jammerhawk":3gqjinl2 said:
Maybe they should trade him b/c I doubt Bevell will ever maximize his talent or use him like he should/could be used.
In NO he was an annual Pro Bowl attendee as a receiving TE. He was an offensive force of nature with Brees and an OC who was willing to use him in all sorts of different ways. Here he is under-utilized afterthought, used only with an occasional mid-range hook route where his length is used, or a short pass where there is little RAC chance or an occasional seam route that is more than often wide open but there is zero chance the OLine can protect RW long enough to allow it to happen. When it does it succeeds. Period. He needs to be used better, with short fades using his height, slants using his length, short hooks where the chains are moved. It is a criminal waste of talent for him to be so under-utilized. I don't believe our OC has even scratched the talent he has. Our owner was very excited to acquire him and it is a real shame he has not yet been able to show his talent here. Somehow in the 3rd season here he needs to used instead of being an after thought.
If there is a failing of Bevell it is his regrettable inability to max out the talent the team has at TE. They are a perpetual afterthought. My great friend Siouxhawk who reminds us that as much as many dislike the play calls made by Bevell the last 6 years have been the best in franchise history. Sioux is right. Just about every team record is threatened or has been well surpassed by his O, crap OLines and all. That though doesn't address Bevell's blind spots and inability to quickly change gears or adjust well to what the opposition is giving him, or to adjust to what his team can't presently do. It's a true blind spot for him. Imagine a team with two TEs that needed to accounted for play after play. Graham is a talent that the team is fortunate to have, he's just very poorly under used.
I call BS on the he shrinks, has checked out, doesn't want to play here anymore, has not developed a relationship with RW thoughts expressed here. The team has simply not used him properly, he's a receiver not a blocker, use him as a receiver TE and take advantage of his exceptional talent and length. The argument may come he broke the team's TE receiving record last year coming off a career threatening injury the season prior where his targets were few and far between. That argument is Bevell knows how to use him, whatever I say, he can be so much more. Unfortunately unless Bevell learns that he can be better used he's wasted here.
Same argument different season. His talent is being wasted here.
If the team wants a blocking TE the use one, and stop the pretense we have a perpetual Pro Bowl potential quality receiving TE that is rarely targeted.
His time here has been disappointing because he could be so much more. It's frustrating to watch when the safety valve for RWs immediate under duress misery of a weak can't pass block OLine could be addressed by a creative use of Graham.
So we force-feed Jimmy as you suggest and he only catches 50 percent of his passes -- then we're really screwed.
At no point in my post above did I remotely suggest that our OC should force feed Graham.
And what about Doug? We start force-feeding Jimmy as you suggest, and you are suggesting that, and in a run-first offense, there's not enough balls to go around for Doug, who has emerged as one of the primary receivers in the league.
You use Doug just like he's been used over the past 2 seasons. If however, you get more first downs there are more balls to go around.
Why is it so hard to comprehend that the Hawks are in no way, shape or form the New Orleans Saints. Because that's the whole premise of your argument. We just aren't and never will be as long as Pete is in charge.
That's for sure, the Hawks clearly aren't the Saints and it's not the premise of my argument my premise is that graham has genuine talent as a receiving TE who can take over a game but that rarely has ever happened since he arrived, b/c he's not being used where his size and athletic superiority will allow a constant mismatch.
Doesn't mean Jimmy can't contribute to a Super Bowl run. The object of the game is to win games, not put up pinball scoring numbers like they do in New Orleans. There, they have to because they don't have much of a defense.
Of course, but he is being paid >$10 million per year for only a few touches a game?
So 8 targets in the first game, including a couple in the end zone, isn't exactly "under using" him. Sounds like he had an ankle injury against the Niners, so maybe that took him out of extended action. We'll likely learn more Wednesday.
Actually it was ten targets in game one with only two receptions, but most were no win poorly designed attempts. He got mugged in the EZ and that should have attracted a Flag with the result being a 1st down on the 1. 2 more target against SF one where he was thrown to in situation where he took a tremendous shot and the other a play where he gained a yard on a play so badly telegraphed by RW that there was zero chance of a gain. I suspect he may be out on Sunday to allow him to reboot and heal up. There were no slants or jump ball situations to him.
And until this line can block on it's own, we'd better get used to Jimmy serving both roles. Unless you want to throw caution to the wind and make Russ a sitting duck back there. I sure don't.
This is a separate issue from his use. Bring in the extra OLine man and use him to block if needed rather than use him as a decoy.
And just look how Luke performed on Sunday. Quite well. The position is being utilized well. Solidify the offensive line and it will produce even more.
In reality this proves my point Willson got two touches of the type that Graham would be a certain receiver of if he were so targetted and then the team moved away from the TE despite the reality the plays were working with Willson. I wondered why? Of course the O as a whole will improve if the OLine improves it's play. Unfortunately that presently isn't the case and making the opponents respect our TEs and have to account for them in coverage allows the rest of the O top open up as NE has proven. Bevell stubbornly refuses to consistently establish that as part of his O. He needs to accept the reality of the protection available and modify his call depending upon the reality of situation.
