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Bishop Sankey - It's Time


Jamalisms

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Is this the week Sankey finally emerges? It should be.

When the Tennessee Titans opted to cut Chris Johnson back in April after unsuccessful trade discussions with teams around the league, it left a void at running back. During his time in Nashville, Johnson had taken the vast majority of carries every year. Someone, or multiple someones, would need to replace his role.

While the team had pre-emptively signed Dexter McCluster in free agency (and Shonn Greene the year before) they took advantage of an unprecedented buyer's market in the draft and, after trading down, drafted Bishop Sankey with the 54th overall pick - the latest a top runner has been selected in the history of the NFL Draft.

Two veteran runners and the back of their choice in the draft - better than ever, right? Not so fast.

The Titans offensive line hasn't looked much better under new line coach Bob Bostad than they did under Hall of Fame lineman Bruce Matthews, Jake Locker didn't emerge with expanded responsibilities in the new offense under Ken Whisenhunt and various injuries around the team, including both in-line blocking tight ends, have all combined to create a bad scenario. Shonn Greene has spent time injured, Dexter McCluster has proved to be less of an inside runner than many had hoped (and exactly what others feared) and Bishop Sankey has continued to gain the attention of coaches for rookie mistakes instead of solid play - including just last week.

Sankey has emerged as the head of a running back by committee, amassing 131 carries compared to Greene's 60 and McCluster's 35. Despite this, he hasn't impressed. His 3.8 yard average is lower than Johnson's worst year, albeit better than Greene's 2014 average of 3.7 and McCluster's 3.3 yards. Sankey's longest run is 22 yards and the most rushing yards he's had in an entire game is 61 (twice). In fact, the longest run by a Titans player this year belongs to wide receiver Kendall Wright (38 yards) and the second longest belongs to quarterback Jake Locker (29 yards). The running back core as a whole is on pace for less than 1,100 yards. Chris Johnson, meanwhile, still holds the most recent 100 yard rushing game for the Titans - and he's on his way back to town.

It's a story when a player of Chris Johnson's notoriety returns to his former team for the first time and, yes, Johnson has more yards and a better average than any running back on the Titans' roster. Many speculate Johnson will have something extra in his tank this weekend and he has said he'd like to make the team regret cutting him.

Could it be that Chris Johnson will have the most recent 100 yard game for and against the Titans after Sunday? Certainly. Teammate Chris Ivory may have something to say about that - but so might Bishop Sankey.

Did I say Bishop Sankey? Yes.

Let's face it, the Titans' offense is hard to watch. Many fans have long said that the only thing worth watching is the progression of sixth round pick Zach Mettenberger. That's the same guy who hurt his throwing shoulder for the second time against the Giants last week and is likely done for the year. Jake Locker was of interest earlier this year. He's not now - and that holds true even if he plays well. Locker is gone in a few games and the Titans are actually best served losing out. Any success with Locker is a waste. Wide receiver Justin Hunter is out. Wright is playing injured (if he plays). Sankey is just about the only offensive skill player with both a future in Nashville and a chance to contribute. The team should feature him.

Let's also face this - Sankey hasn't impressed but he hasn't been given much to work with. Various issues were noted above but even beyond that, the 2014 Titans have proven very good at just one thing - digging deep holes very quickly. Added to that, Ken Whisenhunt isn't known for his running game emphasis. The most carries Sankey has had in a single game is 18. There have already been nine different games in which Sankey was given 10 or fewer carries. It would have been nice if he'd done more with what he got, but he didn't get much.

The Jets are generally considered a run heavy team and the Titans have struggled to stop the run this year. The good news? A run-heavy attack is less likely to put the Titans in an early deep deficit. If the Titans can stay competitive, odds are good that their own rushing attack gets more opportunities. Greene was inactive against the Giants. The Titans have been gradually transitioning to a focus on young players. Opportunities should be available for the first time all year. This should be Sankey's time to shine.

Chris Johnson is returning to Nashville. There will never be a more perfect opportunity for this organization to finalize the transition and try to get his replacement rolling. Actively fight to avoid that regret he's been talking about.

