my two cents worth on the Tavon Austin discussion......
The thing about Austin that has concerned me since he got here is his size, or serious lack thereof. He has plenty of straight line speed, and he has plenty of "change of direction" WHEN he is moving forward. But he doesn't have a lot of start and stop quickness, such as an Amendola did. Defenses know they cannot match up against him in straight man coverage, so they force him to catch the ball in windows, usually while standing still. Which completely negates his best asset. His SPEED. That isn't on Schottenheimer. That 's on Austin. And to think he would come in do what he did at WVU, against Big XII defenses, which were among the worst in the country, well, was false optimism IMO.
The best thing that can happen to make Austin a part of this offense is to establish Quick and Britt, along with Cook, and get the running game going. Tavon Austin just isn't the type of player who can be featured. He will always be an accessory piece that can exploit teams when they are forced to pay attention to other guys, creating a mismatch for Austin.
I have seem a lot of people comments regarding using Austin like Minnesota uses Patterson, i just don't think its a fair comparison. Patterson breaks tackles, and can run plays from scrimmage. As a receiver, what did Patterson do to set himself apart today? Not much from where I sat.
Austin, while people may like to think he can based on his days at WVU, its not gonna happen here. How many times has he had a crease, and has been ONE STEP from breaking a big play, only to be brought down by the one guy who grabs on to him and pulls him down? His lack of size makes it virtually impossible for him to be able to break a tackle.
Look at the punt returns TODAY. He was tentative, and indecisive. and virtually worthless back there. And that is when he actually held on the the ball.
