Larry Johnson Anyone?

WMH · #1 11-09-2009, 10:01 AM

Just read up my morning session of PFT, and it is being reported that Larry Johnson is (or probably has by now) going to be released.

With our running game in shambles, do we bring this guy in? I would assume that at this stage of the season, no huge RB issues to speak of, he will be fairly selective in where he goes.

I don't know about him fitting in the whole zone scheme, but I would bet a nickle that he could get us a damn yard!

Mike · #2 11-09-2009, 10:20 AM

Nope. I really do not think the blame for the run game woes is all on the guys toting the rock. I think the problem is with the interior of the line not run blocking as well as last year.

On a personal side, LJ seems to have diarrhea of the mouth, and bad stuff just keeps oozing from his lips. I don't think they are going to disrupt the lockerroom, and he is expensive.

painekiller · #3 11-09-2009, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike

Nope. I really do not think the blame for the run game woes is all on the guys toting the rock. I think the problem is with the interior of the line not run blocking as well as last year.

On a personal side, LJ seems to have diarrhea of the mouth, and bad stuff just keeps oozing from his lips. I don't think they are going to disrupt the lockerroom, and he is expensive.

Once he clears waivers he can be signed sign for the league minimum due to the fact that his salary is still being paid for by the Chiefs for the rest of this season. Now he can pick his team and try for a better deal, ie multi year contract. But most of the play off type teams do not need him.

If I can sign him to the league minimum, why not.

TheMatrix31 · #4 11-09-2009, 06:25 PM

I don't want this guy on my team.

Nconroe · #5 11-09-2009, 07:26 PM

The Texans have a few coaches who were at KC while LJ was there, so they will know if he's really trouble, or not. Seems doubtful to me we'd pick him up.

I tend to agree, OL and play calls may have more to do with our running game than the RB's we have.

NBT · #6 11-10-2009, 05:16 PM

The league has now made a book on how to keep a Gibbs coached Oline from getting openings for the RB.

WMH · #7 11-10-2009, 08:58 PM

From PFT:

Report: Texans favorites for Larry Johnson
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on November 10, 2009 8:17 PM ET
NFL Network's Jason La Canfora has an idea where Larry Johnson might land.

"The Houston Texans are showing persistent interest in Larry Johnson and it's a place Larry Johnson would be comfortable and right now they have to be considered the favorites," La Canfora said on NFL Total Access Tuesday. (Here's his accompanying tweet.)

He later said, "It seems like at this point something would have to fall apart between the Texans and Larry Johnson for him to go" elsewhere. Washington and New England were mentioned as other possibilities.

The Houston connection is interesting considering a missive from ESPN's Adam Schefter from a few hours earlier Tuesday: "And now we start eliminating LJ landing spots: No more Houston -- Gary Kubiak's team sticking with its backs," Schefter wrote.

Not a lot of wiggle room in those reports. The information man on information man violence doesn't end there.

"Some people spending/wasting time talking about LJ wanting to go to Steelers," La Canfora writes. "But they have no interest in him. Moot point."

Watching to see where Larry Johnson will land is proving to be a lot more entertaining than watching Johnson play football. (Unless you love watching 2.7 yards and a cloud of dust.)

UPDATE: Schefter is steadfast. He tells PFT: "Larry Johnson has as much chance of playing for the Texans as I do."

WMH · #8 11-10-2009, 09:31 PM

Quote from the Chronic - http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...t/6714203.html

"We took all the factors into consideration — football, off-the-field issues, and we determined that it wasn't a good fit for us at this time," general manager Rick Smith said. "We've got confidence in our backs. When we come back from our open date, we expect big things out of them."

If it was me....I bring this guy in at the minimum. I find it hard to imagine that one guy, here for no more than 7 weeks, can become a cancer in the locker room full of 52 other grown men. He hasn't ran that great so far this year, but geez, we are 2 one yard scores away from being AT LEAST 7-2.....
He is the big back that Brown wants to be, but can't.

Not sure I agree with the Texans position, but that's why they get paid the big bucks, and I bitch about it on a message board....

painekiller · #9 11-30-2009, 02:52 AM

His stat line today against Cle

ATT YDS AVG LNG TD REC YDS AVG LNG TD FUM LST
22 107 4.9 13 0 2 -2 -1.0 0 0 0 0

popanot · #10 11-30-2009, 06:28 AM

What the hell, we have Chris Brown. Who needs talent?

