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View Full Version : Steelers speedster Archer aims to find home in 2nd season



Count Steeler
06-03-2015, 05:31 AM
Dri Archer is fast, clocking 4.26 seconds in the 40-yard dash fast — two-hundredths of a second short of the fastest time recorded at an NFL Scouting Combine.
That world-class speed ultimately was the reason the Steelers used their third-round pick on the diminutive all-purpose back a season ago.
Coincidentally, it also was one of the factors that contributed to Archer's disappointing rookie season, at least when it came to what he did best at Kent State: return kickoffs.
Archer, it turned out, was too fast. Now he is taking time before and after organized team activities with special teams coach Danny Smith to slow down.
“It was more about me running instead of reading (last year),” Archer said. “I was supposed to set stuff up, but I was just out there running. There is more to it that just running fast.”


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/8480463-74/archer-season-running#ixzz3bzjI2wHh

86WARD
06-03-2015, 07:47 AM
He should really watch tape of how Le'Veon Bell is patient while things set up in front of him. His patience is one of my favorite things about Le'Veon. Especially after seeing the complete opposite in Mendenhall.

stillers4me
06-03-2015, 08:43 AM
I still have hopes they can find a way to utilize his talents. I am a firm believer that sometimes it takes a couple of years to put it all together for the rooks. They have recognized the problem, now they are working on it. Fans want instant gratification.....I know I've been guilty of it. We are truly in the middle of rebuilding the defense, and still tweaking parts of the offense. Call me a homer, but I never, ever, give up on this team and am excited for it's future. I'll always have a special place in my heart for all the veterans we have lost, but hold high hopes that some of these new guys can make us proud!

steelreserve
06-03-2015, 12:35 PM
Once you're already in the NFL is a hell of a time to be learning basic skills like how to read a play or how to hit a hole. It was obvious from last year that he didn't have those. Although if you ask me, those are more instinctual abilities than something that can be taught; all the way down to the youth level at any sport, not just football, there are players who operate in that realm and those who don't. It's not something you can teach, any more than you can "teach" how to hit a fastball, or how to time an alley-oop, or how to fake out a goalkeeper, or for that matter how to have a good singing voice or be able to draw a realistic-looking dragon. Either you get it or you don't.

I fear we got a guy who doesn't, but his speed covered that up well enough to be somewhat successful at the small-college level but no further. Whoops.

Even in the long preseason play that people hold up as a great example of his potential, he mostly runs in straight lines, doesn't fool anyone, benefits from a great illegal block, and three guys overpursuing the play in unison and getting caught flat-footed, and still doesn't have enough straight-line speed with the ball to run away from people. (The Giants' #20 who chased him down ran a 4.43 40 in the combine - fast, but no faster than 15 to 20 other guys every year.) Speed by itself doesn't matter when opponents can simply position themselves to stop you from taking advantage of it, and with Archer that seems to be relatively easy for others at the pro level.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBVYTSCEgpA

86WARD
06-03-2015, 04:55 PM
I wouldn't quite say that 20 "chased him down". First he had a 10 yard cushion and second he had a good angle. It's not like he chased him down from behind.

steelreserve
06-03-2015, 05:25 PM
I wouldn't quite say that 20 "chased him down". First he had a 10 yard cushion and second he had a good angle. It's not like he chased him down from behind.


Maybe not, but the point is Archer isn't exactly blowing by people like he could in college. People can handle his speed. There are enough fast (and smart) defenders in the NFL that his biggest advantage is almost completely negated.

Like ... you know how all the track-star-turned-football-players from Oregon put up ridiculous stats in college because they keep reeling off 45-yard gains on plays engineered so that it's up to a slow white linebacker to pursue him across the field to stop him turning the corner? Then none of them go on to do anything in the NFL, because in the pros the defense has seen it before and adjusts in a half-second, and the linebacker isn't slow or white. It's the same idea as that. Well, not that closely related actually, but I just don't like Oregon.

86WARD
06-03-2015, 06:29 PM
I would kind of agree, but I'd also go out and argue for Archer...saying that he wasn't utilized, on offense, in space where his speed could be a factor. Running him inside or trying to bounce him outside...not the way to do it. Maybe after you set him up for success there by doing some other things, but the way he was utilized was horrendous and he was horrendous. I don't think we know much about him...but I tend to agree with those who are haters on Archer and think he's a waste. At the same time, I'd also like to see him used like he was on that one play above...which he wasn't all season. He showed no signs of being anything special.

hawaiiansteeler
06-11-2015, 04:09 PM
So are the days in Archer's life

Dri Archer is a versatile football player, and one fast human being. Archer continues to try and find his niche within the offense, and continues to bounce back and forth between running back and wide receiver. Today, Archer was seeing time at receiver and got an average review from Coach Mann:

Dri Archer has been bouncing around day to day from WR to RB. "Today,"WR coach Richard Mann said,"we had him. "He's gotten a little better."

http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/nfl-pittsburgh-steelers-news/2015/6/10/8763643/pittsburgh-steelers-news-day-9-otas-recap

ALLD
06-11-2015, 05:36 PM
He could not make it to the 20 yard line on kick offs. If he does not show anything in pre-season they need to open a roster spot for somebody more productive.