Brought to you by Roger Goodie Goodell . . .
The National Football League is in the news a lot lately, unfortunately for Roger Dodger, it ain’t all good. First off we have the Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin he said/he said imbroglio around Incognito’s harassment and subsequent twitter frenzy, the arrest of NFL Network stalwart (and, creepily, the self-proclaimed pick magnet) Darren Sharper, who was charged with drugging and raping 2 women in LA, with pending charges in 3 other states, and throw in Ray Rice beating his fiancee unconscious, and there you go. Life in the NFL fist lane.
The Incognito deal just won’t go away for poor ol’ Jolly Roger (he of the $44.2 million in earnings last year. It’s good to be da king). The Wells report details a pattern of homophobic, racial, and general assholery harassment of certain teammates and an Asian trainer by some of the Dolphin players. If you are really bored/interested/insomniacial, here’s the report in its entirety:
http://i.usatoday.net/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins-ted-workplace-conduct-report.pdf
Makes you wonder how ready the typical NFL locker room is for an openly gay player. As in Mike Sam, All-SEC defensive player of the year. I’d love to think that our country has moved on from our puritan ways in regards to sexuality and how adults conduct themselves in their their own bedrooms, and certainly more and more states are allowing gay marriage, but the NFL is at best a very private club among people who nominally give their all to meet a common goal. This isn’t war or battle or any such nonsense, but football is a violent game played by large aggressive men. The locker room is supposed to be an-off-limits place where these guys decompress after the intensity of a game. At its worst, the locker room can apparently be a place of constant and endless bullshit from the very guys you are struggling to win games with. Seems like a pretty stupid way to build a coheseive offensive line to say the least. At some point, you’d think the coaches would at least tell them to tone shit down some. It turns out they were in on the harassment, and encouraged it.
Yes, I’m sure there is a lot of stuff going on in many locker rooms that would gross out/disgust/piss off regular folks, but these aren’t regular folks. But for Richie Incognito to be seen as anything other than a shit-dusturbing troublemaker is pretty weak. Even given the support of some of his teammates. The fact that the coaches place him high up on the leadership council (or whatever it was) is even more insane. When you see how Sam’s college teammates reacted to his coming out before the 2013 season, you see that people can adjust their perspective on things when it becomes real to them.
How this works in the NFL remains to be seen. Given the off-the-cuff comments by Chris Culliver, and Jonathan Vilma’s preening statments (if I’m showering with a gay guy, how can he resist me?) I really wonder if he even gets drafted. I’d like to think it’ll happen, but the owners are a very good-old-boy network, and they don’t appear to be ready for this. NIMBY indeed. Regardless, I wouldn’t hold my breath for the Dolphins to draft him.
Anyhow, there has been no official reaction to Miami’s handling of the Incognito deal from the league office. The thought though is Goodell drops the hammer on Miami as he did on the Pats and Spygate, and the Saints on Bounty-gate. Incognito likely gets some kind of major suspension. Lifetime? Right Just like Gregg Williams.
Speaking of Williams, did anyone notice that his ‘lifetime’ suspension lasted all of 2 years? Williams quietly slipped back into the DC job he was supposed to get after he blew the Niner playoff game back in 2012. Great. Goodie Goodell is certainly very good at the old smoke-and-mirrors parlor trick. Nothing to see here. Pay attention to all the money we just got from CBS for broadcasting some Thursday night football games! Cha-ching!
Forty Niners Forever 
I will make one serious prediction for next year, with a condition. I think the 49ers will beat the Seahawks in Seattle next year if they don’t use Frank Gore. I don’t know the schedule, but if the 49ers play Seattle in Seattle early, they’ll use Frank and lose. But later in the year, if Frank’s been exposed and the 49ers make a switch, the Niners will win in Seattle.
Here’s the formula, once again, for a great backfield. Dump Frank Gore, trade LaMicheal James, don’t re-sign Dixon, draft two running backs in the second and fourth rounds, and draft a FB in the 7th to compete with Miller You do that, and fire new running backs Freeman and Hill at the Seattle D, along with Kaep’s play action, and Seattle’s toast.
Kaep isn’t as phased by Seattle now. They’ve figure it out. It all hinges on Harbaugh moving away from Gore.
I’m thinking Lattimore will see his share of action Spit.
Agree about Kaep feeling more comfortable up there too.