WMH · #11 11-30-2009, 07:07 AM

While I certainly wished we would have signed him, the RB position was not our issue yesterday. They completely abandoned the run in the 2nd half. Why, who the hell knows. Both Brown and Slaton averaged over 5 yards a clip.

popanot · #12 11-30-2009, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WMH

While I certainly wished we would have signed him, the RB position was not our issue yesterday. They completely abandoned the run in the 2nd half. Why, who the hell knows. Both Brown and Slaton averaged over 5 yards a clip.

No, but it's been a problem all year - and certainly a problem when LJ was available that they could have tried to fix. When your primary RB is Chris Brown, something is broken despite the one or two games were the running game actually works.

I agree with your assessment of yesterday, though. Why Kubiak didn't run it on 2nd-2 and 3rd-2 down in the redzone in the first half is beyond me. These guys are too smart for their own good and it's just another example of the zanny redzone playcalling this regieme seems to constantly make. Unfortunately, it all appeared to go downhill from there. At least offensively. Defensively, the bogus interference call knocked the wind out of them.

Nconroe · #13 11-30-2009, 09:07 AM

or maybe worse was three pass interference calls, atleast two of which were questionable, and three personal roughness fouls, also two of which were very marginal calls, all of which helped Indy score multiple times. doesn't mean it was all refs but they seemed to assist our demise.

Fonz the Boss · #14 11-30-2009, 03:29 PM

The Bengals are a power running team.... They can plug in any dude in there and get production. If Larry carried the rock behind our Oline he wouldnt even get to 50 yards rushing.

Keith · #15 11-30-2009, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fonz the Boss

The Bengals are a power running team.... They can plug in any dude in there and get production. If Larry carried the rock behind our Oline he wouldnt even get to 50 yards rushing.

And perhaps more importantly, the Browns rank 29th in the league in rush defense, allowing 159.9 yards per game and a 4.6 per carry average.

Kudos to LJ for rising from the ashes, but really his effort seems on par with what the rest of the league has been doing to the Browns this season.

popanot · #16 12-01-2009, 06:52 AM

I think it's way too early to judge LJ post-Chiefs. My issue is this team - supposedly in a playoff push - has had problems with the running game and their solution is throwing Chris Brown out there. Obviously there are more issues than just the RB (fumbles, poor blocking, poor execution, poor coaching/play calling, yada, yada), but it wouldn't have hurt to have signed a guy who's fairly young and in the recent past has been Pro Bowl caliber. It's like Kubiak has given up on that position. If not, than I'm sick of his blasé attitude on the position. Chris Brown?? Are you freaking kidding me? I can't imagine what the opposition thinks when they see or perpare for Chris Brown. Where's Moats? Slaton hasn't fumbled in 4 or 5 weeks now... Why isn't he getting most of the touches? Why not try Foster? Shoot, try something other than a slow plodder who has never done anything in the league! What's even more funny is, once the running game actually shows signs of working, they go away from it! Brilliant!!

Joshua · #17 12-01-2009, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by popanot

I think it's way too early to judge LJ post-Chiefs. My issue is this team - supposedly in a playoff push - has had problems with the running game and their solution is throwing Chris Brown out there. Obviously there are more issues than just the RB (fumbles, poor blocking, poor execution, poor coaching/play calling, yada, yada), but it wouldn't have hurt to have signed a guy who's fairly young and in the recent past has been Pro Bowl caliber. It's like Kubiak has given up on that position. If not, than I'm sick of his blasé attitude on the position. Chris Brown?? Are you freaking kidding me? I can't imagine what the opposition thinks when they see or perpare for Chris Brown. Where's Moats? Slaton hasn't fumbled in 4 or 5 weeks now... Why isn't he getting most of the touches? Why not try Foster? Shoot, try something other than a slow plodder who has never done anything in the league! What's even more funny is, once the running game actually shows signs of working, they go away from it! Brilliant!!

To me, the bigger issue is Kubiak's apparent inability to evaluate the talent on his team. I don't understand how he can be torn as to who's the better back between Moats and Brown. It's freakin' week 11 and 12. How can Moats be the best option in week 10 (and Brown get virtually no carries) and then flipflop and decide Brown is the best back on the team in the very next game (and Moats gets no carries). In preseason, I understand this type of thing, but it boggles the mind that Kubiak is still this indecisive about who his better option is in week 12.

TheMatrix31 · #18 12-01-2009, 06:37 PM

Larry Johnson has absoultely no value if he's behind a line that is as poor/banged up as ours. Look what happened to him once his blockers retired/left from KC.