WTF is going on with Foster?

[DocBar]

I haven't seen anyone post much about Foster's lackluster play, so I figured I'd bring up the subject.

It seems like he's succumbed to the big payday and just isn't performing up to his new contract. No one could bring down Foster with an ankle tackle for 2 years and now he can't seem to break one.

I know he's been run in a lot of short yardage situations, but he just doesn't to be the same back he was the last 2 years. WTF has happened?

[Norg]

well it could be either 2 things

A

Hes not that good

or B

Leech Winston and Mike .B and Dreessen his blocking buddies.... are gone and now he cant do it without them


is there a option C ....????? LOL

[DocBar]

Originally Posted by Norg

well it could be either 2 things

A

Hes not that good

or B

Leech Winston and Mike .B and Dreessen his blocking buddies.... are gone and now he cant do it without them


is there a option C ....????? LOL

Option B gets invalidated, somewhat, by Tate and Forsett doing pretty dang well. Foster is getting tripped up yards past the LOS as well as near or behind it.

[stingray]

He doesn't look like the same back. I think he was averaging 3.9 a carry coming into the Patriots game. While tate and Forsett come into the game and look explosive as hell.

[CretorFrigg]

He's a different back. That's for sure.

[DocBar]

Originally Posted by CretorFrigg

He's a different back. That's for sure.

But not in a good way so far this season.

[wolf123]

Has not been running very hard. Looks to run out of bounds at the first sign of contact.

[GP]

Heh, well....I was one of only about three people calling attention to it from the beginning of the reg season.

I don't know if it's the diet, the new $$$, the lack of Winston and Brisiel, some sort of situation involving Tate....but he's shutting it down early in a lot of games.

He's also running more through the middle when his bread and butter is always the edge and then a cutback. Don't know if he's trying to prove (to himself?) that he can run anywhere ,even the middle, or what.

But it's been off all season. He might not have been a big fan of seeing Winston and Brisiel leave. Because he's not running as well, for sure.

[PapaL]

Or he's getting used TOO much. Our run game is better when BOTH Foster and Tate get the ball. Too bad Tate's been in the dog house for being injured and Kubes isn't playing him. But hey good thing that 3rd down scat is delivering punishment to the D and softening them up for Arian huh?

[DocBar]

Originally Posted by GP

Heh, well....I was one of only about three people calling attention to it from the beginning of the reg season.

I don't know if it's the diet, the new $$$, the lack of Winston and Brisiel, some sort of situation involving Tate....but he's shutting it down early in a lot of games.

He's also running more through the middle when his bread and butter is always the edge and then a cutback. Don't know if he's trying to prove (to himself?) that he can run anywhere ,even the middle, or what.

But it's been off all season. He might not have been a big fan of seeing Winston and Brisiel leave. Because he's not running as well, for sure.

He should just get a side as a first read and be able to cut where he sees the lane. inside or outside just depends on the lane he sees. That looks OK to me. It's the shoestring tackles that are killing him. If he breaks one shoestrng ankle tackle, he's gone for 15+ yards on a lot of carries. It seems like shying away from contact and trying to take whats there and keep himself healthy, to me. PFF has called him out for the last 1 1/2 years on their elusivity stat. He's not elusive. It's just that he's now going ultra turtle, like Schaub, if pressure is even moderately applied. Maybe Kubiak is handing out death sentences for fumbles? I bet Tate would agree.

[76Texan]

It's really simple.

I had listed several reasons at different times, I won't bother listing them again.

Instead, I will give some very basic numbers.

So far, Foster had played in 13 games (as many as he did the entire last year.)

He has 20 more caries, but he has 80 few yards.

A couple of simple queries using Play Finder at ProFootball Reference .com
Shows that he has 2 fewer plays of more than 20 yards (5 as opposed to 7).

The additional yardage gain on those 2 extra plays is 81 yards.

That's right there is the simplest answer.

Then I used Game Rewind to go back and watch those plays to verify them.

