"Two years ago, here was our identity. We had a tailback that was a big-play hitter. We had a receiver that was a big-play, play-action hitter. Last year, we had big plays out of our tailbacks collectively - not one big hitter. We had a quarterback that was electric with his feet. So he became a big play hitter. So we might have lost the (Alex) Amidon last year but we supplanted it with the (Tyler) Murphy. And this year, what we’ve got to get to is, obviously we expect big plays out of our running backs. And I don’t think we got enough of them. But then, on the flipside of that, while Darius (Wade) is very capable runner, is he a house-call runner like (Tyler) Murph? I don’t know. He is more of that 10, 15, 20-yard guy. We have to go find those hits. We have enough receivers. We have speed. We beat others over the top. Anybody over the top. We need to go find those big-hit plays in play action right now. We didn’t get any of those Saturday."
In his first two years teams crowded the box to challenge our run game. This opened up big plays for Amidon, Williams and in Year 2 for Murphy. Now if our opponents put eight guys in the box, do we have anyone to punish them? Is there anyone who once he gets past the line can run away from the other team? Sherman Alston comes to mind first. Even Addazio admitted he pressed a bit in the opener. Let's hope he gets over that quickly and fixes the drops. Like Alston, Thadd Smith has speed. But can he get enough touches? Robinson sounds interesting, but he's only been playing the position two weeks.
The RBs are all relatively productive, but do any of them have the ability to break off an 80-yard run like Williams? Willis can break away but doesn't get a ton of touches. Outlow is an exciting runner, but has yet to show (or been given enough carries) to be considered explosive.
Maybe there isn't anyone who can breakaway. It that is an issue, then Addazio and Fitch need to make sure the offense becomes more consistent and not always looking for the big break.
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