Did you watch the game? RB isn't our problem. Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, et al in their prime could have been our back today and they would have done squat too. NE had 2-3 yds of push into our backfield on almost every running play. An RB is only as good as his line. We do not have a good runblocking line.
I thought Barlow played very well considering this OLine has 2 rookies, a journeyman RT and no Kendall, instead Norm Katnik and Adrian Jones. That OLine against the Pats front 7, come on, who gets the egde? He fought and kept his feet going after initial contact. I like his toughness and ability to bust one for a quick 10 yards when he has the holes.
Agreed. I think that Barlow played about as well as you can expect from him given the performance of the OL. Blaylock on the other hand ...
You have to admit Blaylock looked pretty awful. Also I'm wondering why they don't call more runs to the outside and take advantage of our athletic linemen, rather than keep trying to grind out out against one of the biggest front 7s in the game.
I usually agree with this kind of assessment, but Barlow produced more than Blaylock and our Running game was better in general when he was in. We need a playmaking RB...there is no question about it.
I agree that the biggest problem is the blocking, but I still don't like our backs very much. Barlow is ok, but I don't think he's a feature back, and Blaylock doesn't seem to have the burst, speed, or quickness we heard he had when he came here.
For real, the way our offensive line plays, the running backs have absolutely nowhere to go. We averaged just 2.0 yards per carry today.
I think it's a mixture of both. First priority should be to improve the strength and run blocking of the line. But we could still upgrade from Blaylock and Barlow.
I'm not saying we can not do better than Barlow/Blaylock ever, but with a good run blocking line, we can have a good running game WITH these guys.
I don't think we need a new RB, I think we need to change the one's we are using. Lets go with Houston/Washington next week instead of Blaylock/Barlow.
Against a defense like NE, I thought we should have done some pulling, and sweeping with Mangold and Brick. ESPECIALLY if they want to play a RB like Blaylock, who goes down with a hint of an arm tackle. Curtis did pretty well running outside behind fast pulling O linemen.... wonder why we didn't try some of that. Having said that, I still think Houston is the best RB on the squad.... so obviously, I don't know squat.
Just because the Jets run blocking is horrendous doesn't mean that they don't need a RB. With average to good run blocking you might be able to get away with Barlow as your starting RB, although he is definately at the low end of the spectrum. Blaylock has shown absolutely nothing and shouldn't be getting significant carries. Anyway, I think what most people mean when they say "we need a RB" is that we need a running game, which is absolutely true.
EDIT: Oops, misread the first post. I agree, we need to upgrade our line. OT should merit strong consideration in round one next year
