Dwyer swears he's in shape, sick of defending himself

I've heard conflicting reports this year, but definitely more "out of shape" than "in shape" reports. From the pictures, I don't think he looks like the fat slob I've read about, but he's kidding himself if he thinks this is the best he can do. He's still got a clear pooch belly, which does not work to a running back's advantage. Jerome Bettis, he ain't. He would be best served to be in the best shape possible, and he clearly isn't.

One thing to point out about Dwyer's quote - he didn't say he's in shape, he said he will be in shape for training camp. That's enough time to do it. Hope he does. Frankly, it would be pathetic if he didn't.

 

There was more on this text conversation in another article from Dejan...

“The only thing I'm thinking about is being the starting running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Dwyer said. “This is my job. This is how I take care of my wife and son. They're going to have to drag me off the field for me to give up my job. I'm ready, physically and mentally, to be one of the best in the league.”




I think people tend to worry too much about players' physical conditioning. I trust that Tomlin isn't going to put him in there if he's not physically prepared... He's certainly played hardball with Mendenhall, so why would Dwyer be any different?

I like Dwyer, and thought he had the makings of a feature back, until I heard we were going towards a more athletic and quicker footed offensive line. In a power run scheme Dwyer would be great. I still would love to have him as our #2, but not sure he fits our scheme completely now.

 

he'll have to do better in the passing game then he has. my worst fear is giving him a 3 year deal and then he doesn't come in to camp in shape if we keep him.

i'm waiting to see mcneal this preseason. he's a sleeper.

 

TOTALLY agree!

 

If he's really sick of defending himself, he should just tell the press: "yep, I'm overweight, I'm going to eat as many pies as I can before season, and I'm just off to Burger King after this interview. And I will STILL annihilate the opposition, and be the best goddam starting RB for the Steelers."

(Unsurprisingly, my career in PR never really took off...)

 

Maybe he should try, "I'm in the shape I'm in right now and I'm OK with me. A person can always be in better shape! Even though I'm one McNugget away from being a left tackle I have no doubt that I will be in the shape I will be in when I report to Latrobe. I will certainly be ready to eat...er...the competition when I waddle, I mean run, out onto the field. I'm hoping I can fit, literally, into any position I get a shot at but I am excited at the prospect of the wing-back being reintroduced. Speaking of wings..."

(I should have had a career in PR)

 

He will be tapping out after the first series as usual, him and Lamaar.

 

I think Woodley is going to get about 12 sacks this season and everyone will be eating their words. I think some guys just carry weight differently than others. Wood is never going to have the chiseled physique of Joey Porter. I attribute his decline to injuries more than weight... Like the coaches have said, he's not any bigger than he's ever been.

People seem to forget just how good Woodley was earlier on. He set a record for having 2 sacks in every playoff game he played in for a while.

 

I've not forgotten how great he was which is what makes me so dang aggravated at him for not keeping himself healthy. It's TIME for him to step up.

 

I just rewatched my 2008 season DVD...I loved Tomlin calling him out to get in on the sack party. Let's not forget, Woodley was all over the field that season. Actually, I think many of us remember it, which is what has been so frustrating these last few years.

 

Well, Coach T is always talking about position flexibility.

(somehow I don't think this is what he had in mind...)

 

I can't understand why people keep saying they don't want a 2nd round draft pick getting bell cow type carries. Either he's good enough to get that many carries or he's not, it shouldn't really matter where he was drafted.

Doug Martin had a huge number of carries last year and he was a rookie. True, he was a first round pick and not a second, but that's pretty much irrelevant. Either Bell has the talent or not. If he does, give him the carries, if he's not ready or simply isn't talented enough, then don't give him the carries. It shouldn't matter where he was drafted.

 

Could not agree more with this statement! I just hope that Tomlin and Haley don't utilize the RB by Committee approach that was a miserable failure last year.

 

Why would that be a bad thing?

Limiting Bell's carries wouldn't have as much to do with his talent as not killing him. Backs have a short shelf life and Big-10 backs hap a reputation of an even shorter one. Dwyer and Bell are both young and hungry. I don't understand the hate for Dwyer... In my opinion he was by far our best back last season.

Ben's rookie year we used Bettis and Staley and it was a thing of beauty. Duce would grind them down and Bettis would come in the 2nd half and just blow through tired defenses.

 

Where did I say I hated Dwyer? I've been one of Dwyer's biggest proponents on this MB. My point is the RBBC approach does not give anyone the opportunity to get into the flow of the game. RBs need opportunities to get into the flow of the game and I can see a guy like Bell needing that. He's a big back and can wear the defense down over the course of the game and then we can take over in the 4th quarter like we used to do when the Bus was in there kickin' butt and taking names. I want to have the defensive players arguing over who is going to initiate the contact and not wanting to be the one that does which used to happen when Bus was in his prime.

