McAllister disappears down the stretch
 

What happened to all the talk about McAllister being MVP or the best back in the league? Once again he disappears down the stretch. I think all this Deuce worship needs to be analyzed a bit more. I see him missing holes and stutterstepping much more than he should.
I remember a 3rd and short during the Dallas game, he takes the hand-off and dives straight down into the arms of Dallas defender. What the hell was that? He looked like Ironhead Heyward at his worst. I personally think he came into camp too heavy and petered out down the stretch. The lack of a true back-up for most of the year didn't help much either.
I gladly await the Deuce worshippers' outrage...

[Edited on 15/4/2004 by Danno]

McAllister disappears down the stretch
 

You\'ll rarely get outrage from me on Herschel Walker style trades.

Deuce is a pretty productive back, but if we were ever going to parlay a trade into draft picks with the hope of getting a quality replacement, this is a pretty good year to do it. There are quite a few quality rookies in the draft this year and we could probably pick up a good one with the multiple picks that a Deuce deal would get us.

We could deal him to Detroit for a good set of picks.

However, if we are talking seriously about dealing Deuce, then we simply MUST deal Brooks to the Chargers. Mannings only come around so often and we should do whatever we can to land Eli if we are going to go ahead and deal Deuce too.

That should mollify the \"we can\'t rebuild\" crowd.

McAllister disappears down the stretch
 

Danno

The answer is simple .

Up until the Tampa game in New Orleans , if you looked at Duece\'s touches he was averaging somewhere in the per game total area of 56 to 78 % of all total offense .

By season end , defenses are aware of that glaring stat . And it becomes common to see 8 and 9 man fronts with a spy on Duece .

Anyone will say Brooks is streaky , it is simply a better calculated risk to defense a work horse back and make a streaky player make the plays .

McAllister disappears down the stretch
 

The writers say :

PFW associate editor Ken Bikoff:

“It would be easy to look at the Bucs and simply say, ‘Hey, they didn’t return to the Super Bowl, so they have to be the biggest disappointment.’ And you wouldn’t be far off. After all, the Bucs had the kind of talent on defense that could dismantle any team out there, but repeating is the toughest thing to do in football. That’s why, for my money, the Saints were an even bigger disappointment. No, they were never considered a Super Bowl contender, but they laid an egg in the biggest games and failed to take advantage of the opportunities that lay before them. An overhaul of the defense should have been the biggest problem, but it wasn’t. QB Aaron Brooks was inconsistent, the receivers never meshed well and RB Deuce McAllister was forced to carry almost the entire load. It might even be more baffling that instead of a total collapse, the Saints showed signs of life at times, which means that they had trouble focusing every game. I had higher hopes for the Saints. I believed they could be a special team if the defense came together. But when the ‘D’ showed up, the offense disappeared, and so did the team’s season.�

McAllister disappears down the stretch
 

Yes I thought the same about Deuce but after reviewing the season I thought and still think we need a quality back up for him. We need better play calling because teams know that the Saints like to run the ball and when they play the Saints its automatic that the box will have at least 7+ players but due to the lack of play calling and set formations that will spreads the defense the Saints still run the ball. Deuce took a pounding down the stretch and this is due to poor play calling and with Brooks streaky play and wideouts with the drops it made it worse for the Deuceman UNTIL WE GET BETTER PLAY CALLING THIS WILL ALWAYS BE AND THAN DEUCE WILL BE FED UP WITH THE SAINTS.

McAllister disappears down the stretch
 

I hardly think that anyone that actually watched the games can say the Brooks has been inconsistant or streaky in the last 5 games. I mean, Brooks had 3 straight games with a passer rating over 100. Furthermore, our passing game is the only success our offense had down the stretch. Inconsistancy in the passing game was not the cause for the trouble in the running game.

The problem was poor play calling and the fact our offensive line couldn\'t open holes. Yeah, teams stacked the line of scrimmage, but they did the samething with Emmit Smith and I don\'t remember him being shut down to the extent Deuce has.

Using more screen passes would have helped open the running game up and having a change of pace back would have also helped. McCarthy has developed a good offensive scheme, but he is not good at adjusting during a game. He seems to have no clue on how to counter what defenses are doing during the game.

McAllister disappears down the stretch
 

So with the Focus clearly on Duece in the Dallas game , Brooks manages to only put up 7 points . ;)

McAllister disappears down the stretch
 

This is funny...for so many \"football minds\" around here, it\'s surprising that so many know so little. There was a direct correlation between Deuce\'s dwindling stats and injuries to FB Terrelle Smith and, even more relevant, G LeCharles Bently (who was picked to go to the Pro Bowl). As soon as he started operating on a bad wheel, the holes in the middle, specifically the \"A\" and \"B\" gaps were gone. Check the film...it\'s all there.

McAllister disappears down the stretch
 

Yea that had something to do with it. But what about the tackles he broke in the 1st half of the season. Did Bentley\'s absense cause him to miss the holes that WERE there? Did the O-line cause DB\'s with average speed to catch him? Did the missing A&B gaps cause him to look absolutely FLABBY in the Giants pre-game skit?
My whole point was that his performance (for whatever reason) tailed off again.
It doesn\'t take a football mind to see Deuce run right in the back of his blocker and fall down and realize something doesn\'t look right.
Possible reasons for his drop in performance
1. T-Rex hurt. (but I was repeatedly told injuries are no excuse)
2. O-line banged up. (but I was repeatedly told injuries are no excuse)
3. Bad play calling (but we had that all year)
4. Deuce too heavy (its his 1st year ever to play this heavy)
5. Deuce too banged up from excessive carries. (we need a back-up to carry 8-12 times/game)
6. Deuce too burned out carrying the team for 12 games.
Take your pick, I\'m sure the answers will vary.

To steal some convoluted logic from the Brooks Bashers on this very forum...
Deuce McAllister 8-8
Antowain Smith 14-2

Antowain Smith must be a whole lot better than Deuce McAllister ;)

McAllister disappears down the stretch
 

C\'mon Tweek, I hope you\'re just bringing this up to get a debate going. Deuce is one of the five best backs in the league, in my opinion. Yes, he does need blocking, as does Jamal Lewis. He is not the Barry Sanders type that can do it all on his own, but then, few are. His only real fault, that I see, is his inability to pick up yards on short yardage plays. I don\'t see him having a lot of explosion in his first couple of steps or hitting hole particularly hard. That being said, you\'re crazy if you don\'t think this guy is the real deal. With his size he should not be as illusive or fast as he is. He is the kind of guy that can run through LBs and CBs, or run away from CBs and Safeties. He has good vision, a propensity for big runs, and has developed very good hands. In fact, I saw him make some shoestring catches this year that I would have put money on our receivers dropping.

Last year you might have been able to talk about the explosiveness of the offense and say that he was a byproduct of that. This year, you can\'t. Most of his, what 1500 yard?, came against 8 and 9 men fronts. He didn\'t get much help from the passing game, and teams knew, to stop the Saints you stop Deuce McAllister. I honestly believe that if you put Deuce in Denver or Green Bay he rushes for 2000 yards. You give him a healthy interior line and fullback and he may do that in New Orleans.

Another thing to consider is how he is being used. I can\'t tell you how many times we threw incomplete on first down and I would turn to a buddy and say, Deuce up the 3 hole. Sure enough, Deuce carried up the middle on second down for a gain of 2. If I can call that, you think opposing players and coaches don\'t know it\'s coming? Our play-calling is terrible and that hurts him as much as it hurts Brooks and the receivers. I\'ll tell you what though, you don\'t think Deuce is our franchise - go look at this: yards after contact. I\'d be willing to bet that there aren\'t four NFL runningbacks with more yards after first contact than Deuce. The man is the real deal, and as he goes, our franchise will go.