Smoke Signals: Rock Cartwright needs to get over it edition

You guys know Im a Rock fan, and I still appreciate his contributions. BUT.......this is pathetic. Is this guy smoking the good stuff or what? I cant believe the attitude that this guy suddenly has, or what he thinks he deserves. He isnt a good RB, he is a third back guy, that makes a living playing well on special teams. He has had the opportunity to step up, and has continually fallen short. He isnt explosive as a KR man, Id much rather see Thomas back there returning kicks. Bunch of overpaid babies, if you want to play more step your game up, if you cant do that STFU. Im gonna predict this is his last year with us, they almost replaced him this year, Id bet money they find someone else next year.

You guys know Im a Rock fan, and I still appreciate his contributions. BUT.......this is pathetic. Is this guy smoking the good stuff or what? I cant believe the attitude that this guy suddenly has, or what he thinks he deserves. He isnt a good RB, he is a third back guy, that makes a living playing well on special teams. He has had the opportunity to step up, and has continually fallen short. He isnt explosive as a KR man, Id much rather see Thomas back there returning kicks. Bunch of overpaid babies, if you want to play more step your game up, if you cant do that STFU. Im gonna predict this is his last year with us, they almost replaced him this year, Id bet money they find someone else next year.

Rock's comments make me think that he fails to appreciate your point. I'm not sure that he is aware that he almost didn't make it this year.

Keeping Mason over Dorsey or Aldridge still doesn't make sense to me. He's not a change of pace, he doesn't play teams, Betts is the 3rd down back, so when is Mason going to see the field??

I'm probably one of the biggest and loudest Mason fans over the off season, but I have to totally agree with you. If they were looking for a change of pace Mason is not it. He's a younger, healthier, hungryer Betts. Someone I thought could be groomed for the future. I am glad they kept him but I'm baffled.

Rock's comments make me think that he fails to appreciate your point. I'm not sure that he is aware that he almost didn't make it this year.

Yup, which is pretty sad IMO. He acts like someone owes him something, but.....most of them do the same thing. Your getting PAID, just be quiet and do your thing. If you want more playing time, get your ass in gear.

I'm probably one of the biggest and loudest Mason fans over the off season, but I have to totally agree with you. If they were looking for a change of pace Mason is not it. He's a younger, healthier, hungryer Betts. Someone I thought could be groomed for the future. I am glad they kept him but I'm baffled.

Your right, no way is Mason a change of pace. I know it doesnt fix anything this year, but Id bet you get your wish come next year. Betts and Rock will both be gone, and we can finally get our "change of pace".

Should've kept hackett. At least he knows how to catch and be in a position to catch the ball, unlike the blind (kelly) leading the blind (thomas)

Should've kept hackett. At least he knows how to catch and be in a position to catch the ball, unlike the blind (kelly) leading the blind (thomas)

You are now in the running for mindless post of the week. Well done!

Should've kept hackett. At least he knows how to catch and be in a position to catch the ball, unlike the blind (kelly) leading the blind (thomas)

Welcome to the board scrub, way to represent!!! :) And for the record, this post is comical.

Rock has been pissed ever since they brought Mason on this team and rightfully so. He's worked hard to get where he's at and he gets no appreciation for it. I mean, seriously, would you guys really want Antonio Brown back on this team returning kicks? You know, the guy that would blow kisses at his defenders while running down the field?

Rock has been steady at returning for us for three years now. We didn't have a good kick returner for a while once we cut Brian Mitchell. The guys that took his place f'ed it all up! Like the ball hitting Deon Sanders in the head! Or averaging 20-23 yards a return with four different guys returning kicks. Or the fumbles.

Rock has averaged 25+ returning kicks with NO fumbles. He has made our once unstable kick returns stable. He's been at the top of the returners list for three straight years. People should recognize that and appreicate it. Its hard to get a good solid return guy. But we got one in Rock. I don't understand what is so bad about that. I mean, how bad would it suck if we let Alridge return a kick for us during an actual game? Geez, That guy doesn't even know which arm to carry the ball with OR to take a knee when you catch a ball FIVE YARDS DEEP IN THE END ZONE!!! Letting him do something like that would be even worse than benching Jason Campbell in favor of Brett Favre.

1st point: I'm not sure why that would be? Rocks RB skills are no better then the TTB. In other words he has no skills on offense as a RB. All of his knowledge and ability is on ST's which Mason sucks at. He should not feel threatened cause no one has proven they can actually challenge him for the job. I think we can all agree that Portis, Betts, and Cartwright are not the future. Only cause they all are almost 30y/o. They will not be on this team much longer. If your only good at one thing then you better be damn good at the one thing. He should be happy he is. He's never going to be the #1 back of any team. Move on Rock.

2nd point: Yes he has been steady for several yrs now....like 6 to be exact. He steadily gets us to the 20 or 30yrd line every KR. No further. Unless the other team has a crappy Kicker. I also think it's partly the scheme or blocking.

3rd point: I think it all depends on what list your looking at? Yes he was 6th or 7th in total yrds, but if you look at yrds per carry he's tied at 22nd with 25.6 yrds per carry.

NFL Stats: by Player Position (http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?archive=true&conference=null&statisticPositionCategory=KICK_RETURNER&season=2008&seasonType=REG&experience=null&tabSeq=1&qualified=true&Submit=Go)

Yes he was 6th or 7th in total yrds, but if you look at yrds per carry he's tied at 22nd with 25.6 yrds per carry.

Who cares about total yards, one guy could have 30 more KR's than the other. Average shows his real standing, and he is steady, but far from spectacular.