Greg C. said:
I'm wondering if Bubba will be the good ol' Bubba if he didn't have to stay back and block so much. Thus, Bubba's success may rest on the success of our OL.
Oh yes, this has been discussed many times before in this forum, and I agree. But let's face it: When his number was called last year, he was often not up to the task. And if he was more of a receiving threat, the coaches would have him running more routes.
It's a double edged sword. You need to give the TE position the opportunities but last year they didn't respond and you can't keep calling drive ending plays.
What we really NEED is the TE to be able to produce in those third down and five or sixes to keep drives alive. The problem is they were dropping so many balls in those situations the coaches HAD to go away from that.
The problem this creates is this is one less thing the defenses have to be concerned about. If BF had a strong TE corp it would put a tremendous stress on the defense.
As I have said before I have more concern about this position than RB. I think the line will be blocking better and that the RB's we have will be more effective than the TE's.
MM is talking about a clean slate with respect to giving the TE position the opportunites to be successful.
I really hope Lee and Bubba respond. Otherwise the coaches will be forced to run them out there as decoys and hope somebody makes a play. That's not what we need to happen.
I believe Bubba can still do it and it's a matter of how much want to and work he put's into it. He's not THAT old or had that kind of injury background to be to beat up to get it done.
He either makes a move now or he's likely he's done. His career will be over if he plays like hed did year ago.