Ron Dayne has horrible balance and other observations

[gtexan02]

I don't live in Houston anymore, so I have a difficult time watching the games. Instead, I usually watch other games. I get to see Addai every once in a while, Portis here and there, etc. Good runners.

Today, I used a slingbox to watch the game. Unfortunately, my connection is a little crappy and I therefore had a slightly jumpy viewback. This did make it easy to watch our players in semi-slow motion, and the thing I noticed most of all was that Ron Dayne has horrible balance.

He runs downfield with his head low, like he is anticipating contact. He's slow to hit the hole and slow in the open field. When a guy makes contact with him, even if its arm contact, he leans into it. This causes him to fall down. Usually forward.

If you watch other, good runners they run in different ways. If they anticipate contact, they shift their weight to avoid being knocked down. Or they sidestep out of the way. They hit the hole fast, and accelerate into the open field.

I never realized how poor of balance Dayne has. I bet if you could find a yards fter contact stat, Dayne would be pretty low. Our offensive line isn't great. They don't open huge holes. But unless theres no one around him, Dayne gets hit. Then falls down

[run-david-run]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

I don't live in Houston anymore, so I have a difficult time watching the games. Instead, I usually watch other games. I get to see Addai every once in a while, Portis here and there, etc. Good runners.

Today, I used a slingbox to watch the game. Unfortunately, my connection is a little crappy and I therefore had a slightly jumpy viewback. This did make it easy to watch our players in semi-slow motion, and the thing I noticed most of all was that Ron Dayne has horrible balance.

He runs downfield with his head low, like he is anticipating contact. He's slow to hit the hole and slow in the open field. When a guy makes contact with him, even if its arm contact, he leans into it. This causes him to fall down. Usually forward.

If you watch other, good runners they run in different ways. If they anticipate contact, they shift their weight to avoid being knocked down. Or they sidestep out of the way. They hit the hole fast, and accelerate into the open field.

I never realized how poor of balance Dayne has. I bet if you could find a yards fter contact stat, Dayne would be pretty low. Our offensive line isn't great. They don't open huge holes. But unless theres no one around him, Dayne gets hit. Then falls down

Most yards Dayne gets are after contact because he usually caries a defender downfiled. Dayne is not a big play guy in that he will break away from people, but if he gets through the hole, its usually a first down because he can force himself foward after contact. Basicaly, you trade off the big play for consitantly gaining a few yards after contact.

[junior]

dayne has been good the last 5 weeks, he hasnt been the problem bad coaching and bad qb and wr play have been lately.

[adam]

Dayne is NOT the problem with this team. Have you been watching the last few weeks? He is rushing for an average of almost 4 yards a carry. Spare the one today, he hasn't fumbled all season long. Unlike our official starter, he is never injured. Dayne has done his job, and has done it well as of lately. Our o-line isn't producing, the defense isn't executing, and we turn the ball over too much. That is what is wrong with this team. We are worst in the league in turnovers.

[TexansSeminole]

aka Ron Dayne is not a good NFL RB.

[TexansSeminole]

Originally Posted by adam

Dayne is NOT the problem with this team. Have you been watching the last few weeks? He is rushing for an average of almost 4 yards a carry. Spare the one today, he hasn't fumbled all season long. Unlike our official starter, he is never injured. Dayne has done his job, and has done it well as of lately. Our o-line isn't producing, the defense isn't executing, and we turn the ball over too much. That is what is wrong with this team. We are worst in the league in turnovers.

It's not about being the problem. He just is not very good. He should really be getting much more yards. Some of these holes are pretty large, and a good RB would break big ones. Ron Dayne just runs for 7 yards.

[adam]

Originally Posted by TexansSeminole

It's not about being the problem. He just is not very good. He should really be getting much more yards. Some of these holes are pretty large, and a good RB would break big ones. Ron Dayne just runs for 7 yards.

Just seven yards? I would have killed for seven yards in the age of Gado/Lundy. One thing that you have to keep in mind is that Ron Dayne is a power back. He shouldn't be expected to run with a great deal of speed. I will admit, that since losing Dominic Davis/Williams, my standards have been pretty low in the rushing game department. If only because I knew he'd be hard to replace. With that said, I have been plenty satisfied with Dayne's play. I've said it before, and I'll say it again; we are a passing team. This means that 75 or more yards on the ground should suffice in coordination with the rest of our offense. Dayne's been good for that for the majority of the season, and he's been improving his game. I'm not saying that he is great, but I would say that he has done well in his tenure here. If we'd stop turning the ball over and if our passing game would get back to where it was toward the beginning of the year, we'd win games with Ron Dayne's amount of production.

[GuerillaBlack]

Originally Posted by TexansSeminole

It's not about being the problem. He just is not very good. He should really be getting much more yards. Some of these holes are pretty large, and a good RB would break big ones. Ron Dayne just runs for 7 yards.

You can't be serious. "Just seven yards". Well do you want eight?!

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by TexansSeminole

It's not about being the problem. He just is not very good. He should really be getting much more yards. Some of these holes are pretty large, and a good RB would break big ones. Ron Dayne just runs for 7 yards.

You watch to many highlight reels. That doesn't happen all the time.

How about the fact that when we've put other guys behind that same line, they never do as well as Dayne does.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by adam

Dayne is NOT the problem with this team. Have you been watching the last few weeks? He is rushing for an average of almost 4 yards a carry. Spare the one today, he hasn't fumbled all season long. Unlike our official starter, he is never injured. Dayne has done his job, and has done it well as of lately. Our o-line isn't producing, the defense isn't executing, and we turn the ball over too much. That is what is wrong with this team. We are worst in the league in turnovers.

Excellent summary.
Get off Ronny's back. He ain't Brian Westbrook and never will be, but he's doing his damned job.
That's more than I can say for some of the other guys.

[YellerLotYeller]

He is who we thought he was!

[alphajoker]

I don't know about the balance but I think he limits the offensive playcalling. Other than the occasional screen pass, he's not a very good receiving back, IMO.