Again, Johnson and the other guys you mentioned are featured backs. They make more plays because they get the ball more often. I have always believed that if Leon was used that way he would be on a par with any of them. You can sit there all day and list more accomplished guys with better numbers because they are used properly, doesn't change the fact that on any given play I give Leon as good a chance to bust it as anyone else in the league. That's what I mean by one of the best pure runners. There's nothing he could do about not getting the ball more often. You guys act like he's Jonathan Carter or Chad Morton, who broke a couple of kicks and were never heard from again. Leon broke games open by taking it to the house on an inside handoff, sealed us a playoff spot by taking a screen about 70 yards in the rain in Miami when Pennington had the flu and coud barely throw the ball, almost singlehandedly kept us alive in 2008 when everybody was sucking Favre's dick. All you can do is be effective as possible when they put you in the game, which he did. I wouldn't even say he was my "favorite Jet", I'm too old for that shit. But I sat here a lot of years between Bruce Harper and Leon and haven't seen too many guys who can impact games that way, so giving him up for a 5th round pick to me is a really really bad decision.
Except that concept doesn't set him apart form anyone, just puts him on par with everyone. hardly the best. You want to talk about guys who can do damage with the ball in their hands, play-for-play, regardless of their reps, I can give you a bunch of names that were better than Leon. Stop changing your argument with every post since rep count wasn't part of your original argument. He's not the "best pure runner with the ball in his hands" in the league, he wasn't even the "best pure runner with the ball in his hands" on the Jets. Brad Smith is a better ball carrier than Leon and he was far more under-utilized by the Jets when he entered the league than Leon was. Leon was fast, Leon was explosive, Leon could catch, Leon could make people miss. This isn't being contested. But to say that he was the best because he could do all these things is flat out wrong because there are other players who can do all these things and they were able to move themselves up the depth chart. Leon never being better than a change of pace HB alone proves he wasn't the best at anything. But can he run carrying a football?
not the point of my comment ... you said leon was not just some replaceable guy, when, based on the fact that we successfully replaced most of his production last year, that is exactly what he is and you do realize that if we didnt trade him we would have lost him after this season for absolutely nothing, right?
Actually the crux of my argument all along is that he was underused here. One carry for 43 yards and a TD, that kind of thing happened too often. The reason he was never more than a change of pace guy was that they went and traded a #2 for Thomas Jones before realizing what they had with Leon. At that point it made sense to do what they did, except, in my opinion it was too much Jones and not enough Leon.
I am curious about this actually. Can you still get a 2012 compensatory draft pick if a free agent leaves after 2010, or is that unknown because of labor uncertainty? Look, Leon was a good player pre-injury, he might be a good player again, but as a question of team building for the long term it makes a lot of sense to swap out a few players who are free agents this year for low-cost players who could stick around for a few years. McKnight might be this player although this is now twice that he's struggled with basic conditioning, which is two too many times for a running back.
That kind of thing happened so often because he was the change of pace back. I'm not saying he shouldn't have gotten more touches but those carries typically came late in the game when the defense was tired and Leon was running on fresh legs, a factor you seem to be conveniently ignoring. As for trading the #2 for Thomas Jones: 1. They knew exactly what they had in Leon, he was the leading rusher for the Jets the previous season. They knew they had a 5'9", 190lbs. running back who would get destroyed if he was asked to carry the team for an entire season as the feature back. That's why they traded for Thomas Jones. 2. Even if the split was closer to being even, the Jets still would have needed another RB with Cedric Houston retiring and Kevan Barlow being a failed experiment. The day of the feature back is dead. Pittsburgh and a few other teams are trying to hold onto it but in time they too will change. Yes, Leon could have added more with a few more touches but saying they used Thomas Jones too much behind that terrible offensive line, the fucked up QB situation, and the general confusion that was 2007 for the Jets would have gotten Leon killed. He had no more play to make in 2007 simply because it wasn't there. And nothing in that backs the "best with the ball in his hands" assertion you made in your previous arguments to begin with. Stop changing your story.
I'll worry about next year next year, if they even play a season. When Leon was hurt they had no choice but to replace his role largely with Smith. But in a team sport, how good would the Seminole formation look with Smith and Leon back there? How many options does that give a defense to worry about? Again, that's the point, you're trying to build as dynamic and great a team as you can, we had the pieces to do that and gave one away. Yeah, we have other pieces, especially now at WR where we won't need Smith as much there as we did before, but I still think it was a bad move.
How am I changing my story? When they gave him the ball he broke big plays, that's the story, that's what happened. The Buffalo home game in 2008, one of the 1-carry games, he broke a long TD in the second quarter on a routine play where Jones or most other backs get 9 yards. Were the Bills tired by then? They came back and should have won the game. Leon made too many plays over too long a time to just chalk it up to the other team being tired, I don't buy that.
you dont think that they practiced the seminole with b. smith and leon before leon got hurt? just because theyre each dynamic players in their own right, doesnt mean that their skill sets would mesh together on the field and fyi, john conner is killing linebackers in practice right now
Leon Averaged 14.3 touches per game last year (excluding the Oakland game, and including the NO game). That's plenty of touches. Oh, and he had 0 touchdowns. If you exclude the NO game (he had 8 touches) as an anomaly, his average touches per game rises to 15.6
Good. I would think the idea was to put them together back there at some point, especially when we had fewer weapons at WR for conventional passing plays with a rookie QB. That's the kind of thing that can also evolve with time and usage, as teams adjust to one thing you throw in a new wrinkle like Miami did with theirs. Good coaches put their best players on the field and in position to succeed, I think this staff would have done that, yes.
1. None of this has anything to do with you "best runner with the ball in his hands argument. 2. They're the Bills. They're terrible.
Considering McKnight is starting his 1st TC the same way Leon did, I'm pretty excited to see what McKnight's going to become in the next couple of years.
To put this into perspective, through 14 games, Cotchery had 57 touches (Less then Leon all season) Edwards had 35 touches in 12 games (average of ~3 per game) Thomas Jones had an average of 19.8 touches per game, barely 5 more touches a game then Leon.
How does it have nothing to do with it? They gave him the ball once on a routine handoff and he broke it for a TD. Did the same thing at Tennessee vs a 10-0 team. That is my argument, just give him the damn ball. LOL Me too, don't get me wrong. I'm hoping for nothing but the best, he's a Jet now, what's done is done.
Rex said he's an anxious little guy. Not in those exact words but that's what he meant. Said he gets hyped up, runs and pikes. Lol
1. None of this has anything to do with you "best runner with the ball in his hands argument. 2. They're the Bills. They're terrible.
I agree. He's in a better situation for him in Seattle, and seeing him come back in time for camp gives me hope that he's fully recovered.
Yep. If he bulks up a bit, he could be the same kind of runner that Leon was for us, if not better. I'm hoping that the CS plans to use him a bit more. I think he can handle more carries than Leon, but we never really got to see whether LW was capable of carrying a significant load.
