Daniel Thomas

He certainly looked better in the preseason, IMO. Started out slow with two bad games but he finished the preseason strong.

 

i concur. he's here to stay and he is stepping it up a notch. i have high hopes for him this year.

 

I believed in Thomas last year and defended him. Will do the same this year until he proves otherwise. I saw flashes of potential from him and thought Sparano did a HORRIBLE job managing his carries.

I'm sorry but you can't bring a back with lingering injuries cold off the bench in random key situations and expect him to have success.

 

I agree. He looks like a different player this year. He's running really hard.

 

not possible, he was drafted by the devil

 

Daniel Thomas' progress this off season is all about one step forward and one step backward. He takes steps forward with his approach, but then he's late for the plane to leave for Carolina (honestly, who does that?), he doesn't observe dress code, and then he's late to a weight lift...all in a span of like 4 days.

It's been the same on the field though. His two runs in the Tampa game were not good, but then he had a great touchdown run in the Carolina game. Probably the single best goal line or short yardage carry I've seen him have, to be honest. He starts to run well against the Falcons, but then he has that run where he leaves his feet and gets flipped over. Was it actually a fumble? No. Could it have been? Yes. Could he have seriously been hurt? Absolutely. Is leaving his feet like that in a non-goal line situation a great example of the kind of instincts he should have but does not? You bet. Last night, he follows some fantastic blocking out the right side and runs down a paved highway for 19 yards. But did he finish it with yards after contact? No. And what did he do the next play? A run up the middle where every DL was blocked well except one man, who didn't really have much penetration, and Daniel just ran smack right into him. There were open lanes and he chose the one that was stopped up.

Put that together with Armando's talking about a short yardage carry in practicewhere he turned his back to the line of scrimmage and tried to back into a pile of bodies...I think you definitely question his instincts. And you also have to question his attitude and work ethic. And at this point I don't question his yards after contact because I feel like I already know he's never going to be a high yards after contact average guy.

 

Im holding off on making up my mind on DT. But I do agree he gets more hate then he should as of today...


For instance, I read today in someones post that Lamar Miller has looked better then Thomas....that is just asinine. Asiten and asitwelve



:foundout:

 

That's precisely my gripe with Thomas. When you have a back like Reggie Bush, who can bounce it ouside, make a defender miss and create something in open field, you'd ideally want to supplement him with a guy that can pound it home (and maybe break a long one) against a defense that was kept on its toes. And Thomas just isn't that guy. It's almost like giving the opposing D a play off because not only do they know what's coming with Thomas in the backfield, they also know that they only need to get a grip on the guy and down he goes.

 

I think Lamar Miller has looked better than Daniel Thomas. The edge goes to him because of what he's done in the passing game and his versatility as far as being lined up in the slot when the team goes empty. Miller has been surprisingly good at blocking, and his carries have been no worse than Thomas' either. Just has had consistently worse blocking in front of him.

 

There's the change of pace argument which I somewhat agree with although I don't really believe it necessary (for instance, I wouldn't say Arian Foster and Ben Tate have very different styles). The more important argument is situational football. Reggie Bush is NOT going to get you hard yards in the red zone, or punch the ball in the end zone. Nor will he give you short yardage conversions. We have to turn to someone else for that. If it's 3rd and a short 1, 4th and a short 1, or a short 1 out of the end zone, then yes we can give it to Jorvorskie Lane. However, if it's a long 1 yard, or a 3rd & 2, or 3rd & 3, or we're inside the 10 yard line, who do you give it to? Not Jorvorskie Lane. Not Reggie Bush. The answer has to be Daniel Thomas. And I just don't think he gives you much there.

 

Do you not think Lane could do it because of his abilities or because if he did no one would be leading the way for him, since he's the FB? (Don't worry, I don't have a follow up or an opinion I was honestly curious)

 

About 2 yards is not the distance you want to hand it to your upback, IMO. The timing and spacing isn't right. If you want to line Jorvorskie as a true tailback on plays like that, well heck I wouldn't mind at least seeing it a few times. He was more tailback than fullback at TAMU, as I recall. And he's actually lighter now than he was back then, supposedly.

