Will the Bucs running attack be three-pronged or only two?

[PickSiXBuCC]

people like him because he has a cool name

[Badabing]

I think it will be thr....

damn, as I was typing this Cadillac just tore his ACL ....

Ward-Graham is what your looking at.

[bizkitlimped]

over-hyped, one-dimensional, oft-injured back that lacks break-away speed and is a liability both as a pass protector and pass receiver.

I knew i could rely on you to post something similar before i did haha. I feel bad for the guy as a human being, but it's a business and sometimes you have to know when to hold em and know when to fold em, it's time to say goodbye.

[MLBrandow]

When all is said and done midseason I think you'll see a combination of Cadillac and Ward with Graham sitting on the bench.  I don't know if everyone here was watching the same Earnest Graham I was throughout this season and last, but he shows the typical symptoms of a half-season wonder.

He came in the 2nd half of 2007 fresh against teams that were beaten up all season and he came in strong, and then was rested for the last two games.

In 2008 he came out of the cannon fresh, and then trailed off, averaging just over two yards per carry, and then got himself injured.


What we really have in this backfield is a 3rd down back in Ward, a low-endurance no-flash back in Graham, and a home-run hitter who injures himself playing harder than he should in Cadillac.

There's no telling whether Cadillac has changed his running habits to improve his chances of staying healthy, and if so, what that means to the effectiveness of his running game.  Beyond that, it's tough to deny that he is the most talented running back of the group, and, when healthy, probably gets at least 15 carries a game.

[Badabing]

MLBrandow...

to Graham's defense, he played fullback alot once Askew went down and the injury certainly didn't help.

I think Cadillac's career is all but over.  He came on strong last season.  He surely shocked me, but He is not reliable.

I hope our backfield is good enough that we see Graham on the bench, but I see that we have 3 #2 backs.  I dont see any of these guys as pure cut #1s...but hopefully they mix together well.

[BUCFAN60]

Cadalic is a guy who needs 25-30 carries for him to get going and put up big numbers

[Pick6]

Cadalic is a guy who needs 25-30 carries for him to get going and put up big numbers

i would disgree.  his success in the 4th quarter wasn't because he could do things on his 20th carry that he couldn't on his 5th....it was because defenders were tired and he wasn't...put him in fresh in the 4th quarter and i bet you see similar results

[Simon Phoenix]

I'm expecting Caddy to be back in the mix...they said this injury wasn't as bad as the first one..so it should be a matter of time...

[BUCFAN60]

No Pick 6 by his 20th he had a better feel for the game and the Defense than on his 2nd or 3rd carry

[CyberDilemma]

We paid for a Cadillac but got a Ford (Fix Or Repair Daily). I think the longevity of his career may have been hampered by Gruden's overuse of him his rookie season. There were games that year when caddy got over 40 carries. That may have worked 30 years ago  but, today, defenders are a lot bigger and faster. Running backs just can't take that kind of consistent pounding anymore and have a long career.

[Simon Phoenix]

actually the highest was 37 and only one other time breaking over 30....but I do agree that Gruden could have done a better job at keeping Caddy fresh..

I also agree with BUCFAN60...his rookie year...when Caddy got 20 or more carries..he'd have 80+ yds with 5 games going over 100...though I doubt he gets anywhere near 20 carries this year...he's going to be limited to see how his knee is...maybe by the end of the year he gets about 5 extra carries...

[Blaze688]

Yeah, I don't know how you thought there were games where he carried the ball 40+ times.  I can only think of two guys off the top of my head who've carried 40+ times in a game in the last decade or so.

[Simon Phoenix]

another stat...there were three games last year he went over 10 carries...his first game back he got 16 but only averaged 1.7 yds...then against ATL he got 14 with an avg of 4.2 and then of course OAK when he got 12 and avg 6.5...I think Caddy's head was right last season as far as running goes after that first game....hopefully he gets past that first game this year and shows the same movement without getting the injury...

[obuc]

Not all that concerned about Caddy's physical status since this injury wasn't supposed to be as bad as his first. I just wonder if he can mentally trust his body anymore and can be the same player he was. Then you wonder how long his body will actually hold up given his track record.

caddy is still the biggest breakaway threat of the group

I hate this myth.

Guess how many 40+ yard runs Cadillac has in his career?

One.  And it came in his first career game.

Guess how many Earnest Graham had by week 4 last year?  THREE.

As sad as it is, if there was a homerun threat in this over the last few years, it was Graham.

you have to take circumstances into account, and look at the lines each player was running behind.  5 yards past the LOS, there's not a run graham can make that caddy couldn't equal or beat.  if i'm not mistaken all 3 of graham's runs came in the 4th - when was the last time caddy was getting alot of carries in the 4th quarter?  aside from maybe the game against the lions this year, maybe 2006 sometime - that's before the right side of the line was there, before jeff faine, davin joseph's rookie year playing between john wade and who-the-heck-knows at LT

as an all-around RB, he's not the weapon that ward and graham are, but as a runner, he was rounding back into form as one of the best of the bunch...i don't know enough about the composition of ward's 5.3 ypc, and that has to be respected, but i don't think that caddy's stats in a vacuum give you a proper sense of his abilities relative to graham.

I have to disagree with this. Caddy tried to juke too much. He tried to second guess and do too much. Graham makes one move and slides his way north and south. You almost never see Graham lose yardage. Holes dont stay open very long. Graham got those 40 yard carries because he made one choice and went with it befor ethe hole  closed up.

[obuc]

To add, if we have a 3 pronged attack, noone will get carries enough to get into a rhythm.  Its a good problem to have if everybody shows up as good. IMO, if that happens you trade one.