker and Darren Sproles all rolled into one ball of awesome!

 

Redman and DHB. To his credit PWP never wavered in his support for them. Insisted the DHB should play CB because of his ability and size.

Edit: I think he championed Eli Rogers as well because Haley said he was the best slot receiver he ever saw. That one I pushed back on because his was so talented that when given his shot he tripped over his own foot and knocked himself out of the game and a job. I think PWP did I can't remember.

 

He had an asinine man crush on dhb. Another on redman. Even claimed redman would be averaging5,6,7 ypc with haley as OC.

 

I’m guessing at the time you just didn’t think it was worth taking up the long term memory gray cells

 

Nope .. We finally Coaching again , use your best to do what they do best .. FWP gets little to no snaps if his role was based on blitz pick up...McFarland listed as #! on depth chart as a KR meaning he has a hat and probably has snaps..

 

I did ,but never on full tilt..The others was on full tilt ...

 

Yeppers.

well known
PWP was down with DHB

 

Nope not correct the number was 5.0 YPC and that was if we went a power blocking scheme as Redzone got like 3 YPC after contact not far fetched to think if you gave him 2 he could get you 5..He was a Powerful runner not really suited for a zone blocking scheme..

 

It's too bad that Redman didn't come along 10 years later. Can you imagine the unstoppable backfield of him and Anthony McFarland? Redman was a proven 1,000 yard runner and it only took him 50 career games to reach it. Then add McFarland who has an impressive 146 yards rushing over a 3 year period. If we would have kept Josh Dobbs to run the wishbone with those two in the backfield the other teams would have thrown in the towel at halftime.

 

LoL.

 

That implies that McFarland was useless for three years because the coaches didn't do a good job with him, which is even more ridiculous than your posts comparing him to Parker and Sproles. Your obsessions do inspire comedy, if not accuracy.

 

Harris is who compared him to Sproles I just added he is bigger and faster and he appears to be a better route runner..I never compared him to FWP what I said was FWP was very poor at blitz pick up...

If our Coaches have been trying to turn him into a Power RB and a great blitz pick up guy then that was bad Coaching...Sproles ran a bit at RB and he split out in the slot and he was a kick returner..Mcfarland is the KR they are playing him in the slot and his 1 game active he got carries ... So it is clear they intend to use him in a Sproles type of roll and it will be great if he is better at it than Sproles was..

San Fran is great at stopping Power runners and the between the tackle stuff as such we may go more Scat game if the game starts to get out of hand..I hope it doesn't but that is exactly when Sproles got his most work...