Do Fast Guys = Bad Hands?

[flippy]

Evidence A:

Mike Wallace and Ike Taylor - fast as lightning...hands of stone....as in Dwight "I'm another fast guy with hands of" Stone.

Evidence B:

Heath Miller - moderately slow off the line and getting into his routes, but he's got 2 big soft catchers mitts that could probably catch an egg going 100 mph without breaking it.

Larry Fitzgerald - slow by WR standards, but barely ever drops anything.


Does hand eye coordination decrease as you move faster? I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it always seems like the super fast guys are the ones without the hands.

[hawaiiansteel]

sure seems like it, huh?

[SteelAbility]

Admiration of one's own speed gets in the way of concentration on the ball.

[birtikidis]

Brings back memories of Dwight stone. Damn we're his hands bad. Especially compared to my man Louis Lipps!

[Oviedo]

Fast guys can use their speed to dominate in college and don't work on developing their other skills. Many on this board who didn't fall down all over themseleves praising how fast Wallace was this summer pointed out how he needed to be at camp working on developing and improving in some other areas required to being a top WR if he really wanted the money. Appears like working out on his own didn't help Wallce too much.

Sure he will get the occasional long play but as more and more teams play safeties over the top on him and he has to reach deeper into his limited skillset Wallace is going to leave lots of plays on the field like we saw Sunday night.

The Steelers called it right again. Wallace isn't worth more than the more than generous offer of about $9.5M per year the Steelers offered him. If he won't sign for that then "franchise tag" him for next year and then use him up then let someone else see if they will pay the big dollars.

[ikestops85]

I wouldn't say that speed necessarily means bad hands. Tory Holt and Isaac Bruce were both pretty fast and both could catch. Even Cliff Branch, with sprinter speed, could catch the ball. I never thought of Mike Wallace as having "bad" hands until this year. Maybe if he got his arse to training camp he would have remembered how to hold on to a ball.

Up until now I've always defended Wallace as a top receiver who we should try and keep. However, after his performance so far this year, I think he is quickly losing value. To me a dropped pass is the most demoralizing thing that can happen to a team. It just takes all the energy out of them.

[hawaiiansteel]

I have always wanted to re-sign Mike Wallace, I believe most Steelers' fans do and would agree that we are a better team with him on the field.

however, the question is at what price? I don't believe Wallace is worth the $11 million/year he is seeking and since the Steelers didn't agree to his contractual demands they obviously don't either. Wallace hasn't played particularly well for the last half of last year and so far this season, I can't see the Steelers changing their minds the way Wallace is playing right now.

[BURGH86STEEL]

I have always wanted to re-sign Mike Wallace, I believe most Steelers' fans do and would agree that we are a better team with him on the field.

however, the question is at what price? I don't believe Wallace is worth the $11 million/year he is seeking and since the Steelers didn't agree to his contractual demands they obviously don't either. Wallace hasn't played particularly well for the last half of last year and so far this season, I can't see the Steelers changing their minds the way Wallace is playing right now.

I am not sure where this idea about Mike Wallace having bad hands originated? He's been pretty sure handed for most of his career. He had a bad game vs Bengals. I suppose it's just one way that fans attempt to diminish Wallace's value. I doubt his drops become a future issue in contract negotiations be it with the Steelers or another team.

I am also not sure why people continue to throw out the money per year as the sticking point in contract negotiations? NFL players don't receive X amount of dollars guaranteed per year. I suspect that Wallace wanted more guaranteed money then the Steelers offered. I think this will be Wallace's last year with the Steelers. I don't believe the Steelers want to pay him the guaranteed money he was seeking. Wallace will move on and so will the Steelers.

[RuthlessBurgher]

I am not sure where this idea about Mike Wallace having bad hands originated? He's been pretty sure handed for most of his career. He had a bad game vs Bengals. I suppose it's just one way that fans attempt to diminish Wallace's value. I doubt his drops become a future issue in contract negotiations be it with the Steelers or another team.

I believe the almighty Calvin Johnson even dropped a couple of passes last night, including a wide-open sure-thing TD pass (which would have made a difference in a 6 point Lions loss on MNF).

[lloydroid]

Wallace began dropping passes the 2nd half of last season and has continued to drop more and more as this season progresses. He just seems lazy and unfocused. Even that catch they gave him, where he had the ball roll all over the place, was a gift. He didn't catch that ball. He has done little to refute the assertion that he is a "one trick pony." If you make him have to catch on shorter and medium patterns, he is below average. Out a safety on top, and he's worthless.

[hawaiiansteel]

Wallace began dropping passes the 2nd half of last season and has continued to drop more and more as this season progresses. He just seems lazy and unfocused. Even that catch they gave him, where he had the ball roll all over the place, was a gift. He didn't catch that ball. He has done little to refute the assertion that he is a "one trick pony." If you make him have to catch on shorter and medium patterns, he is below average. Out a safety on top, and he's worthless.

but by forcing other teams to put a safety on top and thus essentially double-team him, isn't Wallace providing value by creating space for other WRs in single coverage to make catches?

[flippy]

I was just asking a general question about fast WRs and wasn't thinking about just Wallace although he helps with the case against the really fast guys.

He's always had bad hands. And that's not to say he hasn't made some great catches, but he's caught a lot of balls against his body. He's held on to most, so it's worked out ok.

[hawaiiansteel]

I believe the almighty Calvin Johnson even dropped a couple of passes last night, including a wide-open sure-thing TD pass (which would have made a difference in a 6 point Lions loss on MNF).

I thought Charles Tillman played against Megatron as well as any CB I've ever seen against him.

[RuthlessBurgher]

I thought Charles Tillman played against Megatron as well as any CB I've ever seen against him.

It was certainly interesting how Louisiana-Lafayette, of all places, was able to produce 2 solid NFL calibre CB's in the 2nd and 4th round of the 2003 draft.

[flippy]

It was certainly interesting how Louisiana-Lafayette, of all places, was able to produce 2 solid NFL calibre CB's in the 2nd and 4th round of the 2003 draft.

And they both shut down arguably the 2 best WRs in the game in back to back prime time games.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Throw Hines in the slow but good hands camp.

[SidSmythe]

Wallace seems to be more interested in being a speed guy that work on his own game.
He surprised everyone at first with his amazing speed but has never fine tuned his game.
I can catch a football with no WR Gloves....he should have no problem.