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Exactly. I had both O & Moss going in that game, and was furious they weren't running O more in the 2nd. If its one thing I've learned watching Belichick & the Pats these last few years, its the value of running the ball even if it gets you nowhere. Even if you are avgeraging 3.0ypc, if you are attempting runs, the D has to respect that and still play the run. This opens up the passing game.Meathead tipped his hand by not even offering a pretense of running and PHI tee'd up on Culpepper and brought people every play. That was just awful playing calling by MIN, regardless of any fantasy implications. :(
you still kicked my @zz. i don't want to hear it!
Yep... Minnesota was totally one dimensional, and it was killing me... there were huge hols on some of the "play action" plays, that CPep should have just handed off to Smith on... but it was pretty much apparent they were going to ignore him from 2nd quarter on...c'est la vie... that's what you risk playing a Minnesota RB, even last week O only had 15 carries... I expected more this week, not less...
I was up on my opponent by 30 fantasy points coming into the game. The players I haven't started - Randy Moss and Onterrio SmithThe players he hasn't started- Daunte Culpepper and the Minnesota defenseI'm figuring, I can't lose this game. If he (Daunte) gets shut down by the defense, the whole team will do bad but I have a 30 point lead. If the Vikings blow up for a tons of yards, Onterrio and Moss will prosper. Boy was I wrong 
There's no doubt it was terrible playcalling by the Vikings. The game was close until Owens' controversial touchdown (another example of poor coaching -- nobody in the Vikings' booth could see that was clearly a play that should be reviewed? Wow) and yet Tice refused to show any sign of a running game. I think he clearly lost confidence in Smith because of how poorly Smith was running and that impacted the rest of the game. Fantasy implications aside (and I didn't need Smith to dominate last night because I had a huge week anyway so this isn't me lamenting what might have been), I was not impressed with how Smith ran the ball. As I said initially, he looked tentative, had no burst and seemed to be unsure what to do when he got the ball in his hands. Compare how he ran with how good Westbrook looked. That was a guy sure of himself and who was explosive every time he touched the ball. In other words, Smith looked like a backup RB thrust into the starting job. Due to bye-week situations next week I have to start him again, but I'll have extremely diminished expectations against the Bears. He'll probably look good at home against a lesser team, but this was a big test for Smith (big game, Monday night, on the road against one of the premier teams in the league) and he failed pretty badly. For a guy so many people are convinced should be the starter, he did nothing last night to indicate he's the superior runner to Bennett. And who would've thought after two weeks the Lions would be alone in the first place in the NFC North? Go figure.
Da Masses - Please go back to whatever hole you crawled out of.Has anybody seen Switz? Maybe he can give some insight on why his boy CHOKED
All in good fun, Beto, did you play Onterrio too???? 
I think you need more than 10 attempts...If anyone "choked", it was the Minn offensive coordinator and his lame scheme
All in good fun, Beto, did you play Onterrio too????
Just want to hear why, in detail, from the foremost authority on O Smith for the last two years, and has been the man's staunchest defender, just one thing...............
Why his boy CHOKED
I'll wait
Didn't seem to bother Ricky all that much.
Westbrook only needed 12 attempts. I agree with the dude that said Onterrio did not look good when he did get the ball.I think you need more than 10 attempts...If anyone "choked", it was the Minn offensive coordinator and his lame scheme
All in good fun, Beto, did you play Onterrio too????
Just want to hear why, in detail, from the foremost authority on O Smith for the last two years, and has been the man's staunchest defender, just one thing...............
Why his boy CHOKED
I'll wait
Let me preface this by saying that I am an Eagles fan.The Eagles weakness is evident - run up the middle and keep running up the middle, at the linebackers. Yes, you may get 3 carries for 4 yards, but sooner or later the Vikings would have broken a long run - but, I guess we'll never know since the Vikings totally abandoned the run by the halftime.Why do you think the Eagles were so successful at defending Moss? The Eagles were pinning their ears back and blitzing from all angles giving Culpepper little time. The Eagles didn't respect the run at all.You can't just pass... and Onterrio Smith isn't terrible. That statement is ludicrous.
The difference between Westbrook and Smith was staggering. One RB looked sure of himself, ran with authority and was explosive. The other was tentative, looked unsure where to go and failed to make much happen. And while Smith's 2.8 YPC is pretty pathetic, what's even more telling about his night is that he had 7 carries for 2 yards. That's a whopping 0.3 YPC. That's real poor against a bad run defense.Westbrook only needed 12 attempts. I agree with the dude that said Onterrio did not look good when he did get the ball.I think you need more than 10 attempts...If anyone "choked", it was the Minn offensive coordinator and his lame scheme
All in good fun, Beto, did you play Onterrio too????
Just want to hear why, in detail, from the foremost authority on O Smith for the last two years, and has been the man's staunchest defender, just one thing...............
Why his boy CHOKED
I'll wait
Obviously there is no point in arguing with you. You are hung up on the 10 carries for 28 yards. Onterrio had 8 receptions for 56 yards. Are you ignoring that?Can we look at last week?Right now Onterrio Smith is tied for 15th in fantasy points among RBs, guess who he is tied with - Wonder Boy Brian Westbrook.
