I think Martin has the goods…but I also think Blount is CURRENTLY the stronger option. I have no doubt that giving Blount equal opportunities would benefit the run game…and still allow Martin to gain experience.

And no more Benn’ed around…for pete’s sake.

He did neither at Oregon. He only had a handful of catches in his entire career at Oregon. Oregon’s offense doesn’t use the RB’s as receivers very much, which a lot of people don’t realize. He was a straight runner at Oregon (similar to what he has been his first couple years in the NFL).

As for him being a high draft pick, you are absolutely correct. I don’t feel any sympathy for that Boise player. From my best lip reading skills, it looked to me like he said “How was that ass whipping?”. Blount had made the comments that they were going to give Boise an ass whipping the week before the game. If you say something like that to a competitive player, then you get what you deserve. That being said, I think Blount was hurt more by trying to go after the fans versus hitting that jack arse. I, for one, am very happy we gave him a chance.

From the first preseason game, I can see a burst with Martin that we haven’t had in the backfield since Warrick Dunn (no, I’m not saying he is as good as Warrick Dunn). He gets positive yardage when there is nothing there, which has been the case the majority of the time. With Blount, you are going to get a lot more negative runs, but I grant you that he will bust one for a big gain if you give him enough carries. And again, I am all for giving him more carries. I have seen him leave a couple runs out on the field, but I can say the same for Blount over the last couple years as well. That doesn’t mean he isn’t a good back. However, his opportunities have been few and far between. I feel very strongly that by the end of the year, you and many others are going to be singing a different tune about Martin, provided we block better and Freeman learns to complete passes again. And I don’t know, maybe run a sweep or stretch play every now and then??????

As for Ware, I have been pleasantly surprised by him. Aside from his one drop, which I still feel wasn’t completely his fault (hard to catch a ball from 3 feet away thrown at 100 MPH), he’s played very well. He’s made a couple impressive runs on third downs, and has shown that he can break some tackles. Initially I hated seeing him in on third down, but he’s really impressed me.

I think they are trying to build a roster on the backend week by week, taking a chance that they won’t get picked up by another team. I read on Pewter Report that they took that chance with Underwood, because they felt no other team would take him. Turns out they were right. My guess would be that they were giving Parker the benefit of the doubt because of last year, but he was a disaster this season. It is a bit unusual to do this much shuffling at this point in the year, but I really can’t say I disagree with any of the moves. Now if we were to cut Blount, that’s a different story. But I really don’t see that happening.

@MTM,

Blount has always struggled in short yardage situations. He got him one last game, but that has never been his strong suit. He doesn’t hit the hole very hard, and he lacks great vision. Perhaps he has improved on that and I would love to see him get more opportunities, but that’s definitely hasn’t been his strength his first two years in the league.