all the K Smith haters need to put down the hatorade and watch some film (carefully). since we grew up watching greats like Billy Sims and Barry Sanders, we should be connoisseurs of RBs and know what we are looking for.

you can’t blindly judge a back merely by his yardage or YPC. some of the greatest runs i’ve ever seen were on short gains—remember Barry? i think the proper way to evaluate a back is how he optimizes his yardage in each situation, how he reacts to what is given on each play. even Barry, who worked magic like no other RB in history (including beauties like Gale Sayers), would danced around a little too much on certain plays and not take the 2.5 yd gain, sometimes gettting a force-out for 0 when he tried to give ground and take it outside. since he could create in hopeless situations anyone can give him a pass. he was a special case.

but football is a game of inches and even a 2.5-3.0 yard carry can help set a team up on second down and make a difference in what is available to an offense. K Smith is a top 10 RB in this league. watch him closely, watch each play dozens of times, one thing that jumps out at you is his amazing vision. He sets up his blocks very well because he knows his fronts and optimizes his yards on almost every play. He anticipates things that aren’t there yet. He is not just physically gifted, this talent comes from studying his craft. contrast this to Kevin Jones running into the backs of his OLs, unable to adapt to the evolution of a particular play. he can also create—check out his amazing play to get the 1st down in the St. Louis game—it looked impossible but he is so aware of his space, and 1st-down marker, that just knows how to get there.

believe me, this team has MUCH bigger problems than RB.

also, when you look at speed, A Brown has very good pro speed, but when he hits his top end, he falls over very easily (ankle tackle last game (St. Louis) where he should have popped one for a big gain). most backs don’t hit their top speed when a play is developing. i suppose you can hit the holes a top speed when they are consistently there and but this is taking a big risk since it reduces your chance to accommodate changes in the play. i’d rather see a guy make the proper reads, adjust to the play, and then hit the burners when he sees the hole. this is what Kevin does. also, he is NOT slow. he just runs in with a very controlled style and sets up his blocks.

don’t get me wrong, i love to have a guy like A Brown to complement a guy like Kevin Jones. if Brown gets stickier hands (caused an INT last game and stumbled in his route), and works as hard as Smith, we are going to have a very good backfield.

Look, any running back is not going to put up great numbers when you have an O-line as weak as Detroit’s. People pointing out some of Smith’s numbers could look better need to remember that a football team is a unit. Big running plays happen when the O-line opens up the big hole. Detroit’s line basically never does that, so how is Smith supposed to get a 50-yd gain?

Smith is not the problem on the team. I think the Lions have the core down pretty well. They have the RB, the QB, and one really good WR. Pettigrew might develop into something good, too. The game-changer for the Lions right now on offense is the line. It sucks. A second good WR and some talent on the line, and this team could have a dominant offense in the next year or two.

But if you look at the Lions’ history, it’s hard to believe they’re going to do that.