It looks like he has a shoulder injury, and Moorhead stated he's day-to-day. However, I'd be a little surprised if Stevens plays next week. You never know, but as it's his throwing shoulder I'm sure they will take every precaution. Stevens was 29-40 with 341 yards and 4 TDs on the year before the injury.
I know he's not on the team anymore, but it brings up something I was thinking about recently. Both Justin Herbert and Tommy Stevens have big frames and are athletic. However, they just seem get injured more than others. Herbert two years in a row, and I assume at some point he'll go down again this year. Now Stevens again... some players just seem to be snake bitten, you know?
Life is funny sometimes, isn't it? I feel for Tommy a bit because he works hard and seems to give it his all, as does Herbert out in Oregon. But they just can't get away from the injury monster for some reason. It's got to get to them, even a little bit because they aren't injuries QBs can play through. Throwing shoulder? Nope.
Am I the only one that cringes when Clifford runs? Man the way he runs scares me to death it just looks like he’s going to get his you know what knocked in the dirt. I hope he can make it through the year without getting hurt. I know he’s fast it’s the way he runs that scares me. I honestly believe his arm is good enough to where he doesn’t need to run unless he has to. Dude can throw the football and he’s accurate so why risk it?
Clifford a few times looked like he got his bell rung and struggled to get up. I just think he’s to good at throwing the ball to run him all the time. Seems like Clifford gets more runs than the RB’s. We can go a long way with Clifford that’s why I want to keep him healthy. And he’s only going to get better. I’d like to see him play more like Aaron Rogers a QB that can kill you with his arm and kill you with his feet IF he has too lol
Am I the only one that cringes when Clifford runs? Man the way he runs scares me to death it just looks like he’s going to get his you know what knocked in the dirt. I hope he can make it through the year without getting hurt. I know he’s fast it’s the way he runs that scares me. I honestly believe his arm is good enough to where he doesn’t need to run unless he has to. Dude can throw the football and he’s accurate so why risk it?
Yeah, I don't really love him running so much. I know it's RPO, but I think it's pretty obvious Buffalo just told it's defense to always take the RB and if Clifford keeps it "oh well". I believe when we play some more athletic defenses it will be the same... Dare Clifford to beat you with his feet.
That's what I would do as a DC, if it's an RPO close down the other options and make Clifford run. He's not Lamar Jackson or even Trace McSorley back there, so make him run and pound him when he does. That's what I'm worried about with this offense. Clifford is obviously a better passer than runner, and I think Trace was more balanced thus could really hurt you either way.
I think we need to play to Clifford's strength a bit more, and I'd like to see more designed runs in the playbook. I know RPO is the thing, but it just scares me with Clifford and Levis. Both are passing QBs, and a lot of RPO exposes them to some punishment. Against Buffalo, as I said before it was obvious they coached the defense to make Clifford keep it in running situations.
For that reason I think the offensive line looked a bit worse than they really are. On RPOs they just sold out on the RBs, and a couple times Clifford just handed it off even though the read was to keep it. Again, I think that's gonna be a trend this year... When you have a QB who is a better passer than runner, you dare them to run. If they beat you, they beat you... but make them uncomfortable.
In today’s RPO game, you need 2 quarterbacks.