A question for you guys is how often did you hear an announcer call out a name of a blocker on our run plays?

Not very often, right?

Well, on those long plays, at least one or two guys were called out because of their blocking near the POA.

It's as simple as that, really.
I don't even need to recount the other factors and reasons.

[kiwitexansfan]

Look at his number of carries.

He has been run into the ground.

Tate and Forsett look like they have pop because they are FRESH.

[76Texan]

As y'all can see, it only takes 2 plays to get the same numbers he did last year.

Good blocking = big gain

And defenders taking bad angles also help.

[DocBar]

Originally Posted by 76Texan

It's really simple.

I had listed several reasons at different times, I won't bother listing them again.

Instead, I will give some very basic numbers.

So far, Foster had played in 13 games (as many as he did the entire last year.)

He has 20 more caries, but he has 80 few yards.

A couple of simple queries using Play Finder at ProFootball Reference .com
Shows that he has 2 fewer plays of more than 20 yards (5 as opposed to 7).

The additional yardage gain on those 2 extra plays is 81 yards.

That's right there is the simplest answer.

Then I used Game Rewind to go back and watch those plays to verify them.

A question for you guys is how often did you hear an announcer call out a name of a blocker on our run plays?

Not very often, right?

Well, on those long plays, at least one or two guys were called out because of their blocking near the POA.

It's as simple as that, really.
I don't even need to recount the other factors and reasons.

Then I guess everything equals out because Schaub hasn't been destroyed as much and we don;t have near the false start/holding penalties as we did with Winston. I still don't miss that guy. Road grader of a run blocker and turnstile on pass pro.

Maybe Winston faking out a DE, making him think it was a pass play is the difference in Foster's yardage?

[Texecutioner]

Foster is currently 6th in the league in rushing, but he is only 118 yards away from being 1st in yards.

He leads the league in rushing TD's.

I'm not seeing this whole "Foster is slowing down" thing. He is at the top of the league in all important stats for a RB other then YPC. I have felt like Kubes has run him way to much in a lot of games considering all of our other guys being available. Forsett has been more then capable of gaining yards.

[Lucky]

The biggest difference in the 2012 from the 2011 Foster is his impact as a receiver. Foster is averaging only 13.5 receiving yards/game, as opposed to 47.5 last season. I don't know if that's due to Arian staying in to block more. But going from a 11.2 yards/catch to 5.1 is noticeable.

[silvrhand]

Originally Posted by Lucky

The biggest difference in the 2012 from the 2011 Foster is his impact as a receiver. Foster is averaging only 13.5 receiving yards/game, as opposed to 47.5 last season. I don't know if that's due to Arian staying in to block more. But going from a 11.2 yards/catch to 5.1 is noticeable.

Agree here, but the real thing I notice is he looks about 15-20lbs lighter this year.

[CretorFrigg]

Originally Posted by Lucky

The biggest difference in the 2012 from the 2011 Foster is his impact as a receiver. Foster is averaging only 13.5 receiving yards/game, as opposed to 47.5 last season. I don't know if that's due to Arian staying in to block more. But going from a 11.2 yards/catch to 5.1 is noticeable.

That ties in to him being unable to break as many tackles this year. For RBs, a lot of those catches will net you huge gains if you break that one tackle from that linebacker/safety in your way.

[DX-TEX]

Eat some damn meat.

Simple as that.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by DocBar

Then I guess everything equals out because Schaub hasn't been destroyed as much and we don;t have near the false start/holding penalties as we did with Winston. I still don't miss that guy. Road grader of a run blocker and turnstile on pass pro.

Maybe Winston faking out a DE, making him think it was a pass play is the difference in Foster's yardage?

If we're going there, I miss Mario.
Yeah, he may have taken plays off, but the numbers were there..... if he were healthy.

I miss Demeco. Who better to have in the event Cushing got hurt?

I miss Dresson. We don't have enough TEs for this offense.

I miss Walter, Barwin, & Casey. I know they're still on the team, but I miss them just the same.