Once upon a time there were numerous people on these boards who insisted that Aaron Rodgers was a bust and that Ingle Martin was the Packers QB of the future. Rodgers had hardly played at all and there was no real evidence to suggest that he was a disappointment, but people somehow managed to convince themselves that he was a disaster.I see shades of that with Mendenhall. I wouldn't assume that he's going to succeed, but I don't think you can look at last year as evidence that he's going to fail. He didn't play much. Certainly not enough for us to draw any meaningful conclusions from his stats. If you were high on him a year ago, you should still be high on him today. Nothing significant has changed since then.
I generally agree with all of this. He didn't play enough to show anything, positively or negatively.Apparently, Mendenhall is more polarizing than I realized. Maybe I blinked, but for the past two seasons in these parts we've heard little else about Willie Parker than how much he's been overrated. If that's the case, there sure are a lot of folks here claiming Mendenhall'll never do a damn thing, citing the "overrated Parker" as at least part of the reason. Parker is almost certainly gone after this season. The Steelers are likely going to want to see what they have in Mendenhall NOW and not wait until they have one less viable option to turn to if he doesn't show anything.Something else to consider, for whatever value you wish to give to it, but it is there: Since the late 80's, the Steelers very rarely miss on first rounders(2nd day is a different tale, but we're talking about a first rounder here). Especially under Colbert. Clearly they are not infallible, but who is the last first rounder of theirs that really tanked? Troy Edwards(a Tom Donahoe pick, IIRC). That was 10 years ago. I suppose you could say that they're due again, but you could also easily argue that maybe their scouts know what they're doing.We aren't going to know anything about Mendenhall until mid-season of '09 at the earliest, IMO. Unless he totally smokes the other backs on the roster in TC he's going to be the #2 back in a RBBC. Even then, Willie Parker is utterly, completely and totally one of "Tomlin's guys." He would have to have a leg ripped off for Tomlin to out-and-out bench him for anybody else on the roster, IMO.The chance that MeWelde Moore jumps Mendenhall in the pecking order has probably <5% chance of happening. When the Steelers signed Moore last year, Mike Tomlin made it completely transparent as to how he viewed his role with the team: Primary third-down back and punt returner, with occasional CoP touches. If Mendenhall didn't break his shoulder last season, I'd say there's a 99.9999% chance that Moore would have been used precisely how Tomlin told him he would. Mendenhall in 2009- #2 back in RBBC with Parker, to start the season.Mendenhall in 2010- #1 back in RBBC with Moore.If he hasn't shown anything by the end of 2010 they will probably cut bait.
you were oVVned, deal with it, move along, and don't post again until you are more prepared.
