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Cam Akers... RB2 ?

sandman said:
It doesn't bother me at all either. But the same people who are mad at Pierce having a #2 after his name say nothing about Akers - clearly the best RB in the pre-season - having a #4 after his. Like they know deep inside these numbers mean nothing otherwise they would be livid at both. But axes, they must be grinded.
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I generally agree, but I also dont put much faith in depth charts. But hopefully Mixon is getting 25 touches per game and RB2 gets 5.
 
steelbtexan said:
I generally agree, but I also dont put much faith in depth charts. But hopefully Mixon is getting 25 touches per game and RB2 gets 5.
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CMC was at 21.2 touches/game last season. That’s the closest thing we’ll see to a bell cow output in today’s NFL.

I’ve got Mixon earmarked for around 18 touches on average. Could see him get a game or two with 25 depending on game flow.

Devin Singletary got those kinds of touches in this offense at times last season. But that was because they had zero confidence in DP despite what they said in the media.

They have Akers now if DP can’t spell Mixon.
 
badboy said:
Serious question, what kind of politics could keep Pierce on the roster?
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It’s not stretching it to say he hasn’t played very well in over a year. In fact if he was an UDFA this year that nobody really heard of he would have been cut, no doubt, not made RB2. Now tell me what RB2 really means to DeMeco? Faith? Politics? And it’s still a mystery what he says he saw in TC. It will be interesting to see if he can go from zero to one hundred over the course of a few games. If so then problem solved. If he does nothing but is still here then you can answer your own question. But during the preseason, added on to last year, all I’ve heard is what a great guy he is and he finished his degree recently but now it’s time for HIM to reward the coaches faith without getting the Texans into a third and long situation.
 
I don't see anyone calling for Ryans or Nick to be fired but rather as in a football game, a mistake was made. That is fair game for discussion and criticism.

Akers earned a roster spot and Pierce didn't. He has played himself off the team with 2023 performance but for some reason, he remains. Ryans saw "something in practices"...
 
sandman said:
And yet, not a word about how Akers is listed as #4 behind Dare...
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sandman said:
It doesn't bother me at all either. But the same people who are mad at Pierce having a #2 after his name say nothing about Akers - clearly the best RB in the pre-season - having a #4 after his. Like they know deep inside these numbers mean nothing otherwise they would be livid at both. But axes, they must be grinded.
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The reason it's not mentioned is unlike Pierce Dare actually looked good in preaseason play.

We also know Dare's role - He's a special teamer. There's zero mystery about Dare, #3 and #4 RB are often special teamers or developmental guys. Is Dare ahead of Akers as a special teamer? Probably, yeah.

It will all shake out when the game is played and if Pierce is the first one spelling Mixon without success then yes axes will need to be grinded. Games are won on thin margins. This schedule is tough. The hunky dory mentality needs to shift. We can't be happy with dragging around dead weight and shrugging our shoulders hoping the dead weight is only taking a few snaps. ALL the snaps are going to be critical.
 
I'm thinking some of this depth chart positioning is Nick trying to present the best posture to try and deal DP. I'll be surprised if he's on the roster all year (barring injuries) because he just doesn't seem to fit the scheme.

I'm really excited about Akers being our #2 RB and hope to see him get 8-12 carries/receptions a game to help keep Mixon fresh and give him some chances to break one open.
 
I think it’s speacial teams. Pierce has value there…Cam not so much. Dare is a core ST guy. Akers again..not so much. Even given what Pierce did in limited reps yesterday..which was very good…you can’t convince me Akers isn’t the better RB. I suspect that if Mixon has to miss games, Akers starts. Pierce just has more versatility. I don’t like the inactive list. I think it’s stupid as hell, but if that’s the rule…expect Akers to be inactive if all 3 of the other guys are healthy.
 
I still see Akers as the better RB2 option. It’s more of the same (Mixon) with a little bit more speed. Pierce is still a blunt force option who proved to be nice for 2 plays yesterday.
 
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OptimisticTexan said:
I still see Akers as the better RB2 option. It’s more of the same (Mixon) with a little bit more speed. Pierce is still a blunt force option who proved to be nice for 2 plays yesterday.
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The actual answer may be none of the above. Pierce not finding the hole, Akers not reliable as an inside runner. RB2 may be a black hole on this team. Not a great place to be for a team that looks to rely on the run more than the past.
 
Lucky said:
The actual answer may be none of the above. Pierce not finding the hole, Akers not reliable as an inside runner. RB2 may be a black hole on this team. Not a great place to be for a team that looks to rely on the run more than the past.
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Before the fumble Akers was hitting them for 4.5 yards a pop. It was unfortunate for him to fumble there on the goal line. He’s usually good at protecting the ball. Credit to the defender who made a perfect tackle. But Akers showed he can run inside.
 
Texansballer74 said:
Before the fumble Akers was hitting them for 4.5 yards a pop. It was unfortunate for him to fumble there on the goal line. He’s usually good at protecting the ball. Credit to the defender who made a perfect tackle. But Akers showed he can run inside.
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Sorry, but Akers hasn't proven anything. Not known as an inside runner. 5 touches in 6 plays may have been too many for a guy who hasn't had many snaps since 2022. You can't lay the ball down it that situation and be a reliable #2. And let's remember, Pierce had fumble issues in his rookie season. Not a true #2 RB on this team.
 
