Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
Originally posted by genus49:
Have you missed the impact Tyreek Hill has had on the Chiefs?
And before you bring up Mahomes' arm...Alex Smith would like a word with you.
That's because the Chiefs have a QB that scrambles around to keep plays alive and has one of the best arms in the league. Very few teams throw the ball deep effectively. it's by far the least accurate of all pass plays so they use it at the end of half or trying to play catch up. We've had several receivers over the years that have run sub 4.3 and not one has led the league in receptions.
This comparison doesn't really make anymore sense than saying "why would you ever draft a tall receiver? Jon Baldwin was crap after all" Or "who needs a QB with a big arm, Jim Druckenmiller sucked!"
If all things are equal, you'll take the bigger receiver each time. If all things are equal, you'll take the QB with a bigger arm, each time. If all things are equal, you'll take the faster receiver each time. What doesn't show up on the boxscore with a guy like Ruggs is how defenses have to approach playing him differently. He adds a new dimension to an offense in that you can't simply just creep up and sit on the underneath stuff, play press and be confident that you'll be fine. The speed that Ruggs provides terrifies defensive coordinators when it is combined with a tremendous skillset. One mistake and he can house it at any point in the game and that is always in the back of your mind.
The same is true for a guy like Hill. Was it a coincidence that Alex Smith had the best deep passing numbers of his career with Hill out there?
Not saying that Ruggs is Hill but you're only kidding yourself if you think that level of speed doesn't make a major difference in every aspect of an offense. It gives everyone else more room to operate, it forces defenses into stupid lapses, it gives the QB confidence that if they throw it far enough, that guy can go out there and get it.
And when you have a smart playcaller like an Andy Reid or a Sean McVay or a Kyle Shanahan that can fully exploit all that speed, it is even more devastating.
snag eem!!