Alex Erickson continues to contribute nothing coming into
The Steelers game. Defense forces a punt opening series and what does, The preseason hero.do...coughs the ball up leading to Steelers to.score 1st.
Next time the Steelers punt. He is still out there.
How can.a player contribute so little manage to have a starting job?
Im.sure his fan.club will defend him and say he can field every punt.

Then in the 4th q its a direct snap to.Shawn.Williams. 39 yd gain.
Game is already.decided. WTF.
That play there told me this current coaching staff has no
Feel for the game and its clueless in.situational football.
You dont execute a trick play on.special.teams when.the game
Is decided.
That direct snap is is better executed to.Williams when DOWN FREAKING 12 to 7 or 19 to 7 and your trying to.swing momentum
On.the road you.freaking /))#! of coaches!!!
Heck run it on.your 1st punt attempt of the game.
ZTs stupidity has rubbed off on Simmons it looks like

Alex Erickson needs to go... he's a average player but easily replaceable with someone who has higher upside.

Simmons is a Marvin guy and his unit(s) played exactly like that today.

Erickson had a horrible individual game

I honestly haven't had a low opinion of Erickson up until what he showed today. I thought for the most part he's been good on Special Teams. Not so much today. I would certainly look for a replacement with more upside.

(11-15-2020, 10:36 PM)Devils Advocate Wrote: Simmons is a Marvin guy and his unit(s) played exactly like that today.

In fairness, they got screwed out of a takeaway by a bullshit call.

Erickson gives you.nothing on special teams.
Did anybody.see Ray Ray McCloud today return that punt?
That decisiveness and quick burst.
Erickson.couldnt do.that in.a game of backyard football

Every time Erickson breaks a tackle or fights for extra yards I worry about the fumble. He is too weak and gets easily stripped.

In a single game, Erickson made 3 MASSIVE errors on punt return duty.
1. The fumble, obviously. He really wanted those additional 2 yards. I don't personally think it was worth it though.
2. Not taking a fair catch when a guy is barreling down on him unblocked. He got smacked as soon as the ball arrived. He's very lucky he wasn't injured and he didn't fumble the ball.
3. Letting the ball bounce at the 10 or 15 yard line rather than taking the fair catch, letting it bounce down to the 4 yard line, effectively ending the drive before it even begins (because no sane person lets their rookie QB pass from the 4 yard line behind a patchwork Oline).

He also just let too many punts bounce in front of him only to lose 5 or 10 more yards, which is stupid, but those plays don't hold a candle to the top 3 gaffes.

I think it'd be a net gain if we just put a guy back there that didn't even try to return the ball and always caught it at its landing point.

15 fumbles in 5 years is an ugly stat for your punt returner to have.

(11-15-2020, 10:46 PM)impactplaya Wrote: Erickson gives you.nothing on special teams.
Did anybody.see Ray Ray McCloud today return that punt?
That decisiveness and quick burst.
Erickson.couldnt do.that in.a game of backyard football

Erickson cuts like he's running on ice...with plastic shoes.

In my opinion, Erickson has always been a cowardly return man. Even when he gets the ball with open space, he seems to take a route with an easy out to the sideline. The fact that the Steelers chose to target and exploit him today comes as no surprise to me.

(11-15-2020, 11:30 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: In my opinion, Erickson has always been a cowardly return man.  Even when he gets the ball with open space, he seems to take a route with an easy out to the sideline.  The fact that the Steelers chose to target and exploit him today comes as no surprise to me.

Watch your words cause the Alex Erickson.fan club on.this board  will.find you on here and crucify you. 

Alex Erickson's positives:
- Was 5th in the league in yards per punt return among eligible players (10+ returns) before today. 9.3 YPR
- 11th in the league in total PR yards (93) before today

Negatives:
- Not a threat to take it to the house.
- No longer does KR because Bengals have someone better, thus reducing his value.
- Has only 12 returns in 9 games. 1.33 returns per game.
- When factoring in today's yardage, Erickson averages 11.78 yards per game in returns. He offers basically 0 value on offense and KR now, so he really only contributes 11.78 yards per game total.

Surely they can have someone else do PR who also contributes more on offense/defense, even if that player ends up having less YPR than Erickson.

It honestly doesn't matter much at this point, as the Bengals are likely to get swept in the division, making their likely best record they can achieve as 7-8-1. That won't be enough to make playoffs, so you may as well just start focusing solely on player development and see which players are worth keeping around. Erickson would not be one of them.

I want to see them out Ross back there for punts. Not because I think he will do well but because he will be so scared he may shit himself in mid game and that would be fun to see.

I actually got to my stop on the Erickson bandwagon express today and hopped off.

(11-16-2020, 12:15 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Alex Erickson's positives:
- Was 5th in the league in yards per punt return among eligible players (10+ returns) before today. 9.3 YPR
- 11th in the league in total PR yards (93) before today

Negatives:
- Not a threat to take it to the house.
- No longer does KR because Bengals have someone better, thus reducing his value.
- Has only 12 returns in 9 games. 1.33 returns per game.
- When factoring in today's yardage, Erickson averages 11.78 yards per game in returns. He offers basically 0 value on offense and KR now, so he really only contributes 11.78 yards per game total.

Surely they can have someone else do PR who also contributes more on offense/defense, even if that player ends up having less YPR than Erickson.

It honestly doesn't matter much at this point, as the Bengals are likely to get swept in the division, making their likely best record they can achieve as 7-8-1. That won't be enough to make playoffs, so you may as well just start focusing solely on player development and see which players are worth keeping around. Erickson would not be one of them.

Here's the scary question...is there actually anybody that can contribute more on offense or defense to make up the difference?

Deactivate him for Ross and this board will be up in arms screaming cut/bench Ross the second he drops a pass or doesn't pay out for an otherthrow.  

It isn't like there are good players behind him being held back.

I've never been an Erickson fan personally. Felt like we could've cut him a long time ago back in the Mervin days. I think his fumble set the tone yesterday. So much for getting pumped up to play the only undefeated team in the NFL when your defense comes out makes a big stop and then Erickson gives it right back to them. Talk about taking the wind out of your sails.

When you fumble you have to get that out of your system and he didn't. His funk now carries over to next week.

(11-16-2020, 01:22 AM)Whatever Wrote: Here's the scary question...is there actually anybody that can contribute more on offense or defense to make up the difference?

Deactivate him for Ross and this board will be up in arms screaming cut/bench Ross the second he drops a pass or doesn't pay out for an otherthrow.  

It isn't like there are good players behind him being held back.

Bernard and Boyd returned punts in college.
I'd look to one of them.

(11-15-2020, 11:18 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: In a single game, Erickson made 3 MASSIVE errors on punt return duty.
1. The fumble, obviously. He really wanted those additional 2 yards. I don't personally think it was worth it though.
2. Not taking a fair catch when a guy is barreling down on him unblocked. He got smacked as soon as the ball arrived. He's very lucky he wasn't injured and he didn't fumble the ball.
3. Letting the ball bounce at the 10 or 15 yard line rather than taking the fair catch, letting it bounce down to the 4 yard line, effectively ending the drive before it even begins (because no sane person lets their rookie QB pass from the 4 yard line behind a patchwork Oline).

He also just let too many punts bounce in front of him only to lose 5 or 10 more yards, which is stupid, but those plays don't hold a candle to the top 3 gaffes.

I think it'd be a net gain if we just put a guy back there that didn't even try to return the ball and always caught it at its landing point.

15 fumbles in 5 years is an ugly stat for your punt returner to have.

I will let #3 slide as it was crazy windy out there, and it was better than another fumble, but completely agree on the rest.