Ben Utecht done for the season

The Bengal TE will not face his former team after a season ending foot injury. Utecht played 9 games for the Bengals starting only 6 (compared to 13 and 14 in his last two years in Indy). He caught 15 passes for 116 yards and fumbled once.

11 months ago shake n bake 16 comments 0 recs |

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If I recall correctly, you and I had an argument about how much Utecht sucks. I remember bringing up a little stat that more or less said, “Utecht blows and fumbles too much. He averages 1 fumble every 15 receptions.” And now, I see your post here, and looky what I found!

He caught 15 passes for 116 yards and fumbled once.

Dear god man, 1 fumble in 15 catches?!? That’s like, crazy and stuff!

The King of Anti-Fail and Unofficial Moderator of Stupid People

by KingRichard on Dec 2, 2008 2:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yes I’m too lazy to look that argument up.

The King of Anti-Fail and Unofficial Moderator of Stupid People

by KingRichard on Dec 2, 2008 2:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He's still better than Gijon Robinson

Shonn Greene for Heisman
Big Ten's leading Rusher, Leads FBS
144 yards per game
6.2 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA

by shake n bake on Dec 2, 2008 2:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

….

how?

Robinson doesn’t get sand in his vag every damn play. Or drop easy catches, or fumble once out of every 15 catches. How is he better?

The King of Anti-Fail and Unofficial Moderator of Stupid People

by KingRichard on Dec 2, 2008 3:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

drop easy catches?

His insanely high catch % was my main argument for him. Utecht was fantastic at catching the ball in Indy. The last two years his catch % was in the 80s. Gijon this year is at 64%.

Last year Utecht had 44 passes thrown to him. He caught 37. Gijon has had 11 passes thrown to him, he’s caught 7. On a quarter the attempts Gijon has not-caught over half as many passes.

Even with the big dropoff in his numbers going into the Bengals O he has a higher DVOA (per play value) than Gijon in the Indy O.

Utecht is clearly better. He isn’t 9 times better though (which is how he’s being paid).
Gijon was hyped up by the coaches as a good blocker, but I haven’t seen it. Utecht was a good blocker.

Shonn Greene for Heisman
Big Ten's leading Rusher, Leads FBS
144 yards per game
6.2 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA

by shake n bake on Dec 2, 2008 3:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ok, I didn’t think the 11 passes thrown at him would be good debate fodder but oh well. 11 passes isn’t enough information to do anything with except show his catch percentage like you did. Besides, Manning wasn’t the most accurate passer in the first half of the season which just so happens to be the same period of time in which Manning targetted him more. Although I’d be interested in seeing all of the balls thrown at Gijon just to see how he dropped them, or the pass became an incompletion. Oh and let’s not forget, he’s a rookie, and not only that, the tight end position hasn’t really been much of a driving force for the offense this season anyways.

I don’t know about you, but even with the lack of statistical evidence, there is plenty of other evidence out there that proves to me that Gijon can and most likely will be a better tight end than Utecht. Allow me to explain myself.

I personally would rather have someone filling in a role of a blocking tight end who I know isn’t going to go down at any given second because he is a pussy. Utecht was constantly getting injured throughout a game, but it was never a serious thing. He’d come back the next game as if nothing ever happened, but yet in the previous game in which he got hurt, he was done for the day; talk about annoying. Speaking of annoying, you know what was really annoying about Utecht? His fumbling problem. I’d rather witness some horrible drops than watch someone fumble. The worst part being, you just knew that everytime Utecht had the ball he had a good chance to fumble it, and that’s unacceptable. Turnovers can wreck a team faster than anything, so as far as I’m concerned, Utecht can stay in Cincy.

The King of Anti-Fail and Unofficial Moderator of Stupid People

by KingRichard on Dec 2, 2008 4:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hey King Richard ...

I really don’t want to get into this, because, well your argument for Gijon Robinson is not so great …

I don’t know about you, but even with the lack of statistical evidence, there is plenty of other evidence out there that proves to me that Gijon can and most likely will be a better tight end than Utecht. Allow me to explain myself.

I don’t even know what this means, because you follow it with no support of Robinson being a good tight end at all …. all you do is talk about Utecht

I remember looking up the stats after last season, when Utecht was on the way out – and shake was right he had 37 catches – which i believe was ranked around 24th or so for TE’s … so as a number two TE he out performed other teams starters … and a huge number of them were for first downs. Admit it or not, he was a nice part of the offense last season. Despite his fumble problems, which i also believe were down last year, he played a role and did it quite nicely.

But besides all that, i have to ask … have you ever thought about saying something nice about someone for a change ?? The guy is out with an injury for the year and all you can do is call him a pussy. In my book that is kind of low.

I have met Ben several times and talked with him and he is a flat out solid guy. He is an extremely nice guy, he has his head on straight, he speaks at schools and other functions and he is not a player who brings any negative press or attitudes to your team.

I always wish he wasn’t so injury prone, but he is, it’s the nature of the beast … what can you do ?? But when is the last time you went to the middle of the field and got smoked by a middle linebacker ??

