Mendenhall O/U

He may be the best RB on the team, but I would hardly call Rahtard Mendenhall a "feature" back. Feature backs are guys like Arian Foster (Go Big Orange!), Ray Rice, AD Peterson, MJD, Lynch. As far as I'm concerned, Mendenhall has yet to prove that he can be a feature back on par with these other real feature backs.

 

Any RB on our team could be damn-near unstoppable with a good o-line.

That said, I'm looking forward to seeing what Menday can do against the Beagles.

 

1000 yard seasons with defenders in his face prior to the line of scrimmage, and the ability to shoulder a large burden for the offense when the starting QB is out pretty much does it for me. We can agree to disagree since we all experience the game differently, to some degree.

Let's enjoy the game on Sunday! Can't wait to see a Steelers win at Heinz!

 

In my mind, 1,000 yards rushing in a season is good - very good. But I wouldn't consider hitting the 1,000 yard mark, the benchmark of what it takes to be considered a feature RB. I see a feature RB as the guy that helps to define your offensive philosophy and who you are as a team. Mendenhall has never been that guy. Maybe in 2010 when Mendenhall was in the top 10 rushers in the league he was close to being that kind of player. But, we clearly haven't been a run first team for several years now. So, I just don't see any RB being defined as a feature RB in a pass first offense. And your offensive philosophy should be influenced by the talents of the players on the field. And a lot of our ineffectiveness on offense was because BA refused to design and call plays that fully leveraged the strengths of the players; however, some of that has to be due to the effectiveness and abilities of the players too. Of course I want to see him have a big day and I hope he doesn't get the Wee Willie Parker syndrome after coming back from a major injury like this where he is afraid to hit the hole and avoids contact. I was never a huge Parker fan, but Mendenhall hasn't played to the Wee Willie Parker level yet. For a couple of years, I considered Parker to be the feature RB here and of course, the Bus was before that. I hope Mendenhall can become that kind of player consistently. That would mean building on what he did in 2010.

 

I hear you. I feel differently. I can see Mendenhall has the requisite talent. Whether his team leverages that, or not, is not his fault.

 

raying:

 

why didn't they roll their sleeves up and do their job in the first 3 games? i'm sorry practice doesn't improve physical deficiencies of slow linemen.

 

Didn't you hear? The Eagles have designed a game plan for this week that involves all of the players on the field lying down at the snap of the ball. Some players are going to roll over, others will just lay there. I'm somewhat concerned about the players that wont be rolling over!