How about Alex Erickson today? Field position was terrible today and he did not help the cause calling fair catches when he should have returned it and returning it when he should have called a fair catch. Too early to miss Brandon Tate?

Thoughts

Gotta admit Tate looked good in Buffalo this week.

That said, I'm game for giving Erikson some time to figure it out. And some of this is on D. Simmons for not having him ready and fired up.

(09-18-2016, 08:58 PM)Clep Wrote: How about Alex Erickson today? Field position was terrible today and he did not help the cause calling fair catches when he should have returned it and returning it when he should have called a fair catch. Too early to miss Brandon Tate?

Thoughts

Thoughts?

Someone was telling him to do it, or they weren't telling him not to. Obviously he should know, but coaches should also remind him if it's happening repeatedly. 

He's in the NFL, he should know by now when to return and when not to, i.e. don't fair catch on your own 5 yd line, if he can't figure that out on his own there's a much bigger problem.

Erickson will get better but he didn't play the return game well today. He did make one catch though.

It looked to me like he was instructed to fair catch no matter what. Probably just the Bengals being super conservative in the heavy rain.

(09-18-2016, 09:04 PM)treee Wrote: It looked to me like he was instructed to fair catch no matter what. Probably just the Bengals being super conservative in the heavy rain.

I was thinking the same thing. I was at the game so I haven't seen any commentary about it. But it really did look like he was calling fair catches on every punt as if coaches told him to because this was a big game and it was raining... But then why did he catch the one where he got tackled immediately? Definitely a good game to learn from his mistakes.

Im confident he will get better. Just wondering what everyone else thought.

(09-18-2016, 09:04 PM)treee Wrote: It looked to me like he was instructed to fair catch no matter what. Probably just the Bengals being super conservative in the heavy rain.

Wouldn't have not even trying to field it at all be safer in the rain? I doubt anybody told dude to FC no matter what.

(09-18-2016, 08:58 PM)Clep Wrote: How about Alex Erickson today? Field position was terrible today and he did not help the cause calling fair catches when he should have returned it and returning it when he should have called a fair catch. Too early to miss Brandon Tate?

Thoughts

Not at all.  Tate, early in his career with the Bengals had numerous fumbles.  If Erickson let any of those balls hit the ground, they would have not bounced as normal in to the end zone, they would have gone SQUISH and likely died at the one.  Then, hello bad play call and safety. 

Erickson also had a nice grab in the elements for 21 yards where he (again) found the soft spot in the zone and was wide open for Dalton.

I will take Erickson every day and twice on Sunday.  The kid will make an impact this season and provides quality depth at slot WR. Something we didn't have a ton of...

(09-18-2016, 09:15 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Wouldn't have not even trying to field it at all be safer in the rain? I doubt anybody told dude to FC no matter what.

As Racer said above me, in Pitt's shithole mudpit of a field, there is a pretty good chance that the ball doesn't bounce all the way into the endzone for a touchback. Better to have the ball on the 10 than the 2.

People can defend him but he played poorly today. Had chances to return for a few yards on ball he called a fair catch. Had other plays where he could have opted to let the ball go for a touchback, but instead called a fair catch.

In short, Erickson failed us today.

(09-18-2016, 09:16 PM)SHRacerX Wrote: Not at all.  Tate, early in his career with the Bengals had numerous fumbles.  If Erickson let any of those balls hit the ground, they would have not bounced as normal in to the end zone, they would have gone SQUISH and likely died at the one.  Then, hello bad play call and safety. 

Erickson also had a nice grab in the elements for 21 yards where he (again) found the soft spot in the zone and was wide open for Dalton.

I will take Erickson every day and twice on Sunday.  The kid will make an impact this season and provides quality depth at slot WR. Something we didn't have a ton of...

Good points. I am not bashing him as a WR. I agree, he made a great catch down the middle today! But I cannot say that he had a good game returning today. Our field position was awful all day and I think a lot of the blame goes on Erickson today

I'd bet that the conditions played a huge role in it. If he let some of those hit at inside the 10 I'd wager they would have been downed inside the 5.

I only remember seeing one or two that he fair caught and had room to run anyways. If you want to blame someone for our crappy field position, look no further than the offense and their all too frequent three and outs.

(09-18-2016, 09:16 PM)SHRacerX Wrote: If Erickson let any of those balls hit the ground, they would have not bounced as normal in to the end zone, they would have gone SQUISH and likely died at the one.  Then, hello bad play call and safety. 

You're just making that up. 

he looked lost on PR, absolutely no sense of where he was on the field........

he did the same thing in game one as well, catching the ball inside the 10 on numerous occasions...

I kinda liked the veteran heads up play by Jones with the 4th down int on the 20. Knock it down dick.

(09-18-2016, 09:33 PM)bfine32 Wrote: You're just making that up. 

I am?  Did he field more that one punt deeper than he should have?  Did he even bobble a single punt or reception?  

(09-18-2016, 09:24 PM)Clep Wrote: Good points. I am not bashing him as a WR. I agree, he made a great catch down the middle today! But I cannot say that he had a good game returning today. Our field position was awful all day and I think a lot of the blame goes on Erickson today

Just a little football 101:  When a team punts from midfield, there is generally not going to be a return.  He caught almost every ball right at or just inside the 10.  There was one that he caught at the five, which you could argue that he should have let go...but don't forget the field conditions and a lot could go wrong there as well.

(09-18-2016, 09:54 PM)SHRacerX Wrote: I am?  Did he field more that one punt deeper than he should have?  Did he even bobble a single punt or reception?  

Nope, you're making up the part about if he would not have caught it, the ball would have magically bounced and stopped on the 2.

Dude had a poor day in the return game. He fair caught balls he could have returned, he fair caught balls he should have let bounce. You can be objective, understand he looked like a lost rookie out there, and cost us a few yards or you can give him credit for not bobbling.  

(09-18-2016, 10:01 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Nope, you're making up the part about if he would not have caught it, the ball would have magically bounced and stopped on the 2.

Dude had a poor day in the return game. He fair caught balls he could have returned, he fair caught balls he should have let bounce. You can be objective, understand he looked like a lost rookie out there, and cost us a few yards or you can give him credit for not bobbling.  

Thanks for giving me options...I choose option 3, which is he was 100 times better than Tate when he was in years 1-3 and he also fielded the ball well in REALLY poor weather.  Did you see the steeler fumble his punt return?   He went on to have a key reception in a game that mattered.  Something Tate has done maybe three times in five years.