Archer to get more touches

i'm waiting to see it

 

as haley said in his last statement about him. "at anytime he can take it to the house". he's not going anywhere, you might as well root for the kid. I've seen him do it enough to know he's capable of doing it. once it's done, he'll be just another piece of the puzzle teams will have to defend in a short week of preparation. that works for me. one year doesn't define an NFL career.

 

This and that.....I'm still in his corner. You have to hope that he puts in the work and makes the neccessary adjustments. I liked the glimpses I saw in our last game he needs to continue to build on that.

 

Yes... Speed kills...

It just has to be used right, and I don`t care if he only gets 5 or 6 touches a game...

Don`t put him on the field, ONLY on the 5 or 6 plays he gets the ball...

He will have to prove that he can block, so, he can be on the field as a decoy, when he`s NOT getting the ball...

Pretty hard for a man of his stature to do, but diving at the knees is an accepted tactic on other teams, and it at least slows the defender down...

I think that is his real weakness... not being able to stop a Linebacker/D-End...

So, maybe you just run him out of the backfield, and DON`T throw to him a few times/game, to make one of the defenders have to account for him...

When they don`t, and Ben DOES throw him the ball, he gets 40 yards, or better, per pass...

I believe he is a weapon to be utilized... Just gotta be smart in how it`s done...

Deception is key on offense... When he gets the ball every time he is on the field, it will never work...

And I pretty much always hate delayed draw-type plays up the middle...

I don`t have the stats, but those plays seem to work less than once out of every 100 times we run them...

Don`t get too cute...

Get the quick guy the ball, in space, and let him do his thing.
And sometimes fake it to him, and throw deep...

Variety is the spice of life!!!

He should not be on the field for half of our offensive snaps, but I could live with about 15 to 20% of them, if he only gets the ball 5 to 10% of the time...

GO STEELERS!!!

 

If I were to use Dri, and that is a big IF... I would still use him as a wide receiver with at least 2 other WRS on the field. That way he can't be singled out. He is not believable as a blocker or runningback. There are so many options with him as a receiver.

WR Screens, WR reverse handoffs. Put him in motion to keep the defense guessing. Its not like he has to go deep and run timing routes, they could just be short dump off type passes.

 

Yeah I have had this discussion before. I am of the opinion that punt returning is harder because the return man has to decide whether to fair catch based on proximity of defenders and foeld position very quickly. A good punt returner should be able to return kicks.

 

I think this kid better hone up on his return skills
this is the only touches he will ever see.AB,Bell Miller, Wheaton , Bryant. it just doesn't add up for more touches.

 

I agree that he needs to hone his return skills.

What was baffling to me was that most of his mistakes were him trying to break out the big play when he should have just taken a knee. Bad starting field position milled us early in the season.

That's a classic rookie error - not adjusting to the speed of the pro game. What's worrying is that either the coaches weren't coaching him up to make the sensible decisions about the return, or they were and he wasn't learning. OR the problems on each return were due to something getting botched up further down the field, so Archer expected a hole to be somewhere it wasn't - which is plausible.

In general, it seems to be a problem of a) Archer getting used to the pro level and b) Haley knowing what he's got so he can use it best. You may say that for a 3rd round pick they shouldn't be taking so long to get used to the pro level. But Archer doesn't play a conventional position in that sense. Give him a year, see what he can do.

 

Unfortunately he does not have a whole lot of flesh..

 

Can you imagine being his size and seeing some dude running full speed and ready to decapitate you as you stand there and wait on the ball? I think returning kicks is probably the toughest way to make a living in the NFL.

 

How does 500K/yr sound to do that?

 

If all I'm gonna do is fair catch it I could get used to that.

 

Maybe this should be our new tactic. Resign ourselves to poor field position, and put Greg Warren back receiving punts. Or Brad Wing. Brad Wing can do anything.

 

I wouldn't call Antonio horrible with that. He's one of the most elusive players in the league.

 

Personally, I think some of you should cut the kid a little slack. I mean seriously, he was a late 3rd round pick..... regardless of position, those guys require development. Not many late 3rd rounders walk on to an NFL starting roster. He may never work out, but that's the whole process in the NFL, use the rookie contracts to develop and see who works and who doesn't. 18 Touches in a year can't be enough to evaluate a player.

 

In order for Archer to be a legit threat is has to be part of the base offense other wise he becomes a gimmick player and like Strummerfan said the opposing defenses will know what's coming. 3-5 touches are fine but he has to be part of more plays than just those 3-5. I still remember BA troting out Stefan Logan three times versus the Lions everytime it was a fake reverse handoff to Mendenhall. The part that always sticks out is that Mendenhall barely got 4-5 yards everytime and the lions didn't buy it at all, completely ignored Logan which would have been awesome if on the third time they gave him the ball or even ran it a fourth time and handed it to him. Archer should be part of a split backfield with Bell and be a receiving threat more than a true RB, maybe a fake handoff Bell, pitch to Archer which would allow him to start to get up to speed. I'd have him work on his passing too be a good gadget play lateral pass back to Ben and then down field.

 

I was hoping that this thread was going to be an early April Fools joke.

 

http://a.video.nfl.com/films/s2014/nflcom/p02/140809_prewk2_bp_pit_driarcher46ydcatch_700k.mp4

http://a.video.nfl.com/films/2014/NFL_NOW/SHOW/NFL_NOW/PRE/2/140816_bp_PIT_Archer_40_yard_catch_62814_700k.mp4

 

Put archer in motion out of the backfield or in the slot or in a 4 wr set and let the man speed do the rest. All of these end arounds and bubble screens play into the defenses hand. Send him vertical on a lber or safety and I like our odds of winning on that play. It's not the player...it's how we are using the player. Man, wisenhunt or Gailey would have a field day with defenses if they had archer. Imagination is one characteristic that Haley does not possess.

 

I was at the Giants game and I was so excited about what he could bring to our offense....sadly he was grossly misused and underutilized the rest of the season. I don't know for some reason we were unable to fit him into our offense this year,we don't seem to adept at implementing new stuff week to week. We got on the Bell bandwagon and rightfully so ,but it left no room for anyone else to get involved. The downside was " obviously" the results when Bell got hurt. Here's to hoping for a slightly lesser load for Bell and some touches for some other guys......

 

He'll have one more season to do something, anything. Just don't run the little guy up the middle.

Sheeesh

 

He is obviously suited as a slot receiver, put him there and let him use that speed in the mold of a wes welker, wake up haley this kid is a natural slot..

 

Yeah, My bad...

Horrible is too strong of a word..."frustrating", would be a better one...

He CAN break the big one, I just think he tries too hard to break the big one, at the expense of leaving 10 to 20 easy yards on the field, by getting north n south, 1st...

And Now that I`ve had time to think about it,

Yes...

It is harder to return punts, than kickoffs...

Also, I think "Thorn" hit on a good point...

If Archer is to be used, he needs to be used in the "base offense", more often...

Even if he isn`t getting the ball... He can be a good decoy... Putting him AND Bell in the backfield at the same time, opens up a lot of possibilities...

Unfortunateley, I have pretty much given up hope, that we will ever line up a "fast" back, and a "power" back, in the backfield, at the same time, no matter how much our coaches/coordinaters have talked about it for the last 5 years or more...

I actually wanted us to do this with Willie, and the Bus, back in the day, but Cowher pretty much insisted on being "either/or" ...

If it ever happens, I think it will pay off...

I just doubt they will do it.

GO STEELERS!!!