There are no excuses.

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CJ vs. Sankey:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PDdR6LLCmY

Easy. Mett has flashed the ability of a franchise QB. Sankey hasn't done anything to show he can make plays.

Prior to his last run, Chris Johnson had rushed for 18 yards on 9 carries.  His success rate (using FO's metric) to that point was 22%.   His final run can't just be dismissed, of course.  It was im

Forget the matchup between a couple of scrub RB's.

The real story this weekend is Geno Smith vs. Jake Locker. Has there ever been a matchup between two worse QB's in league history?

But Jake had 122 QBR against Cleveland so that means he doesn't suck. Lol. By the way is there a more contrived stat than QBR? I hate it.

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The real story this weekend is Geno Smith vs. Jake Locker.  Has there ever been a matchup between two worse QB's in league history?

 

As far as guys expected to be franchise QBs? No

 

Both guys lost their jobs they were so bad and injuries have placed them back in the starting roles

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Sankey's biggest problem is that our team is so bad that we are behind by halftime and throwing the ball the whole second half. He's not getting enough carries. I think, regardless of score, we should run our offense like it's 0-0, to get a feel for what will work next year. That means running the ball more than we have been. I still like Sankey a lot. I think he gets all that is available. When Mett gets killed by our putrid OL, people use it to excuse his mistakes, but for some reason Sankey doesn't get the same leeway by some posters around here. I don't get it. But what I see is Sankey getting all that he can. People cite his average. Could someone find out his median and compare it to CJ? That would be a much better comparison.

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Me too. That's why I asked. Sankey doesn't lose yardage very often at all. A couple of weeks ago, we had the fewest negative runs in the whole league, despite our lousy OL. That's a huge difference from CJ. Sankey may not have a high average, but he doesn't put us in a lot of bad situations, either. If we could get him to the second level, his average would go up and he'd look great, but we can't, and that's not his fault, as far as I can tell.

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Sankey's biggest problem is that our team is so bad that we are behind by halftime and throwing the ball the whole second half. He's not getting enough carries. I think, regardless of score, we should run our offense like it's 0-0, to get a feel for what will work next year. That means running the ball more than we have been. I still like Sankey a lot. I think he gets all that is available. When Mett gets killed by our putrid OL, people use it to excuse his mistakes, but for some reason Sankey doesn't get the same leeway by some posters around here. I don't get it. But what I see is Sankey getting all that he can. People cite his average. Could someone find out his median and compare it to CJ? That would be a much better comparison.

I don't understand how a lot of our posters can deal with the double standards they hold. They excuse Mett but berate Sankey, it's crazy. This line is bad enough that Sankey gets the benefit of the doubt just like Mett does. Sankey will be fine.

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I don't understand how a lot of our posters can deal with the double standards they hold. They excuse Mett but berate Sankey, it's crazy. This line is bad enough that Sankey gets the benefit of the doubt just like Mett does. Sankey will be fine.

Easy. Mett has flashed the ability of a franchise QB. Sankey hasn't done anything to show he can make plays.

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Here is the bottom line and what makes the Titans and the Jets so stupid in regards to Chris Johnson.

 

The Jets paid Chris Johnson 4.5 mill this season to start/split carries with Chris Ivory. They already had 4th rounder Bilal Powell on the roster doing this very thing and he did it last season at pretty much the exact same production as Chris Johnson is doing now. Powell got slightly more rushing yards per game than what CJ is getting now. They both had 1 rushing TD and Powell is a more effective 3rd down RB catching and blocking.

 

Congrats Jets, you signed a guy for almost ten times as much as the exact same guy you already had on the roster. This is like trading for Tebow or signing Vick, oh wait, y'all did that too!

 

Face was praising CJ with the Jets, he's the 2nd leading rusher on the team and the Jets are a top rushing team. That's exactly what they were with Powell in 2013. They didn't need CJ for this, they already had it at 550k.

 

The Titans were even dumber, they gave Powell's carbon copy a monster AP type contract with two years left on his rookie deal.

 

The issue with Sankey is the Titans could have duplicated what he can do with a later round pick or a minimum free agent

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