Peyton Hillis: A Complete Back
by John B on Nov 11, 2010 8:08 PM EST
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PrintThe key to slowing down Cleveland's offense will be simple Sunday, slow down Peyton Hillis. The Jets know him well. He ran for 129 yards in 2008 at the Meadowlands while a Bronco. It was the game that began New York's late season slide and cost his current coach, Eric Mangini, his job.
It's easy to look at Hillis, a 240 pound converted fullback, and just assume he is a slow plodder. He was selected as a fullback in the seventh round of the 2008 Draft because there was no way he could develop into a complete back, right? That might be the conventional wisdom, but there was a good reason he got taken so late. In college he never got a chance to carry the ball consistently. This wasn't his fault, though. While at the University of Arkansas, Hillis was in the same backfield as current Raider Darren McFadden and current Cowboy Felix Jones. With a pair of first round picks already in the stable at tailback, a guy with Hillis' frame was best served as a fullback. NFL teams missed a chance to see him run.
When I watch Hillis, I do see a big guy who can pound it between the tackles and grind out extra yardage. i also see a deceptively quick and agile runner. Check out the burst he showed last week against the Patriots. He has also become a receiving threat out of the backfield, ranking second on the team with 30 catches and 229 yards.
The Jets need to do everything they can to take Hillis away. He is the focal point of the Cleveland offense. That means loading up the box and forcing a rookie quarterback to beat them. Old friend Chansi Stuckey is the more productive wide receiver the Browns have in the passing game this year. He would be fourth on the depth chart on this Jets team. Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie should be able to take away things on the outside. The focus should be stopping the ground game. The Jets should also account for Hillis blitzing on passing downs. A rookie quarterback will look for a safe target to avoid mistakes. They should think of sending one blitzer at Hillis to prevent everybody from being caught up field.
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After watching his highlights
I think that Greene runs with the same style almost identically to to Hillis. Both aren’t afraid to lower the shoulder and break a tackle and each have their own quick burst once they hit open space. Give Greene the rock consistently and he will become a premier back in the league. But in the game against the Browns, I agree with you, Hillis should be priority number 1 for the Jets D.
maybe this is a game where the Jets can afford to blitz Revis
Have a feeling he would make plays because he’s a football player.
Much better Author. Much better.
ROHC THE SOHC.
by SpecialBrownie on Nov 11, 2010 10:31 PM EST up reply actions
You are mistaken to overlook the “Rookie” QB, yes, it’s his first year in the NF. Though in college he played in the Big 12, with a large majority of those players getting picked up in the early rounds of the draft, and playing well. You guys just keep over looking him, and go ahead and bring in Revis to blitz. You’ll end up paying the price for it.
No talking. Talking doesn't play football, talking isn't going to make you practice harder or play harder.
I like mccoy but I don’t think playing in the big 12 makes him less of a “Rookie” and I don’t like the idea of blitzing Revis but not because of mccoy and his cannon arm.
In an Ideal world I would have all ten fingers on my left hand so my right hand could just be a fist for punching./ Free Free
I am pretty sure he is not talking about Revis when he says send 1 on the blitz, he makes his money covering.
In an Ideal world I would have all ten fingers on my left hand so my right hand could just be a fist for punching./ Free Free
I suggested Revis blitzing because I feel he has no one to cover this game.
Most of their offense is through the tight end and running backs. No disrespect to their wide receivers but they hardly use them. So why waist him. I don’t find it out of the question especially if he lines up in the slot. This is why I called him a football player because he would makes plays no matter what you asked him to do. This is not out of the question because one, the browns would not be expecting it, and two who ever he’s covering probably would not be the first option because Revis is on him. This is what the Packers do with Woodson. Um J. W. read some of your post, not hard to figure out you a Browns fan. First welcome to the sight, however, i’m suggestion a possible way the Jets could get an advantage. You want to comment on it call it stupid, be my guess, but stopped taking a suggestion as disrespect for your team. Blitzing Revis is not disrespecting Colt McCoy. Its a way I feel would catch the Browns off guard.
I didn’t call it stupid at all. Doing something unconventional probably will make for an interesting game. I forsee this game having many sandlot plays, since these coaches know each other so well. It might be the best game of the whole NFL season, but don"t count out the kid. He’s not a game manager, he’s a player that I had the pleasure to watch from high school to the Pros here in North Texas (Texhoma).
There’s only one player on the Jets that I think is your biggest liability. Bray Bray is a coodled baby and after getting smacked a few times, drops that ball likes its covered in granny’s fresh churned butter. Why do you think he was traded away for so cheap? Like I said, i hope you guys win the East, and my Browns make a run at the wild card, it will make for some interesting football.
No talking. Talking doesn't play football, talking isn't going to make you practice harder or play harder.
Browns fan here. I have a feeling if you want to shut down our offense, you’d probably be better off using Revis in coverage rather than blitzing him.
Unfortunately I’ve not been able to watch the games all that much outside of highlights (going to school in Indiana has its ups and downs… More downs when it comes to watching football on TV). However, from what I’ve picked up, Colt McCoy has done a really good job at feeling the pressure from blitzes and not panicking. Colt McCoy has shown ability to step up in the pocket without panicking, or scramble and throw accurately on the run, or tuck the ball and run to pick up positive yardage. And he’s been pretty darn good at finding the open receivers.
So… I’m not a football expert or anything, so take this for what it’s worth. But I think that if you can shut down the run game, the best way to play the pass is make sure all our receivers are covered and maybe have a LB spying the QB in case he takes off. Other than that, I’d hope that the rush from the DL can keep some pressure on the QB.
But in the end, Rex Ryan is a football expert and you guys have a fantastic D. So we’ll just have to see what he cooks up :)
PS- I should’ve asked before I posted. Are you guys picky about where opposing fans can post on your site? I’m not one for trash talking that much and I keep it pretty respectful, but if you guys would rather we keep it to a specific thread or something then I’d be happy to honor that.
nah, the guys here are great. if you want to start your own thread go ahead
You want to talk trash, just keep it clean. One warning, the guys here will challenge any un-factual data; so come correct.
Now that would be a 15 yard penalty but...
not a conviction in court if he just rats someone else out as we saw in the Ray Lewis case.
I’d agree, if you can stop Hillis then you will probably increase your chances of winning greatly… I bid your team good luck in doing that, though. He’s been fairly unstoppable, and we haven’t exactly just been playing mamby-pamby defenses. I’ll admit, there are only a couple of games against top-tier defenses where his stat line looks super impressive. But I think at least against ATL and PIT he played injured. I’d look at the Baltimore game as a nice sample of what he can do to good run D’s.
Not saying it’s impossible to stop him by any means, but I do think the Jets have quite the task in containing him, and we have quite the task of running on your VERY stingy run D. It should be a really fun game.
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