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Can Hillis Ever Be The Back We Thought He Could Be?


Soju

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First let me tell you:

We ALL know the reason now WHY Hillis is on his 3rd agent this year. I believe the first two agents told him how much he was worth to which Hillis shut them down real fast after being insulted, and now this agent of his is being told (by Hillis) how much he "thinks" he's worth, which is grossly exaggerated. And the Browns are balking at it, and rightfully so. I was high on Hillis staying with us, but I could just see it: we pay him the big bucks and he comes out and SUCKS for the length of his contract and he sets the Browns back even further.

 

BUT. . .

 

What made Hillis so good in the first place last year?

 

Was it that no opposing defenses knew about him? I don't think so. Not entirely.

 

I think the chemistry has changed so much on the offensive line that the holes aren't opened anymore that were there last year. Remember last year? The defenses STILL packed the box with 8 guys but our O-Line still managed to open holes for him. The o-line can't open a bag cheetos right now, and it's kind of hard to rush up the middle into a wall Pizza Hut and McDonald's in the form of fat ass o-linemen and opposing d-linemen. Tell me how?

If they were opening holes, then Hardesty would be hitting them. He's not doing jack either, given twice, if not more opportunities than Hillis.

 

So what's the deal?

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I cant say this for sure, but the absence of Lawrence Vickers (or a blocker of that caliber) plays some role in the loss of production from Hillis

 

agree 1000%

 

i think hillis would do just fine if we would just play him and feed him the ball 25-30 times a game. a little blocking up front wouldn't hurt either.

 

have we even tried a two back set with hardesty and hillis?

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I cant say this for sure, but the absence of Lawrence Vickers (or a blocker of that caliber) plays some role in the loss of production from Hillis

 

You know, what could it have hurt to keep Vickers around? Say that this science experiment of Shurmurs don't pan out, at least we knew we had SOMETHING that worked. Keeping Vickers enabled us to run a power formation just about as good as any team in the league. Why not keep that option on the table if all else fails? That is the single most devastating blow to Hillis' production this year. Him getting healthy has a lot to do with it as well. I hope he comes back to his old self soon, better late than never they say.

 

Maybe Hillimania just needs to start believing again?...

 

"Hillis! Hillis! Hillis!"

 

Maybe Marecic can dig deep and find his inner Vickers... ;)

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Lets see, pretty much every run play they call for him is the same, run straight up the gut, get hit by several defenders by the time he gets to the line and try to power forward for 2 to 4 yards. He excels on getting the outside, if you haven't noticed his biggest runs have been to the outside. I questioned where is the toss play and stretch play that he was so successful with last year and with Denver? running up the middle opens up the outside runs and vice versa. Then they ran a stretch play last game, everything was clogged, he would have had to plow through his own linemen and defenders to gain something, so he cut it to the left meeting several defenders for a loss. Its no coincidence that his biggest play this season was a broken down play. The blocking just isn't there. The game Hardesty started they didn't stuff the box and they were getting some holes, but now they are just stuffing the box regardless of who is in. He is going to have to fight for every single yard and hope one or two plays something opens up.

 

Id agree and say the solution is to run him 20 to 25 times a game. Cedric Benson wasn't running well against us the other week, he was getting small gains here and there, 2 and 3 yards. Then in the 4th quarter there was a mental lapse on our d and he broke off a big run. Switching between Hillis and Hardesty only makes it worse, it lessens the chance either of them will have a big run, they both need to get into a groove.

 

I think Hillis can have a great career here. The WCO had backs who put up big numbers. Shaun Alexander (although if you look at his highlights nobody touches him for 10 yards the holes are so big). Roger Craig etc. He excelled in Denver under a single back set, Marecic isn't blocking that well so why don't we just use more single back sets? or is that not WCO enough?

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I'd love to see a setup with Hillis and Cribbs in the backfield! That would be exciting, who would get the ball? Does Cribbs take it right and then as the D flows to him, he tosses it to Hillis? We seem to be getting beat by a lot of Tom Foolery why shouldn't we try some fun stuff like we did last year vs. The Saints? You can't be predicable.

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Good grief,

 

what is it with you people and this tub-o-shit HIllis?

 

Rich and I predicted that his year two with us would be NOTHING LIKE year one. Why?

 

BECAUSE NONE OF OUR OPPONENTS LAST YEAR CAME IN PREPARED TO HANDLE ANY RUNNING GAME.

 

Rich and I told you guys the same thing about the man HIllis was cloned from, Rueben Droughns. Same thing. He caught teams with their pants down in year one, in year two? Just like Hillis, he got stuffed.

 

HIllis is a C+ level player. Nobody is going to miss a guy like this once he's gone. That's all there is to it. And for the record, he didn't exactly have a HUGE year last year. Huge for US? Okay............... but by NFL standards? YAWN...........

 

Big slow guy with no lateral moves.

 

WOW......... how innovative and unusual. Boy, defenses will have a hard time accounting for this guy............. NOT!

