Trent Richardson to Colts

[Pitty]

13 carries of which came after being up 27-3. I bet the Jags didn't know what was coming...

[ralaw]

I think it is safe to say that Richardson probably is not worth a first round pick, but he sort of showed that with the Browns. Richardson is a short yardage thumper who can catch the ball out of the backfield and that is about it. As he learns the system I am sure he will get better, but I would't expect anything special.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I don't really expect Richardson to have command of the playbook in 10 days, nor have a feel for his lineman and how they block either.

imo it's not fair to pass out judgement until this guy has had at least 4 weeks with the team.

In addition to that, his average against Jax is more of a testament to the offensive coordinator's playcalling, and less his ability. Any time Indianapolis chose to run it was in obvious situations.

Command of the playbook? Feel for his linemen?

He's a running back.

[Pitty]

Command of the playbook? Feel for his linemen?

He's a running back.

I can understand the linemen, he's going to know the tendencies of how holes will develop as he develops a rapport with them. As for the playbook, the only thing I could see him having to grasp is the pass blocking schemes, everything else is simply, run in this general direction.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

13 carries of which came after being up 27-3. I bet the Jags didn't know what was coming...

He averaged 3.5ypc before it was 27-3 with long of 7 yards. With half of his rushes being for one or less.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I can understand the linemen, he's going to know the tendencies of how holes will develop as he develops a rapport with them. As for the playbook, the only thing I could see him having to grasp is the pass blocking schemes, everything else is simply, run in this general direction.

Did you ever watch him with the Browns?

There were plenty of times he would have the Red Sea parted for him only to gain 0-1 yards on the run.

[ThunderHorse]

Command of the playbook? Feel for his linemen?

He's a running back.

It was obvious in the first week of his tenure here that Indianapolis couldn't really use him because of his ignorance of the playbook. This week it opened up a little more, Indy was able to use him in more formations than against the 49ers.

In addition to that Cleveland's offensive line is better than Indianapolis', whose unit has been arguably the league's worst for the last 2-3 years, I think it's fair to say that there's an adjustment period.

Colt rb's really haven't averaged much the last few years, I don't think anyone has really eclipsed 4 yards a carry since Joseph Addai was playing there. Donald Brown might have but it's not a testament to his talent, because outside of a couple of Jacksonville games Donald Brown would arguably be the worst pick of the Bill Polian era if not for Jerry Hughes. I've watched Joe Addai, Donald Brown, Vick Ballard, Delone Carter, and countless others try to find some success behind the offensive line in Indianapolis and it's never happened. Honestly if any of those guys started this game I doubt they even average what Richardson did. I can say with a decent amount of certainty that Richardson is probably the most talented back to suit up for the Colts since James. Bottom line is Indianapolis does not have the offensive line talent to harbor a 4 ypc back.

Was he worth trading a first round pick for? I don't know yet. But I'm going to wait until the season is up, possibly even through next season before I throw the guy under the bus. I just think it's to early to say that this was a bad move, but I will admit with two weeks of statistics one would be hard pressed to make a legitimate case that the guy has been successful.

One thing I will say is that Indy needed a guy who could move the chains and get tough yards whose name wasn't Bradshaw and they've got it. He's pretty much done everything Indianapolis has asked him to do at the goalline, and on the 3rd and one he failed to convert yesterday I swear the kid threw 4 Jaguars off of him.

Did you really watch the game against Jax? Jacksonville's linebackers played the run incredibly. I mean indy's offensive lineman looked so slow when they were pulling, none of the running plays they ran really developed. It seemed like Indianapolis was trying to run off tackle a lot and Jacksonville just was not going to allow it. Posluszny (Sp?) was untouched most of the time and Richardson never even got back to the LOS without having to fight through some traffic. Posluszny really caught my eye Sunday, it seemed like he was everywhere.

[ThunderHorse]

I can understand the linemen, he's going to know the tendencies of how holes will develop as he develops a rapport with them. As for the playbook, the only thing I could see him having to grasp is the pass blocking schemes, everything else is simply, run in this general direction.

His grasp of the playbook has less do with him personally as opposed to the team as a whole.

If he doesn't know the audibles, and is still learning blocking schemes, it limits what Luck can do before the snap. This was blatantly obvious against San Francisco and less of an issue with Jacksonville.

I wanted to see him have a better game against Jax, but I recognized pretty early in the game that Jax was content on making Luck win the game and taking out the rushing offense. Jax' linebackers just attacked the LOS with such ferocity, There were more guys in the box, and everyone flew to the ball. Luck had some incredibly easy throws towards the end of the game with guys literally by themselves because Jax was so adamant about stopping the run game.

[Maynard]

13 carries of which came after being up 27-3. I bet the Jags didn't know what was coming...

AD is the vikings only weapon...i bet the dee didnt know he was coming. In fact, I bet the same could be said for all the elite backs in the league

[Pitty]

AD is the vikings only weapon...i bet the dee didnt know he was coming. In fact, I bet the same could be said for all the elite backs in the league

[ThunderHorse]

Richardson rushed for 56 yards on 18 carries today further solidifying his 3 ypc average.

The guy isn't playing like a top 10 back in the league but he's the best RB the colts have had for a long time. After three weeks I can see why Cleveland let him go.

[MmmmBeeeeer]

He had some crucial carries at the end, but it was nothing earth shattering.

[dave]

I am getting the Herschel Walker feeling with Trent Richardson.

Walker had all the measureables and was a college legend, but somehow could not translate those measureables in the NFL. Great speed, NFL body, but didn't have the football instincts at the NFL level to be anything but ordinary (or in Richardson's case ... not even ordinary). Still too young to write off, but I suspect Cleveland did the right thing trading him.

[ThunderHorse]

He's getting better.

Big play yesterday and he's had a couple this year. The 3rd down conversion against Seattle last week was huge.

IMO Trent's struggles here can be attributed moreso to the offensive coordinators stubbornness. For example Indianapolis' offense this year, for the most part, has been most successful with 1 te, 3wr, 1 hb sets. Running and passing both have been most successful for this team when they get away from these heavy sets that Hamilton made so popular at Stanford. Hamilton is doing things like bringing in backup lineman to run heavy off balanced sets in order to create mismatches in this power run scheme Indianapolis is trying so desperately to install. The issue is he's also taking skill players off the field, reducing he number of viable options Luck has to throw to. They become one deminsional because defenses know they are only going to run out of these sets, and it sets the runningbacks up for negative plays.

When your coaches aren't putting guys in positions to succeed its tough to evaluate these guys and make blanket statements like "he just sucks", there's more in the equation than that.

That said there is still a tentativeness to richardsons running style. It's gotten better each week and he's run more downhill. But he's gotta become more consistent. The dropped screen pass last night was horrible but nobody was catching anything for Indy last night. Even Reggie Wayne dropped key balls.

I can tell this is the most talented ball carrier Indy has had since the turn of the century, I don't think anyone else will see that too until Indy figures out how to use their personnel in game plans and gets some actual talent in their offensive line. Anyone mistaken enough to believe Indy's offensive line is competent needs to watch the tape, they might have one of the worst interiors in the league. Mike McGlynn and Sampson Satele might be the worst center guard combo I've ever seen.

[Chrispy]