Demaryius Thomas never really ran routes in his first two years?

[Lomax]

So, coaches don't teach the fundamentals but they don't not teach them?

There's a difference between teaching and drilling. The purpose of drilling isn't to teach new skills, it's to hone the skills you already have and to make sure they stay sharp. They drill in TC plenty, but outside of guys who are changing positions, most of the teaching assumes you know the basics of football.

How do you think a typical training camp or weekly practice goes? Don't you think the second they see DT lineup in a play and just start running around they would pull him aside and ask him what the hell he's doing? If he said "I don't know how to run routes" I guarantee they would remove him from whatever team drill they are doing, pull him aside, and make him run routes until practice ended and he knew what the hell he was doing.

Just running around? Come on dude. The playbook says run a slant and go or a curl, in or a drag. Its drawn for them. I'm sure he can figure that out. Depth and technique are other matters entirely.

Again, last TC he was in rehab. During the season they are too busy prepping for the next opponent, and his lack of polish probably kept him down the depth chart. Then there was the lockout. Last TC it could have been an oversight. Its not as though he doesn't know any routes at all. He probably fudged the tougher ones and got by. There's running a 10 yard in, which anyone can do, and there's running it correctly against every coverage.

Even IF they literally had no time in the practice to do so, there would most definitely be at least one coach with him after the practice making sure he was getting the help he needed. That's why they have position coaches, you know.

Clearly if that was the case don't you think he would have mentioned it? He basically said they did NOT work with him on his route-running.

What's your assertion? That he actually knew how to run the pro route tree all along and all the college scouts were wrong? Or that they took him aside and worked with him but he chose not to mention it? Did he bump his head and forget? Seriously, what are you arguing?

[samparnell]

Practice with cones. The field has lines on it.

[broncolee]

The Steelers game notwithstanding, the main route for Denver's WRs with Tebow was "make a move and find open grass".

And make sure you get to the ball before the grass does

[Cyrend]

There's a difference between teaching and drilling. The purpose of drilling isn't to teach new skills, it's to hone the skills you already have and to make sure they stay sharp. They drill in TC plenty, but outside of guys who are changing positions, most of the teaching assumes you know the basics of football.

Just running around? Come on dude. The playbook says run a slant and go or a curl, in or a drag. Its drawn for them. I'm sure he can figure that out. Depth and technique are other matters entirely.

Again, last TC he was in rehab. During the season they are too busy prepping for the next opponent, and his lack of polish probably kept him down the depth chart. Then there was the lockout. Last TC it could have been an oversight. Its not as though he doesn't know any routes at all. He probably fudged the tougher ones and got by. There's running a 10 yard in, which anyone can do, and there's running it correctly against every coverage.


Clearly if that was the case don't you think he would have mentioned it? He basically said they did NOT work with him on his route-running.

What's your assertion? That he actually knew how to run the pro route tree all along and all the college scouts were wrong? Or that they took him aside and worked with him but he chose not to mention it? Did he bump his head and forget? Seriously, what are you arguing?

See, now we are getting somewhere. I was interpreting you to be saying that DT didn't know how to run routes, and that he would basically be going out there and be backyard footballing it. But, if what you are saying is that DT is just a really terrible route runner and had no sense of depth or distance, then I can see what your arguing.

However, I would still think that this would be something correctable during practices, in season or during training camp. I don't believe these position coaches, whose job is to watch their guys like hawks, could go day in and day out seeing DT run these routes and no notice if anything was amiss. I mean, the reason why they are there instead of just having the Offense Coordinator run the whole show is so that they can watch the little things, position by position, and make sure they are doing things correctly. If DT is too shallow or deep on a route, I would assume that it would take a few plays for the WR coach to come over and say "Hey, your doing X wrong. Try doing Y."

I understand your argument that him being injured and being affected by the lockout were detrimental to his learning processes, and yes, coming out of college he had to only run a few routes during gametime. But I think that the coaching staff has been working with him these past two years, and you, like many other people, are taking his quote out of context.

"To get to play with a future Hall of Famer, I knew I had to step my game up and get in my book more, run routes more, because I never really ran routes much. So I thought it was gonna be a challenge, and it has been so far. But it's been good, too." [...]

"You're gonna have to run the whole route tree now. The comebacks, the slants, the posts, the ins. And I didn't have to do that much when I was my first couple of years in the league."

I can see where people take the "I never really ran routes much" part and just roll with it. You take one part of an interview, leave the rest out, and suddenly the internet is full of "Demaryius doesn't know how to to run any routes". But it doesn't take a whole lot of reading comprehension or common sense to see that isnt the case. Him saying that he "had to be in his book more, run routes more" to me says that he needs to do these things in his own personal workout time to get better. It doesn't mean that he was never read the playbook and he never ran routes, it's just that he probably didn't do study the playbook and refine his route running as much as he should have. The "I never really ran routes much" is secondary off of the fact that he is planning on refining his routes because he probably was sloppy with it.

But he still probably doesn't have the whole route tree down pat. I can see that coming from Georgia Tech. I was just lumping you in with the people who have been shouting from the rooftops that DT doesn't run routes in games, which is absurd.

[smashmouth101]

just face it overpaid, overhyped playboys that don't care... damn glad we got a wolfe,and payton this team needs a change of couture

[smashmouth101]

what made jerry rice the best ever is he ran routs at 45.. ad why ask a young guy... its simple he don't care