Rivera: Legadu Played Well

[Proudiddy]

My problem is, from what I've seen in games... Aside from LaFell stepping out of bounds early instead of turning up field for yards on that one catch, he has looked much better than Naanee ever has.

LaFell adjusts to the ball where it's thrown and has shown an ability and desire to get YAC. I have already mentioned all the problems I have with Naanee on the field... And if you look up his combine/workout numbers, he ran a 4.4 and had like a 41 inch vertical - none of that shows up in the game. He looks stiff and clumsy.

I know Zod said the word is nothing has changed because LaFell has mental lapses in practices, but man... from what we've seen in games, I just don't care how bad he may have practiced, I think he deserves a chance. If he stinks, then we'll know why it didn't happen earlier, but it can't be worse than what Naanee has done.

And again, Lafell might just be a guy that it only clicks for in games but not in practice?

[SOJA]

i miss gettis

[Mr. Scot]

One thing I think you're going to see with Naanee in the future is a change of approach.

You naturally expect to be able to throw high "jump balls" to a guy that size, but Naanee just doesn't seem to be good at going up for those. Yesterday I saw more "on the numbers" and "lowball" passes to him. I'd attribute that to coaching, though it also could just be better chemistry developing between he and Newton.

Again, I don't think he's a longterm solution (doubt anyone does) but he may get better as the year goes on.

[Brooklyn Bully]

Naanee is quite the scapegoat. He's made lots of mistakes but people treat him like he's a damn leper.

[scratchy1]

Yeah, I'm not saying I expect Rivera to trash him, especially after yesterday's game being his best effort to date... But, it was still riddled with mistakes throughout. And again, he's not a natural pass catcher.

BUT, for him to bring up Naanee unprovoked tells me he's going out of his way to let us know Naanee isn't going anywhere.

That's what I don't like.

He's not going anywhere unless another veteran receiver who's a better player magically gets released, clears waivers and somehow falls to us in the pecking order. Even then, I'm not sure he'd be the one released.

He's the best we have at the number 2 spot. He's an adequate blocker.

Ron has had some very frank conversations with the front office about the receiver position. Don't expect any tolerance from this staff for giving guys two or three years to grow into the position. Ron has made it quite clear that there is precious little room for that in the NFL, particularly at a position that is poorly staffed to begin with. Lafell and Edwards have this season to prove they belong on this roster. They have been given opportunities. I don't believe either one has done anything so far to persuade the staff he belongs.

[DaCityKats]

i thought he played well yesterday until he dropped that pass. you must keep control of the ball and he didnt.

[blackcatgrowl]

Saying this...

Naanee is quite the scapegoat.

Is pretty much invalidated by saying this...

He's made lots of mistakes

While I'm not single-handedly blaming him for these losses, he's been fuging terrible and has contributed significantly towards the Ls.

All the while, LaFell has had much more of an impact, and playing with heart and showing skill.

We brought this guy in from San Diego, to be a #2 receiver, not a down field run blocker. If he can't make plays he needs to fuging sit, or even just go.

Granted, next year, as long as Smith is still with us, Gettis will be the for sure #2, so some of this won't matter... but right now for the last 11 games we have, he needs to be sat down and LaFell needs the bump up.

It's fuging absurd to come out and say one of the top receivers in the league for dropped passes is "playing well", and it's quickly getting tiring to hear that out of our HC's mouth.

[Brooklyn Bully]

Saying this...

Is pretty much invalidated by saying this...

While I'm not single-handedly blaming him for these losses, he's been fuging terrible and has contributed significantly towards the Ls.

All the while, LaFell has had much more of an impact, and playing with heart and showing skill.

We brought this guy in from San Diego, to be a #2 receiver, not a down field run blocker. If he can't make plays he needs to fuging sit, or even just go.

Granted, next year, as long as Smith is still with us, Gettis will be the for sure #2, so some of this won't matter... but right now for the last 11 games we have, he needs to be sat down and LaFell needs the bump up.

It's fuging absurd to come out and say one of the top receivers in the league for dropped passes is "playing well", and it's quickly getting tiring to hear that out of our HC's mouth.

