I know there are a number of Leon posts so I apologize if this thread isn't unique enough but I think it might be. After letting the Leon injury sink in Ive come to what might sound like a ridiculous conclusion. Am I crazy for thinking that this offense might be better without Leon? I'm a big Leon fan and I truly can appreciate his skill and athleticism, but now that he's gone I'm starting to think he's not a good fit for the type of offense that Rex wants to run. I've always thought of Leon as a Reggie Bush type player; a back that would fit nicely into a west coast offense. Players like Leon, Bush and Sproles aren't key parts to a ground and pound offense like Rex wants; Greene fits that bill much better. Yes I know we had Greene before Leon's injury but there are only so many carries to go around to a 3rd back on a team. Not having Leon around will force Schotty to simplify his gameplan, but I think his downfall has always been that he over-complicates the offense anyway, so this could be a blessing in disguise. I can see Jones softening up the opposing D-line for the first 2-3 quarters and then having Greene come in to mop up with fresh legs. I feel that we won't see too big a dropoff on KR's, especially being that Leon didn't take a return to the house in the first 3rd of the season. I can see someone like Cole, Woodhead, Lowery, or Leonhard stepping in and doing fine on KR's. I know we probably won't be constantly executing a 4:1 rush to pass ratio like we did last week, but if we now start running on 1st and 2nd downs to consistently get into 3rd and short situations where the opposing def. won't know whether a run or pass is coming, I think we will be better off. Jones and Greene are a better tandem for that formula than Jones and Washington.
I think it makes us worse. Washington was also a great pass catching RB and that took a lot of pressure off of Sanchez to have an option like Washington. Plus Greene has had one good game, Washington looks great almost every time he plays making positive yards out of nothing. We didn't miss washington this week, but going forward we're definitely going to have games where we wished washington was here to get our offense going.
Nope, I'm sorry but that is ridiculous. Interesting ideas, but don't overthink it. Leon was our BEST playmaker on offense for the past three seasons. He could change the course of the game on any given play. So yes, you're crazy if you think our offense is better off without leon.
There's no way you can take a player of Washington's quality out of a team and not become weaker. We've gone from having three quality running backs to having two. I'm sorry, but I don't see how that can make us stronger.
Not only will our offense miss such an exciting playmaker with great potential, but so will I. Not since Chrebet have I been so excited to see the ball in a player's hand. With Leon, teams couldn't predict what he was going to be doing, but we always knew it had the potential to be game breaking. Game breaking. From a little guy. God speed to you Leon.
Few teams in the NFL have an electric player who has a good chance to score any time he touches the ball. This makes us a lot worse. Plus I'm sure Schotty had tons of plays designed for Leon only. He is our most talented offensive player, hands down.
You can't lose a guy like LW and say it's a good thing. I do believe SG will be a bigger asset the style we O that we want to run, but LW is a guy that every team in the NFL would want.
interesting idea but I disagree. I'm with those who say a playmaker like Leon is too valuable. How many times did we watch him squirt through the line and trampled a safety for the key 1st down pickup. Or take a screen for 35 yards. Or give us good field position on KR all game long. He forced the opposing team to account for him. I'm not saying the O can't adapt and still be effective. But I can't imagine not missing Leon.
i don't think it makes the offense better but i could very well see the offense being more successful without him if that makes sense. even though leon hasn't scored this season he has made some very big plays for us and he will be missed. leon does not fit into the strength's of this offense at the moment though. what this team needs to be doing is exactly what they did against oakland, which is pound the ball down the throat of the defense. greene and jones are much more suited for that style. as sanchez progresses i think leon will be a huge piece of this offense, but this year his potential is limited and i don't think his injury is a potential season breaker like jenkins is.
I totally agree with what you guys are saying and maybe someone spiked my coffee at work, but I just can't shake the feeling being that Leon's style and Rex's ground and pound philosophy were not a good fit. Ryan knows he would have taken a lot of heat if he didn't give Leon enough touches and if you have to play to your players strengths... that's why I feel Rex was sort of handcuffed into playing an offense that was counter to the identity he wanted to offense to have. I know it defies logic to think that losing a player of Leon's calibre would be beneficial to any team, but it's just my intuition that this will work out for the better.
HMT makes a solid point. I honestly believe Rex would rather have impose his will in the running game than hope for the big play, at least for this season. UKK also makes a very good point in that as Sanchez progresses (as in next season) and defenses need to respect the pass more and more, those little screens and misdirection runs that Leon thrives at will have alot more room to develop. If you can get Leon in space with the closest guy 5-10 yards away, it is going to be a big play.
Leon is a Pro Bowl Kick Returner. He had much less opportunities this year because of the defense. I do think the offense won't miss him by much but he must be replaced by committee. Greene is not a pass catching back, that's where Woodhead steps in. We'll see out it plays out this week, this is a good first test right off the bat, or should I say rod.
The only way losing Leon is a good thing is if the OC doesn't know how to make effective use of his explosive ability with regularity...
