James Conner and running styles

[warfelg]

So I wanted to put in something and talk about running styles as it came up in another thread. 

What effect  will Conners downhill style change the offense. Does it change play action? Will defenses loosen up in a different way? Is he gonna be overlooked in the passing game a bit?

[VigilantZombie]

I definitely feel he will be overlooked on passing downs in that the expectation may be that he isn't out there due to his blocking weaknesses. I also feel he is still developing as a receiver and the jersey he is wearing doesnt read "Bell" so he will be some what overlooked.

My expectation is that initially defenses may not consider him much of a threat overall. But if he has a huge first game thatll change very quickly. 

As far as how itll change the offense i think the offense will adapt depending on his level.of success to help lean on him more and use his ability to compliment the passing game and visw versa. Idk if that really answers your question.

[3rivers]

45 minutes ago, warfelg said:

So I wanted to put in something and talk about running styles as it came up in another thread. 

What effect  will Conners downhill style change the offense. Does it change play action? Will defenses loosen up in a different way? Is he gonna be overlooked in the passing game a bit?

If he is overlooked in the passing game , that is a great opportunity for him and the team . He won't run 40 yards on a pattern or I wouldn't expect it, but if he does then lets see how that turns out. His running style could be more consistent and possible break a few but he won't have that open field juke/spin that bell had a few years ago. I say move on (for now anyways) and adjust the plays, that is coaching. I don't want to hear a single player blame a loss on bell not being there, because a player like that isn't what the team needs moving forward, but the HC should be getting control of the players and making sure about their mindset and how they conduct themselves. 

I expect the OL to have a chip on their shoulder and be willing to prove how important the OL is and am looking forward to this actually.  A good OL and good RB is more than capable  fo helping this team because we already have the best WR and a very good soon to be star WR2  and what appears to be a good WR3 and a HOF QB supposedly in the best shape ever and more accurate than ever (talk is cheap, I never saw this in preseason)  .

In all this, I never read a single post where someone said this will give AB even more catches. I think he also sees this as an opportunity  and you can count on him to take advantage of this. AB and Ben are ready to do some damage, no doubt about it. 

[VigilantZombie]

Bell not being there in the past made a difference. Moving forward it cant be the excuse because as a team you knew thats how it would be.

[warfelg]

1 hour ago, wwhickok said:

I definitely feel he will be overlooked on passing downs in that the expectation may be that he isn't out there due to his blocking weaknesses. I also feel he is still developing as a receiver and the jersey he is wearing doesnt read "Bell" so he will be some what overlooked.

My expectation is that initially defenses may not consider him much of a threat overall. But if he has a huge first game thatll change very quickly. 

As far as how itll change the offense i think the offense will adapt depending on his level.of success to help lean on him more and use his ability to compliment the passing game and visw versa. Idk if that really answers your question.

Kinda. 

 

My question more so is how does the north south violent running of Conner effect the offense in contrast to Bell’s hesi-let me see the hole. 

I personally think against the tough run defenses we can see the offense be better. Conner hitting the hole will consistently get 2-3 yards where Bell waited and teams got better at stopping it and he has a lot of -1/1 yard runs because of it. 

[VigilantZombie]

One way i could see it being a negative is if it results in less outside runs resulting in defenses being able to most of their containment inside of the box. But that could work against opposing defenses also if we use that mentality to run outside.

[3rivers]

1 hour ago, wwhickok said:

Bell not being there in the past made a difference. Moving forward it cant be the excuse because as a team you knew thats how it would be.

Dwill stepped in and was very effective until he hurt his knee. Back then it was obvious this OL can run with other RB's. Other teams in the league also don't have bell and have success. The Eagle didn't have bell (or that type of RB) , HOF qb or WR and still beat the pats and they used a 4 man rush on D most of the time.  Lots of ways to play the game, and I am tired of the way media has been thinking we can't win without bell. The rest of the team should have chip on their shoulder, but we will see. 

[warfelg]

1 hour ago, wwhickok said:

One way i could see it being a negative is if it results in less outside runs resulting in defenses being able to most of their containment inside of the box. But that could work against opposing defenses also if we use that mentality to run outside.

Bell really didn’t bounce it as much as we thing. But on the flip side that does open up more space on the boundaries for Brown and Juju. 

[warfelg]

56 minutes ago, 3rivers said:

Dwill stepped in and was very effective until he hurt his knee. Back then it was obvious this OL can run with other RB's. Other teams in the league also don't have bell and have success. The Eagle didn't have bell (or that type of RB) , HOF qb or WR and still beat the pats and they used a 4 man rush on D most of the time.  Lots of ways to play the game, and I am tired of the way media has been thinking we can't win without bell. The rest of the team should have chip on their shoulder, but we will see. 

