Deuce does nothing but gain yards........WHY is he on the sidelines ?? (1 Viewer)

[Paul]

Many of you have posted excellent points, and I understand both sides of the argument. I guess I'm in the middle, and as a fan, I really have no choice but to trust and understand the game plan implemented by the coaching staff. I do feel, however, that if Deuce carried about 20 times against the Bengals Sunday, he'd probably break 150 for two scores, and that's the low end of it. Their rushing defense is, well, ..... anyway....

Here's to Deuce getting healthier each week, and being a major contributor in the playoffs.

 

[CHI-TOWNSAINT]

Many of you have posted excellent points, and I understand both sides of the argument. I guess I'm in the middle, and as a fan, I really have no choice but to trust and understand the game plan implemented by the coaching staff. I do feel, however, that if Deuce carried about 20 times against the Bengals Sunday, he'd probably break 150 for two scores, and that's the low end of it. Their rushing defense is, well, ..... anyway....

Here's to Deuce getting healthier each week, and being a major contributor in the playoffs.

I'll go a step further and say we need a combined effort of 30 runs against Cincy If we get to 30 runs we will have over 200 yards rushing easy. I see deuce and reggie having big games.

 

[st.randy]

I like Payton's game plan for the most part. However, I think when Deuce is pounding the ball and making yardage, they need to stick with him !!! Mix Bush in of course but give the majority of the play to Deuce when he is gaining yardage !

Go to the Payton interviews on the front page. I think it may be in the Joe Horn article......but read the news man. Guys are banged up, and some guys (Horn, Conwell, and even Deuce) are having thier touches counted, guys aren't playing hurt.......and they say in the article that they are trying to save something for the stretch of the season where we have some carolina, ny, atlanta, washington, dallas action going on. You know....the playoff run. Deuces knee is bad enough thatt he was limping at practice a week ago. Things are happening for a reason. I only have to think of hasletts 2000 team to remember how worn out and beat up they were against the vikings (playoff loss) to say......oh yeah! Good move.

Besides, it's like I said.....if we could afford to lose one. A road game out of conference was it.

 

[dninc]

Go to the Payton interviews on the front page. I think it may be in the Joe Horn article......but read the news man. Guys are banged up, and some guys (Horn, Conwell, and even Deuce) are having thier touches counted, guys aren't playing hurt.......and they say in the article that they are trying to save something for the stretch of the season where we have some carolina, ny, atlanta, washington, dallas action going on. You know....the playoff run. Deuces knee is bad enough thatt he was limping at practice a week ago. Things are happening for a reason. I only have to think of hasletts 2000 team to remember how worn out and beat up they were against the vikings (playoff loss) to say......oh yeah! Good move.

Besides, it's like I said.....if we could afford to lose one. A road game out of conference was it.

Thats right, Payton knows what he has on this team, and he's trying his best to play his Chess board Perfectly, he's losing pieces every game though, im sure if Deuce was healthy enough he'd be out there for every Offensive play but that knee is not gonna allow him to, he keeps reaggrovating it seems and we don't need to lose Duece near post season or if we need him to help us into Post season, Duece most likely knows what Payton is up too and we should as well, lets not sacrafice what we have for a few TD, we should never put ourselves in situations where games are decided by a TD or a Field goal.

Just think guys we almost beat a Championship team! Heck we basically won it and they brought thier A Game to us, That "A" game is probably what they used to get into the Championship game, hmm maybe im thinking to positive and should shut up?

 

[xtremc5]

this has been discussed in depth...deuce blew his knee out last year....his knee cannot handle 25-30 carries a game....let's not over do it so we can have him for the playoffs

I agree 100%, we need him down the strecth.

 

[Great Dane]

FYI, Deuce's last full year healthy in 2004 he averages 16.8 carries a game.

This year he's averaging 14 carries a game.

There ya go, get over it!!!! He's only getting 2 less carries this year. Yeah, that changes the outcome completely. Go do some homework!

A bit unfair comparison. In 2004 we never scored in the 1st quarter (except in a few games) and fell behind fast. So we were forced to throw a lot. That kept Deuces touches down. 2003 is a better comparison

Homework done

 

[Forest]

We scored 31 points with THREE turnovers and some of you want to talk about pounding the rock more? Did you forget we got behind early????

Also scoring 25.4 points a game on the year being down in the turnover ratio. Playcalling is perfect. Remove the turnovers and this is a 30 point per game club.

 

[saintfan-n-alex]

Bush needs carries, if he doesnt learn to run in the pros what do we have, a thrid down back - the decoy effect wont last forever

and deuce needs all the rest he can get, we dont have trouble moving the ball - we just need to watch the turnovers, Bush getting carries will allow him to imnprove on that.

once Bush learns to run in the pros, and deuce is fully healthy - the running game will be one of the best in the nfl - but that has to be built, along with a oline that run and pass blocks equally well

this is a rebuilding year after all

 

[Surviving Saint]

We just need to run the ball early and often. if we can pick up between 4-8 yds every 2 downs I think we will be ok passing for a short first down. Or we could open the run with the pass. Doesnt matter as long as we get 100+ yds on the ground this game.

 

[Wahoo]

I'm not sure I understand these complaints. The offense moves the ball on long sustained drives, keeping the defense off the field, and they are scoring points. If we can do that, what is the point of just pounding Deuce? McCarthy and Sheppard tried that, it did not work. Payton attacks teams at their weaknesses, he does not stubbornly insist on attacking another teams strength with our strength. When he needs to pound Deuce he does. Do you remember the last drive of the Philly game where they pounded Decue and threw a few short passes to take 9 minutes off the clock before kicking a field goal.

