Reggie Bush isn't really versatile though. He is pretty limited as a runner, and while he's good in space, he's not a great blocker. I don't think he is worthless, but I'm not sure you want him taking the majority of your RB snaps.
I meant versatility in the passing game, though he has been solid in the running game when given a certain number of carries. The last few games not withstanding, he's been pretty good in the second half of games and I don't think it's a coincidence that his best season to date came in the season he had his career high in rushes, that being last year.
It's not at all a hatred. He's not playing well, and it ain't really just the line. At very least you have legitimate concerns that Bush can be more than a change of pace back.
They're not a team that's deep with offensive talent. I don't think that sitting on the bench is going to improve his play a whole lot. You need to get him around 20 touches and hope for the best
You absolutely can't afford to do that. That one or two 10+ yard rush plays that Bush will deliver a game are not even close to outweighing the fact that he's putting you in a hole drive after drive with 1-2 yarders, or even worse losses. It's putting the offense in awful situations, and at this point Daniel Thomas consistently getting you 3.5 yards a pop, as uninspiring as it is is much more helpful.
This is a caricature of the point just to illustrate it, but you could give the ball to Daniel Thomas on 1st and 2nd down and end up with a 3rd and 3, and you could give those same two carries to Reggie Bush and end up in a 3rd and 14.
Bush ran a whole year at 5 ypc for 1100 yards. All of a sudden he's not worth peanuts anymore. Amazing. Daniel Thomas is junk. I'm not saying Bush is the best RB in the league, but DT is junk.
I agree that Daniel Thomas isn't a very good rusher, but at this point his reliability is an asset. He's on a per-snap basis one of the least likely backs in the league to be stuffed, Reggie Bush is one of the most likely. You absolutely have to judge Reggie Bush on his merits right now. He's played really well at times, in the past, the fact of the matter he's struggling with his vision in a different blocking scheme, and his extraordinary play is basically spread over like 8 games in his entire career.
No, but it is his fault when he reacts poorly to them by doing stuff like going backwards, racing to the edge no matter what, and trying to stop and reverse field.
Tacklers, plural, plus the people plugging the running lanes. The difference between his doing well and now is the performance of the offensive line.
No, not tacklers plural. That's happened maybe once. The offensive line is not performing notably worse than it was early in the season. The biggest factor is that teams have figured out how to defend Reggie Bush. Teams realize now that if you crash the front side of a play, Bush is going to make bad decisions. He doesn't have vision to see a wide range of cutback lanes on zone plays. The coaching staff decides to change the blocking scheme for a player, and then bench them, it should be a pretty clear and uncontroversial sign that they've got a problem with what he is doing in terms of decision making.
There are individuals on this forum who think the Dolphins should try to sign Long after this season to a contract in excess of ten million dollars a year. At the present time, Prol Football Focus, has him rated as the 47th out of 72 tackles in the NFL. If Long is worthy of making ten plus million dollars a year, as some people on here seem to think he is. How much does that mean all those tackles rated above him should be paid? Of course Long's rating appears excellent when compared to Martin, who is the other starting tackle on the Dolphins. He is rated 66th out of 72 tackles in the NFL by, PFF. At the guard positions, Jerry is rated 53rd and Incognito is rated 56th, out of 78 starting guards in the NFL. Only center, Pouncey is rated highly at his position. He is currently ranked the 3rd best center in the NFL. It appears based on these ratings that the Dolphins need to keep Pouncey and upgrade at every other position on the offensive line. The 47th ranked offensive tackle in the league is certainly not worth paying millions of dollars. Especially when this team is devoid of talent at so many other positions. The fact is that Long has regressed as a player in the NFL and he should no longer be paid as if he is the same dominant player he was during the first few years of his career.
That's not a very good argument. The rating is based on a bunch of things not equally weighed in reality, and nor are likely to ever get a direct correlation between contract and play. It defies logic and the standards of what actually happens in the NFL that you let what has been an elite player walk because of a single down year when you have the tools to re-evaluate him. Would you let Larry Fitzgerald walk if he was in a contract year this year? What about Eli Manning?
Larry fitz is a rather poor example.He has no offensive line to protect probally the worst group of qbs in the nfl a really poor comparision.Jake long is breaking down is better days are behind him.If It was up to me I would try to keep him but it would be at a huge salary decrease.We need upgrades everywhere and we cannot afford to waste a huge amount of money on the outside chance he returns to form.
Yes, that is a pretty big departure from the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Well, no, you don't have any idea what is going on with Jake Long.
If his play was just down this season, I might agree with you. Unfortunately his play started to decline in 2011 and it has continued to decline in 2012. I believe in his first three years in the league, Long was the best LT in the NFL. He just hasn't played well the past two years and he just isn't worth the ten plus millions of dollars he will probably be looking for in his next contract, IMO. If he is willing to sign a contract in the seven to eight million dollar range, fine. If he wants to be paid as the best LT in the game. The Dolphins need to go in another direction.
Fitz has been in the same situation for years. To assume Long's best days are behind him isnt fair. It's far from an "outside chance" he returns to top form. And yes, we actually can afford to spend a huge amount of money on him. So in conclusion, disgustipate's last statement is dead on. I dont see a scenario where he is not at least tagged.
No, it really hadn't. Outside of the first couple weeks of 2011 when he had injury issues coming out of the lockout, he was playing at his normal level. This year is very much anomalous. So do you have an argument about the Cardinals QB and OL situation not being terrible previously, or are you privy to inside health information?
PRAISE JESUS!!! We didn't overpay for a broken down above average player. Smart move Ireland. Good on you.