Devil in the Detail
Footballguy
Payton appears to consider Bell as the lead back over Pierre and analogized getting Pierre carries to getting Meacham enough snaps and not wanting Pierre's carries to affect how "Mike Bell runs - he's a guy that gets stronger as the game goes on."
How much can Mike Bell challenge Reggie Bush for playing time when Pierre Thomas comes back?
“Each week a lot of it will depend on who we’re playing. The plan in regards to what we want to do with Reggie, that vision is pretty clear. It’s something that you guys have seen a lot of already. I think the better question would be how Pierre and Mike Bell – and I’m not drawing similarities between those two – but how do you work that rotation out? That’s something that we’re going to have to look at. A lot of it will be dependent on if Pierre is 100 percent. We think this is a week where he’s going to be able to come back. We’ll have to be smart with our personnel and our packages. We’ve been able to do that at receiver as well.
“I’m always looking at snaps and I’ll give you an example here – Marques Colston, 45 snaps; Devery Henderson, 43; Lance Moore 23; Robert Meachem, 29. Am I getting Robert Meachem enough snaps? That balance with those four players – all of them with different skill-sets – those are the things that are challenging for us and those are the things that we spend a lot of time on during the week, of trying to have enough personnel variety and feature some of the things that they do well. That same thing would apply to Pierre, Mike and Reggie. And yet you still don’t want to affect how a guy like Mike Bell runs – he’s a guy that gets stronger as the game goes on. We’ll see.”
Also...
What more did Mike Bell do than simply run through people?
“To be a runner, you have to be able to read what is being blocked and he does a good job of that. He’s pretty instinctive and he runs with an upright style so you see some collisions when he runs. But he is a guy that can put his foot in the ground and get north and south and cut back. He made a run in Houston – I know it was a preseason game – but when you look at that run a few times, it was pretty impressive. He has worked hard. To credit Mike Bell, he has come a long way from Denver, to Houston where he had an injury, and then patience last year when he was with us. He’s had a tremendous offseason and I couldn’t be happier for someone because he has worked hard at it.”
http://www.neworleanssaints.com/Articles/2...0Sept%2014.aspx
How much can Mike Bell challenge Reggie Bush for playing time when Pierre Thomas comes back?
“Each week a lot of it will depend on who we’re playing. The plan in regards to what we want to do with Reggie, that vision is pretty clear. It’s something that you guys have seen a lot of already. I think the better question would be how Pierre and Mike Bell – and I’m not drawing similarities between those two – but how do you work that rotation out? That’s something that we’re going to have to look at. A lot of it will be dependent on if Pierre is 100 percent. We think this is a week where he’s going to be able to come back. We’ll have to be smart with our personnel and our packages. We’ve been able to do that at receiver as well.
“I’m always looking at snaps and I’ll give you an example here – Marques Colston, 45 snaps; Devery Henderson, 43; Lance Moore 23; Robert Meachem, 29. Am I getting Robert Meachem enough snaps? That balance with those four players – all of them with different skill-sets – those are the things that are challenging for us and those are the things that we spend a lot of time on during the week, of trying to have enough personnel variety and feature some of the things that they do well. That same thing would apply to Pierre, Mike and Reggie. And yet you still don’t want to affect how a guy like Mike Bell runs – he’s a guy that gets stronger as the game goes on. We’ll see.”
Also...
What more did Mike Bell do than simply run through people?
“To be a runner, you have to be able to read what is being blocked and he does a good job of that. He’s pretty instinctive and he runs with an upright style so you see some collisions when he runs. But he is a guy that can put his foot in the ground and get north and south and cut back. He made a run in Houston – I know it was a preseason game – but when you look at that run a few times, it was pretty impressive. He has worked hard. To credit Mike Bell, he has come a long way from Denver, to Houston where he had an injury, and then patience last year when he was with us. He’s had a tremendous offseason and I couldn’t be happier for someone because he has worked hard at it.”
http://www.neworleanssaints.com/Articles/2...0Sept%2014.aspx
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