It’s still a challenge for the OLine related to the noise and getting off on the snap.
That NFCC game was ours to take. Too many mistakes late.
Injuries didn’t help either.
We’re stacked up well with them.
Looking forward to contributions from Tank and Dial too.
Take away the one big scramble play Wilson made over Whitner and Reid and that’s a totally different game.
Shot ourselves in the head in several big spots.
Have to keep Wilson bottled up.
Can’t allow him that kind of time to extend plays.
Blaming Frank Gore is pure BLEEP! Sure the guy is getting old but lets have a little respect for the guy! Damn…….. the pounding he’s taken over the years and remember all the lousy teams he had to endure before the last two years of success. Now really! Is there no shame?
Frank Gore is done. That doesn’t mean we don’t respect him. I have a great deal of respect for him. But my respect for the man doesn’t mean I’d give him another year. Willie Mays hung on too long. Like I’ve written many times before, Walsh jettisoned the veterans before they started to decline. Because the 49ers have just now climbed back into competition after several years of garbage football, 49er fans have forgotten what it takes to stay on top. You don’t stay on top getting emotionally attached to old players. Frank Gore is done. We all love him, but he’s done. I’d cut him or trade him tomorrow.
Rogers did the same thing a few times as well in GB. Some guys are just hard to contain. Of course Rogers was helped by an amazingly obvious hold on McDonald.
Again, Spitty, running Gore out of the 22 package does nothing. That was the Niner run game for most of the year. Lattimore, Hunter, or LMJ won’t be able to run out of that formation. If they’d put in 3 WRs and back the safety up, the run game has a better chance.
Yeah, here we are again. Poised on the edge of greatness. Sucks to have to wait so long for next season.
NJ, that is the fallacy of playing conservative to win. You fight and claw for long drives, and when you end up playing it safe and not getting into the end zone, all your hard work goes out the window on a busted play. Or a big punt return. Or a fucking offsides play where everyone falls asleep.
God I hope the Niners actually open it up on O as per the above and many other suggestions made here
Unca – running Frank Gore anywhere does nothing. He has nothing left except for knowledge that sometimes coaches can’t abandon in favor of a new guy they need to coach up. Hopefully 49er fans start calling more and more for Baalke and Harbaugh to part ways with older players like Gore and Justin Smith. Hopefully Baalke and Harbaugh listen. Bill Walsh was 100% right. No exceptions.
I agree Kendal needs different run plays. Nothing wrong with that. Lattimore, as you know, is a huge question mark to me. James has very little value to me. That leaves Kendal and Kendal…. and Kendal. We need more running back help. That might be the biggest pressing need coming into the draft. It might even be a bigger need for us than wide receiver. But I’d never, never, never draft a running back in the first round. Second round? Yes. I’d draft two running backs and a full back in this year’s draft.
A great running game opens things up for the passing attack. Seattle won the Super Bowl on Marshawn Lynch’s back. It wasn’t Russell’s arm. 49er fans are sometimes somewhat blind. 49er fans claim the Seattle defense was amazing against the run. Well they weren’t the week before against the Saints. The Saints ran on Seattle at will. The reality is that the Seattle run defense wasn’t that great. Frank Gore was just that bad. And his plays were limited (not by Roman but by Gore’s ability) so Seattle didn’t have to game plan much to stop him. It wasn’t because Seattle’s run D was so good. The 49ers lost that game because Frank Gore was so bad. Then Kaep had to put the game on his shoulders and spin straw into gold….. which proved too much for him. But if Kaep had Lynch, we’d have two rings right now. We need to go out and find the next Marshawn Lynch. I think it’s Devanta Freeman from Florida State.
The main difference between Seattle’s run game and ours is, at least when we play each other, is Seattle routinely crowds the line with their safeties to stop Gore. We don’t do that to stop Lynch. We don’t give up the big play (well, we did in the NFCCG), but we keep everything underneath. In the playoff game, the line wore down due to the constant pounding of Lynch. They face 7 on 7 when they run, we routinely go 7 on 8, or 8 on 9. Since we don’t have any checkdowns, lots of run plays simply get blown up.
