Originally Posted by BURGH86STEELI think that Parker is a tough inside runner. If he was not they would not call those plays. One way that Parker generates power is by the use of his speed and low center of gravity. If the center position was a bit stronger last season that would increase Parker's ability to gain those tough yards. People fail to take into accout that Parker has not run behind a quality Oline in their primes.Originally Posted by stlrz dThe "Parker can't catch" myth needs to go away forever because it's based on people looking at his total catches and thinking, "He doesn't have many receptions so it must be because he can't catch." They seem to forget that 1) The Steelers historically just don't throw to the RB that often, and 2) When the do Parker usually isn't on the field...or he's kept in to pick up the blitz.
Here's part of a post I made on this topic once before and I think it bears repeating:
The links don't work because they can't be cut & pasted since when they were posted they are displayed as truncated links. The links can be accessed in my post in this thread: [url="http://planetsteelers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1052"]http://planetsteelers.com/phpBB3/viewto ... f=2&t=1052[/url]His receiving numbers over his career:
2004 - 8 games, 3 catches, 16 yards, 5.3 avg
2005 - 15 games, 18 catches, 218 yards, 12.1 avg
2006 - 16 games, 31 catches, 222 yards, 7.2 avg
2007 - 15 games, 23 catches, 164 yards, 7.1 avg
I don't recall seeing him drop many passes. The Steelers haven't thrown much to the running backs since Bettis was added to the roster. Take a look at his numbers for yourself: [url="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/s"]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/s[/url] ... ayerId=389
Here's Fred Macafee: [url="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/s"]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/s[/url] ... ayerId=152
Najeh Davenport: [url="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/s"]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/s[/url] ... yerId=3663
Amos Zereoue: [url="http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/players/s"]http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/players/s[/url] ... yerId=1848
Tim Lester: [url="http://www.databasefootball.com/players"]http://www.databasefootball.com/players[/url] ... LESTETIM01
Fu: [url="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/s"]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/s[/url] ... yerId=1567
Erric Pegram: [url="http://www.nfl.com/players/erricpegram/"]http://www.nfl.com/players/erricpegram/[/url] ... =PEG358660
Bam Morris: [url="http://www.pro-football-reference.com/p"]http://www.pro-football-reference.com/p[/url] ... .htm?redir
You have to go back to John L. Williams in '94 to find a season when the Steelers really threw to the RB: [url="http://www.nfl.com/players/johnl.willia"]http://www.nfl.com/players/johnl.willia[/url] ... =WIL381258
That's all I can think for RBs of at the moment. I couldn't even find stats on Jon Whitman.
Shall I continue or can we put to rest the Parker can't catch myth?
Will Mendenhall change that? Who knows...every time the Steelers draft a TE they say they will throw to them more and it never seems to work out that way...so I have my doubts.
Now, as for Parker getting the "tough" yards, how do you define tough? Does tough yards mean we need 2 yards and the O line gets one but FWP is responsible for the other or do you define it as FWP is responsible for 2? If your definition is the latter then you're talking about only a small handful of backs who are capable of that. If your definition is the former (as is mine) then I would say that FWP is not nearly as bad as many want to make him out to be. There is no doubt he's not a power back...he doesn't have the physical size to be a power back. That's genetics. But is he a quality back in this league? Absolutely. He takes a pounding and keeps coming back for more. A freak injury in St. Louis probably cost him the rushing title in '07...that certainly accounts for something.
I suspect if we had an O line on par with the Vikings or Cowboys the Parker critics would be silenced.
I agree the myth about Parker not being a good pass catcher. Parker can catch the football. Most times they do not call plays for Parker or Ben does not look his way when there is nothing open down field. You cannot blame the OC for not throwing the football to the RBs outside of screens with the other weapons they have to incorporate into the offense. It amazes me that people still do not think Parker can get it done after producing quality numbers over the last 2 to 3 years. After all he was leading the league in rushing before he got injured. That means he had more yards than all of the other RBs in the league behind a worse Oline.
I must be in the Twilight Zone.
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