TJ on John Ross: 'They took his confidence'

[*SHRacerX*]

(04-18-2020, 12:13 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: Talking with Big Wille on Instagram, TJ had this to say about Ross:


'John Ross is really good. He just needs to believe in himself. 

When they flew us out there to honor us, you remember that? That game was the first touch of John Ross’ career and he fumbled. They gave him a reverse; he fumbled the ball. He didn’t play the rest of the year.

And this is the thing though, if you’re the ninth pick in the draft, you should have all the confidence in the world — that’s number one. And number two is, if you don’t give him the ball after one f------ fumble after his rookie year, do you not think his confidence is going to drop?

He sends me video of his second year [2018]. He’s not playing. They took his confidence from him, without knowing it.

This is the honest to god truth. You know me. I ain’t sugar coating sh--. John Ross can mother fu----- go. Everybody knows he’s fast. He’s quick, he can run routes, and he catches the ball. Physically, it’s phenomenal. It has to be mental. They took his confidence from him.

Part of me working with him, isn’t getting him better physically, it’s getting him better mentally.'

If you give Ross a new lease on life with Zac Taylor, he had 28 receptions for 506 yards and 3 TDs in 2019.  That was in 8 games.  Even when he wasn't being targeted, he helped to open things up underneath for the likes of Boyd and Eifert.

One thing that is also being overlooked with Ross is that Taylor's routes (his concepts) are very well respected and have been copied around the league.  The problem in Cincy was that the QB didn't have time to wait for many of the routes to unfold.  Improvements on the line is surely going to help address this, but also the patience and ability of Burrow to slide around the pocket waiting for the WR to make that final break.  Reminds me a lot of Kurt Warner.  Thankfully, he is more mobile than Warner so I hope he can avoid a lot of the pounding Warner took holding on to the ball.  And Warner had blazing speed at WR with the Greatest Show on Turf.  It STILL takes time for routes to develop.  Adding Williams and the Michael Jordan we saw the second half of the season will help.  Jury is still out on XSF and Hart/Johnson, but I feel a lot better about them than I did a year ago.  

If Ross simply stays healthy (I know, I know....a big "IF", but how that is different for him than Green or Eifert is beyond me), he projects to around 50 catches and over 1000 yards with 9 TDs.  If we got that from Ross with Boyd and Green also healthy all year, we are in the F'n playoffs.  

I am glad TJ is still working with him and I hope some of TJ's case of the red ass can rub off on him.