 

they probably will but i bet it's a different set of RB's then we had.

i'm not sure we will have a defined bell cow guy and even 3rd down back. it's going to be a little different O with a mobile line and a ZBS. this could be an offense with alot of different skillsets needed for RB's for it to reach it's peak. the days of run it into the line and hope theres a hole, or break a tackle to get a few extra yards up the middle are over.

i knew going to the casey hampton training facility instead of shaws was a mistake for wood and dwyer.

 

No way. The Nathan's contest is before training camp, after all...

 

With all this talk from Dwyer about how his conditioning is good even though reports say differently has me almost guaranteed that he will go down within the first week of training camp with a "groin" injury or something so he can't prove his worth(lessnes) to the team.

 

Yeah, the 2nd round pick thing was my only point. I don't care if he's a 5th round pick or the first overall pick, if he gives us the best chance to win, get him out there and run him hard and often. Hopefully he doesn't break down, but if he does, then so be it. I'm of the belief that you play your best players and you hope they can get through the season rather than limiting them to make sure they get through the season. Now don't get me wrong, some RB's aren't bell cow type guys and they shouldn't be thrown to the wolves, but Bell has the body type to stand up to the abuse, so if he is our best RB in the pre-season, give him 20-25 carries and hope he can stay healthy. Don't give him only 15 carries to make sure he stays healthy, unless Tomlin thinks a committee is the best way to win, then so be it.

 

i agree shaner the placement in the draft is nonsense to a degree. especially around here. the steelers probably have had more UDFA's and lower level picks make it, as anywhere.

the 2nd round has been an enigma to our GM and front office. i hope this one hits. i think he made a point of that too.

 

I actually always thought rotating backs was a good idea...
Until I saw it last season.
Granted there were a lot of other issues, mostly injuries, and turnovers, but based off last year`s "experiment", I would have to conclude it`s better to pick a starter, and spell them occasionally, than try to "keep everybody fresh"...
However, I think Mac is probably right... we`re probably gonna try the "commitee thing" again, but maybe with some "tweaks"...
Hopefully we get better in the run game period.
Last year was completley unacceptable.
And the 2 before that were pretty close. Certainly not up to "STEELER" standards!!!
I don`t care how it happens, but we GOTTA get better at running the ball!!!

 

Yeah, I can see not wanting any given RB getting 25 touches per game. Don't want to wear him down if you can help it, and it's nice to have other options as a change of pace and to keep legs fresh. But who cares if he's a rookie, or what round he came in? That makes no sense.

In recent years the 2nd round hasn't been too unkind to us. Look at it since Tomlin arrived: '07 Woodley, '08 Sweed, '09 none (Urbik/Wallace/Lewis in round 3), '10 Worilds, '11 Gilbert, '12 Adams. Only one of those guys really didn't work out, and it was for pretty unforeseeable reasons. And if you go back to the Cowher/Colbert days, it's not too bad either. Only a couple of busts. The whole list is:

Marvel Smith, Kendrell Bell, Antwaan Randle El, Alonzo Jackson, Ricardo Colclough, Bryant McFadden, LaMarr Woodley, Limas Sweed, Jason Worilds, Marcus Gilbert, Mike Adams

(Blue is a good pick, Red bad, and Purple mixed/unknown) If you make projections on Worilds, Gilbert, and Adams based on what we've seen so far, they could easily all be blue. Definitely closer to blue than red. I think it's safe to say that they will all be decent starters and not busts, with the potential to be very good. That's 8 out of 11. And more than a couple of them were home runs. Just for fun, I looked up the all-knowing magical genie Ozzie Newsome's 2nd rounders from the same time frame:

Gary Baxter, Anthony Weaver, Dwan Edwards, Dan Cody, Adam Terry, Chris Chester, Ray Rice, Paul Kruger, Sergio Kindle, Terrence Cody, Torrey Smith, Courtney Upshaw, Kelechi Osemele

I see fewer highs, fewer lows, and a lot more mediocrity. Rice and Smith are home runs, Upshaw and Osemele have disappointed and looked good respectively, but are both too soon to call. I don't know what to say about Kruger, who has basically had a Jason Worilds career that somehow got him $40 million. I made him blue because I figure they'll at least get a comp pick after that contract he signed. Kindle, Cody, and Cody were busts, and the rest were just kind of Meh. Baxter, Weaver, Edwards, Terry, Chester... all of them not terrible players, but not what I'd call good. Certainly not what anybody hopes for from a 2nd rounder. I definitely wouldn't say that track record is better than ours.

And, for more fun, the magical all-knowing genie that is Bill Belichick and the Patriots' FO:

Adrian Klemm, Matt Light, Deion Branch, Eugene Wilson, Bethel Johnson, Marquise Hill, Chad Jackson, Terrence Wheatley, Patrick Chung, Ron Brace, Darius Butler, Sebastian Vollmer, Rob Gronkowski, Jermaine Cunningham, Brandon Spikes, Ras-I Dowling, Shane Vereen, Tavon Wilson

Bahh! So much red. This was fun.