DeMarco: "I'll mentor Derrick Henry"

Combination of all the above.

If we drafted him late... I wouldn't be that upset about it.

Spending an early pick on a mediocre player (my take) at a position that isn't worth an early pick in general is pretty frustrating when we have many more important needs.

But this is the first sign of this ancient coaching staff still believing the NFL works as it did in the 80s.


And I don't even focus on him breaking big runs. He can't run well between the tackles. And he's too slow to run outside like he did at Alabama for most those long runs. So... what does he do in the NFL? Not much.

 

I think he can be a more effective Lendale White. White had a little success before CJ and with Murray as more of a feature back, defenses will get tired. The philosophy may be slightly outdated, but consider the AFC as a whole, no team is a true run away best but there are plenty of teams that can easily be dismissed, Titans being one. The running game will be big against a team like Jax who has an offense but no defense (at least not last year) and it will be big to keep Luck off the field as he's been known to eat up the Titans. It doesn't really match well with the Texans who thrive defensively.

 

Everyone has their own beliefs about Derrick Henry, which have been discussed ad nauseam. However, my bolded point is what I would like to discuss.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a team trying to establish an identity. You can see the motivations in our draft picks and for the first time in years, you can see the actual direction of the franchise. Now, when it comes to the ancient style of play. I don't believe this. Our staff may be old but they know talent when they see Mariota, they're not just going to waste his ability with handing the ball off every down. They have a pro bowl TE and a young stud WR on the outside. We're not going to line up in the I-formation for every play. It's also not just the staff who are sold on this, so is Jon Robinson. He was a guy that really liked Derrick Henry as well.

We've heard of exotic smash mouth for a while now and just using a bit of imagination, you can see what our offense is going to look like. We're going to have fresh legs at RB with little of a drop off talent-wise. We have a QB that can beat you in the air or on the ground. In the air attack, he can move the pocket if needed and has big targets to throw to. This is going to be a dynamic passing attack with some brute force coming up the middle in the running game. Just because we have a combo of thunder and thunder doesn't mean we're behind the times. We want to give our defense a break by controlling the clock, protect our franchise QB with a strong run game and even stronger Tackles and keep defenses on their heels not knowing when we unleash Mariota.

Even at Oregon, Mariota relied on a heavy run attack as well. Except here, the RBs are just a bit bigger. I don't see the big deal in this and I don't see this being another round of Fisherball. The Falcons when Mularkey was there as OC is a good comparison. Except instead of Michael Turner, you have Murray/Henry. DGB is the physical guy like Julio and Walker is like Tony G. Of course, Mariota is a bit more mobile than Ryan.

 

I think this is a legitimate concern. I'm hopeful this is only phase one of what JR intends to implement. I also have serious reservations regarding Mularkey and his mook coaching staff. That said, I'm interested to see if they actually can establish the run to set up Mariota better than last year.

 

If a combination of Murray and Henry plus a retooled oline doesn't establish a better run game than Andrews and the 3rd string crew then something is terribly wrong.

For the players that were out there, the running game wasnt horrible last season. Half of those guys shouldn't be on the field.

Time will tell what "exotic smashmouth" really means but there are weapons for both air and ground attacks now.

 

Moronic input from the king of morons.

 

Yea but you guys keep falling for it, so who's the moron?

After a good two straight days last week you should have figured this one out.

 

Having the weapons and actually knowing what to do with them are two different things.

I have railed against Webster for YEARS while many defended him. I feel really good about JR, at least in comparison to Webster. I think his player personnel choices and contracts have demonstrated proficiency on par with the rest of the league's GMs. I think we are assembling a more talented bunch of players. And I think JR has a clear and defined vision for an identity and is capable of executing GM moves to attain that vision.

However, I don't share the same faith in Mularkey. He has not achieved HC success under many different systems. When he took over last year, we got an impressive W against the Saints but their D was TERRIBLE. Retaining Mularkey was not the best move IMO. And for many to suggest the coaching staff he assembled as above average when compared to the league, is ludicrous.

So I think it is a legitimate concern to question the "ancient" coaching staff. I also don't know if JR really "endorses" Mularkey or more likely is just spouting the company line because AAS wants to keep Mularkey around.

 

No...I like F'ing with dunce....never get in the way of idiots being idiots....I like to see him double down on stupid. LOL

 

Mularkey has the pieces to do his thing now, we might be stuck with him for a while