The concern is still a concern untill he does it for a full season. Yes he never fumbled at Iowa, where he was a starter for all of one season. He did well in the playoffs. Now I want to see him go a full NFL season with a low number before I'm convinced he fixed things. Same goes for Sanchez. He was great in the post season and showed flashes during the regular season. Now I want to see him do these thigns again for an entire season. I have faith in our young offensive core, but its not as if we have two sure fire pro bowl guys comming back. Thses are young guys that had very up and down seasons. Our defense is stacked and both Greene and Sanchez need to go out and do thier jobs with limited mistakes. If the two of them do that the sky is the limit for this season.
I wouldn't say Greene had an up and down season. The guy was incredibly impressive to me and his role in taking us to the championship game last year was understated for me. I expect a few fumbles maybe, and possibly a few costly mistakes but I say if he stays healthy this year he'll go for 1200+ yards and 10 TDs...ambitious maybe but I can see him being one of the league's best.
i don't understand why everyone is questioning his durability... he took a helmet to his knee... one injury that probably wouldn't have kept him out for one week shouldn't be blown out of proportion... he missed one half of football, granted it was a big half, but everyone needs to relax.
A lot of great football RBs had fumbling troubles early in their career. LT had EIGHT fumbles in his rookie season (339 carries). Tiki Barber had a huge fumbling issue mid-way through his career. With great coaching, fumbling issue WILL be cured. I wouldn't put too much stock in to it.
He also hurt himself in Training Camp/Preseason. There are legitimate concerns, especially with his running style. Hopefully it was just a rookie thing with his senior year/rookie years kind of giving him, like all rookies, barely any time off with the combine, draft, rookie MC, etc. If he were to go down we could be screwed with just LT and McKnight, unless of course Sanchez is ready to take the reigns and make this into a passing offense.
This is why drafting someone like Gerhalt wasn't out of the possiblity..because power backs like Greene won't have a long career with their running style. The more power backs u have the better
This is exactly what I was thinking and hence posted it earlier. I think mid-round RB's should always be on the radar.
I think you've unintentionally brought up a good point here. Revis is an amazing player and Buffalo would be beyondthrilled if Spiller turned out to be the HB equivalent of Revis. HOWEVER, Revis alone didn't keep the Jets from the debacle that was the 2007 season nor did he prevent the epic collapse the following season. The only player that can resurrect a franchise is a QB. Turning around otherwise requires a good coaching staff; something Buffalo lacks. The point I am trying to make is that Spiller could become the best back in the league from 2010 to 2012 and still not be enough to elevate Buffalo back to the level of playoff contender. If Revis couldn't single-handedly improve the fortunes of his team, then Spiller (even if he becomes a once-a-decade-player) can't either.
I think it's pretty obvious the NFL is moving more toward committee systems for their running game. Running backs are becoming more expendable and with them taking SUCH tough beatings now with huge/fast LB's it's almost a necessity to have 2 RB's getting 15+ carries a game.
I could see us drafting another RB early next year, no matter what Greene does this year. Mr E brought up the idea of a first-round RB this year early on in the draft talkin' and it seemed crazy to me at first, but the career span of these guys is a real, real concern. When you add to that a ground and pound, defensive football mentality, well, it's just good football.
Which is why I WOULDN'T draft one in the first round... at least not until the late 1st anyways. Serviceable starting RB's can be had in later rounds.
An interesting stat about Mr. Greene from Pro Football Focus via twitter "PFF has some Monday stats for you! The HB last season to have the fewest % of runs for 0 or negative yardage? Michael Bush! 11.4% Shonn Greene was 2nd with 13.5% of his runs for 0 or negative yardage, Tashard Choice, Pierre Tomas and Fred Jackson round out the top 5 about 2 hours ago via TweetDeck" I also had to ask about TJ and was a bit surprised, I would have bet he was way higher than 20%. "RT @Inafalcs: @ProFootbalFocus jets fan here, what about Thomas Jones? - 17% of runs for no gain or worse."
