angryfan04 wrote:Compared to Hicks, Brown can make all the throws. He completed 62% of his passes compared to 55% for Hicks and had 7 TDs with 1 INT. Plus he is a real threat to run, so those read option type of plays will be more effective. It never made any sense to have Hicks run those types of plays
He also played a fraction of the snaps hicks did, had a dumbed down playbook, and I can count the number of throws that traveled more than 15 yards on one hand. Of course he had “better” stats.
This myth of brown being some great runner needs to end. I don’t know what you were watching but he only ran those read options because he is strong and a little more mobile than hicks. His read options were rarely more successful than hicks.
And it makes perfect sense to run those plays with Ben. They’re not going to treat him like a run threat so they’re not going to contain and it’s going to leave room to pick up a cheap 5 yards here and there on a keep. And then occasionally, like against UCONN, you can break a 50 yarder.
Your questioning of that is almost like saying “why do we run those bubble screens/slants/quick outs/dive/draw” it’s a play designed to pick up a few yards, is why. Obviously