10-11-2022, 06:21 PM
(10-11-2022, 04:28 PM)Hammerstripes Wrote: It's the truth. And until somebody can figure out how to work the middle the field other than Hurst, its going to stay that way.
We have to make teams pay for playing 2 deep safeties and soft coverage - and the answer isn't always running the ball.
I guess if we have to check down on some plays, why not have Evans in the game more? He showed last year that he was great catching the ball. The scheme is going to have to change a little bit with all these soft coverages, and we have the physical WRs to get YAC. IT shouldn't be this hard.
I'm a Burrow defender to the core, but a lot of this is on him. He's got to get though his progressions and find the open guy. Take 8 yards when the long ball isn't there. He has to make the decision to choose intermediate and short targets before defenses stop dropping 2 safeties to prevent the long ball. Prove that you can dink and dunk consistently through long drives and defenses will cinch up. This is a one dimensional offense right now and defenses will sell out to take that dimension away.
I think Evans on the field is just too much of a tell right now. He has little to no ability to run between the tackles and his presence almost certainly would indicate a pass play. I'm not sure what kind of blocker he is, but that could also be a factor. FWIW, I think Perine has done the job we want Evans to do more than acceptably. He can block, catch, get yards after, and even has a decent bit of physicality to his game. If anything, I'd let him eat a bit more until he proves he can't get it done. He hasn't yet.
