…

Heh. Good thing you specified.

In other words, this is a move to “not lose” rather than a move toward winning. The only reason this makes sense is if we imagine Julius Jones going down injured for a number of games. In that scenario, Duckett was not the right player to replace Jones. James is.

But if Julius Jones is healthy and starting, then this team has lost something. Not everyone has a strong, bruising, and quick RB who is dependable at gaining the 1st down on short yardage nearly every time his number is called. Now, we don’t have one either.

When it comes down to it, Both Duckett and James are third down specialists. Duckett can inch forward and move piles for short yardage (even though he was 0 for 1 in the pre). So I agree with Stevo’s — we really lose something of value by losing Duckett.

James is a superior blocker and not much of an improvement on running, except hopefully he can get to the hole a little quicker and should be be to “one-cut” with better quickness. The knock against James is that he’s ineffective in short yardage situations, so it is really a kind of trade-off. What Knapp needs is more of a sure thing to set-up a block on third and long. He gets that and one who has the better hands to be an all-important check-down receiver for Matthew.

Here’s the kicker: In the likely event that Julius gets hurt, Knapp has more of a true tailback in James for starting purposes. Apparently, Knapp did not see Duckett in this role for certain reasons – nor does he see Forsett for other reasons.

So at Duckett’s expense, we are better, but only slightly. As everyone has stated, the real liability here is not the running game. It is the offensive line

I understand that the O-line must get healthy for the running game to succeed. But the running personnel had to be shaken up. Every outside expert that has looked at the Seahawks said their running backs were inferior, and that became obvious to those inside the VMAC as well. I’m stoked the front office didn’t just sit back, wait for the zone blocking scheme to sink in and say, “These are our guys. Go block somebody.” Is Edge something to get really excited about? No. But the one-dimensional Duckett was the weakest part of the RB personnel, and his spot has been upgraded.

Go Edge. Go Hawks.

Meh. I’m not the biggest fan of Sando. Regardless, I’m sad to see Duckett go, but hopefully James can fill in decently. I’m not really expecting anything, as long as he produces, I don’t really care. I guess the FO knows more about Selvin Young than we do.

That being said, I REALLY hope we draft a good HB next year. Most of the teams that use a high pick on a running back seem to get pretty good results. It would be nice to see that here.

Owen Schmitt? You know, the big guy? Does he not spell “good short-yardage runner” to anyone else? If he’s fast enough to lead block effectively he’s fast enough to punch up the middle.

he sounded to have a mild accent. Coming from Florida, I was guessing somewhere in the Caribbean. My wife’s family is all from Jamaica and Trinidad, and it was similar. He was born and grew up in Florida, but I can find no mention of whether his family hails from an Island nation or somewhere else. Anyone know? Just curious. Also, his partner/mother of his 4 kids died, in the spring of this year. Very sad.