Actually, the reason I abandoned the conversation was noted by others. You were being quite toolish in your responses. You can read the quote below.
Ok, you win. None of those opinions during his pro day, OTAs and minicamp mean anything. Appreciate your local input.
I thought we were having a nice exchange here. Sorry my opinion and input doesn't fit your perspective.
Well, as an unbiaed observer, you were being a bit dickish through the whole thing.
I didn't see it that way, and I still don't.
1) Your main argument was that he wasn't good at catching the ball and that his pass protection wasn't good and that Woodhead would clearly have that role. From the start of the season, he's been involved in the passing game. And, since week 8, Gordon's role in the passing game has increased substantially while Woodhead's has decreased. In those last 6 games, Gordon has 19 catches to Woodhead's 21. The fact that Gordon has 32 receptions already with 3 weeks left to go seems to me that they seem to trust both his hands as well as his pass protection.
So regarding those opinions from your quote about his Pro Day, OTAs, and Minicamps and rebuttals to my links since they were related to how he well he could catch, I feel just fine since the reports I linked discussed how well he did in the passing game and he has similarly caught the ball just fine.
Melvin Gordon: 32 receptions on 36 targets. He leads ALL NFL RBs in catch % of targets.
So, I'll come right back to you: Do YOU still think he can't catch the ball very well considering that was actually our argument prior to the season?
His catch rate is impressive, and shows that he has improved in that area. (He isn't #1 in catch rate, though; Bell's catch rate is 92%.)
However, his catch rate is boosted by his usage in the passing game. If I knew where to find average depth of target statistics, I expect they would show Gordon's is among the lowest among all RBs.
What I can find shows that he has caught 25 passes behind the LOS, 7 passes thrown 1-10 yards beyond the LOS, and none thrown further than that. He is also catching passes from a very accurate QB, which helps his catch rate.
Assessing a RB's receiving performance obviously goes beyond catch rate. Gordon is averaging just 5.8 ypr, which is poor. Data Dominator shows that 74 RBs have caught at least 10 passes this season. In that group, Gordon ranks #64 in ypr. Also, of Gordon's 32 receptions, only 8 have resulted in first downs. As someone who has watched every down of every Chargers game this year, IMO some of this is because he isn't a natural/confident pass catcher, at least not yet.
These are reasons that
Gordon ranks #37 among RBs in receiving DYAR and DVOA. Football Outsiders also shows that Gordon has fewer Effective Yards than actual yards, which is an indicator that he played "worse than standard stats would otherwise indicate."
As for Gordon's increased usage in the passing game, it may indicate the team has gained confidence in him, but that isn't a given. It has come at a time when Allen and Oliver were out, and Floyd, Stevie, Inman, and Green have all missed time, and also while the OL has been continually shuffled due to injuries. It's hard to gauge if his usage would have increased to the same degree if the offense was healthier. It is also true that this team's season has been effectively over for a while now, and it makes sense to give Gordon more reps, since he is obviously the long term starting RB, whereas Woodhead and Brown cannot really be part of the team's long term plans at their ages.
For some reason, you commented above that Gordon's 32 receptions shows the team trusts his hands and pass protection. I get the hands comment, but I don't know why you would say his reception total shows the team trusts his pass protection. I don't have access to pass blocking snap counts, but I can see that Gordon
only has 1 third down reception all season, and it was on 3rd and 4. From the statistics available to me, it doesn't seem like he is playing much in obvious passing situations, suggesting he isn't being asked to pass block much.
The bottom line is that there are 3 RBs on the team (Woodhead, Oliver, Brown) that are better in the passing game. That was true when we had our initial exchange about Gordon, and it remains true today.
2) He has been almost a complete disappointment in the run game so far this year. His 3.6 ypc is awful. He has 0 TDs. He's missed some opportunities for sure. That said, that O-line is atrocious. While it would be nice if he could have done more with less, I can't knock him completely as a rookie behind that line. Mostly because.....
3) He's tied for 8th in the NFL for runs of 20+ yards. His yards after contact and missed tackles are excellent (one of the only metrics he's done well in). But....
4) His fumbling is DEFINITELY an issue that needs correcting. That will cause him to lose his job faster than anything else he's done.
Overall, it's been a disappointing rookie season for sure but I'm not bailing on him yet. I think there is definite promise. He seems like the kind of guy that once that light switches on, he's going to excel.
I agree with all of these points.
Part of what prompted my posts last summer was that I felt many were overrating Gordon for fantasy purposes, because they were underplaying Gordon's weaknesses, underrating Woodhead, and/or unfamiliar with McCoy's style, and thus they had unrealistic expectations about how much Gordon would play and how much he would touch the ball. As I expected, his playing time has been limited by RBBC and by the team's unwillingness to use him in all game situations, and his known weaknesses (pass catching, pass blocking, fumbling) have all contributed to that.
Like I said then, his best case is to get better in the passing game and earn Woodhead's snaps by the time he declines or leaves the team. I'd say Gordon has made marginal progress at that this season, but the real improvement is likely to happen in the offseason. Hopefully, he will show more substantial improvement next year.
In the end, though, if you're going to bump a post like that to puff your chest (even though you claim that's not why you did), make sure you're actually bumping it for the right reason. You look a little silly saying "I told you so" when you were arguing against the one area he has done exceptionally well in: catching the football.
I disagree that he has done "exceptionally well" catching the football, for the reasons described above. IMO it is fair to say he has done better than I expected but not as well as you seemed to expect when we discussed this last summer.