You bringing up NO only reinforces my point. What type of offense does NO run? Lots of shotgun. Lots of 3-4 WR sets. THAT opens up the running lanes. Even though Seattle keeps their CBs in man coverage, they can cheat their safeties up close to crowd the line aganist SF. With Brees and a bunch of WRs, Sea had to back up/move laterally their safeties to account for the 3 wide. This opens up the lanes. Gore was never fast. His game is to blast through a tiny crack in the line and mow down DBs. He can still do that relatively well.
I don;t want him getting 25 carries a game. I’d like to see him around 12-15 as we ease Lattimore into the offense. Again, though, they need to stop the idea of running out of the jumbo package to have any success.
If that’s all it takes to run why do you think every team doesn’t just run the spread offense as a base?
It may seem that simple to you but they only get eleven on defense and they have to defend both halves. Many run plays take more of the eleven guys on offense to do their jobs to work. One failure to win an individual battle can cause the play to die.
The plays you see from us have been practiced against the best defense in the league. A. Davis gets his footwork wrong = stuff. Goodwin can’t get off his initial block in time = stuff. But it’s easy to sit on the couch and say, “I would have spread ’em out there. Yeah, that’d work. I’m a freakin’ football genius. More beer.”
Much easier than actually seeing what went wrong and understanding why.
Chuck,
The Saints pass to set-up the run. They’re a pass first team with their best players on offense in the passing game. It makes sense that the Saints would beat the Seahawks with the run, throwing them a curve ball. But that’s only to a point. As some point a defense steps up and says, “Drew Brees is awful right now and they’re going to the run all day…. let’s stop that.” But Seattle couldn’t because the Saints’ running back was awesome. He’s the one who Bill Parcels told Sean Payton to use more because of his talent. Robinson, I think. Can’t remember his name. Point is that you’re right about the Saints setting up the run with the pass, and having less in the box… but only to a point. At some point Seattle needed to adjust but couldn’t.
In that game, the Saints inverted their offense. They ran to set-up the pass, and late in the game it started working. The Seahawks took Jimmy Graham completely out of the game. Drew Brees was awful for 3 quarters. The Saint ran and moved the ball extremely well, setting up Brees to have some breathing room in the 4th quarter.
With the 49ers, they obviously run to setup the pass. Frank Gore, for whatever reason, didn’t get it done in the NFC Championship game. Then the passing attack failed because there was no play action to speak of. Nobody was worried about Frank.
I was writing long before the NFC Championship game that to beat the Seahawks in Seattle the 49ers would need to use more Kendal Hunter, pass to set-up the run, and simplify the offense, going with more silent counts. Instead the 49ers ran Frank into a brick wall and they lost. Some blame Kaep for falling short, and to a certain extent I agree. But I see Kaep trying to take over a game because nothing else was working. I don’t blame him for that. You give Kaep a couple of healthy running backs in their prime and we win that game and win the Super Bowl. And we probably also beat the Ravens.
Three years ago, in Harbaugh’s first year, I was reading that scouts were saying the 49ers needed to use Kendal Hunter a lot more because he had noticeably more juice in his legs than Gore. That was three years ago. I think the 49ers kept Gore for as long as they did, much past his prime now, because Kaep needed a second set of eyes in the backfield and Hunter got hurt. They extended Frank’s career to help Kaep, but in the end it actually hurt Kaep.
I love Frank, but he’s done. You give Kaep two or three stud running backs who hit holes hard and Kaep’s passing numbers improve dramatically. Vance McDonald and Quinton Patton become stars, seeing more linebacker and one on one coverage.
The 49ers run game philosophy isn’t hard to figure out. They coach their running backs to hit the hole and to hit it hard…. like a cheap Vegas hooker. Frank Gore used to hit the hooker hard. Now he just talks dirty. Frank is the reason we didn’t win the Super Bowl this year.
Gee, NoFear, about 4/5ths of the teams in the league run out of 3-4 WR sets. Curious, no? Maybe to you. It’s a passing leauge if you haven’t noticed. A lot of those teams are successful running like that. This isn’t voodoo majic. It’s football. Shit isn’t that hard to figure out.
The point, which I’ve explained to you many times, is that when you run the 22 package, esp with the TEs up tight on the line, you invite more defensive players into the tackle box. Mainly because when WE (the 49ers) go to this formation, it screams (telegraphs/phones in/lets the whole world know) we are running the ball. Wouldn’t this, by simple deduction, make this easy to stop?
Singletary’s mantra was, ‘we didn’t execute.’ How CAN you execute when it’s 8 against 9? Running up the gut 25 times for one big run isn’t my idea of success.
