Not comparing him to Ricky at all, but I can see some similarities in their coming here. Remember Ricky was a very talented back that had "under performed" his draft status in New Orleans. The same can be said about Moreno. Now I want to say before anyone else does that I don't believe their physical talent is even comparable. I'm just questioning if perhaps Moreno can still live up to his draft status by improving here.
Good point. There's something to be said for the fact that he was indeed a first rounder. Evaluated as a top talent. That counts for something imo. I was skeptical when they signed him but I'll gladly eat a full crow dinner on this one. He looks at-home filling all the RB responsibilities from the shotgun like he did for Denver. His feel and timing and vision from beside the QB just looks spot-on, and then he finishes runs with toughness. Hope he stays healthy for us.
Moreno ran like he was back at Georgia. Miller has looked tentative, no burst. I didn't realize Williams only had 55 yards. Coulda sworn he had 22 alone on 1 play the other night.
Yeah.... They ran the same base plays it seemed for both backs but Moreno's vision/ patience is light years ahead of Miller's imo.
I was really impressed with that TD where two defenders got to Williams unblocked in the backfield and he spun and scored anyways. That impressed me in terms of instincts and balance. I like it when players show the ability to succeed despite team mates screwing up. But aside from that I would generally agree that Darkwa has been more successful and showed similar levels of innate talent.
He's gone from 3.5 to 3.6 to 3.7 yds per carry. It's really splitting hairs to say that is much of an improvement.
Darkwa is really a dark horse. I like what Williams as done in short yardage situations. Our inability to convert on & 2 & 1 really hurt us last year. I want to see what Darwa does in those short yardage situations tomorrow. I'm already convinced that Williams or Thomas will be our short yardage specialist.
Good lord, when did we ever have 2nd and 1? I think Moreno will help us get at least two or three when it's 2nd and 7 giving us more play calling option as opposed to getting stuffed.
Stat wise, no...but he's also blocking significantly better, he doesn't still appear to be turnover prone, and he's running a lot harder after contact. That's not splitting hairs at all, he's a much improved back over what he was 2 years ago. As I said before though, I'd keep Williams over him in a heartbeat. "Improved" definitely doesn't mean "good enough" or even "worth another shot". After his fumble-filled rookie year where he couldn't throw a block or gain any penetration, I personally would have cut him then and there.
i had him as a legit coming talent coming out and though something was wrong with him in Denver or I just misjudged, but I thought he was very talented and deserved hi draft status.
His yards after contact have gone from 1.9 to 2.3 to 2.0. So while he may appear to you to be running a lot harder after contact, his results have not shown much improvement.
I meant 2nd and 2 and 3rd and 1. Too often last year we lost yardage running the ball in short yardage situations.