Lucky said:
Sorry, but Akers hasn't proven anything. Not known as an inside runner. 5 touches in 6 plays may have been too many for a guy who hasn't had many snaps since 2022. You can't lay the ball down it that situation and be a reliable #2. And let's remember, Pierce had fumble issues in his rookie season. Not a true #2 RB on this team.
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Give it to Cade
 
Lucky said:
The actual answer may be none of the above. Pierce not finding the hole, Akers not reliable as an inside runner. RB2 may be a black hole on this team. Not a great place to be for a team that looks to rely on the run more than the past.
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I'm thinking if Akers can stop fumbling and stay healthy the Texans will be ok. Losing Mixon is a big loss though. That guys a stud.
 
Lucky said:
Sorry, but Akers hasn't proven anything. Not known as an inside runner. 5 touches in 6 plays may have been too many for a guy who hasn't had many snaps since 2022. You can't lay the ball down it that situation and be a reliable #2. And let's remember, Pierce had fumble issues in his rookie season. Not a true #2 RB on this team.
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I dont know about this, Akers looked pretty good in the playoffs when he was playing for the Rams. He ran well inside for them and ran well inside last night. Agreed about protecting the ball in that situation.
 
Lucky said:
Sorry, but Akers hasn't proven anything. Not known as an inside runner. 5 touches in 6 plays may have been too many for a guy who hasn't had many snaps since 2022. You can't lay the ball down it that situation and be a reliable #2. And let's remember, Pierce had fumble issues in his rookie season. Not a true #2 RB on this team.
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I'll give Akers his one and only 'warning fumble' (mostly because we won the game, and he looked like he was starting to get some juice) but that's it. Next time, he's back on the inactive squad and we roll with British Brooks.
 
welsh texan said:
Yeah, one fumble happens, he was running ok as the number 2 back with Mixon in the locker room, if the overall running numbers were a little brighter you’d be happy to see your #2 come in for 45 yards. Shame about the fumble but 1 is something that happens from time to time, it isn’t a pattern atm.
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True. But he has been in the league long enough to know they're coming after the ball.
When you are that close to the goal line in a tight game you have to be fully focused on ball security.
To me, it was not excusable.
 
Confucius say “ better to have player rushing for almost five yards per pop fumble than have player rushing for one yard per pop fumble. First man can learn not to fumble easier than other man taught to run.” Way to early to condemn a guy that was getting his first game legs in a while.
 
Texansphan said:
True. But he has been in the league long enough to know they're coming after the ball.
When you are that close to the goal line in a tight game you have to be fully focused on ball security.
To me, it was not excusable.
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The fumble in the second game in the season which resulted in a win is not as inexcusable as it would have been during playoff time. It does make a difference. I don’t like that he fumbled after his 6th carry though.
 
I think Slowick’s offensive plan was really built around Mixon last night. When the run game was struggling, then Mixon went down, it looked like Slowick began to struggle to adapt on the fly.

The Bears defense is far too good to be shaky with the play calling…..especially when the OT’s are making blunders.
 
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Dejaview said:
Confucius say “ better to have player rushing for almost five yards per pop fumble than have player rushing for one yard per pop fumble. First man can learn not to fumble easier than other man taught to run.” Way to early to condemn a guy that was getting his first game legs in a while.
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You sure that quote doesn't come from Dejaviewfucious? I can't recall Confucious ever saying that...
 
OptimisticTexan said:
I think Slowick’s offensive tackle plan was really built around Mixon last night. When the run game was struggling, then Mixon went down, it looked like Slowick began to struggle to adapt on the fly.

The Bears defense is far too good to shaky with the play calling…..especially when the OT’s are making blunders.
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I would say even going back to last season there's quite a few times when plan A isn't working or gets disrupted we seem to struggle to move to plan B or have a proper plan B or C in place.

We pivoted against the Colts nicely to take advantage of the fact that basically every run play was going for 5 yards, but that has to be one of the easiest pivots in football to make.

That said like most of the league I usually wait until after week 4 because that's usually when teams truly know what they are and what they're good at.
 
Sweech said:
I would say even going back to last season there's quite a few times when plan A isn't working or gets disrupted we seem to struggle to move to plan B or have a proper plan B or C in place.

We pivoted against the Colts nicely to take advantage of the fact that basically every run play was going for 5 yards, but that has to be one of the easiest pivots in football to make.

That said like most of the league I usually wait until after week 4 because that's usually when teams truly know what they are and what they're good at.
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They really didn't need to change a thing.

What they needed to stop doing was dropping passes and fumbling. If those two things happen then we aren't having this discussion.
 
steelbtexan said:
They really didn't need to change a thing.

What they needed to stop doing was dropping passes and fumbling. If those two things happen then we aren't having this discussion.
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Players drop passes though. It's nice to say, "don't drop passes" but literally everyone drops passes.

The fumble was egregious though. Turning the ball over was the only thing you couldn't do in that situation and then he fumbled. He could have ran 20 yards backwards and fell over and it would have been a 1000x better play than fumbling.

Overall still plenty of things to get cleaned up. This Minny team is no joke, we need our A game, not our B+ game.
 
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