Time for a Redman thread

As most know I have been in this kids corner since before his 1st NFL training camp,,,and with that said he ran like a man possesed against the 5th. ranked D in the NFL.....

He plowed through guys like a mack truck ,but BA wanted Mendy to get the glory....NP just wanted to show the Love and give some info to the Mendy is so much better than Redman crowd.....
The info is that Redman was at a 6.4 YPC against a real NFL D once again.......He was at over 7.0 YPC last year in the playoffs.....He also is the best blitz pick up RB on the Team thats per Ben and per the tape......
Anyone who still thinks that Redman is not a legit NFL RB is just hating,......He has caught almost every pass in 2 years I think he has dropped 1 or 2......Also he has picked up every blitzer except 2 in 2 years per Steelers Depot....
He is also in the Top 5 in the NFL in short yardage conversion,,,,and is in the Top 5 in the NFL in yards after contact.....Not just compared to the back ups or just the AFC,, this is in the entire NFL.....

And my problem is still the same ......How can a guy who is doing all this only get 8 touches a game and only 30% of the total snaps????

BA please wake up,,,,you showed signs of life last game ,,but no where near what this Team can do if the RB'S where used properly.........It is simple enough,,,I wished Coach T had the Brash to say .......Get Mendenhall,Miller, and Redman on the field for at least 90% of the plays and after that just call it the way you want to........

You would see this O explode forcing Teams to stay in a base run D as no Team could cover any WR option 1on 1 and no Team could stop the run ,,,,playing in a zone...I have seen the future and this is what it looks like....LOL......

 

You make some good observations about Redman. He's a beast that runs with reckless abandon - reminds me of Marshawn Lynch but without all the personal baggage. But in all likelihood he'll continue to be under utilized as long as you-know-who is our OC.

 

:goodpost:

 

well i got mendy on my fantasy team....so I am all for mendy getting the goalline touches

 

I agree with PWP, as usual he's on point. Thats the problem with BA as well he lives in fantasy land.

 

Are you sure you aren't his mother...girlfriend? No, I'm kidding. I was a big fan of the Mendy drafting and I still think the guy can play, however, I'm a bigger fan of the Steelers winning. I"m all for spreading the ball around and going with the back that is hot!

 

PWP IS Isaac Redman! Seriously though, I believe PWP's comments are accurate. I was very skeptical at first and even poo-pood PWP's comments about Red over on the other board. I figured he would only be a training camp and preseason wonder-boy playing against guys who won't make teams, but not produce in games when it mattered. But all Red has done is executed and delivered when he gets an opportunity. He has done everything asked of him and then some. Why we don't use him more is beyond me. But look no further than BA. I've dabbled in coaching youth football for about 5 years and have been out of it for the past 2 years. I'm certainly not saying that I'm any kind of coaching expert, but I know dozens of coaches at the youth and high school level who can coach circles around BA. Guys that can seriously evaluate the talent of the players and adjust plays, gameplans, formations, etc. to the skills and abilities of the players and to what the other team is doing. And really, because you don't have superstars at every position in youth football, if you don't adjust to the skills and abilities of your players, then you will be sunk. Coaches have to be strategists and they must watch closely at what the other team is doing, how and who they are lining up and where, what stunts, twists, fakes, blitzes, coverage, etc. the other team is showing. I have no doubt that BA has it in him otherwise he wouldn't be coaching at the pro level, but he seems to have forgotten some of these fundamental things for a coach. Maybe, the issue is that he needs to "return to his roots" so to speak. Maybe he needs to be stuck with lower talent players and see what he can scheme to make them look better than they are. To me, that is the mark of a good coach. All BA has done is underachieved with the talent that he has.

Secondly, while the relationships young men build with coaches, ex-players, boosters, etc. are still critical to get exposure and gain support from people who can influence decision-makers, we can't overlook the power of the internet, social media, etc. We would be foolish and hypocritical to think or believe that folks who make personnel decisions don't "surf the web". Of course they do just like me and you and everyone else posting and reading here. We all at least read and probably post on other sites / boards. So, I firmly believe that scouts, coaches, and players read internet MB's, blogs, youtube, and so on. Just because you read something online, doesn't mean you have to act on it, but I think it would be foolish not to use such a broad and free resource that could help you be successful. I mean, think about it. In your professional career, do you ever search online for answers to questions that will help you do your job? I do.

 

I like Redman a lot too, and think he could do with more touches, but I'm also a big fan of Mendenhall. I don't want to knock Redman, but I do believe that if he got 20 touches per game his average would drop tremendously, probably to right around 4 ypc. Mendy's average is so low because he has SO many runs that go for 0 yards or less. Like 5 or 6 per game! Looking at those runs, he's always met with one or more defenders in the backfield and I just don't see what anyone expects him to do with that. I think his "dancing" is blown way out of proportion. I don't see him passing up holes because he's scared, I just see him (often times) trying to get around opponents instead of going through them. That's not exactly a bad thing, it's kind of his job. He has the ability, so he tries. And a lot of times it works. We've seen him bounce dives all the way around the corner for 10+ yards bunches of times. Redman can't outrun anyone, and is more likely to just crash into a guy and fall down two yards later. That's awesome, and I'm not complaining. But when Mendy sees no hole, tries to find an opening somewhere else, and gets tackled, people say he's a dancer and he's soft. I say if he'd just crashed into the line like you wanted, he might have gotten a yard or two, but he definitely wouldn't have gotten 10 yards or more.

Redman is a great short yardage back, but don't act like Mendenhall's not a great one too. He might not be as good as Redman at it, but it's way closer than people think. Look at his touchdowns. He can bowl people over too. He's not exactly walking in, he's earning it. People never seemed to recognize how great his TD against the Ravens in the playoffs was last year that won us the game. It was on 3rd down, and he squeaked by 3 Ravens to do it. Without it we get a field goal and it's a very different ball game. He plowed through Bart "Can't Wait" Scott the next week. The one where he was untouched yesterday, he was untouched because he cut back behind SIX Bengals. I know I'm defending this guy a lot, but I think he gets a real bad rap around here (the message board). He's an elite short yardage back right alongside Redman. So it's not so easy for me to say it's all about glory (although that might play a small role -- bigger investment in Mendenhall means they look better if he gets the points). But is there a cost to that? If it's Willie Parker or Mewelde Moore, then you have a feeling the team's best interests are not at heart. Mendy and Redman are both great goal line backs and I'm happy with either or both of them in there.

Redman may have a slight edge in short yardage, and he may have a very slight edge in pass protection, but the dropoff from him to Mendenhall is minimal. The dropoff from Mendenhall to Redman in speed and quickness is huge.

Redman might be more likely to get 3 tough yards where Mendy would get 2, but Mendy's more likely to break a big play. I think we can all agree on that, and a lot of people just don't care and would rather have 3 yards than 2 yards. There's a case to be made for that when our blocking is as bad as it is sometimes. But I don't want to take carries away from the only fast RB we have, especially when that back is NOT Willie Parker and is a bruiser in his own right, even if he's not as much so as the other guy. The distribution should depend on the game, the score, the opponent, all that, so I think there are times when Redman should get it as much as Mendy or even more, and other times when Mendy should have far more touches. Overall I'm happy with a 65/35 or 60/40 split, on average.

 

I would love to see PWP's strategies put to use. I'm not a coach & never played the game, but what he says makes perfect sense to me. I loved to see the Bus lining up behind Kreider & pounding the opponent silly in the 4QTR. We need to get back to that situation; rather than the 4QTR meltdowns we have now. Other people here have said the OL does a good job with straight-ahead run blocking as opposed to zone run blocking. I believe the 2nd loss to the Ravens is firmly on the offense when they called the swing pass to Johnson on 3rd & 2. Redman running behind Johnson likely would have had that 1st down & the game.

 

i'm agreeing with ya on this one HS. mendy is a much quicker takeoff guy then redman. in other words mendy gets back to speed quicker after a hit then red does. i like all our backs. what a stable we have. including memo. we should have another one next year when batch gets going. trouble is we have a dynamic receiving corp. two good TE's 5 good RB's and only 1 football.

 

I would like to see Redman get more carries because he runs like a typical Steeler RB. He doesn't dance at the line of scrimmage....

I think Steelers really need a FB if they ever want a more efficient run game. Look at the Ravens running game...yeah they got Ray Rice, but they also invest in top tier FB to lead block....

