Dedhed
09-17-2006, 06:49 AM
I haven't seen this posted, and thought it was interesting. I have a poll coming.
Friday, September 15, 2006
The Bells Toll for Cobbs
Filed under: General— Haven Marceau @ 10:13 am Edit This
I’m not in the habit of making predictions; it’s too easy end up with egg on your face or with a healthy taste of shoe leather in your mouth. In short, when prognosticating in the NFL, it’s easy to come off looking like a complete moron. With that said I’m going to make a prediction about the 2006 Denver Broncos, and the situation they have at running back. Here goes; If Cedric Cobbs gets on the field and carries the ball, he will finish the season as Denver’s starting running back with over 1,000 yards rushing.
I know that Cobbs is the dark horse in the race, he wasn’t even active for last week’s opening loss to the Rams. He’s probably better off for having had nothing to do with that offensive performance; the one that Rod Smith called, “the worst half of offensive football that [he’s] ever been a part of with the Broncos”. The running game had a significant hand in just how ugly things got against the Rams. Tatum Bell, who got what he’s long been waiting for by being named the starter, carried the ball just five times in the first half. He picked up only twenty yards and had a fumble that resulted in a turnover. Mike Bell was hardly much better, picking up just 22 yards on nine carries.
There are reasons to be enamored with both of the Bells. For Tatum it’s the freakish speed, and we’ve heard it a thousand times that “you can’t coach speed”. For Mike it’s been the flash of great vision and the feel good story of the native son. Each back possesses some talent for the position, but I think that Cobbs is the undervalued back of the bunch because he doesn’t have the in your face headline that each of the Bells do.
I’m confused as to why people are so eager to move Tatum out of a role in which he has been extremely successful. How many #2 backs came within yards of rushing for a grand last year? One, Tatum Bell. Tatum fits perfectly into the change of pace role, but people are so enamored with his speed that they think they can take take his 921 yards in a back up role and say that if he were a full time guy he would be a 1600 yard rusher. You quite simply cannot make that kind of leap, and I don’t think Tatum is the kind of back who can carry the ball 25 times a game and maintain the kind of pace he’s set thus far in his career. I also think that having a hard running back like Cobbs in front of him will make Tatum even more effective.
Mike Bell has shown great potential in camp, but he doesn’t seem ready to take on the load yet. He’s been too impatient, running up the backs of his blockers and running off balance because his feet can’t keep pace with his mind. I think Mike Bell has a lot of potential in this system, but I think he needs a little more time to develop. He sustained a finger injury last week, and although the word out of Denver is that it won’t affect his ability to play, I think it may be a key development in Denver’s season.
Cedric Cobbs was a well thought of, but quiet, prospect from Arkansas who wasn’t able to stick on the New England Patriots roster as a rookie last year. The Broncos liked his potential enough to sign him to the practice squad last year and had high hopes for Cobbs in the off season. During training camp he was a mighty disappointment. At one point he fell to number five on the depth chart at running back after uninspired practices during camp. But that was before the Broncos began their pre-season schedule. Since the pads went on, and the contact became real, Cobbs has been the most consistent and determined runner on the Broncos’ roster.
Cobbs showed the ability to run hard between the tackles and pick up the tough yards. He broke more tackles against the Titans than Tatum Bell has broken in his three year NFL career. I think that kind of running would serve the Broncos well this season, and I’m not sure that either of the Bells can match Cobbs in that area. What people may not know about Cobbs is that in addition to his ability to break tackles he has very good speed. It isn’t the 4.3 speed of Tatum, but it’s in the 4.4 range somewhere. Carrying 230 pounds at that speed is a pretty good combination. People are always quick to point out that Cobbs did his running against 2nd and 3rd string defenses in the pre-season, as if that diminishes the value of what he showed. They aren’t so quick to point out that he was running behind 2nd and 3rd string offensive linemen as well.
Working against Cobbs is the fact that the rushing stat line from Sunday ended up looking pretty good, which will lull many into a false sense of security. They’ll see Tatum’s 6.9 yard per carry avg and they’ll see Mike Bell’s 5.8 yard average, but they’ll be deceived of the only dig that deep. Good rushing teams come out of the locker room and establish the running game. They don’t care that the defense is geared up to stop the run with eight men in the box, they come out run the ball, move the chains, and set the tone. The Bells weren’t able to do that against the Rams, and it resulted in the offense’s inability to gain any sort of momentum. And that was against a run defense that finished 28th in the league last year.
I think that the injury to Mike Bell means that Cedric Cobbs will at least be active this week as a precautionary measure. If he gets to carry the football, I predict that the “who’s the starting running back in Denver” question will be answered once and for all. At least for 2006.
