Homer

It seemed to me that they were running a little preseason packages with Travis Homer today. What I mean by that, is without the preseason to evaluate young players and give them valuable playing time, the coaching staff is taking a plug and play approach to these types of guys. During the second half I saw Simmons in for Iupati. No word on whether he was injured and then later in Iupati was back in.
This has me wondering if maybe we will see DeeJay Dallas next week in that limited role.

Probably just normal rotations. With no pre-season, players were getting gassed in their first real action of the year.

I thought Homer did OK for a young guy.

He looked bad in that limited sample size. If he doesn't fare better going forward, his roster spot is going to be vulnerable when Penny comes back.

I was hoping Hyde would get more touches. I guess they're saving him for the stretch

oldhawkfan":yrghrelm said:

It seemed to me that they were running a little preseason packages with Travis Homer today. What I mean by that, is without the preseason to evaluate young players and give them valuable playing time, the coaching staff is taking a plug and play approach to these types of guys. During the second half I saw Simmons in for Iupati. No word on whether he was injured and then later in Iupati was back in.
This has me wondering if maybe we will see DeeJay Dallas next week in that limited role.

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Nice catch on Jordan Simmons! I'm expecting him to do great things this year, if healthy.

Totally makes sense about the preseason extended evaluation approach. It was nice to see Freddie Swain catch a ball and look good doing it. With you, I'm hoping to see a little DJ Dallas next week.

Also happy that they weren't overdoing Carson's workload.

They also seemed to be avoiding heavy contact situations for Carson, leaving the called runs to Hyde and using Carson as a receiver. Not that he didn't lower the shoulder and hit people anyway,

He's just not shifty enough for a guy that small.

Well with TC kind of screwed up and no pre-season games, I imagine they're rotating everybody a lot to avoid the kind of strains and pulls they get from jumping into work too fast.

I hate to hang the 'fragile' label on Carson, but there was no reason to give him 30 carries today. We'll need him later in the season.

This is Homer's chance to showcase ... I think Dallas will get his chance in the next few games. Pete is testing these young guys in real games.

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He has the speed, the moves, the vision, the power, the size of a young Sheldon

I agree that Homer hasn't looked quick enough for the kind of stuff we are trying to use him on, but that's also down to timing between him and Wilson. If the ball gets there quicker on the second pass then Homer has 8+ yards in front of him. He also looked OK as a returner, although I expect Dallas will be on a trajectory to take over those duties at some point.

However, the most important takeaways from a game like today's are 1) did we win or lose, and then 2) how many injuries did we suffer. If we give 50 change of pace touches to Homer over the course of the season while we are still winning football games then that only increases our chances of making noise in the post season with a healthy Chris Carson.

Interestingly, if you watched the Saints/Bucs game then you saw a very opposite philosophy employed by the Saints. They were still playing all of their starters (minus Brees) in garbage time, and had Kamara diving for a meaningless touchdown with just a couple of seconds remaining. They are probably thinking that they want the starters to get more work due to the lack of a pre-season, but I think the Seahawks have the smarter long-term approach.

Iupati got rocked by Hyde. I thought he was done for the day but he came back in later.

Without Penny, we will need Homer.

But Homer isn't a run through the tackles guy. Not tremendously fast at getting to the edge either.

What he is good at is catching the ball and running with it. Which is what he should have been used for.

Unless you are resting someone though, he should never have 2 carries in a row. Because more likely than not, both will be for no gain. He isn't terrible. But we need to be realistic about what he is.

He is the guy you use when Hyde cannot go, you need to limit hits on or rest Carson, AND Penny is injured. Unless all 3 are true - he should not be on the field.

Seeing him in the 1st half running from scrimmage in a (at the time) tight game was weird. Passing to him would have been OK though. Using him on screens? Sure.

olyfan63":385jjgnz said:

oldhawkfan":385jjgnz said:

It seemed to me that they were running a little preseason packages with Travis Homer today. What I mean by that, is without the preseason to evaluate young players and give them valuable playing time, the coaching staff is taking a plug and play approach to these types of guys. During the second half I saw Simmons in for Iupati. No word on whether he was injured and then later in Iupati was back in.
This has me wondering if maybe we will see DeeJay Dallas next week in that limited role.