 

FTR, the bold is what i was thinking.

 

I would like to see them get the ball to Lane on a short and 3-5 with a TE blocking for him to see what he could have done with it. Preseason would have been great to see that.

 

The problem with that idea is the coaches have not experimented with it AT ALL in the preseason, so we've seen no live fire snaps to make a judgment whether it will work or not, and you absolutely cannot, emphasize CAN NOT...waste the downs we're talking about. 3rd & 1, 3rd & 2, 4th & 1, snaps inside the 10 yard line, you wouldn't be remiss to say that what you do on those downs literally win and lose you games. Every snap is precious, but those most of all.

 

I don't think 3rd/4th and 1 will be a problem. We'd have to gain 9 yards on 1st and 2nd down for that to happen. And how exactly do you envision us making it inside the other teams 10 yard line?

OK I'm joking. Sort of.

I like Thomas b/c he can put his head down and bludgeon his way for 3-4 yards on plays where Reggie is more likely to try some Houdini act that looks great when it works but also results in a lot of 2nd and 13, and with our offense 2nd and 13 is a punting situation. I like Reggie because when he does get good blocking he can make the safety miss and wreak some havoc in the secondary while Thomas is most likely to seek out the nearest defender, crash into him and fall down.

If opposing defenses stack the box, over play the run, and flood the short-intermediate zones (why the hell wouldn't they?) Thomas' skill set as a runner will be more useful IMO. I'm praying we have a Top Secret package of play action, rollouts, bootlegs etc that will help keep defenses honest and that if we give Gates and Clay some major reps their talent will show more than it has with the preseason spot duty. Aint much, I know. But what else can we do?

 

Thing with DTrain is ideally, he'd be a complete back in the Clinton Portis mold, but for whatever reason we did not throw to him out of the backfield and no one mentioned how he looked on blitz pickups.

I like his game, and think he'll do fine, but with Rb's, durability is such an issue, he has to show he is a durable football player.

 

I haven't been high on Thomas since he was drafted. As far as last nights game goes, I never really care how a player looks in the fourth game of the preseason. The fact is that you basically have a lot of players who will no longer be playing in the NFL after this weekend, playing against one another for the major part of the game. In fact, to me the only serious part of the preseason is when the starters for each team play against one another.

Thomas looked better last week in the Falcons game. So based on his play in that game, I hope he ends up being a better player this year than he was last season. I prefer Bush, Slanton, and Miller, over Thomas, but I am certainly willing to hope that Thomas proves me wrong about his ability at the NFL level. It is only his second year in the NFL, and except for the super star running backs, most RB's don't don't come into their own until their second or third season in the NFL. Hopefully Thomas will be one of those RB's.

 

I think DT has no spot on this team next year. With the addition of Gray next year There is no reason to keep DT on this team unless he shows a marked improvement this season.

 

There's no reason right now to think Gray has a spot on this team next year.

 

I don't think he has a locked spot, but I think he is a more talented runner than DT. Just my opinion.

 

So does Detroit get one of our running backs? Or somebody else"s?

 

Unless we cut Slaton, there isn't anyone we cut that they'd want.

And as far as trading Slaton (or whoever; though I don't think we'd trade anyone else), I don't think they have a WR we'd be able to get from them that we'd want unless Patrick Edwards has shown enough this preseason.

 

I don't remember anyone calling him a BUST.

I have been a very vocal critic of his. I have participated in most D. Thomas threads. I have always maintained that he SUCKED last year, but the jury was still out. I think all of his critics agree.

 

Maybe Burleson.

 

I don't think we'd be interested in him personally.

 

We are in the futures market , they have that commodity.

 

Love that Dunbar kid from Dallas. If they try to stuff him on the practice squad it should last, oh, 5 seconds. Would take him and dump Steve Slaton.