Friday, September 15, 2006
The Bells Toll for Cobbs
Filed under: General— Haven Marceau @ 10:13 am Edit This
I’m not in the habit of making predictions; it’s too easy end up with egg on your face or with a healthy taste of shoe leather in your mouth. In short, when prognosticating in the NFL, it’s easy to come off looking like a complete moron. With that said I’m going to make a prediction about the 2006 Denver Broncos, and the situation they have at running back. Here goes; If Cedric Cobbs gets on the field and carries the ball, he will finish the season as Denver’s starting running back with over 1,000 yards rushing.
I know that Cobbs is the dark horse in the race, he wasn’t even active for last week’s opening loss to the Rams. He’s probably better off for having had nothing to do with that offensive performance; the one that Rod Smith called, “the worst half of offensive football that [he’s] ever been a part of with the Broncos”. The running game had a significant hand in just how ugly things got against the Rams. Tatum Bell, who got what he’s long been waiting for by being named the starter, carried the ball just five times in the first half. He picked up only twenty yards and had a fumble that resulted in a turnover. Mike Bell was hardly much better, picking up just 22 yards on nine carries.
There are reasons to be enamored with both of the Bells. For Tatum it’s the freakish speed, and we’ve heard it a thousand times that “you can’t coach speed”. For Mike it’s been the flash of great vision and the feel good story of the native son. Each back possesses some talent for the position, but I think that Cobbs is the undervalued back of the bunch because he doesn’t have the in your face headline that each of the Bells do.
I’m confused as to why people are so eager to move Tatum out of a role in which he has been extremely successful. How many #2 backs came within yards of rushing for a grand last year? One, Tatum Bell. Tatum fits perfectly into the change of pace role, but people are so enamored with his speed that they think they can take take his 921 yards in a back up role and say that if he were a full time guy he would be a 1600 yard rusher. You quite simply cannot make that kind of leap, and I don’t think Tatum is the kind of back who can carry the ball 25 times a game and maintain the kind of pace he’s set thus far in his career. I also think that having a hard running back like Cobbs in front of him will make Tatum even more effective.
Mike Bell has shown great potential in camp, but he doesn’t seem ready to take on the load yet. He’s been too impatient, running up the backs of his blockers and running off balance because his feet can’t keep pace with his mind. I think Mike Bell has a lot of potential in this system, but I think he needs a little more time to develop. He sustained a finger injury last week, and although the word out of Denver is that it won’t affect his ability to play, I think it may be a key development in Denver’s season.
Cedric Cobbs was a well thought of, but quiet, prospect from Arkansas who wasn’t able to stick on the New England Patriots roster as a rookie last year. The Broncos liked his potential enough to sign him to the practice squad last year and had high hopes for Cobbs in the off season. During training camp he was a mighty disappointment. At one point he fell to number five on the depth chart at running back after uninspired practices during camp. But that was before the Broncos began their pre-season schedule. Since the pads went on, and the contact became real, Cobbs has been the most consistent and determined runner on the Broncos’ roster.
Cobbs showed the ability to run hard between the tackles and pick up the tough yards. He broke more tackles against the Titans than Tatum Bell has broken in his three year NFL career. I think that kind of running would serve the Broncos well this season, and I’m not sure that either of the Bells can match Cobbs in that area. What people may not know about Cobbs is that in addition to his ability to break tackles he has very good speed. It isn’t the 4.3 speed of Tatum, but it’s in the 4.4 range somewhere. Carrying 230 pounds at that speed is a pretty good combination. People are always quick to point out that Cobbs did his running against 2nd and 3rd string defenses in the pre-season, as if that diminishes the value of what he showed. They aren’t so quick to point out that he was running behind 2nd and 3rd string offensive linemen as well.
Working against Cobbs is the fact that the rushing stat line from Sunday ended up looking pretty good, which will lull many into a false sense of security. They’ll see Tatum’s 6.9 yard per carry avg and they’ll see Mike Bell’s 5.8 yard average, but they’ll be deceived of the only dig that deep. Good rushing teams come out of the locker room and establish the running game. They don’t care that the defense is geared up to stop the run with eight men in the box, they come out run the ball, move the chains, and set the tone. The Bells weren’t able to do that against the Rams, and it resulted in the offense’s inability to gain any sort of momentum. And that was against a run defense that finished 28th in the league last year.
I think that the injury to Mike Bell means that Cedric Cobbs will at least be active this week as a precautionary measure. If he gets to carry the football, I predict that the “who’s the starting running back in Denver” question will be answered once and for all. At least for 2006.