Gulfstream is now ready for tomorrow…
Discussing, Pressing your advantage…
Stupidity can be defined as, “when a smart person finds a mediocre reason to NOT PRESS HIS ADVANTAGE!” When you have an advantage, especially when it’s about CONTROL, you press it… for example, if your quarterback is TOM Brady, you give him the opportunity to pass the football.
Let’s say, your have Jim Brown in your backfield, such as Paul Brown was blessed to have, you would run him left, right and center, until one of you new that it was over! For those of you who were too young to know who Jim Brown was, I could only describe him as a combination of Earl Campbell and Walter Payton ( I hope that’s not too far in the past ). Jim Brown and Tom Brady both share the same general acclaim, as the “Greatest of ALL TIME”, while that might be fodder for a debate, and if they are not the GOAT, they are pretty darn close – in my opinion. ( I am more sure that Jim Brown was). Anyway, it’s a long time ago, but I remember when the Cleveland Browns in 1964 made it to the NFL Championship game, and all I remember was Jim Brown shredding the defense – and believe me when I tell you, everyone in the entire world, knew he was getting the ball!
Can you imagine, Chuck Know using Franco Harris as a decoy, or Vince Lombardi not running his end sweep with Jim Taylor or Mike Ditka telling Jim McMahon… just fake the ball to WP. My point is simple, that not using Todd Gurley (the highest paid player at his position in the league) and suppose that makes him one of the best at that position, if not the absolute best, means he should be the TIP OF THE SPEAR, THE POINT OF ATTACK, THE FEAR BUTTON on the defense.
The Patriots were not forced to defense the most electrifying player in the league because he wasn’t given the chance to attack them. When I was a youngster, my beloved Giants were going to play the Chicago Bears. The Bears had the most elusive player in the history of the game, a young phenom named Gayle Sayers. The entire Giants’ defense had one mission, to stop GS, and they held him to a paltry 38 yards – and oh yeah the Chicago Bears beat the Giants 38 – 7.
The stupidest part of this, was the actual game plan for the Rams was to split the duties of Todd Gurley with C J Anderson. Anderson ran the ball as often as Gurley. And while Gurley play more snaps, he was effectively used less often! He caught 1 single pass out of the backfield… that would be fewer that Charles White or their Fullback or Sony Michel caught for the Patriots. Truthfully, McVey could have simply copied the offensive moves of Belichick and had a better game plan! The utilization of Todd Gurley, essentially as a decoy, rates as about the STUPIDEST piece of work, by a smart person in my lifetime other than people who play the lower priced.
Find what works, stick with it, repeat it and don’t stop…. PRESS YOUR ADVANTAGE…