The bottom line is that this offense is working. They are controlling the clock and they are scoring points. What more can you ask? ...

Couldn't agree more. One clarification about the game-ending drive vs Philly -- of the 17 plays in that drive, Deuce had two runs, not exactly what I'd call pounding him. Of the remaining 15 plays, Bush had 3 runs (one was a "no play" due to penalty), Brees threw 8 passes, there was one sack (also a "no play" due to penalty), and Brees had 3 kneel-downs prior to the FG.

 

[Marlboro Man]

A lot of the points made here are valid and have their merits, but in the 3 games that we lost, and I haven't checked the ratio between pass and run in those games and maybe someone could, but just from watching the games and when we ran the ball and when we passed the ball, it seems that we left too much time on the clock for the opponent and they beat us because they got more plays in and eventually figured out our defense and ways to get around it. I may be wrong in the stats but I do believe in the games we lost that we passed the ball too much. When you are passing the ball so much, even if you do have sustained drives that in fact do run time off the clock, you inevitably throw 3-4 incomplete passes in that drive which if you ran the ball, you would have had positive yardage gained and run off an additional 2-4 minutes off the clock. In the game against Pittsburg that wasn't the only problem. In the first quarter I believe it was, there was a pass to one of the Steelers WR's that didn't look like a completion, it was never shown on the replays from the front of the reciever but the ball wound up on the ground and the reciever reached out and picked it up and it was ruled a completion and coach Payton never challenged it, but then he does challenge an obvious fumble by Reggie and loses the time out. As for how much we use Deuce, I can't complain because like a lot of you I believe we are saving him for the playoff run over the last 3-4 games and that we will slowly change our offensive strategy over the course of those games so as to go into the playoffs with teams not knowing what we will throw at them. On the other hand, as much as I hate to say it, we may not even make the playoffs. We may not even win another game the rest of the season it's just very hard to tell what is going on with this team right now. We haven't beaten a good team all year and have even lost to 3 teams that aren't even 500.

 

[Paul]

A lot of the points made here are valid and have their merits, but in the 3 games that we lost, and I haven't checked the ratio between pass and run in those games and maybe someone could, but just from watching the games and when we ran the ball and when we passed the ball, it seems that we left too much time on the clock for the opponent and they beat us because they got more plays in and eventually figured out our defense and ways to get around it. I may be wrong in the stats but I do believe in the games we lost that we passed the ball too much. When you are passing the ball so much, even if you do have sustained drives that in fact do run time off the clock, you inevitably throw 3-4 incomplete passes in that drive which if you ran the ball, you would have had positive yardage gained and run off an additional 2-4 minutes off the clock. In the game against Pittsburg that wasn't the only problem. In the first quarter I believe it was, there was a pass to one of the Steelers WR's that didn't look like a completion, it was never shown on the replays from the front of the reciever but the ball wound up on the ground and the reciever reached out and picked it up and it was ruled a completion and coach Payton never challenged it, but then he does challenge an obvious fumble by Reggie and loses the time out. As for how much we use Deuce, I can't complain because like a lot of you I believe we are saving him for the playoff run over the last 3-4 games and that we will slowly change our offensive strategy over the course of those games so as to go into the playoffs with teams not knowing what we will throw at them. On the other hand, as much as I hate to say it, we may not even make the playoffs. We may not even win another game the rest of the season it's just very hard to tell what is going on with this team right now. We haven't beaten a good team all year and have even lost to 3 teams that aren't even 500.

Dude, I am not sure where you get your information from. We may not win another game this season? Are you kidding?
We haven't beaten a good team? Philadelphia is no pushover.
We lost to three teams that aren't .500? Ravens = 7-2, Carolina = 5-4. Your negativity and misinformation are...... wait a minute, oh, I get it. I fell for it, right? :hookline: You purposely post stuff like this to get people wriled up. You got me.

 

[SaintKenn]

save him now, pound him in the playoffs. That's what I'm thinking.

 

[truck man]

Actually yes I will. You seem to just want to go off of the assumption that it is his knee when that may not be the case.

If you look at 2004, like you stated earlier, the season was completely different. We were playing catch up in many games and were forced to throw. Also, Deuce was used more consistently. If you look at the game by game stats in 2004, Deuce carried the ball a lot more than 16 times a game in games where we were not playing catch up.

I don't think it is his knee. I have yet to hear definitive proof that it is his knee. Give me a link to difinitive PROOF. All I have heard is speculation.

I think Payton is doing it for a reason but i don't think it's the knee.

I personally agree with many here that he should be getting the ball more. We should control the ball and the clock, plus we should wear down defenses.

Now, chitownsaint, you may not agree but chill with the attitude when you don't know anymore than anyone else. If you want to keep the rude attitude, SHOW PROOF. Oh yeah, go and look at the game by game stats in '04.

tune into the Gerry V show. Graf has been saying for weeks that Deuce has been running around very gingerly at practice and that when Deuce looked like he pulled his hammy in that Eagles game, it was really the muscle connecting from the hammy to behind the knee. Deuce is a warrior and plays his hardest every game but when you have a talent like Bush, who showed falshes last week because he actually hit the holes, how could you not warrant him touching the ball? Graf also said Bush was staying after practice and working on hitting the holes with Payton last week, and it showed against the Steelers. he will break one soon, maybe even this week. we all love Deuce, but you don't draft a guy like Bush and have him sit on the sideline.

 

[mg450]

OK. Knee. No 20 carries. Ok. But for crying out loud, why is he splitting goal line carries. Put him in the damn game inside the 5 yd line and on 3rd and 2 or less (whether you give it to him or not he is a threat - but give give it to him).