Originally posted by dj43:
Originally posted by rk1642:This is not an insignificant factor. Miller caught 4 passes yesterday, and though they only netted 25 yards, they will show up on the film that Philly will see. As a result, whenever Miller is in the game, unlike with Norris, someone will have to account for him in pass defense. So while that may not make him a home run threat, it will be one less defender that will not be available to press the LOS.
Been saying since preseason that Miller should start over Norris.
Norris is too slow, no run threat, only makes a good block once in awhile and is terrible at catching out of the backfield.
Miller is soo much quicker and more of a threat that the D will have to account for in the passing attack. Maybe he is having trouble picking up the blocking/protection schemes, otherwise I can't for the life of me figure out why he isn't the starter over Norris?
Role players like Miller and Byham if he gets healthy will open this offense up more than people know. The key to any WCO expecially this one is versatility. When Norris was in at FB, in play actions the LB's covering him just blitzed rather than follow Norris who would run the checkdown flat route. Defenses have absolutely no worry that A) Norris is a receiving threat and B) when he gets the ball in his hands he can run away from anyone, this always left a free rusher coming at Smith.
With Miller, after a couple more 1st down conversions on play action check downs, teams are going to be forced to keep an eye on him or we will just chip shot our way down the field.
Giving Hunter an expanded role is also key, whatever is going on with Frank... it's obviously that LB's are just blitzing non-stop and counting on the fact that they can recover from their angle and tackle Gore before he hits the hole. Hunter's speed will make blitzers pay if they take a bad initial angle.
