Thread: Is Hester the answer to fill Jeffery void?

Three nos!

I would like to think so, and I hope so but if I face reality no. We need Jeffery to be the big WR Hester is no where near that, and will never get close to the yards Jeffery will have.

As long is they insist on using Hester in a starting role he'll always be misused. His game suffers both as a receiver and as a return specialist. We saw this under Martz as well. I'm not trying to insult his intelligence but you just can't give him to much to think about out there. He doesn't absorb it well.

Several years of accumulated stats bear this out. His productivity in both areas declines in direct proportion to how much he's used at WR. He's thinking to much and reacting too little and that was pretty apparent on his punt returns on Monday night. Especially the last one. He has around 8 yards of free space around him and a lane right in front of him but he chose to fair catch. He also got too tentative on a couple of other punts and let them bounce rather than coming up to make the catch. He's thinking too much.

They need to pull back on his snaps and start using Bennett more at Flanker and they also need to get Sanz involved. Yeah he's another midget but that midget knows how to find the soft spots in zones and with the exception of that bad streak last year he knows how to catch the football and Cutler trusts him.

I'd do a little redesign work on the passing game right now. Use Hester for the deep routes throwing to him on posts and deep curls where he can keep the ball in front of him and use him as a decoy to clear out zones like he did on Marshall's TD on Monday. And that's it. The other stuff he doesn't execute well and I wish they'd stop trying to tell us that he can. He never has.

Bennett is not as tall as Jeffery but he can get open and catch. He's also a pretty tough guy to stop when we need a big catch from him. Alternate him between Flanker and the Slot with Sanz. Sanz gives us an advantage as far as a different approach and this is what I'd work into the passing game.

Sanz has that ability to work under the coverage on quick slants and crossing routes. Instead of throwing high and over throwing Hester who seems to have feet made of lead when it comes to out jumping anyone throw the low ball to Sanz. Cutler can make those quick low throws that are nearly impossible to pick and Sanz can make that kind of catch very well. I'm talking about quick throws off a 3 step drop that are in the 8-10 yard range or less. Throws that move the ball on early downs so that we stay out of 3rd and long situations.

What we're not doing enough of is sustaining drives. If the run game isn't doing it and Marshall can't be found the drives stall. When they start playing 8 men in the box to stop the run the CBs have to back off because they don't have two safeties deep. That gives Sanz a clean break off the line and into that quick slant at about 5-6 yards down field. Take the snap, quick run fake, set at 3-5 steps and throw.

Once we start to complete a few of those it will force the other guy to either keep a Safety back to defend that zone or drop a LB off immediately. If they don't we keep completing short passes and if they do it opens up the running lanes to the right side. One way or the other we start moving the ball 5-10 yards at a clip with more consistency and need to depend less on Marshall.

We always thought Hester would be great at that type of play because he may break a long gain but he simply doesn't run that route with the timing or the hands needed to depend on him and Cutler doesn't. We can see that. So start running them with someone he does trust to run them correctly and that someone is Sanz.

The Packers absolutely kills teams by going to that when you take their down field game away because they don't have a good running game. So they use that type of throw instead. NE can do the same to you. It's really time for Tice to look at what other teams do to move the football consistently and begin to emulate that. He's far too fixated on moving the ball 15 yards at a time when he passes and good teams are finding ways to take that away.

I'm tired of listening to him talk about a "take what they give you" approach and then not take advantage of it. We need a better short passing game.

How can he fill the go up and get it role that Jeffery was. In that aspect no; that has to be Earl.
But what he CAN do that Earl cannot is be the game changer, the guy that makes DB's miss, the guy that gets huge chuncks of yards at a time.
Both have to fill in the void that Jeffery is; Earl the big reliable guy; Hester the game changer. Both these guys are #3/4 wr's, neither is #1 or 2 worthy. Jeffery is a #2, and when Marshal is gone, very possibly a #1.

Both were targeted 6 times, both caught 3 passes, Hesters long was 23, Earl's 15, Hester averaged 12+ yards, Earl 9+. Earl has better hands in traffic and more reliable but Hester can get you and extra 3-4 yards b/c of how he can move in space.

