LeGarrette Blount By Jack Kerwin | [email protected]
These are glorious times in LeGarrette Blount Is God land …
The buffet table hasn’t been ravaged yet.
The bad attitude hasn’t kicked in yet.
The laziness hasn’t surfaced yet.
Yes, even as concerned Eagles Nation citizens, or, as the knee-jerk nimcompoops out there would label us, haters, we’re aware of the incredible, once-in-a-generation signing of such a talent, his being the cream of the crop of available free agents and just what the doctor, or Doug Pederson, ordered for the Birds’ offense.
But, seriously, folks, who y’all kidding … other than yourselves?
Before we get to October and some huddled masses start clamoring for prodigal son Nick Foles to replace Carson Wentz at quarterback and BigBack 2.0 is anointed the savior by all no matter the circumstance, a dose of reality may in order.
Yes, Blount rushed for a career-high 1,161 yards and an NFL-best 18 TDs last fall. No arguing the numbers.
All of them … which include the fact he only averaged 3.9 yards per carry, the second-worst number of his largely mundane seven-year career.
As for the scoring bonanza, well, keep this in mind … the dude Howie Roseman and Co. left in the lurch in order to get good ol’ L.B. had roughly half the amount of touches (168 rushes and catches combined to 306) and racked up exactly half the amount of TDs.
Granted, Ryan Mathews’ health has never equaled his chiseled-out-of-granite appearance, and he always has had a penchant for fumbling too much, but this “upgrade” is hardly the equivalent of supersizing some marvelous fast-food cuisine at the local drive-thru.
In short, if Blount ends up being an improvement, it will be due to one reason: availability. Not quality.
For starters, everyone just calm down on his production last year and projecting it to be anywhere near the same this season. All those yards, all those visits across the goal line, they happened with New England. If the big fella has proved anything, it is that he is like so many other ex-Pats – once out from under Bill Belichick’s shadow, he ain’t the same player.
Wasn’t before he arrived in Foxboro. Wasn’t when he left there in 2014. Won’t be here now.
All told, Blount has played 100 games in the NFL, 49 with the Patriots. All told, he has posted 5,122 yards and 49 TDs rushing. In one more game with Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh combined, he racked up 712 less yards and 19 fewer TDs than he did with New England.
That’s a major, WTF-head-snapping discrepancy.
Consider this: Even with factoring in his New England stats, Blount’s typical season is 731 yards and 7 TDs.
So, expecting much more out of him than Mathews’ 661 yards and 8 TDs last season this go-’round, likely, would be a pipedream.
In short, buyer beware.
That means the Eagles themselves and you who support them unabashedly, often to your own emotional detriment.
These are glorious times in LeGarrette Blount Is God land …
The buffet table hasn’t been ravaged yet.
The bad attitude hasn’t kicked in yet.
The laziness hasn’t surfaced yet.
Yes, even as concerned Eagles Nation citizens, or, as the knee-jerk nimcompoops out there would label us, haters, we’re aware of the incredible, once-in-a-generation signing of such a talent, his being the cream of the crop of available free agents and just what the doctor, or Doug Pederson, ordered for the Birds’ offense.
But, seriously, folks, who y’all kidding … other than yourselves?
Before we get to October and some huddled masses start clamoring for prodigal son Nick Foles to replace Carson Wentz at quarterback and BigBack 2.0 is anointed the savior by all no matter the circumstance, a dose of reality may in order.
Yes, Blount rushed for a career-high 1,161 yards and an NFL-best 18 TDs last fall. No arguing the numbers.
All of them … which include the fact he only averaged 3.9 yards per carry, the second-worst number of his largely mundane seven-year career.
As for the scoring bonanza, well, keep this in mind … the dude Howie Roseman and Co. left in the lurch in order to get good ol’ L.B. had roughly half the amount of touches (168 rushes and catches combined to 306) and racked up exactly half the amount of TDs.
Granted, Ryan Mathews’ health has never equaled his chiseled-out-of-granite appearance, and he always has had a penchant for fumbling too much, but this “upgrade” is hardly the equivalent of supersizing some marvelous fast-food cuisine at the local drive-thru.
In short, if Blount ends up being an improvement, it will be due to one reason: availability. Not quality.
For starters, everyone just calm down on his production last year and projecting it to be anywhere near the same this season. All those yards, all those visits across the goal line, they happened with New England. If the big fella has proved anything, it is that he is like so many other ex-Pats – once out from under Bill Belichick’s shadow, he ain’t the same player.
Wasn’t before he arrived in Foxboro. Wasn’t when he left there in 2014. Won’t be here now.
All told, Blount has played 100 games in the NFL, 49 with the Patriots. All told, he has posted 5,122 yards and 49 TDs rushing. In one more game with Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh combined, he racked up 712 less yards and 19 fewer TDs than he did with New England.
That’s a major, WTF-head-snapping discrepancy.
Consider this: Even with factoring in his New England stats, Blount’s typical season is 731 yards and 7 TDs.
So, expecting much more out of him than Mathews’ 661 yards and 8 TDs last season this go-’round, likely, would be a pipedream.
In short, buyer beware.
That means the Eagles themselves and you who support them unabashedly, often to your own emotional detriment.
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