Ant is back

Most college students have earned Bachelor Degrees in the time I have been waiting for Anthony McFarland to play meaningful snaps for the Steelers.

Not gonna hold my breath!

 

Hell Bo Nix has been playing college football for 10 years! He must have a doctorate

 

Or they were waiting to see what the state of the roster was when the time came that they had to activate him because he's a fungible, fringe player.

 

I'm sorry, did someone say that Anthony McFarland has vision and POWER? C'mon, I get that some fans may like the guy, may be enthralled with the speed aspect he presents, but the truth is that in his entire NFL career no one and I mean no one ( any team ) has ever feared seeing McFarland carry the ball. He gets tackled way too easily and doesnt present enough NFL talent to warrant taking your other 2 backs off the field. Trust the experts, if he was that talented, he would be playing, this isnt little league and his daddy is not the coach.

 

Actually as a College recruit he was a top RB in the Nation with offers from Alabama and Miami to name a few .. Those schools don't make offers to scrubs..During his healthy seasons at Maryland he had a great 8.0 YPC average..

He has showed good in all camps in the NFL and again he couldn't stay healthy.. So because he has not played at a high level in the NFL it's not because of his skills or what he has put on tape it is exactly what it seems ,, he has been playing hurt or been hurt ..

He was on the field on a crucial 4th. down and made the play by the way ,, so it would seem the Coach has a different view of him than you and some others on this board do..

I predicted they had a package for him and it proved they did , I now predict that package is even bigger as he has been at every practice the entire 21 day window while the Offense has been trying to find ways to make splash plays it simply hasn't happened .. All reports from camp is the package he was in worked on our D it worked in pre season games so it makes sense to try it now if he is healthy..

 

None of that counters what RobertoC wrote. McFarland has not demonstrated good vision or power as a pro. He has speed and he has proven he can run a swing route into the flat. That's about it. Any package for him would take snaps and touches away from Warren, which would be idiotic.

 

For the past 3 years fans have called this a wasted pick. All the sudden, he’s the missing piece to take this anemic offense to the next level while sitting behind the two RBs that the team signed because he didn’t pan out.

 

Even though McFarland is now healthy I wouldn't play him against the Packers. A healthy McFarland will certainly run for 280 yards and 4 TD's against Green Bay. It would be better to let Harris and Warren try and muddle through against the Pack and then unleash the unstoppable force Anthony McFarland against an unsuspecting Browns team a week later. (If I knew how to make the font green it would be greener than the entire country of Ireland).

 

I keep wanting to bring up that McFarland post that told many of us We didn't know what We were talking about, and we would be eating crow, but I feel sorry for them right now. The only way right now He should get on the field is special teams, or an injury.

 

That's pretty much how I remember his 'career'. There was a td, was that in preseason (?) honestly do not remember, the whole let haters hate thing is not about potential, but 4 years in potential should have produced something.

 

How many heisman RB;s have been NFL busts?? Potential runs aground quickly when you cannot put pads on.

 

DK today on the Ramon show today said he is expecting McFarland to be a big part of the offense going forward. He is very excited to see McFarland play this weekend against Green Bay; says Canada has designed plays just for McFarland to take advantage of his speed.

 

DK. On the future this morning with McFarland "Austin and McFarland operating out of the backfield" in practice yesterday.

 

We have already seen ample evidence that Canada is a terrible offensive coordinator. If he really is wasting valuable practice time on creating something for McFarland that would take snaps away from Warren, he's even dumber than I had realized.

 

On offense, he touched the ball twice for 11 yards. One was a tough catch. That warrants taking snaps from better players like Warren and Harris?

It's good that he is back. Maybe he can do something on kickoff returns and he can step in if something happens to Harris or Warren. His role should be no more than what Igwebuike has been in his place.

 

To put it succinctly McFarland is not going to make a difference in this offense. He's had a couple years to show his talent with almost nothing to show for it.

 

3 1/2 years with almost nothing to show for it

Kendrick Green could have gained as many yards on offense in the same time

 

The same can be said for that practice squad player who just refused to go away, and was not even good enough to make the active roster for his early years in the NFL.....

I think his name was James Harrison.
2002 Played in 1 game no tackles
2003 Played in no Games in the NFL, but did play in a few games over in Europe. Cut by Baltimore before the season started.
2004 Played mostly on Special teams. Started 4 games that year.

 

We all know the James Harrison story. You’re using an outlier as a standard. Until McFarland does something he’s done nothing. And by your logic of the James Harrison theory, then we should probably never cut anybody.

 

Stretching the defense is a real thing a great way to do that is with speed. So not only does he have that he also looks like a decent route runner and has showed good hands. This can and will open up more running lanes it will also force the defense out of double team coverage.if a d tries to guard a speedster with a LB it will be a huge mistake. This is exactly why he has a package and will get playing time. .His skill set is just different than the rest of our RB'S it's a brilliant move to force a Defense to play different styles of attack..

 

Come on grandpa tell us the story again about the 6th round pick from Michigan who grew up to be an NFL quarterback