Physical talent, yes, but the guy has NO vision. He showed an uncanny inability to get around his own blockers. He would follow someone into the hole only to run up their back or trip over their feet. This happened everytime a hole would open up. Maybe he need a face mask modification.. or Lasik.VERY DISSAPOINTING.
How can you compare Onterrio to JLew
As far as the YPC, Switz and I talked about that in another thread.He ran against teams with weak run D's with the exception of one, and in that game as well, he was mediocre too. We've seen this year that Dallas D has slipped a notch.Smith is a average back at best.Hate to tell you, but the sky is falling fast for Onterrio.
Well, I guess that all of the times in the last year that people have commented how great his vision is were all misguided. It couldn't be that he's a young RB making his 3rd NFL start on a big stage against a top team on Monday Night Football, and he was just a little bit too excited hitting the holes, could it? Nah, couldn't be.Say what you want... ignore the receptions or everthing he's done for the past year, and focus on one game where he ONLY accounted for about 80 yards of offense. It amazes me how people can focus so intently on one game and make a judgement like that.
I'm not comparing him to Lewis. I'm using it as the first example that came to mind as a star RB who averaged a terrible YPC over a long stretch of a game. It happens all the time.You're right. Onterrio will be out of football, scarred by last night's performance. Who am I to argue?How can you compare Onterrio to JLew
Those catches came late in the 4th quarter, when Philly was giving up the short passing game to shut down the big plays. Garbage yards at bestDifference between Westbrook and Onterrio, consistancy.Onterrio is AWESOME against teams with weak run D's. He look HORRIBLE against team with average D's or better.Does he have talent, yes. Does that mean he's will be a good NFL starter one day, hopefully.Is he the second coming, NO!!!! Is he ready to carry the load for Minn, NOT YET AND NOT THIS YEAR!!!That's the point I'm trying to make.
I understand the point you're trying to make, but not MANY people claim he's the second coming of anything. And I'm not comparing him to Westbrook, who is also very talented. Onterrio is going to be a very good NFL RB when given a full-time opportunity, but my problem is when people discount everything a guy does over a long period and use ONE game to justify saying he sucks. It's ridiculous.JOHN CLAYTON told JASON WOOD in the article that was on this site that the Vikings COACHING STAFF believes Onterrio Smith is the most talented RB they have, but concerns about his off-the-field problems have held him back a little. That's understandable, but to question his talent based on one game is beyond understanding to me.
I don't look at it as especially disappointing. When a guy shows so much promise over that long and has one down game that happens to be seen by everyone on Monday Night Football, I'll look at it for what it was... a bad game.If this was a 20-25 carry performance at 3 yards per carry, I'd be more disappointed, but still not overreacting like some seem to be. As it was, a 10 carry game isn't something I'm really going to put much stock into it.IT WAS HIS THIRD NFL START, and he didn't even get a huge workload. He looked over-anxious and didn't run with the patience of vision all of the reports on him for the past year have talked about. So, take this game for whatever you want.
It was disappointing if you were expecting more than 28 yards against a run defense that has been getting chewed up by just about every RB it has faced lately. Even Ron Dayne got them for a TD last week and nobody here is confusing Dayne for Smith or the Giants' line for Minnesota's. This is a guy who has averaged 5 YPC so far in his career. So even with only 10 carries, it wasn't asking too much to expect more than 28 yards -- not to mention a mere 2 yards on 7 of his carries. The guy didn't look good. It was a disappointing performance. Is it a sign he's a loser and he sucks and he'll never amount to anything? Of course not. But it was a poor performance by a guy a lot of folks -- including the Vikings coaches as has been pointed out repeatedly now -- are very high on.
I agree with most of what you said. And you being a Packers fan, and I an Ahman Green owner should probably know first hand.How many times have I saw Ahman in his career go into halftime 8 carries for 30 yds? The difference is that a lot of the time Ahman continually is fed the ball and then "BAM" a 60 yd TD run.A RB needs to get into a rhythm. He needs to get into a flow. Due to the lack of running plays by the Vikes - Smith could never get into a rhythm.An I am not saying Smith is this "stellar" RB either. He does need to go through growing pains - but in this case, I believe the most of the blame should be put on the Vikings playcalling. It's not like they were 5 TD's down. There was absolutely NO REASON they had to stop running the ball.
I agree with pretty much all of what Colt of Personality said.I was MUCH more disappointed with the fact that he only got 10 carries than the fact that he got 28 yards on them. 10 carries for 28 yards happen all the time, but he wasn't given the opportunity to get into a rhythm to end up with good numbers of his NEXT 10-15 carries.I'd said - more than once - that he didn't run like every report on him for the past year says he does. There are reasons for that. But my problem is with the people who were questioning his talent based on what they saw last night.
That's fine, but just so we're clear, that isn't what I'm doing. I still think this kid is talented, but as I've said many times I've seen nothing from him that indicates he and not Michael Bennett should be the Vikings' starting RB. And that point was driven home emphatically last night.
