Antone Smith

[BadMoonRising]

Can anyone tell me what I missed?

I wasn't high on keeping ethier back, but if I did Nance would of been it.

was it special teams or something that he offered?

[The Falcon Jedi]

No clue. Except I heard he was good at emulating Ronnie Brown in practice. I dont know.

[DaMeatTroughsEgo]

1. Experience

2. Knowledge of the plays

3. Special teams

4. Blocking

5. He sucks so it must be some of the 4 above.

Edited September 5, 2010 by DaMeatTrough

[kibitzer]

Someone posted the stats earlier. That's one point, nearly double what Nance did.

But it wasn't that, that impressed me. He seemed shiftier to me, and better between the tackles and in the open field. I didn't see him on STs, and I missed the fumble in the Jax game that everyone was pissin' and moanin' about. He just looked like a more solid FB player to me.

Brick hands on a few passes? You betcha, I saw that too. Nothing against Nance, I wouldn't have complained about him making the team, and he did seem to be a better receiver. Just Smith outplayed him - again - from what I saw.

This has got to be another "body of work" thing from Smith and TD, IMO.

[BadMoonRising]

Someone posted the stats earlier. That's one point, nearly double what Nance did.

But it wasn't that, that impressed me. He seemed shiftier to me, and better between the tackles and in the open field. I didn't see him on STs, and I missed the fumble in the Jax game that everyone was pissin' and moanin' about. He just looked like a more solid FB player to me.

Brick hands on a few passes? You betcha, I saw that too. Nothing against Nance, I wouldn't have complained about him making the team, and he did seem to be a better receiver. Just Smith outplayed him - again - from what I saw.

This has got to be another "body of work" thing from Smith and TD, IMO.

Hopefully your right, I will never claim to be a GM but Nance seemed to have a bigger impact in the games I saw.

[Abe]

All I could see was he was much more explosive than the other back. He had that fumble but his speed was easy to see.

[paulitik]

Dude is a bucket of suck. Not sure what the FO is thinking. I would have rather kept Klecko.

[The Falcon Jedi]

Dude is a bucket of suck. Not sure what the FO is thinking. I would have rather kept Klecko.

+1

[e.lo]

Dude will be the first one to go when we add someone who was cut.

[real_fan]

Can anyone tell me what I missed?

I wasn't high on keeping ethier back, but if I did Nance would of been it.

was it special teams or something that he offered?

Insurance for fragile Norwood

[LADBABY]

He has speed and urgency on special teams.

He is a good runner. Warrick Dunn type small shifty and fast.

His college highlights are very impressive and show what he can do.

Maybe he caught the ball alright in practice because he was

dropping everything thrown to him in games. So obviously

that didn't earn him a spot.

Edited September 5, 2010 by LADBABY

[Rock Howard]

I project that 2 or 3 of the players currently in the 53 or destined for the practice squad and if the FO can get them there without exposing them to the waiver wires, why not? That would match up with Jay's mention of Smith's ability to emulate various fast backs we might face in the future.

Another possible point is that perhaps the ST coaches have found that with his speed and physicality he might make a good gunner for kick coverage. (Anyone notice how Smith was used on ST during the preseason?)

But I am hoping that what is really going on is that the coaches are planning to seriously upgrade Norwood's role in the overall game plan and they are loathe to do that unless we have another player on the roster or at least on the practice squad who can also learn that role and be ready to step into it if/when Norwood gets nicked up.

[FA91]

Smith had 32 carries for 124 yards for a 3.9 avg. He lead the team in running yardage during the preseason and tied Turner for yards per carry.

Nance has good hands and caught passes well but I think his running was a little lack luster as he had 21 carries for 51 yards for a 2.4 avg.

[kibitzer]

Dude is a bucket of suck. Not sure what the FO is thinking. I would have rather kept Klecko.

Well, you may have a valid argument about keeping Klecko, but not for a role-based reason. I remember a lot of talk about Snelling like this when he first joined the team, and I'm NOT making comparisons here.... I'm just saying sometimes we (fans/viewers) don't always see the upside on players.

[Wild Bill]

Speed and good hands.

[millenium falcon]

i was always impressed with ledell betts. when NO cut him i figured he was not healthy after knee surgery, but he looked ok vs TEN.

antone needs to be upgraded though.

[iDash]

Insurance for fragile Norwood

Bingo, Mr.Glass and I believe he is backup Kickoff returner to weems

[chris30277]

Can anyone tell me what I missed?

I wasn't high on keeping ethier back, but if I did Nance would of been it.

was it special teams or something that he offered?

I think it had to do with build/style of play. We have 2 guys that can pound the ball (Turner and Snelling) and we only had 1 guy that had breakaway speed (Norwood) Smith is supposed to have that type of speed. Now I was all for keeping Nance because I didn't like Smith, but I think the coaching staff is still worried about Norwood making it through the season.

[g-dawg]

I think it simply came down to "running styles".

Your power backs are:

Michael Turner

Jason Snelling

Your speedy/change of pace back is:

Jerious Norwood

Of the rookies, their styles are:

Antone Smith-speedy/shifty

Dmitri Nance-power back

Smith is more versatile with Punt and Kick Returns plus insurance should(when) Norwood goes down. I liked Nance a lot but I understand why they chose Smith over Nance.

Edited September 5, 2010 by g-dawg

[chris30277]

I think it simply came down to "running styles".

Your power backs are:

Michael Turner

Jason Snelling

Your speedy/change of pace back is:

Jerious Norwood

Of the rookies, their styles are:

Antone Smith-speedy/shifty

Dmitri Nance-power back

Smith is more versatile with Punt and Kick Returns plus insurance should(when) Norwood goes down. I liked Nance a lot but I understand why they chose Smith over Nance.

+1 for saying everything I said but better :P

[rightsaidfred]

Speed. Pure and simple. Dude is just plain fast.

Stay tuned. The roster will continue to be tweaked over the next 4 weeks. Smith may not be a Falcon by the end of the season.

[harveybirdman]

something about inheriting certain pictures from a certain former Reeves tight-end...