Quote:
Originally Posted by NLC1054
Andre Johnson is an excellent wide receiver period. Not just a red zone target. He's the best receiver in the league and he happens to be call, but he's not good BECAUSE he's tall. He's a big target in the red zone and he's physical, but my point is you don't need those guys to be productive in the red zone. Lots of other football teams who don't have Andre Johnson or Calvin Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald get by with having smaller wide receivers.
But we saw it in the Cowboys game that Santana Moss is a fine red zone guy. He snagged two touchdowns in the red zone. It's not about height, it's about route running and quick decisions buy the quarterback. Would I rather have Andre Johnson? Sure. But that's because Johnson's a better all around receiver at this stage of his career, and it's a nice plus that he happens to be tall. (And even then, they're not throwing him a lot of fade routes; he's just beating guys with his route running).
And like I said; we drafted a wide receiver that's 6'2", another that's 6'1", we have a guy on the roster who is 6'4", and two tight ends that are 6'3" and 6'4"-ish a piece. How many more big bodied tall guys do we need before we have a "legitimate red zone threat"?
The problems in the red zone have been less about "we don't have enough tall guys!" and more about not having quarterbacks who are able to make those quick reads in the red zone and getting the ball out. Look at what Rex did at the end of the season; for all Rex's flaws, when we got down in the red zone, we were scoring touchdowns instead of kicking field goals.
With Donovan we could go on a great drive, but once we got inside the 30 or 20 and the field got shorter, he struggled. Don't know how many times he actually had a guy open but he checked the ball down or threw it to someone who wasn't going to be able to score or manage to underthrow a five yard pass. (See: Cooley, TWICE in the Tampa Bay game).
Tall guys are a plus, but they're not necessary.
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I agree and I also see in the red zone why we struggle.. Small Wr's make it harder on QB's. Unless your Tom Brady, Manning or Rodgers right now you really see teams with that BIG WR make plays down there often..
DET, AZ, HOU, MIA, DALLAS, SD.. All have big targets and all have good offenses accept maybe Miami. I'm JS it helps to have a Tall WR for that main reason.