Where is Ross?

[THE PISTONS]

(06-01-2019, 05:35 PM)PAjwPhilly Wrote: I have high hopes for Ross this season. I have high hopes for a lot of these players that seemed to be passed over during Marvin's tenure as coach. We always seemed to draft players to the bench. And I really disliked that style of bringing players along.  I think with QBs and the weight of responsibility, it works. But with other positions, I think it can be detrimental to have them take a year or two off from playing the game.

All it is going to take is 1-2 deep balls where Ross burns any team's secondary. Then every future team will have to play Ross with 2 defenders or try to match his speed. Why be a Bengals fan and not want one of our biggest weapons to develop? Is he perfect? No. He catches with his body/arms and not his hands (that's why his dropped passes bounce off of him). But a lot of good receivers have made body/arm catches before, and it doesn't signal the end to their career. In fact, an over the shoulder catch is basically an arm catch, so no big deal.  And outside of the deep ball, crossing routes underneath traffic with him should be un-coverable, if you can get him moving and lose the press. Just put him in motion, motion, motion, motion... when he gets tired... put in Eifert. Then you constantly have the #3 as a match-up nightmare (I wouldn't use Eifert as a #1 TE btw).

I am pro-Ross.

Year 1 Ross was cast to the bench...but it seemed rightly so judging by what we saw Year 2. He did get a decent bit of playing time Year 2. The 7 TD's was impressive. The 210 yards wasn't.

I disagree that throwing him deep balls and him burning a secondary is the way to use him. They tried that A LOT last year and for whatever reason, it doesn't seem like that's going to work for him in the NFL. His speed doesn't just translate to him running by guys.

I do think they need to work on getting him the ball underneath and letting him run and make moves in space. He seems to excel at that. I'd also put him in motion like the Chiefs do with Evans and use fakes a lot and then throw him screens, etc.

The thing is, IF he's a big part of the offense...he's likely going to miss games so you need a Plan B for that role.