I think James Conner alone is going to have a yuge chip on his shoulder. As if the coming back from cancer, then knee surgery wasn’t enough; now you are adding in people saying this team won’t be as good because he’s at RB?

[VigilantZombie]

5 minutes ago, warfelg said:

I think James Conner alone is going to have a yuge chip on his shoulder. As if the coming back from cancer, then knee surgery wasn’t enough; now you are adding in people saying this team won’t be as good because he’s at RB?

Conner has such an amazing story and he appears to be the type of persons we need to keep adding to the roster in terms of character. I hope he continues to develop and is our starting RB for the next 6 years. Here is a question, if he is, how huge of a steal is he?

[3rivers]

1 hour ago, warfelg said:

I think James Conner alone is going to have a yuge chip on his shoulder. As if the coming back from cancer, then knee surgery wasn’t enough; now you are adding in people saying this team won’t be as good because he’s at RB?

people that say that are the less informed, but maybe he will have that as part of all this. For him, it's THE opportunity and if he does well, the starting job will be his next year (or better be). 

@wwhickok RD3 pick should be a productive player anyways, and I agree that that Connor is the attitude and character the team should have more of . The steals on the roster are Thomas and Adeniyi, when they will et their chance isn't known but once they do they will stay on the field IMO.  Banner might develop into a legit OT if Munchak stays here. 

[VigilantZombie]

The thing is, he shouldnt have to wait til next year. The job should be his for the entire season until he proves he isnt up to the task and if that moment never comes we are all the better for it.

[Dcash4]

It will be interesting to see what this does to the no huddle and the shotgun majority. Bell is a perfect back for shotgun runs. He likes the ball in his hands and to be patient and find his way behind the line rather than blasting through it. Connor is a more traditional style — from what I have seen so far. 

I think Ben wants shotgun and no huddle - neither of which I think is of great benefit to Conner. It will be interesting to see how the no huddle plays over an entire game with Bell gone. 

But the positive impact of the run style is more play action and more Rosie Nix. 

A negative side effect of Bell not being here is that we are going to see more blitz packages sent at us — at least until we see if Conner can handle the passing game. If you send an extra rusher with Bell you either single covered Brown or you leave Bell alone in the middle of the field. Connor doesn’t demand that respect, and I expect teams to test us there early and often....especially with Gregg Williams week 1. I think we see the game plan this week that Haley planned for, but never got last year. 

[3rivers]

throw the bell playbook in the trash and move on. I am tired of reading and watching how everyone is so dependant on a player that we haven't won anything with, never beat the pats  either. 

HOF QB

HOF WR

Top7 OL IMO

RD3 RB that had a good NCAA 

Rising Star WR2

WR3 looks to be abs end zone threat and a sleeper but also has speed

 

Maybe losing bell is the best thing that happened, it might make the team go to a more traditional rushing attack and control the clock more.   I don't know if we should waste anymore time on this. Connor and the OL will be out to prove people wrong and they will. I just want them to trade bell but  I doubt it happens but to the bungles for Lawson and Carson.  

[skywlker32]

14 hours ago, Dcash4 said:

It will be interesting to see what this does to the no huddle and the shotgun majority. Bell is a perfect back for shotgun runs. He likes the ball in his hands and to be patient and find his way behind the line rather than blasting through it. Connor is a more traditional style — from what I have seen so far. 

I think Ben wants shotgun and no huddle - neither of which I think is of great benefit to Conner. It will be interesting to see how the no huddle plays over an entire game with Bell gone. 

But the positive impact of the run style is more play action and more Rosie Nix. 

A negative side effect of Bell not being here is that we are going to see more blitz packages sent at us — at least until we see if Conner can handle the passing game. If you send an extra rusher with Bell you either single covered Brown or you leave Bell alone in the middle of the field. Connor doesn’t demand that respect, and I expect teams to test us there early and often....especially with Gregg Williams week 1. I think we see the game plan this week that Haley planned for, but never got last year. 

Is the idea that Ben want shotgun formation coming from anywhere or just your pure speculation? I don't know that I have seen anything like that in the media. The team may be better off with play-action (something Ben excelled at early on in his career and was removed from the playbook by Haley). Conner would be a good fit for a play-action type offense, as well, since the defense can't sit back and read the play as much. Bell's running style requires the defense to read and react more and is slow developing, whereas Conner would likely be hitting a hole hard and forcing the defense to react more quickly. This would also reduce the concerns of Conner's pass blocking.