Don’t mind me. I’m abnormally bristly today. But the caps lock is annoying, I think.

He did mention he was new to the whole computers and blogging below (See response titled Mendy). I was all over him too, but pulled back from my harsh stance.

When your headline says “Happy to see Mendy do nothing” it suggests you already have your mind made up about him and are looking for things to justify your opinion. Will you be disappointed when he scores a TD in the regular season?

Like I said above, bad day. Welcome to the site, gimme a clean slate, I’m not the ass it seamed I was. Or maybe I am, it’s really up to you I guess.

I know it’s boring to preach patience but that’s what everybody has to have with Mendenhall. He’s a very immature runner (and perhaps person) who is still figuring things out. Out of your list of 08 draftees, he’s younger than all of them by anywhere from five months to two and a half years in Choice’s case. He’s almost two years younger than Johnson. He had one year in college when he had 100 carries, all of the others had at least three seasons with 100 carries. When he was Pierre Thomas’ teammate, he was a redshirt sophomore and two and a half years younger, and one of the reasons Thomas wasn’t drafted was because his much younger teammate looked so much better (about 2.5 ypc better, more than double yards per reception). Add to this the fact he missed most of last season after being injured when at full speed he lowered his shoulder into a Ray Lewis hit and got hammered by the wrong guy. He’s still learning how to block, he is still really just learning how to run at the NFL level with relatively little running experience in his muscle memory. I’m not surprised people have doubts because they really couldn’t give a rat’s ass that he’s young and inexperienced, he’s a professional and should be expected to produce. But the reality is that he’s going to be here for four more years and IMO he will have a couple 1,000-yard seasons in the bank when we negotiate his next contract. Of course, as we’ve seen with Willie Parker, being a productive runner doesn’t mean he will be applauded for it. You’re right, 2009 will be a telling year for Mendenhall and the running game. I think it will tell us that a lot of pixels were wasted worrying about him.

Its still wayyy too early to call. the Preseason doesnt mean shit, and the last year was hardly anything.

But yes I’d spooge if we had Matt Forte

played near Pittsburgh at WVU.

The FO KNEW that guy was good, but took Mendenhall instead. I’m still wondering why…..

But why say “Happy to see Mendy do nothin”? Doing nothing hardly describes how he ran, and I don’t know why any fan would be happy even if that was the case. I disagree with about 90 per cent of the criticism on this post. He’s had a number of good runs, including a hard driving short-yardage carry vs. Arizona, and had a better performance in preseason Game 2 than in preseason Game 1. He’s still thinking too much rather than letting his instincts take over but he’s headed in the right direction. There’s no doubt in my mind he will make a major contribution this year.

That these are “highlight” tapes. There is very few lowlight tapes, and we all know that highlights are chosen because they’re him at his best. They do not prove consistency and are a poor measure of actual talent. It’s easy to get excited about any player with a highlight tape, because we tend to think “Holy sh_, this kid’s a freak” and immediately expect that every play (okay, maybe not every play, I’m generalizing). When he doesn’t put up highlight after highlight runs, he’s thought of as a bust or near bust. Remember, Rashard didn’t play at Illinois until his junior year very much because Pierre Thomas kept him of the field with his play. He is young, has limited experience, and hasn’t played in close to a year. He has maybe 4 games worth of actual NFL action. Patience, when he looks terrible getting 10 or so carries in a game that matters a few weeks in a row then worry.

I have to ask… Is it Steel’s Wine or Steel Swine? Just curious.

I feel the exact same way about Tank as I do Redman. I actually responded, in my usual smart ass way, to just this topic in the six pack today. We all fall victim to it. Highlight-itis I guess. I think both can be good, even better than just good, but I am not willing to crown anybody anything. I learned that from Denny Green. I want them to earn it before we all start drooling all over these guys. I want to see more Redman, early on against 1st stringers, same for Tank. If they prove they can do it, they earn my respect and fan-dom, but until then it’s all hopes and wishes as far as I’m concerned. The classic realist, I look more pesimistic most of the time.

…..you were wrong, everyone else is.