Tony McGee's Thoughts on the Philly Game

[MTK]

Portis had problems staying healthy in Denver as well, so it's not exclusive to playing under Gibbs.

I misread your initial post, I thought you were calling Portis a failed experiment, now I see you're saying his extra weight may be a failed experiment. That just may be true, but I still think his injuries right now might be playing a factor. He doesn't seem to have the same burst he did back in camp and early in the season before he got banged up.

As for JW I'll gladly do some research:

In 1981 JW had 210 carries for 916 yards and also added 70 catches. Meanwhile Riggo had 195 for 714.

I wouldn't exactly call that Riggo taking the bulk of the work and it seems that JW was a bit more than a 3rd down back that year wouldn't you say?

[offiss]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Portis had problems staying healthy in Denver as well, so it's not exclusive to playing under Gibbs.

I misread your initial post, I thought you were calling Portis a failed experiment, now I see you're saying his extra weight may be a failed experiment. That just may be true, but I still think his injuries right now might be playing a factor. He doesn't seem to have the same burst he did back in camp and early in the season before he got banged up.

As for JW I'll gladly do some research:

In 1981 JW had 210 carries for 916 yards and also added 70 catches. Meanwhile Riggo had 195 for 714.

I wouldn't exactly call that Riggo taking the bulk of the work and it seems that JW was a bit more than a 3rd down back that year wouldn't you say?

That was 81 before Gibbs established his signature running game, it was also a year in which Riggins was coming off a 1 year lay off and everyone was still feeling their way.

Take a good look at what happened the next 3 years, 82-Riggins 177, JW 44,[strike shortened season] the hogs are born, 83-Riggins 375, JW-145, 84-Riggins 327, JW-56, as you can see once Gibbs established his running game it was lopsided in Riggins favor.

[jermus22]

Great work Tony. I completely agree with your comments about the running game and pass rush. I'm still a little worried about the run defense, even though we did well against Philly. Philly isn't exactly a running team anyway.
Thanks again for the good article.