 

Hillis is an also ran. Nothing more, nothing less. He has Dime-A-Dozen talent. If he WAS good, you would see it surely since we are playing the worst defenses in the NFL.

 

Nobody is going to pay HIllis anywhere near when he thinks he is worth. With that, he may clear waivers and get picked up next year as a walk on.

 

Really, the guy blows.

 

 

 

another ignorant post from an ignorant fool.

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Good grief,

 

what is it with you people and this tub-o-shit HIllis?

 

Rich and I predicted that his year two with us would be NOTHING LIKE year one. Why?

 

BECAUSE NONE OF OUR OPPONENTS LAST YEAR CAME IN PREPARED TO HANDLE ANY RUNNING GAME.

 

Rich and I told you guys the same thing about the man HIllis was cloned from, Rueben Droughns. Same thing. He caught teams with their pants down in year one, in year two? Just like Hillis, he got stuffed.

 

HIllis is a C+ level player. Nobody is going to miss a guy like this once he's gone. That's all there is to it. And for the record, he didn't exactly have a HUGE year last year. Huge for US? Okay............... but by NFL standards? YAWN...........

 

Big slow guy with no lateral moves.

 

WOW......... how innovative and unusual. Boy, defenses will have a hard time accounting for this guy............. NOT!

 

Hillis is an also ran. Nothing more, nothing less. He has Dime-A-Dozen talent. If he WAS good, you would see it surely since we are playing the worst defenses in the NFL.

 

Nobody is going to pay HIllis anywhere near when he thinks he is worth. With that, he may clear waivers and get picked up next year as a walk on.

 

Really, the guy blows.

 

Shit, you really think NFL defensive coordinators are that xxxxing stupid? They were on to Hillis after his first 100 yard game.

 

No your thought process blows. If you'd just stop flaming and be 1\2 objective for a second you'd admit Hills has every bit as much talent as Mike Alstott, who had about 5 decent years with Tampa Bay, and he's very similar to one of Rich's faves- Lardass "Bus" Bettis, who did the same damn thing with the Steelers for years. Only difference was the Squealers offensive line could at least keep five guys off of him until he got to the line of scrimmage and fall forwards three yards before he tripped over his own feet.

 

Let's just say Hillis has contracted "the Madden Curse" severe strep throat, and now a bad hammie. Too early to write the guy off.

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plz yall....stop quoting ghoolie. :wacko: its so much better around here not knowing what garbage he's on about. i write some dickish posts, but damn....he's twice my age and twice as stupid.

 

:ph34r:

 

He's such an easy target, and so easy to slap around- it's hard to resist.

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I cant say this for sure, but the absence of Lawrence Vickers (or a blocker of that caliber) plays some role in the loss of production from Hillis

 

This is what we said in the beginning of the year after watching Maceric of whatever the hell that guy's name is. He's looked lost and can't catch a cold.

 

Vickers wasn't that expensive and he gave the offense some attitude. The dude would blow people up.

 

I don't think it's all Vickers tho. Our O line is really playing like shit this year. Hillis isn't, and never was, a great running back. He's a bruiser that's athletic and can catch. He's a decent running back. In today's NFL running backs are a dime a dozen my friends. You just need an O line that can make a decent hole and an OC who isn't a Retard. We don't have either right now.

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plz yall....stop quoting ghoolie. :wacko: its so much better around here not knowing what garbage he's on about. i write some dickish posts, but damn....he's twice my age and twice as stupid.

 

:ph34r:

 

At least if you're going to quote him only quote what's relevant and cut the other 12 paragraphs of garbage and rhetoric out

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Hillis had the highest ypc out of all the starting runningbacks in the AFC North, with almost identical schedules. Ray Rice 3.97, Mendenhall 3.9 and Benson 3.5. So none of their opponents could handle the run? almost identical schedules? He actually has great lateral moves compared to someone like Brandon Jacobs or Michael Turner, Turner has looked slow when he has to change direction. Hillis doesn't have the classic stop and go like an old LT, he is more light on his feet, almost dancing so he doesn't have to make dramatic cuts, watch his footwork from last season when he gets to the outside on the toss plays etc.

 

Yes defensive coordinators were aware of him after his first game against the Ravens. How do you think Mangini knew about him in the first place? When the Broncos played the Jets in 2008 he put up 120 on them and they had a top rush defense that year. In fact, I don't know if you are aware of this, but coordinators are actually allowed to make adjustments in a game. Its not "Hey that guy is running all over us, well we'll continue to let him run on us and review the film"

 

Guys like Mike Bell are dime a dozen backs, not Hillis. Mike Bell was able to do well with the Saints for the first half of the season in 09 which helped their success that season. He came here and wasn't even able to come in to give Hillis a breather, he averaged 2 yards a carry behind the same line.

 

So Hillis was cloned from a guy that started his career off as a kick returner? then rushed for 1200 for the Broncos and then 1200 for us? Then dropping down to 3.4 ypc at age 28 with 927 yards

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