On 610 this morning, John McClain seemed to intimate that the Texans coaching staff may be getting a little frustrated with DD and his knee problem. That perhaps, at this point, his problem is more mental than physical and he needs to get over it, because they like guys who don't mind playing hurt. That, together with the fine play of almost every other RB on the roster, makes me wonder about DD's status for this year. Watching the 1st 2 games, it's pretty clear that the things everyone says about Kubiak's offense turning average RB's into Pro Bowlers are true. I'm thinking if one of these RB's finally learns how to pick up the blitz, the #1 job is his. I'm just wondering if the days of DD being the #1 RB on this team are over. I'm wondering if he has fallen out of favor with the new coaching staff.
I was actually thinking about starting a very similar thread about this. I've basically come to the conclusion that DD's knee is never going to be a 100%. He hasn't been able to put together a full healthy season and even after taking off the last 5 games of the season plus an entire offseason, he is still having bad bruising of the knee, despite only doing light workouts? Like you said, Kubiak's system straight produces RBs. I don't have too much of a problem going into the season with a RB by committee of Lundy, Morency, and Smith. Even though Lundy and Morency are inexperienced, all 3 backs can hurt you in different ways. I really hope DD can come back full strength but I don't see it happening this season and I'm not all that worried about it to tell the truth.
DD was a good back on a bad team... there have been tons of guys like him to come and go in the NFL over the last 10-15 years. Honestly, its no big loss... Morency had more upside coming out of college than DD did anyways, and if he continues to improve (as he looks to be doing in this system), the running game shouldn't suffer.
i think his days as our top RB are numbered. the guy has sniffed much of practice and there's 2 weeks left in the preseason. this is a knee injury and it's not like those aren't important for his position.
If I heard this about 2 weeks ago, I'd be worried. With Lundy and Morency, along with the system weve got in place, I dont really care if DD doesnt get too much play time. In fact, its probably a good thing because now I can let some sucker draft DD in fantasy football, and I'll take Morency in the late rounds. Im good to go...and the Texans will be too.
DD's vastly overrated; he scares noone. the team's production will not suffer from his continued absence.
I like davis, I don't think any coach should complain about a guy not playing hurt when these guys don't have guaranteed contracts. anyone who questions davis's toughness hasn't watched him play. that being said, morency has some break away speed that davis lacks and that's the real difference.
Morency has to be the in hosue leader to start on Sept 10th. While Lundy is running as well as Morency, he has some big issues blocking. He was totally responsible for the one sack they've given up so far. Morency did a much better job in picking up the blitz and taking out the linebacker on a few plays. His coming in was about the time the offense started to do better.
We'll see what happens...I'm sure that is why we didn't draft Bush...Anyone can run...Just look at Denver...
I for one hope DD can get back healthy soon, if for no other reason than to have more bullets in the gun. No other back on our team has done anything remotely close to what DD has been able to do. We all know Denver's; no even better, we all know that Houston's system (there's some faith for you) can make even mediocre running backs into stars. I can't wait to see DD run in this sytem, and even if he is not the clear cut number one anymore it would be foolish of all of us to write him off in favor of a sixth round picked rookie and a guy who was less than impressive in all of his action last year. Mark my words, it will be RBBC in Houston this year but the stronger the commitee is the better off the team will be.
I'm looking forward to some sucker taking DD early in my fantasy draft, and after the selection laughing at him.
davis was a 4th round pick; terrell davis was a 5th round pick. who cares where they were drafted if they produce.
it makes me wonder.... If we keep producing RBs like this. We can really improve the trade values of our RBs and players that benefit from that. I think that's how Denver made their defense, with trades like Portis for Bailey, etc. These players benefited so much from the system. I mean, Portis was good after he left, but nowhere near the efficiency that he was with Denver. Heck, I remember Quentin Griffin going off for Denver for a game or two before he got injured or what not. That, and the idea of 2 RBs having 1000+ yard seasons last year. I really like this new system and I'm willing to stick with it through good times and bad this season. I'm really looking forward to this new era in Texans Football.
I'm not too worried about DD not being ready for the season. I know it's only the preseason, but so far Kubiak's proved you can plug pretty much any RB into his system and still have succes. Although Smith hasn't looked too good, Lundy and Morency have both been impressive. I'm guessing who performs best against Denver will be the one to get the bulk of the carries once the regular season begins. I wonder how many RBs we'll keep on the roster.
Dude I totally agree but has there been another Terrell David or even Domanic Davis since, running back is a psotion where you can get value late in the draft but it's no sure emthod for success. The more rbs we have back there the better off we will be and at this point DD is the best of the bunch; just hoping he gets back soon and is a healthy contributer to this team. Even then, I don't see him getting more than 60% of the overall carries mainly because of his tendency to break down over the season, one of Lundy and Morency will be getting around 30% of the carries with the other five percent going to the other one. The more quality backs we have back there the better.
they only made one trade (hardly a defense building system of drafting Rbs, showcasing them and then moving them for help defensively) and to date have only produced two stud backs (TD and Portis) the system is that they can plug any back in there and get production. But to date short of TD and Portis they all come back to earth, the beauty of it is they always have another guy they can plug in to replace the production, that is why it is so important to have as many options as possible.
I don't know about you guys,but when the Texans gave Davis 4 years/6 million,I couldn't believe it.It wouldn't surprise me if he is gone soon.Morency is the man and Lundy will be backing him up for now.I suppose we see Smith in short yardage and goaline duty when healthy.
Hell Sam Gado was an undrafted free agent nobody who played 25 quarters for GB last season and averaged 23 yards a quarter. Each preseason game makes me feel more confident that not going the path of a RB in first round was the right way to go.