Our defense is more to blame from the losses than butterfingers. I meant he is a scapegoat on this board. People want to burn this new guy at the stake, rather than trash our DTs too much, or our back-up LBs, or our weak secondary, or Double Troubles slow start. No, it's ALL about Naanee. He's an easy target like Jimmy was last year.

[Proudiddy]

Our defense is more to blame from the losses than butterfingers. I meant he is a scapegoat on this board. People want to burn this new guy at the stake, rather than trash our DTs too much, or our back-up LBs, or our weak secondary, or Double Troubles slow start. No, it's ALL about Naanee. He's an easy target like Jimmy was last year.

You're going to be an easy target when you have the amount of targets to drops/non-catches he has, along with multiple missed blocks and a couple of penalties.

He's not the sole problem, and he's not causing us to lose, but he certainly isn't helping us win.

And if you check my posts, I have pointed out ad nauseam that the defense is the biggest problem. Despite people wanting to point out the improvement of our young DTs, the middle is still such a weakness and it's killing anything we do on offense. McClain is REALLY impressive, but that's not enough. Fua is getting better, but still not there... Then as much as I respect Connor, he just doesn't have the quickness to get sideline to sideline and opponents take advantage of it.

But the middle of our defense is our biggest problem right now along with the injury epidemic in the LB corps.

Naanee is just the biggest blemish holding back the offense, that's why he gets so much negative attention here.

[blackcatgrowl]

Our defense is more to blame from the losses than butterfingers.

Yes. Agreed. But our defense is pretty badly set back by injury.

I meant he is a scapegoat on this board. People want to burn this new guy at the stake,

Again, as you've said yourself, he's making mistakes that are costly. He's getting criticism that is warranted.

But lets look at what each scenario implies as you've stated below...

rather than trash our DTs too much

They've gotten criticism, but they are rookies, and have shown up and down progress.

or our back-up LBs

No one expects much from backups. Still, they are keeping us in games.

or our weak secondary

And there has been threads condemning their play.

or Double Troubles slow start.

What are you talking about? Just a couple weeks ago, there were threads saying DWill was a waste of money, yada, yada... there's been plenty of criticism for them.

But anyone who knows anything about the Panthers and isn't a complete idiot knows they will hit their stride. They have set records for us.

No, it's ALL about Naanee.

And you're sensationalizing this. It isn't ALL about nanee. There's threads about coaching criticisms today, there's been threads about defensive criticisms in the past week... last week special teams were getting shredded...

He's an easy target like Jimmy was last year.

Yeah, because Jimmy sucked ass, like Legapoo is doing.

Sometimes when people call a horse a horse, it's just because of the facts.

Until this guy can start catching balls and not flop on the ground with no one around him, he is deserving of all the crap sent his way.

[Brooklyn Bully]

Until this guy can start catching balls and not flop on the ground with no one around him, he is deserving of all the crap sent his way.

Fair, but he also helped us stay in the game yesterday. Thankfully some people noticed that. I mean, the "flop play" for example. He got us a first down to keep a drive going. But on here, people bitched and moaned and cursed him for falling down. Instead of laughing at the mistake and being happy with the first down, they continued on the Hate Naanee campaign and didn't even mention the continuation of the drive. All I'm saying is that it's easy to take all your frustration on the new guy, the guy that's not living up to the hype, or the ugly guy with blonde hair from Notre Dame. We've been in ALL our games. Relax on Naanee.

[ed bell]

Naanee had a good game and I can't argue with him staying at #2 until the coaches decide to change. They're the ones evaluating these guys on a nearly daily basis with film, practice and expectations.

[Snake]

I think he plays him because he doesn't think LaFell is any better.

My own opinion: I think LaFell might be one of those guys who makes the spectacular catches but blows the easy ones.

I can live with that in a number three receiver. In a number two, not so much.

If David Gettis isn't hurt, this never becomes an issue.

I think it may also be learning the playbook. Its why his reps are so limited and why everyone was say how hard it was to understand Chuds playbook.

[Mr. Scot]

I think it may also be learning the playbook. Its why his reps are so limited and why everyone was say how hard it was to understand Chuds playbook.

Word was LaFell had trouble learning the last playbook, but people blamed that on him having to learn three different receiver spots.