 

I have been pimping redzone since we first picked him up.Yet another diamond in the ruff that this team has found.We have finally found our guy to get the tough one or two yards we need for a 1st down at the end of the game when the opponent know that we gonna run.

 

It was 1st and 10, but I get your gist. The drop cost us 50 seconds or so of game clock time and we could have won. I actually love the call, but not the player. In clock-rundown mode, why do you throw a pass to the least sure-handed player on the offense? Run the same play with Saunders, win the game. Oh wait, we did that the next week.

 

I love Redman! I feel so much more confident when he is out there. Heis a stud! :thumbsup:

 

This is the one reason that BA can really frustrate me. I find myself questioning his play calls, but I also realize that there are factors involved in play calling that I may not understand. For example, the play may have been an audible, or a player/players executed poorly and the play ended up being an adjustment by Ben after the snap, etc. But even to a guy like me, who only ever played football as a young kid and has never coached at all, it is obvious that Redman is not getting the carries that he has earned with his success. I agree that it is nice to have multiple options in the backfield and that Mendy has abilities (speed - quickness) that are superior to Redman. But I disagree that Redman can't make a big play.

On several occasions this season I can remember Redman getting to the second level and making tacklers miss. I know he won't outrun a safety or CB for 70 Yds, but his yards per carry is 150% of Mendy's. Also I would rather end up in 2nd and 6 situations 5 times a game than 2nd and 2 twice and 2nd and 12 three times.

In case my point is as unclear as I think it may be, what I am trying to say is I prefer a back who will rarely lose yardage to a back who frequently does, even if it costs the team 2 or 3 long runs into the endzone per season.

 

I agree with a lot of this. I didn't mean to say Redman can't make big plays. He just won't be running away from anybody, so after he gets to the second level he'll usually be caught pretty quickly. Not that that's really a bad thing though. He's had several 15-20 yard runs in his career.

 

How spoiled did we get as Steeler fans with Willie Parker? All I am reading on here about Mendenhall is that Redman doesn't have his quickness , his speed, that take it to the house on any given play ability. To hear some of these comparisons you would think that every time Mendy get the rock he takes it 85 yards to the endzone instead of once in a great while he breaks a 30 yard plus run. Does he have the speed and quickness to break a long one? Yeah but lets be realistic about how many times that has happened in his career here. Redman doesn't need to out run anyone nor does Mendenhall all they need to do is be consistent at gaining positive yardage and wearing down the defense. Make teams put mire guys in the box and open it up for the passing game. It is nice that a player can break a long one ala Fast Willie but I am more impressed by carrying three or fours guys with you an extra four or five yards than by having the ability to run really fast if you have a clear lane which lets face it isn't happening with the current blocking scheme. SO put the punisher in and make opposing teams feel the pain.

 

Are you kidding? I couldn't wait to move on from Willie Parker. I'll gladly take either of these guys over him, and maybe Dwyer. But when he was around (and good) we had Marvel Smith, Alan Faneca, Jeff Hartings, Kendall Simmons... Not Ramon Foster, Doug Legursky, Chris Kemoeatu.

 

Then why is the big knock on Redman that he isn't the threat to take it all the way like Mendenhall is? That was never a concern before Parker and now it seems to be the common thread when ever someone gives Mendenhall the edge over Redman.

I didn't mind Parker except for the fact that for all the good having Bettis as a mentor did it also hurt him since he got into his head that he was an inside power runner or an every down back. He was a speed guy and should have stuck to what he was good at running off tackle or to the outside. He was not a power back and I hated when he tried to be one.

 

I'm not knocking him, it's true. I love Redman, and he actually has great quickness and balance for someone his size, especially in small spaces. But he's just not fast at all. I don't want him to be, I like him the way he is. But as I said above, I think Mendenhall is way closer to Redman's power than Redman is close to Mendenhall's speed or quickness. I want them both heavily involved in the offense, and on the field at the same time a lot more. I get the point that as long as we have terrible blocking, we might as well go with the guy who is just a battering ram instead of the smaller battering ram/"dancer" who is more likely to go all the way. But the truth is that our line is improving, and next year I think it will be the best line we've seen since Hartings left. The long runs will be more plentiful.

Me too. That had a lot to do with BA, and a lot to do with his timidness after breaking his leg. Not to mention the blocking that we had by 2008.