To many people think Hester cannot be a WR b/c he cannot be a 1 or 2; but he's every bit as effective as a 3 or 4 as Bennett is. Difference is Bennett can also be a #2, although not effective as when he's a 3.

I'd like to see both getting 5-10 looks a game. I'm done w/the idea of Hester as a PR guy, as it constitutes right now he's average at best, and he's right now showing to be a better 3 wr.

Originally Posted by soulman

As long is they insist on using Hester in a starting role he'll always be misused. His game suffers both as a receiver and as a return specialist. We saw this under Martz as well. I'm not trying to insult his intelligence but you just can't give him to much to think about out there. He doesn't absorb it well.

Several years of accumulated stats bear this out. His productivity in both areas declines in direct proportion to how much he's used at WR. He's thinking to much and reacting too little and that was pretty apparent on his punt returns on Monday night. Especially the last one. He has around 8 yards of free space around him and a lane right in front of him but he chose to fair catch. He also got too tentative on a couple of other punts and let them bounce rather than coming up to make the catch. He's thinking too much.

They need to pull back on his snaps and start using Bennett more at Flanker and they also need to get Sanz involved. Yeah he's another midget but that midget knows how to find the soft spots in zones and with the exception of that bad streak last year he knows how to catch the football and Cutler trusts him.

I'd do a little redesign work on the passing game right now. Use Hester for the deep routes throwing to him on posts and deep curls where he can keep the ball in front of him and use him as a decoy to clear out zones like he did on Marshall's TD on Monday. And that's it. The other stuff he doesn't execute well and I wish they'd stop trying to tell us that he can. He never has.

Bennett is not as tall as Jeffery but he can get open and catch. He's also a pretty tough guy to stop when we need a big catch from him. Alternate him between Flanker and the Slot with Sanz. Sanz gives us an advantage as far as a different approach and this is what I'd work into the passing game.

Sanz has that ability to work under the coverage on quick slants and crossing routes. Instead of throwing high and over throwing Hester who seems to have feet made of lead when it comes to out jumping anyone throw the low ball to Sanz. Cutler can make those quick low throws that are nearly impossible to pick and Sanz can make that kind of catch very well. I'm talking about quick throws off a 3 step drop that are in the 8-10 yard range or less. Throws that move the ball on early downs so that we stay out of 3rd and long situations.

What we're not doing enough of is sustaining drives. If the run game isn't doing it and Marshall can't be found the drives stall. When they start playing 8 men in the box to stop the run the CBs have to back off because they don't have two safeties deep. That gives Sanz a clean break off the line and into that quick slant at about 5-6 yards down field. Take the snap, quick run fake, set at 3-5 steps and throw.

Once we start to complete a few of those it will force the other guy to either keep a Safety back to defend that zone or drop a LB off immediately. If they don't we keep completing short passes and if they do it opens up the running lanes to the right side. One way or the other we start moving the ball 5-10 yards at a clip with more consistency and need to depend less on Marshall.

We always thought Hester would be great at that type of play because he may break a long gain but he simply doesn't run that route with the timing or the hands needed to depend on him and Cutler doesn't. We can see that. So start running them with someone he does trust to run them correctly and that someone is Sanz.

The Packers absolutely kills teams by going to that when you take their down field game away because they don't have a good running game. So they use that type of throw instead. NE can do the same to you. It's really time for Tice to look at what other teams do to move the football consistently and begin to emulate that. He's far too fixated on moving the ball 15 yards at a time when he passes and good teams are finding ways to take that away.

I'm tired of listening to him talk about a "take what they give you" approach and then not take advantage of it. We need a better short passing game.

That's pretty much "it" as far as I'm concerned.

Also, all of our receivers & TE's need to catch the ball better.. fewer drops. That's a drive killer too. And the stupid penalties need to stop also. Wouldn't it be a great time for our ST's to kick in bigtime?

I'm thinking this could be an ugly game for us. Butt ugly.

Better hope Cutler is able to throw better than he did after that Suh hit. His mechanics (which are always a bit bad) went down the toilet after that hit. His motion looked really awkward. Even short passes looked bad. If he is still hurting, to the point it screws up his throws, then it could be a long day with him forcing (trying to force) wild balls to B.Marsh.