Brown adds balance at RB

by ColtsFanInEnemyTerritory on Sep 28, 2009 3:39 PM EDT Comment 4 comments

Nobody seems to be talking much about Donald Brown, but this guy has caught my attention. Brown adds some much needed balance to the Indianapolis offense. Joseph Addai is good, but he has never really shown the break out speed to separate himself from the defenders and make gains for big yardage. Addai reminds me a lot of Edgerrin James. He has good leg strength and can power through a pile of guys. He also makes a good short yardage receiver. However he never seemed to gain those long yardage plays that you see many of the other top runningbacks in the NFL complete. But with Brown, if he breaks through the line, he is off to the races and the defense is lucky to catch him before he scores a touchdown or burns the defense for 50-70 yards. This guy provides a serious rushing threat that helps balance the passing threat from Peyton. And for short tough yardage, the Colts can switch out to Joseph Addai and have him power his way through.

Addai and Brown are different styles of running backs, but they compliment each other well and work well for the various situations the Colts need:

1.) Addai - short tough yardage in the red zone

2.) Brown - a quick large rushing gain threat down the middle of the field

The Colts last year were last in rushing in the NFL. With Brown in the mix, that shouldn't be the case this year.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.

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Errr...

Addai hasn’t really shown any power at all. The dude dances his way past piles, not power through them. If you want to talk about power take a look at Brandon Jacobs or LenDale White. Besides that, Addai has shown himself to be more of the consistent receiving + running option. He gets similar yardage of 3-5 on almost all the carries, and he handles the medium to short length receptions really well.

Brown is more of Home run type of guy who also has higher chance of getting stuck at the line of scrimmage. I’ve been keeping an eye on him, and I noticed that whenever he gets the ball he runs almost full speed right off the bat. If there is wide open hole, that speed will get him through and bang, he’s gone. But if there isn’t… (unfortunately this is often the case with OL because of a certain RG cough), his run is as good as dead. I think it’s also similar with the receiving cases. If there’s wide open room, obviously Brown will be better option. But tighter the space, better Addai is.

I know Addai is good at blocking, but I’m not sure about Brown. Haven’t really been paying attention to Brown’s blocking.

I really don’t trust Brown as much as Addai yet. Sure, Addai doesn’t have the speed, but I’d rather have the consistent yardage (4,5,5,4,5, etc) rather than bust bust bust boom bust bust bust (1, 0, 0, 2, 0, 50, 1, 0), which unfortunately is the case with Brown right now because of a certain problem with the team’s OL.

Oh no!

by Bluedude on Sep 28, 2009 3:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Addai had passable short yardage numbers last year

besides holding onto the football it was really only other area he did decent in. He isn’t a straight ahead guy, but he’s strong and falls forward often.

He’s an elite pass blocker, and an excellent receiver, but lacks big play ability.

Brown has shown he’s a home run threat, he’s caught the ball well and the block or two I’ve seen has been good.

I like the pattern they have now. Addai plays early with some Brown spelling, then Brown comes in when they are going more run heavy late. Addai can run a bit and Brown can play some passing downs, but a change in the Addai-Brown time split when the score dictates a change in pass-run balance is a good idea.

The number of ways you can fool yourself is just amazing.

by shake n bake on Sep 28, 2009 6:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed.

I really like the way they have this set up. Have Addai’s shiftiness on display early in the game, and then have Brown to pound it in when the defense is tired. It appears to work pretty well when we have more than 15 minutes with our offense on the field.

Now a proud annoyance on Stampede Blue, 18to88, Indy Football Report, and Phil B's blog.

Man, I need a life...

Random fact of the week from the empty void that is my mind: The Atlanta Falcons are the only NFL team to never have back-to-back winning seasons in franchise history.

by Cassieper on Sep 28, 2009 7:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So soon we forget

how fast Edge was before his knee injury. The guy used to break long runs all the time, but once he blew his knee out….he was done.

Having said that, I’ll take a 1500 yard rusher in the Colts offense regardless of how he does it. Say what you want about Edge, the guy got it done most of the time. The real issue for Edge was that during most of his time here Rhodes was never a real viable option and usually was not a 2nd RB.

As for Brown, he’s dangerous…. his long pass play showed it during the Cardinals game…

by DevilsReject on Sep 29, 2009 10:26 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs