sling58
10-20-2007, 08:22 AM
So Priest Holmes may be back this weekend at Oakland — and if not this weekend, soon.
If you believe what teammates like Brian Waters say, Holmes is his old self, cutting quickly, stopping and starting, darting for a yard here and a touchdown there.
That’s good news — and bad — for the Chiefs. It’s a great one-two punch with Larry Johnson and Holmes available for your offense.
And Holmes is saying the right things: “As far as competing with LJ, that’s not anything that’s necessary to do.”
But imagine the pouting if Holmes becomes the regular third-down back or, even more disconcerting, the passing-down back (he does pick up the blitz, you know) or, most disconcerting of all, the goal-line back (he does get into the end zone, you know).
We’ve seen Johnson toss the ball to the turf when he gets stopped for no gain, so imagine the abuse that pigskin bladders will endure if he carries the mail into scoring range, then gets stopped by his coach when Holmes comes in for the payoff.
But that’s only half the equation in the events of the last week.
The other part is the departure of backup runner Michael Bennett to Tampa Bay, where he may move into the starting lineup in the absence of the Bucs’ Cadillac Williams and a week later Michael Pittman.
Bennett, 29, gained 1,296 yards with the Vikings in 2002. His biggest obstacle this weekend is the Tampa playbook as he tries to learn a good portion of it. He told the Tampa Tribune it’s “like me trying to learn Chinese in 48 hours.”
But the Bucs are in such dire straits for a productive runner, it’s not likely he’ll have a problem finding the field on Sundays.
So, that sets up our question of the week.
With Larry Johnson in a starting role, Priest Holmes probably making a return to the lineup soon and Michael Bennett in a situation where he could be the No. 1 runner on a contending team:
If you believe what teammates like Brian Waters say, Holmes is his old self, cutting quickly, stopping and starting, darting for a yard here and a touchdown there.
That’s good news — and bad — for the Chiefs. It’s a great one-two punch with Larry Johnson and Holmes available for your offense.
And Holmes is saying the right things: “As far as competing with LJ, that’s not anything that’s necessary to do.”
But imagine the pouting if Holmes becomes the regular third-down back or, even more disconcerting, the passing-down back (he does pick up the blitz, you know) or, most disconcerting of all, the goal-line back (he does get into the end zone, you know).
We’ve seen Johnson toss the ball to the turf when he gets stopped for no gain, so imagine the abuse that pigskin bladders will endure if he carries the mail into scoring range, then gets stopped by his coach when Holmes comes in for the payoff.
But that’s only half the equation in the events of the last week.
The other part is the departure of backup runner Michael Bennett to Tampa Bay, where he may move into the starting lineup in the absence of the Bucs’ Cadillac Williams and a week later Michael Pittman.
Bennett, 29, gained 1,296 yards with the Vikings in 2002. His biggest obstacle this weekend is the Tampa playbook as he tries to learn a good portion of it. He told the Tampa Tribune it’s “like me trying to learn Chinese in 48 hours.”
But the Bucs are in such dire straits for a productive runner, it’s not likely he’ll have a problem finding the field on Sundays.
So, that sets up our question of the week.
With Larry Johnson in a starting role, Priest Holmes probably making a return to the lineup soon and Michael Bennett in a situation where he could be the No. 1 runner on a contending team: