The Chevy Walker Discussion Thread

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
21

I just watched the first quarter, and he was called on to block seven times. Of those, only once did he actually have anyone to block, and did an ok job. On the other six, he twice took off into an open area and turned to receive the outlet pass if Burris had thrown it. Good job so far.

Second quarter, he was called on six times to block in the backfield, and once downfield, as well as twice doing a pick and roll. Of the six backfield blocking assignments, he got his guy four times, including a nice pickup on a backside blitz, leaving the frontside blitzing LB a clean route (good decision, IMO), but he missed one block. On the sixth play, there was no one to block, so he slid through for the outlet pass. He missed his downfield block. Still pretty good so far.

Third quarter, five blocking assignments, made four of them, but totally messed up on one, letting both guys through, one on each side of him. But of the four he did get, the defensive player ended up on the ground on two of them. Nine for eleven so far.

Fourth quarter, four blocking assignments, no one to block on any of them.

So, nine for eleven on those plays where he was assigned to block and there was actually someone to block. One of those, the blindside pickup, I thought was great, as he actually had to go completely across the line to get to the blitzing linebacker and ended up blocking him square on, stopping him completely - and saving Burris from a very nasty hit. Of the other two, one was brutal (pylon) and the other he got a piece of the player but not enough. How does this rank with other runningbacks? No idea.

For some reason, the game wasn’t on my PVR anymore either. No idea who deleted it, or whether it did an auto-delete after a few days. I ended up watching in on tsn.ca. Not nearly as convenient, and not great resolution, but worked for this.

22

After the first Saskatchewan game I rewatched it looking for the same thing and saw 1 missed block by Walker (Burris was sacked) and 1 play where the D-Lineman came late from the opposite side, and maybe a veteran back would have recognized it and moved over but Walker missed it (Burris was hurried). Other than that he blocked fine.

23

I think the blindside pickup showed a lot of maturity. There were two linebackers poised to blitz, one from each side, both with open routes. Walker was lined up on the right side, and at the snap, immediately shot left to pick up the more dangerous player. The fact that he saw the danger, made the split second decision to make the right play, and actually made it there and made the block is very telling.

Yes, he missed a couple of blocks. So did the o-line, and that's their only job. I suspect Cobourne missed a few occasionally, as did Cobb (I thought he was pretty good as well, although never analyzed it like this), or any other runningback.

I know he missed a few in the first couple of games, but he has gotten better. All-in-all, I think he's become a pretty good blocker.

24

Thank you for providing this data CFIO. With work and preparing my fantasy league draft strategy if I had even tried to do this I’m sure I’d be divorced faster than I can type this. The raw data shows Walker actually is improving in pass protection. Point conceded.

I willingly admit that my bias toward Cobourne makes me a poor judge of Walker. To the point where I even overlook the fact that our O Line isn’t opening any lanes for him anywhere up the middle. Needless to say, my position has softened as to whether he can be a great all purpose back in this league. I know he is grinding hard on every play. I think he has amazing potential.

25

He's improving as a blocker, definitely. He needs to get better leverage when he hits the holes, though. Square your shoulders to the line, get your head down, and drive into the other team's linebackers. If he can do that, he'll have taken a big step toward becoming an every-down back.

26

Agreed, and we’re already seeing that. The problem is when, instead of linebackers, he runs into his own linemen. Having to push them out of the way before even hitting the d-line has a tendency to slow your forward progress somewhat. The couple of times he did get through the linemen, he managed to get good yardage.

27

how about that great game by chevy walker last night?..oh wait :oops:

1 or 2 yards on every carry leaving the cats in 2nd & 8 all night.

i’m not blaming the loss on chevy, cuz the blame clearly goes to burris, but chevy was as useless as ever.

28

Walker's play last night was unremarkable, no question.

At the same time, the Oline was like the Great Wall of China during run formations.
Openings/holes were scant all evening long.
George Reed and Mike Pringle in their prime could not have hacked through that vault door.

Curious if Walker actually did incur a hip injury as was reported, or was benched by Cortez for uninspired play..

29

that stephenson guy picked up yards in chunks of 6. same o-line in front of him.
stephenson also had a crutial block that allowed henry to his williams on that long TD pass.

chevy is being exposed as the fraud he is.
2.4 yards per carry.

30

He’s not a fraud, he’s a rookie.

And with every football player, he has his strengths and weaknesses, and as with every running back, his success is tied to the effectiveness of his teams’ run blocking.

7 games into his pro career shows that he is not a power back, but has tremendous speed in the open field, and needs to improve his pass protection which should be doable.

31

Using Chevon Walker as an every down RB with a bad oline and a marginal FB is a mistake in fact it is arrogant. Because if your passing game is off. You have nothing to go to and teams have figured out that Chevon can’t run between tackles.

32

In order of avg yards per rush

6.9, 2 TDs, 1 fumble, Andrew Harris, BC
5.8, 2 TDs, 1 fumble, Chad Simpson Winnipeg
5.5, 3 TDs, 0 fumbles Chevon Walker, Hamilton
5.5, 2 TDs, 1 fumble, Cory Boyd, Toronto

I can’t call it arrogant to keep using him as a #1 back.

Again he’s right up there among the best, is a rookie who has only played 7 games, and deserves to be coached and given experience so that he can improve his game if he’s contributing and is on par with the league’s best. An inexperienced rookie with skills has upside and should get better.

33

I like Chevy. I think he’s great and will get even better, but I do have to say I think it is hurting us not having Avon in the line-up

34
:thup: We need Coalburner in there, Chevy lacks power. I'd like to see Chevy in Gigs position. I'm feeling very mad right now so please don't take anything I say seriously.
35

Walker has potential to take it far on every play, but when he doesn't, he tends not to get much at all. His average yards per carry doesn't tell the whole story; throw in the standard deviation (back me up here, PiCat :smiley: ), which indicates consistency, and it's a different story.

So, maybe we need to switch between two backs, one (Walker) who has the potential to blow through the entire team once he's past the d-line, and the other who can grind it out and advance the ball a few yards even without huge holes being opened up. Is that necessarily Cobourne? Stephenson actually showed a glimpse of that last night, although he only carried the ball twice.

If Walker can't play next week due to injury, bring in Cobourne for sure. If he can play, I suggest that next week we put Stephenson in the backfield on second down, maybe sending Walker downfield a la Thigpen? If that doesn't work, then dress Cobourne as a backup after that.

36

2 carries for 9 yards…I’m sold…bench the league leader who played half a game and play “that Stephenson guy”…

(I’m trying to do the math to come up with how many “6 yard chunks” he might have had…hmmmm…)

37

Why not give the guy a chance? He has never had the chance in Winnipeg, because they drafted him to be a fullback. Why not give the OUA all time leader in rushing yards a chance?

38

It may not be such a bad idea to utilize Chevy in either a TE/slot position which may be more complimentary to his skill set.
Keep in mind, this opinion is coming from an armchair coach. :wink:

39

Stats can be misleading. He has an 89 yard run. You take that ONE play out of the equation. his average for the other 81 carries is 4.4 yards per carry. So for the odd exciting play you cripple your offense ?

40

What's his average if you discount his shortest run?

Or where would he stand if you discount all the other backs' longest run?

Never understanood why some discount a player's longest gain, as if it doesn't count.