Besides. if Davis or Goodwin or whoever can’t consistently block correctly, then they shouldn’t be put in the position of having to make the key block. Put someoneelse in there that can. Yeah, every play is subject to breakdowns. but, again, for these times when the line is outnumbered, it is VERY RARE to hit every block perfectly to spring Gore for a big gain. Why not clear out a LITTLE space by at least moving the safeties wide to cover a WR rather than let him cheat into the box?
The defense will not allow the offense to outnumber them in the box. Same for everybody. But they have to cover both sides because they don’t know which way you’re going. You pull a guard, and/or a tackle, bingo, numbers go to you and your argument is gone.
When you face an aggressive d-line you don’t just open holes wider for them to penetrate. You can, if you have quick hitters or screens or draws to slow or counter the rush but we don’t seem to have that stuff down very well, do we? Not sure where to point fingers on that deficiency but I’m sure we’re working on it. Not too hard to figure out. “This isn’t voodoo majic.”
Seattle plays three deep or one deep. Obviously they’ll favor the single deep on most plays agaisnt us for better run support unless it’s a likely pass situation.
We run most inside the tackles but spread it out better than you’d have us believe to over tackles and outside the tackles. We’re also the most successful running inside the tackles.
How well did we run against Seattle? Or Indy? Or Carolina? Not well. Esp when you take away the scrambles. Stop our run game, and you have Carolina sacking the shit out of Kaepernick. Or mistakes up the wazoo from the constant harassment. And that’s the deal. We pushed around lousy defenses. Not so much the good defenses.
The braintrust needs to do something about wasting so many 1st down plays. 23rd in 3rd down conversion rate is shit. Why? Because we have way too many 2nd and 8-12s. And too many 3rd and 6-12s. Being constantly in the hole leads to sacks and mistakes.
The Niners were 26th in the league with nearly 25% of their drives ending in 3-and-outs. That ain’t good.
Working on screens? We haven’t had a successful screen game since Garcia and Hearst roamed the mud.
More perdictions:
-Spit will average 16 novellas per month
-Chuck and NoFear will attempt to solve sociological / political dilemmas AND the O woes but will fight to an inconclusive draw despite heroic efforts.
-Nip will consistently BLEEP at appropriate moments
-The Sandy funds will remain MIA fer a loooong time more
-Goodie Goodall will mandate pink tutus for all players thus destroying whats left of the contest of mighty men on the gridiron
Chuck,
I agree with you on all points above. Some here say we are trying to play GM but I think we are trying to figure out how to improve the team. You can do that by assessing what’s wrong and also by suggesting a direction to take. But sometimes, even with all of us obsessing about the team, we all look at things the wrong way. We build off each other And sometimes an assumption is wrong, and we build off that assumption. We’ve all vilified Greg Roman as being bad but the reality I’m starting to see is that Greg and Jim put themselves in a position to lean too heavily on Gore and that’s what created all of the above poor offensive stats you listed above. I really do think the reason we weren’t good on offense was because the 49ers put themselves in a position (by drafting Lattimore who couldn’t contribute last year) to lean too heavily on a old running back, past his prime. The loss of Crabtree didn’t help. And losing Ginn who took the top of the defense didn’t help either. But Gore was a shadow of his former self and he was really limited. Gore’s limitation prevented the offense from opening up.
Kaep’s radar lock happens to young qbs. They start to see the field better the more they play. The game slows down. Eventually he’ll sit in the pocket, delivering strikes after going through his reads. But nothing is more favorable to a qb than a great run game, and a great run game starts with a great running back, or two – which we don’t have.
The one area of concern I would have going forward is the complexity of the offense with young running backs. It’s nice that Lattimore got a year to study while rehabbing, but Lattimore is a huge question mark to me. And a huge gamble. If we bring in other rookie running backs to hedge our Lattimore bet, my concern is that the offense will be too complex for them to be every down backs. I wouldn’t give Frank Gore 12-15 touches per game next year. He can only do two things now and those two things will be immediately taken away from him by the defenses when he’s on the field. Defenses won’t have to plan much for Gore.
All in all, the offense is complex because that’s necessary for Super Bowl runs, but next year the offense will need to be scaled back, more simplified for rookies to contribute faster. If rookies don’t contribute on offense, we won’t have another shot at a Super Bowl in 2014.
Man. I am sky-high on Vicodin right now. Them damn mallards made me walk extra today and I even had to get off the beaten path, get my feet dirty, slip, slide and waddle myself just to feed those suckers. My foot’s broken and I’m in a goddamn walking boot. Goddamn Anas platyrhynchos. They’ll miss me when I’m gone.
Hench the Vicodin. I lost count. Let’s just say Brett Favre and I share the same pharmacist. It’s a good thing I’m not drinking as well. Come to think of it, I haven’t had a drink since the Super Bowl. What the hell’s wrong with me? Don’t answer that.
Nice work, Dennis. Two weeks is a long time. Keep up the good work. Sobriety is the ability to deal with emotions without the need to medicate. I’m 23 months, myself. I’m still here talking with you retards but life is absolutely getting better for me. You will, however, get grumpy. Learn to embrace it. It’s fun. Kick a duck, then apologize. He had it comin’. Then laugh as all the emotions swarm over you: guilt, rage, remorse, compassion for the duck, indifference. It’s your own little party in your head. And that party in your head is what getting sober is all about. But if you’re just not drinkin’ because of your foot….. never mind. Nice work anyway.
Chuck I think the tenor of our discussions regarding the ’22’ is missing a vital point.
We attempt to show a consistent look while varying the plays with options.
Given the fact that Delanie departed and, VMcD was a Rook, we didn’t have many variations to offer, with Celek being the other option at TE.
Everyone keys on Vernon, effectively taking him away quite often.
Missing Crabtree further complicated the progress Kaep could have made this year too.
This Roman debate is healthy, for the most part.
I happen to see him as a pretty good strategist.
What it boils down to, for me, is that there aren’t many variables available to him, simply due to personnel.
Yes, Gore is the bell cow, we are who we are there. He’s on the short side of his career of course.
Lattimore is a thick RB, capable of being the hammer, with the one major concern being the knee repair.
I’d join Spit’s opinion about adding options in the backfield but, it still becomes a concern about Blitz pickup for me too.
Kendall isn’t a big guy, he’s OK in the Blitz assignments but, not spectacular.
Dixon probably isn’t reliable enough either, or he’d have seen more action.
Boobie is the guy I’d question more, since he’s the bigger guy yet, he’s been MIA the most.
Drafting another FB isn’t the worst idea either. Bruce is an excellent lead man, he’s not a RB.
Neither is Boobie for that matter.
Conclusion? Buh bye Boobie.
We do need to get more in line with the League norm, RBs by committee.
LMJ isn’t earning time back there either. Major head scratcher.
I’d agree with Spit that 2 RBs could be sought in May.
I’d disagree that they need to be Drafted high simply because other positions are more important right now.
With a field stretcher at WR I could see Kendall becoming a MAJOR threat underneath.
Perhaps LMJ could earn his keep in that capacity too? Just not sure where his head is right now relative to going the Twitter route, asking for a Trade.
Quite frankly,a FB might be better the focus, since they typically come cheap.
Jewell is still kicking around the development ranks too.
He’s built very much like Frank. Might be that he’s the future? We’ll see.
Draft Picks equal depth.
Get the immediate needs high, add the rest later.
I don’t think there’s a more important need than running back on this team. I think that’s our team’s top priority going into the draft, but I wouldn’t use a first round pick on a running back.
I think we re-sign Boldin, Brown and Dawson. I think Whitner is gone. So we’d need to pickup a safety with our first, second round pick – and get him ready to start. But we’re solid with corners with Brock, Brown, Culliver, Wright and Morris. We’re great at linebacker, and with the additions of Tank and Dial, we’re good along the D line.
Our offensive line will see Kilgore replace Goodwin. We have a qb. We have tight ends. We have Crabtree, Patton, Baldwin (who could be good if Harbaugh pulled his head out), and Boldin, if re-signed.
Then it just comes down to our backfield. We need a ton of help here. Our backfield is where we’re the weakest. Period. Give Kaep and Roman a backfield and they’ll start opening up the offense and you won’t criticize either of them as much.
~ When you run to set-up the pass, but your running back is 60, you aren’t going to have much success throwing the football ~
RB has to get transitioned away from Frank Spit, I’d agree with you.
Whitner may be valuable just to groom his replacement, as would be the case for Boldin to mentor our next option at the WR position too.
I’m on the fence with TBrown too.
TBrock may have taken the role as he got the extension already.
Culliver is in the same boat with Lattimore.
Major knee injuries are always a wait and see situation, as it was with Mario.
Draft a pair or WRs and DBs in May.
Fill for depth after that.
Of those of WR/DB options, it would be nice to have one of them contribute in the PR/KR capacity too.
Brandon Cooks and Odell Beckham have some potential there.
We’re in the ‘tinker’ mode now.
Create some competition are several positions and see who offers the bigger upside.
I’d seek a burner at WR, maybe that guy offers the PR/KR option too.
Another WR to have ready for the replacement of Boldin or the possible loss of Crabtree.
Devante Adams, Jarvis Landry or Donte Moncrief could fill the Boldin/Crabtree variable.
Cooks is a burner. I like him, along with Odell Beckham.
Great depth from this Class of WRs.
I’d look for a slot CB and a SS too.
Too many to speculate on for me right now.
It’ll become clearer after the Combines conclude.
I’d still like to experiment with Dri Archer, if he could be stolen on the cheap.
He’s quite small but, he’s a potential weapon in multiple areas.
Which is what I’d had hoped LMJ could offer.
I want to see more of WR Robert Herron from Wyoming over the weekend in Indy too.
Smaller dude that looked good at the Senior Bowl.
He seems like a burner, his 40 will get cleared up, as will all the other participants.
Not sure if he’s a candidate for the PR/KR area though.
Numbers are never accurate until the Combines define them.
I want this dude in the late second, early third.
And I want this dude in the 4th round.
I like Hill from LSU too Spit.
Think it’s the end of the line for Boobie.
Need a thumper behind Frank/Kendall.
Twinkle Toes Dixon isn’t the answer.
Freeman looks interesting.
I’d reserve the Top 2 Rds for other positions but, I’m not the guy sending in the Picks.
Check the kid from Coastal Carolina.
FB Lorenzo Taliaferro, 6’2″ 230 is what’s available on him now.
He’s a late RD guy, if not a UDFA option perhaps.
Only played 2 yrs, be it in a small school football program, after JUCO transfer.
Racked up almost 2100 yds on 356 carries though.
Might suggest he can take the pounding?
If all we’re getting from Boobie is a ST player, save some money and, try another option that might give us some short yardage options.
And I want this guy in the 7th to replace Bruce Miller. Then walla…. new offense and a passing game. Frank Gore and Bruce Miller are done. NEXT!!!
Give me Devanta Freeman, Jeremy Hill and JC Copeland and dump Dixon, Miller, James, Hampton and Gore. If Lattimore makes it, great. Don’t count on the current bums in our backfield to pick up his slack if Lattimore can’t go. Create a backfield and passing attack that’s not sorry like ours is and Kaep’s play action will actually work.
I meant create a backfield and rushing attack that’s not sorry like ours is and Kaep’s play action will actually work.
I’m with you.
Running back by committee these days.
We ride Frank very heavily, as does Seattle with Lynch.
But at least Turbin gives Lynch a blow, a kid I wanted Baalke to take BTW.
I’m all in for another thumper.
Tired of having to use DLmen for short yardage.
I’ve got no problem with Bruce. Great lead man, excellent hands for an ex-DE too.
Reminds me of Rathman in terms of locating his man and blowing him up.
He’s just not a RB.
JC is definitely a guy you’d describe as a thumper.
Geez, 270?
Ouch.
Good find on JC, moves well for a big boy.
Gets after it too.
No happy feet.
I’m sold.
Here’s my top guy at the RB position –
Good vision, good hands, quick hitter.
When I’m evaluating guys for the backfield I’m all about contact. Do they hit and can they take a hit. Can they finish? So many top rated running backs with moves don’t make it in the NFL because they can’t take the beating. And really…. if you think about it, you run to pound on the defense. We already have a quick hitter like this kid in Kendal Hunter. You put Freeman and Copeland in the backfield and linebackers are going to need to pack a lunch. And when linebackers are worried, Kaep’s play action gets better and better.
I agree Spit, always look whether they stop their feet, (which Boobie does constantly), and what happens after the first hit.
Lattimore is that kind of runner.
His injury took him out of the 1st RD, for good reason but, if he’s healthy, he’s a steal where Baalke grabbed him.