All i’m saying is that Ben Utecht is a solid guy and if you were standing with him face to face i’m wondering if you would call him a pussy then, because i doubt you would

"If loving Peyton Manning is wrong, I don't wanna be right"

by ClarkFan44 on Dec 3, 2008 11:50 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t even know what this means, because you follow it with no support of Robinson being a good tight end at all …. all you do is talk about Utecht

I was trying to illustrate all of the negative attributes involving Utecht’s play. Gijon Robinson hasn’t shown to be a constant fumbler and insanely injury prone. That’s my argument in a nutshell because like I stated earlier, Gijon is still a rookie and considering the TE position hasn’t been the most prominent position involved in the offense this season (along with Manning’s poor passing in the first half of the season), it’s hard to tell if Gijon has rock hands or not.

I remember looking up the stats after last season, when Utecht was on the way out – and shake was right he had 37 catches – which i believe was ranked around 24th or so for TE’s … so as a number two TE he out performed other teams starters … and a huge number of them were for first downs. Admit it or not, he was a nice part of the offense last season. Despite his fumble problems, which i also believe were down last year, he played a role and did it quite nicely.

That’s a pretty pointless stat in the grand scheme of things. Who cares if he was 24th overall in catches for a TE? As I stated earlier, I’d rather have someone drop more passes rather than turning the ball over all the damn time and constantly getting hurt.

By the way, his fumbles increased last season, not decreased.

But besides all that, i have to ask … have you ever thought about saying something nice about someone for a change ?? The guy is out with an injury for the year and all you can do is call him a pussy. In my book that is kind of low.

Should I be shocked that he is done for the year with an injury? Like I said before, the guy was constantly injured when he played for the Colts. What do you want me to say? “Oh he’s a noble figure, valiant in his effort to produce but is just a victim of bad luck.” No, not likely. I’m not going to sit here and powder coat something just because you don’t like it. He’s a wuss, he gets injured all the time, fact is fact. Besides, I say nice stuff all the time, you just happen to pay attention to the more negative things and it’s slightly annoying.

I have met Ben several times and talked with him and he is a flat out solid guy. He is an extremely nice guy, he has his head on straight, he speaks at schools and other functions and he is not a player who brings any negative press or attitudes to your team.

Oh? You’ve met Ben several times have you? Wow, that’s great, good for you buddy. It’s funny though, I don’t recall attacking his personality. Would you mind showing me where I did that, because I’m confused as to why you are defending him this way.

I always wish he wasn’t so injury prone, but he is, it’s the nature of the beast … what can you do ?? But when is the last time you went to the middle of the field and got smoked by a middle linebacker ??

Nice red herring.

All i’m saying is that Ben Utecht is a solid guy and if you were standing with him face to face i’m wondering if you would call him a pussy then, because i doubt you would

Yet another red herring. What’s with this “durr I bet u wuldnt say it 2 theyre face durr durr” comments? It’s getting old.

The King of Anti-Fail and Unofficial Moderator of Stupid People

by KingRichard on Dec 3, 2008 12:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

WOW !!

haha, holy smokes … what a reply !! Sorry i did not mean to get you so riled up !! I don’t think i have replied to many of your posts or comments (if ever) … so i’m sorry if i’m adding to a pile of red herring or durr durr comments !! and sorry if i had his statistics messed up, i was going off memory !!

And sorry for being slightly annoying, but for someone who lives on an NFL blog and responds to every comment on every story, you can get a bit annoying yourself sometimes !! … I usually just pass it by, except for this time when you commented on Utecht. But, again i apologize, i never meant to imply you were attacking his personality, you got me there.

And, ok you’re right he gets hurt all the time and there is no point in powder coating it or calling it noble …

But besides all that, you never did answer my main query … Ben is a nice guy and i bet you would think the same, so if given the chance … would you call him a pussy to his face ?? I guess that’s all i really want to know !!

"If loving Peyton Manning is wrong, I don't wanna be right"

by ClarkFan44 on Dec 3, 2008 12:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

end of the world as we know it...

I was never a big utecht fan. Always seemed like a drop or fumble was coming when we least needed it.

I will say this, though, he’s better than Robinson (I know you disagree). He’s atleast a better blocker than Gijon is.

The thing about Utecht is: He was a much much much better route runner than Robinson is. He was always opened, it was what he did after the ball got to him that I hated..

by Nideak on Dec 3, 2008 1:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well said.

by coltsfanawalt on Dec 3, 2008 1:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Utecht

Bummer for him. I was never a big fan. I agree with KingRichard on this one. He turned into a little schoolgirl when a defensive player came towards him. I’ll take throwing to someone like Santi or Tamme over him, and our backs can actually catch the ball this year coughKentoncough, so a second pass reception tight end isn’t all that necessary.

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by Colts Homer on Dec 2, 2008 7:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I always liked Ben Utecht.

I hated to see him go. He’s a great guy who grew up in Minnesota and went on to play coolege ball for Minnesota. I thought he was a great pickup when the Colts signed him in free agency.

It’s a bummer that he was injured so much. The Colts had to make a business decision when they let him walk, and I understand and agree with it. But I still have hoped for the best for Ben. Maybe next season he can rebound in health, as I think a healthy Ben Utecht is a solid addition to a team.

by coltsfanawalt on Dec 3, 2008 12:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs