Originally posted by Ohio49ersfan:
Originally posted by Joecool:
Originally posted by valrod33:
Its not his fault we kept him in to block against Dallas. If anythign we need to ket him the f**king ball more
No, that doesn't help but the main reason he's only an average TE to me is this:
He can't beat a defense when the defense is focused on him. The top tier TE's in the league get open no matter what for the most part. Whitten did it. Gonzales did it against us last year and does it vs most teams. Gates does also.
These tight ends have success when opponents focus on them.
Vernon, doesn't do much until the defense makes a mistake or the play is well designed.
OK I think this is simple if you open you mind alittle bit here. Lets name the top TEs Witten, Gates, Clark, Gonzales, VD
Lets now name there QBs Romo, Rivers, Manning, Ryan, Smith Do you see something that sticks out. We need a qb that can push a ball down the field. Only then will we see the full potental of Vernon.
And yes I know Mannings injured.
I would say the QB but Alex Smith has shown he can get the ball to a check down and there has also been many times when he's thrown the ball to Vernon who wasn't looking or there's been post game quotes saying they weren't on the same page on hot routes and stuff.
Vernon is not a shifty TE and he does not have great start/stop quickness. He is a deep threat that hasn't shown much else...no different than Ginn or DHB. A QB doesn't need a TE like this. The only routes he's been successful on has been the 7 route, deep seam route and the back side slant behind the LB's on rollouts.
That's 3 types of routes he's successful with. Teams shut those off and he's just a big body that takes up space or he's a perpetual "decoy" that we must send deep which leave Alex without his safety valve.
[ Edited by Joecool on Sep 23, 2011 at 11:49 AM ]