Penny's Running Style

WolfGrey

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If this has already been brought up here, I apologize. Is it just me, or does Penny remind you of Shaun Alexander. Great size and speed, but not great with contact. Excellent at reading blocks, great vision, cut and go is great. Sometimes just looks weird because they both get tackled fairly easily once you get them wrapped up. Basically the opposite of Carson. I will say that Penny has looked more normal recently as far as contact goes. He would sometimes curl up into a ball (like Alexander did) when getting tackled.
 

hawks85

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It's funny how everyone was bashing Penny calling him a bust and now all of a sudden everyone is on the bandwagon. Not me, I've supported Penny and knew just knew he would break out. Dude was on pace for rushing over 2800 yards had he played all season at the pace he played the last 6 games. Penny has always been a beast and was actually good right up until he tore his knee up against the Rams a couple of years ago, and had he not shared carries with Carson that year Penny would have rushed for about 1500-1700 yards, yeah he's that good.
 

oldhawkfan

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hawks85":1jwrsffa said:
It's funny how everyone was bashing Penny calling him a bust and now all of a sudden everyone is on the bandwagon. Not me, I've supported Penny and knew just knew he would break out. Dude was on pace for rushing over 2800 yards had he played all season at the pace he played the last 6 games. Penny has always been a beast and was actually good right up until he tore his knee up against the Rams a couple of years ago, and had he not shared carries with Carson that year Penny would have rushed for about 1500-1700 yards, yeah he's that good.


^this
 

JayhawkMike

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He’s still a bust and 4 good games at the end of a wasted season at the end of his 4 year contract proves nothing. He has less career yards than the league rushing leader this year has this year. He was picked over Chubb who has over 4K career rushing yards.

If we sign him to anything other than a low dollar, incentive laden deal he will come back fat, lazy and entitled and will be injured 3/4 of the year.
 

JPatera76

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JayhawkMike":3rvlhv65 said:
He’s still a bust and 4 good games at the end of a wasted season at the end of his 4 year contract proves nothing. He has less career yards than the league rushing leader this year has this year. He was picked over Chubb who has over 4K career rushing yards.

If we sign him to anything other than a low dollar, incentive laden deal he will come back fat, lazy and entitled and will be injured 3/4 of the year.


Your post is as ignorant as I have seen in regards to Penny. Your comparison to “less CAREER yards than the league rush leader THIS YEAR HAS THIS YEAR” is equally stupid.

1) Penny got to see an uptick of playing time once Carson and Collins went down, that obviously makes a difference.
2) He’s been injured.

3)if the last 4 games are an example of what Penny can to with proper blocking then Penny imo is a must keep, And put Carson behind Penny.

4) 3 of the last 4 games he ran for what? Over 100 yards and led the league in Average YPC?

3 of the last 4.. even that 4th wasn’t too shabby.

Other than your stupid comparison and overall post, what else do you have to offer that adds actual insight and something to the conversation? Because other than shitting on Penny which most of .net has done myself included, no one can deny the last 4 games of the season Penny proved he can do it, and admitted he struggled mentally after his injury. And the excuse of “look at the opponents look who we played” my response yeah so it’s the NFL, the lions throttled the Packers, AZ with the exception of the 2 turnovers seattle throttled and controlled AZ.
 

TheLegendOfBoom

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hawks85":ftd8osb8 said:
It's funny how everyone was bashing Penny calling him a bust and now all of a sudden everyone is on the bandwagon. Not me, I've supported Penny and knew just knew he would break out. Dude was on pace for rushing over 2800 yards had he played all season at the pace he played the last 6 games. Penny has always been a beast and was actually good right up until he tore his knee up against the Rams a couple of years ago, and had he not shared carries with Carson that year Penny would have rushed for about 1500-1700 yards, yeah he's that good.
I’m not on the bandwagon.

I still believe the sample size excellent games by Penny in the last 5 years is not enough.

This guy has like 5 or 6 great games in the past 5 seasons with like 3 great games coming from the end of this season alone.

Why should Seattle break the bank for him?

Penny will be a high risk low reward for Seattle if they extend him.

Would you really wanna running back that will be $10M, at least a year, that has cold and injured streaks for much of the season?

I personally feel that running backs are a dime a dozen with an adequate run blocking scheme, you don’t need to put a significant chunk of the salary cap for an often injured running back.

If anything Penny still needs to prove himself before a team is comfortable with extending him for top dollars.
 

oldhawkfan

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TheLegendOfBoom":jdwd745p said:
hawks85":jdwd745p said:
It's funny how everyone was bashing Penny calling him a bust and now all of a sudden everyone is on the bandwagon. Not me, I've supported Penny and knew just knew he would break out. Dude was on pace for rushing over 2800 yards had he played all season at the pace he played the last 6 games. Penny has always been a beast and was actually good right up until he tore his knee up against the Rams a couple of years ago, and had he not shared carries with Carson that year Penny would have rushed for about 1500-1700 yards, yeah he's that good.
I’m not on the bandwagon.

I still believe the sample size excellent games by Penny in the last 5 years is not enough.

This guy has like 5 or 6 great games in the past 5 seasons with like 3 great games coming from the end of this season alone.

Why should Seattle break the bank for him?

Penny will be a high risk low reward for Seattle if they extend him.

Would you really wanna running back that will be $10M, at least a year, that has cold and injured streaks for much of the season?

I personally feel that running backs are a dime a dozen with an adequate run blocking scheme, you don’t need to put a significant chunk of the salary cap for an often injured running back.

If anything Penny still needs to prove himself before a team is comfortable with extending him for top dollars.


I think you got that backwards. He will be a low risk because they know he has talent and an extremely high reward.
 

A-Dog

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The Shaun Alexander comparison is a good one IMO, in terms of running style.

Both are patient, excellent at reading blocks and pursuit angles, and maintain balance and control before they make their decisive cuts. Both have great vision and instincts and have excellent acceleration.

Penny is bigger, has better breakaway speed, and is more aggressive in terms of initiating contact with potential tacklers. Shaun was maybe a bit quicker/more elusive in short areas (stop and go type moves).

Penny's superpower is his spacial awareness and ability to calculate the speed and trajectory of objects moving through his field of vision. He is extremely efficient in terms of adjusting his own speed and trajectory to optimize his movement through space. He does not simply see a hole and cut towards it full bore (like Carson does) -- he'll see his options, see how his blockers are moving, see how defenders are moving to take away those options, and manipulate defenders by waiting for the precise moment to make a decisive cut, giving him the best opportunity to break through. His balanced style of running allows him to keep those options open as long as possible, and this is what opens up those breakaway opportunities.

If he and the line can stay healthy he could break 2,000 yards in a 17-game season. I truly believe that. He's also not a bad receiver out of the backfield.
 

Jville

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I see the similarities as well.

I'd credit both Alexander and Penny as being linemen friendly.
 

Atradees

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He does remind me of Alexander. I am hoping the best for him. The Seahawks have always had amazing running backs.
Loved every Alexander play. MVPs are never soft. People forget his awesomeness. They say he ran behind Jones and Hutch. Often he ran around the other side the line. My wife and I are like; get Penny the ball in open space. Anyway possible just look at that glide.
 

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I was absolutely 100% thinking baby Shaun during the game, but someone showed him how to deliver the contact instead of take it, and to keep pushing with his legs, and it has totally setup his deadleg/cutback, and his burst is almost instantaneous, like Shaun's was, yep.
 

SNDavidson

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[youtube]m0TGqou81T0[/youtube]

Penny has a better jump cut, Shaun had a bit better top end and vision, Penny can be a hof player.
 

A-Dog

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I think Penny has more top end but both have deceptive speed. Neither are blazing fast -- it's all about the angles.

FWIW:

Combine times, 40-yard dash:
Shaun Alexander: 4.58 seconds
Rashaad Penny: 4.46 seconds
 

toffee

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Penny the second coming of Alexander and Carson the poor men's Marshawn? We have seen both running together at high level and it was wonderful but short. Both were injured as we headed into playoffs, otherwise that could be our season to go very deep.

Next season, we could have Penny, and Alex who is poor men's Carson lol.
 

Jerhawk

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Jville":2vesjmh3 said:
I see the similarities as well.

I'd credit both Alexander and Penny as being linemen friendly.

What? The 2021 offensive line is horrible and is in no way better than the 2005 line. I don't get this comment at all.
Yes, they generated some good push and opened some holes this past season, but there's no Walter Jones or Hutchinson here.

In regards to the OP I agree with the comparison as well. They both seem to have good vision, and run flat footed, similar to Frank OHarris as well.
 

TwistedHusky

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Did you watch the games?

Penny ran through holes. He didn't break tackles.

For most of his career, not only were there few holes, but many times the RB has to break tackles before the LoS.

Penny is fast, not quick. But if he can accelerate, he can break long runs.

Even before this year, he was putting together 20 yard runs.

He really isn't a one cut runner but he seems to have changed his style. He was better taking it to the outside but since our blocking was so godawful, he was often caught or pushed out of bounds before he could turn it upfield.

The biggest change is there are holes. Admittedly being healthy helps too.


He is a big back that runs like a small back. Fast but not really a guy that breaks tackles at all. He can force it up the middle for a yard or two if needed but he isn't really a between the tackles guy. Or wasn't. That seems to have changed.

Kind of funny that Carson is a small back that runs big and Penny is a big back that runs small but that is what it looks like. You probably have to keep him because whatever you replace him with will probably cost about what he would have cost.

AP does seem to have helped but our line no longer blocking like garbage is helping as well. Now, is that facing terrible run D, we turned a corner, or both?>
 

ivotuk

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Mark Schlereth said that Shane (and Pete) "finally started calling plays that protected the Offensive Line."

This is why Waldron was hired, even though he's a Rookie play caller. To bring the Rams style of play to the Seahawks.

Last year Huard was asking for that because he watched some Rams game, and the playcalling made it easy on the OLine. Brock commented to Sean McVay "Your play calling make it easy for the Offensive Line." Brock said that McVay just smiled and walked on by.

Why do you think the Rams OLine is rated so high? Because Sean takes the pressure off, which in turn leads to fewer sacks.
 

johnnyfever

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I'm not a bandwagon guy, but I think Adrian really helped his vision and grit.

When I watched him earlier, he never seemed to finish, and also didn't have the vision to wait for the hole to develop. He seems to have majorly improved in both.
 

Appyhawk

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If I had a chance to snag a rookie Shaun Alexander I'd jump on it.
Penny proved a multitude of times in college he is a breakaway threat anytime he touches the ball. He has also proven that here. However, his extended time on the injured list, combined with brief appearance when off that lit, resulted in my say he had a LOT to prove. He did that over the last games of this season. He proved a lot. But those big runs sandwiched a whole lot of no gain, 1 yrd or two yard gains too. When you remove those big runs that average ypc plummets and you're right back at third and long. I feel that saying he had a LOT to prove was a fair statement, and I applaud his response. But 5 games does not a season make. He still has some proving to do. I, for one, an anxious to see him do it in a Seahawk uni and at a fair price.
 
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