Click to expand...

Nice catch on Jordan Simmons! I'm expecting him to do great things this year, if healthy.

Totally makes sense about the preseason extended evaluation approach. It was nice to see Freddie Swain catch a ball and look good doing it. With you, I'm hoping to see a little DJ Dallas next week.

Also happy that they weren't overdoing Carson's workload.

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Wasn't it Swain who recovered the fumble created by Blair? That was a HUGE play.

Teahawks":2zcfqm7v said:

He's just not shifty enough for a guy that small.

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I agree... plus the play calling was terrible when he was in the game.

Toss sweeps are not his forte. He's too slow and too small.

Appyhawk":253sn2zf said:

olyfan63":253sn2zf said:

oldhawkfan":253sn2zf said:

It seemed to me that they were running a little preseason packages with Travis Homer today. What I mean by that, is without the preseason to evaluate young players and give them valuable playing time, the coaching staff is taking a plug and play approach to these types of guys. During the second half I saw Simmons in for Iupati. No word on whether he was injured and then later in Iupati was back in.
This has me wondering if maybe we will see DeeJay Dallas next week in that limited role.

Click to expand...

Nice catch on Jordan Simmons! I'm expecting him to do great things this year, if healthy.

Totally makes sense about the preseason extended evaluation approach. It was nice to see Freddie Swain catch a ball and look good doing it. With you, I'm hoping to see a little DJ Dallas next week.

Also happy that they weren't overdoing Carson's workload.

Click to expand...

Wasn't it Swain who recovered the fumble created by Blair? That was a HUGE play.

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Yes. Great awareness there.

Smellyman":391pbinz said:

He has the speed, the moves, the vision, the power, the size of a young Sheldon

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Homer actually has speed; on that fake punt last year, where he ran for a first down IIRC, that was one of the handful of top speeds reached in the NFL that week. I was very surprised to see him on that "top speeds of the week" list.

Amusing analogy otherwise, though

Last year I thought he did a decent job for what he was called on to do, knew the plays, executed them well, knew his assignments, showed some football smarts. Did he set the league on fire? Heck no.

My guess is that Pete likes his special teams play a lot, and Homer must show well in practice. Clearly he's no Carson, style-wise, doesn't seem to break that many tackles.

Wasn't impressed last year and have not seen anything to change my mind. I don't think I have ever seen him defeat a tackler.

Seattle running backs have a reputation of not going down with first contact. He just doesn't fill that mold.

Mick063":ux2cmeyn said:

Wasn't impressed last year and have not seen anything to change my mind.

Seattle running backs have a reputation of not going down with first contact. He just doesn't fill that mold.

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Yeah why Carson now and Lynch before him led the league in yards after contact.

Real pillow Puffs.

chris98251":9px04cvv said:

Mick063":9px04cvv said:

Wasn't impressed last year and have not seen anything to change my mind.

Seattle running backs have a reputation of not going down with first contact. He just doesn't fill that mold.

Click to expand...

Yeah why Carson now and Lynch before him led the league in yards after contact.

Real pillow Puffs.

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Yes...Homer, the topic of this thread, is a pillow puff. He doesn't fit the mold of Lynch or Carson. He isn't even that good at what he is supposed to be good at. Making people miss.

The only job for a running back is to defeat one guy. Either by running through him or making him miss. If two or more tacklers get to him at the line of scrimmage, it is that fault of his teammates. If one tackler gets him down at the line off scrimmage, he didn't get the job done. In other words, many designed runs are drawn up with the intent that, if everyone performs their assignment correctly, the back has to defeat a single defender for the play to be successful. It really is that simple.

It is a matter of keeping tally of how often that fore mentioned isolation battle is won to determine if a given running back is NFL Caliber. Homer loses that isolation battle more often than he wins it. The first defender encountered frequently brings him down. Alternatively, J.D. McKissik is an example of a recent Seahawk back that could get it done exclusively on Homer's supposed forte, elusiveness and burst. Homer is no J.D McKissik. Completely different level of player.

It wasn't that hard to comprehend.