06-11-2017, 02:27 PM
(06-09-2017, 01:09 PM)3wt Wrote: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/patriots/2017/06/rex_burkhead_making_a_strong_impression_at_patriots_minicamp
Interesting article. Easy to have a knee jerk reaction in a variety of perspectives. Here's my perspective:
- A pretty condescending article whose author kept pushing Rex to share the differences in playing for the Bengals and the Patriots - which, being the class act he is he never did. The author even said at one point that Rex - in response to the question of those differences - said something very telling. And he said nothing that was telling about the differences. It was only telling about his positive response to working in the rain.
- The author also underscored how many ways the Pats plan to utilize him, inferring that the Bengals did not use him in that variety of ways which I think is patronizingly inaccurate, creating the idea that we did not know all the ways to employ Rex.
- I think the Bengals did use him in a variety of ways. I just think we did not use him nearly enough. I understand we had Jeremy and Gio - 2 pretty good backs. But we did not pull the trigger nearly soon enough when Jeremy was injured and was not playing well. And before Peerman was hurt we would use Ced way before we would resort to Rex - which I thought was just plain stupid. Rex was clearly the better running back.
Bottom line, the article is misleading and very patronizing. But I still think we made a mistake letting a guy like that go. You can never have enough players of his quality.
- It would have been good to keep Burkhead here. I know, he would have been a high priced backup to Mixon and would be directly fighting Jeremy or Peerman (maybe both) for a roster spot. But, even if he was not the STs stud that Peerman is, he was still a very good STs player, he was a stud Swiss army knife multi-tool, he was reliable, tough and he was a team player and very high character guy. In my opinion he was the better keep than either Jeremy or Ced - and a better blocker than both.
Thoughts??
I completely agree with your bottom line 3wt. We should of kept this guy, losing Whit was my biggest gripe at the time
but he is getting up there in age and for all we know could fall off, could of been the right decision.
This guy was in his prime and just shown his talents, he is very versatile and a great ST'er.
I don't like to cry over spilt milk but Mixon and Burkhead i truly believe would be a two headed monster.
Hill has an identity crisis and thinks he is a scat back, Gio is coming off of injury and hasn't been the same since the hit
from Shazier in the playoff game. I love the Mixon pick for these very reasons and honestly expect him to push for ROY.
Mixon had the best vision, stiff arm, hands and pass protection of any RB in the draft. Plus he is 228 pounds and can
take a hit. Dalton has also been talking this guy up and has a say now as the leader of this team.
