Once again, he's 202 lbs! Let's go through this for the twenty-twelfth time...... Warrick Dunn is 178-180 lbs; Barry was 203 lbs; Emmitt 's prime weight was 209 lbs; C-Mart is 210 Lbs; Payton was 202 lbs, what part of this is just slipping past the masses? Could this just be perpetual Jets pessimism? That has to be it. This is not a case of I can't believe my lying eyes; Leon's doing the job! He does not take many hard shots and he has the speed to run away from would be tacklers. Am I biased, hell yeah, because I know a player when I see one. Am I biased just because I know him? No. I know Ciatrick Fason (Minnesota Vikings) too, but I did not think that his game was going to translate over to the NFL, and so far it has not. Stop being so negative. I know being a Jets fan can be trying at times but c'mon!
Its crazy.... I live 5 houses down from where he lived last year (while at FSU). I even remember there being a party at his house back last october. Me and my old roomate stumbled in during a drunken stupor, and were like "this party sucks."
Guys, it was the LIONS ok? Settle down. Now, I think on the strength of today's performance that Leon deserves the feature role considering all the draws and misdirections we run on offense. I'd also like to see him more on 3rd down on catch and runs. Bruce Harper anyone?
hes 202 pounds now and martin is 205, and martin has been a workhouse for years. Just because leon is shorter doesnt mean he cant do it.
Leon will probably never be a guy who can carry the ball 25 times a game but certainly if Houston can be a guy who can take 10 carries, i dont think we need to add anyone. But a little funny story about him. Today i sat at the 30 yard line 2 rows back on the Jets sideline. After Leons second TD towards the end of the game, he sits on the full bench of offensive players. Then i see BJ Askew come up behind him and tap him on the helmet. Immediately, Leon gets up and grabs a cooler and moves it to sit on it. I thought it was pretty funny that after 129 yards and 2 TDs Askew(0 yards, 0 TDS) reminds Leon that he was a rookie.
202 and I think he's 5'7".....that's not small. Short but not small. I know it was Detroit, but I seen him do things vs. Buffalo's, Indy's, Jax's, & Miami's Dee (I would say those are not too bad defences) I think he can be a every down RB without a doubt.
Leon's been very good so far, but he's got to show me that he can hold up for at least 10 games or so before I call him the franchise back. That being said, what we've seen so far is impressive. Although Detroit is a mediocre run defense, and without Rogers and Cody, they had no shot to stop the run.
how insane are you guys gonna go? leon is a good back, but franchise? get serious. lets see him play the rest of HIS FIRTS SEASON before we crown him the second comming. jesus christ! he got 100+ yds on a jax team without 3 starters on the D line playing, including the pair of 350 tackles....and he went nuts on detroit without rogers in the middle. i like leon, and i think hes a quality back, but to be gushing like this after hes had 2 good games against shorthanded defenses is ridiculous. especially when the game against jax was garbage yards that didnt help the team do squat. the jets still need guys in the backfield, like a fullback. thats a huge part of it. if they are in a position to get a proven back, or a blue chip rookie in the draft, they need to take him. there is no way i would put the future of the franchise on the back of leon washington....at least not yet.
Stats do not say it all. He played real well running what he's good at.. DRAWS. I still do not think he will carry the load, and between him and Houston, they'll get a QB killed.
not having rogers in the game definately helped leon along the way. i dont think theres any denying that. the offensive line played spectacularly with their run blocking. mangold and fergie did a great job along with the rest of the guys. i understand that everyone wants to have a solid rb and have a guy as exciting as leon is to be the real deal....but i mean were only 7 games into the season, hes a rookie, and he has size/durability issues. i hope that leon is the guy we want him to be, but gushing over him is silly....lets see how the rest of the season pans out first. back to the roagers thing, dont you think theres something to the fact that in his 2 100 yd games that the starting DTs for both those teams were out of the lineup. there arent many coincidences in the nfl.
Washington looks awfully good at this point. The last Jet I can recall with his cutting ability and acceleration was Bruce Harper. Whether he'll stand the test of time remains to be seen. If Brian Westbrook and Warrick Dunn can hold up under the pounding it's possible that Washington will be able to also. And for those of you looking for a nickname I think Leon is just fine. Great name, inasmuch as it derives from Lion...
How's this for a list: Curtis Martin 5'11' 210 Willie Parker 5'10" 209 Dominick Rhodes 5"9" 203 Joseph Addai 5'11" 214 Maurice Jones-Drew 5'7" 206 Tatum Bell 5'11" 213 Clinton Portis 5'11" 212 Julius Jones 5'10" 211 Brian Westbrook 5'8" 203 Tiki Barber 5'10" 200 Chester Taylor 5'11' 213 Warrick Dunn 5'9" 180 Reggie Bush 5'11" 200 Frank Gore 5'9" 212 If Washington is too small to be an every down back, then so is virtually every other player on this list.
He's looking good. Not ready to annoint him the franchise back, or even the every down back this season yet. I think he might be better suited for a change of pace back role. He doesn't block well, and I'm not sure he's got the power to get the tough yards. He's done a very good job in the role we have him in though, hopefully it continues.
The offensive line is finally getting into a rhythm and people are complaining.:up: Just having success on the ground makes this offense much deadlier.
I remember all of Barry Sanders' seasons in Detroit, where all he was getting were draws out of the run n' shoot no less. I don't care how Leon gets his yards, as long as he is helping the team win games and giving defenses something to worry about. By the way, stats say something; without Leon's 2 TD's, the game would have been lost!!!
What you have to like about Leon is he hit the hole hard the first few games even when there was no hole. Now he is actually showing some patience and stop and start and cuts. He ran well both inside and outside and he is just starting to do more than just run up on the first creese he sees. You make a fair point about the DT's for both teams being out but you have to recognize that this guy has some serious skill and he has made some very big strides allready in terms of having a feel for the NFL game. We saw this with Coles in 02 when he just emerged as a star WR and you new he was a legitimate NFL force that changed the equation in our favor. You can almost see it with Leon and it's kind of nice to have a young player emerge in front of you. It's worth getting excited about because it can make a huge difference in our team to have an emerging NFL star running back on the Jets come out of nowhere.
I love watching him run. He's exciting as hell. I'm not down on him by any stretch, I just think it's crazy to call him the franchise back, or crown him king of the Jets backfield right now. It's great to watch talent develop and emerge, no doubt about it, and Leon has a ton of talent. I just think people are putting their expectations way too high on a very young player who doesn't have nearly enough game experience yet. It isn't like he's LT out there. He's a solid back, and from the looks of it a great pick where we drafted him. I hope he is the answer to our giant RB question mark.
