Quote:It's funny that you say that about Cook. When I watch a Cook highlight film I see all the explosive plays. When I watch full games of him, i see him tackled for loss over and over until he breaks a big one. 

 

Every RB will get tackled for losses, especially when the OL allows penetration. First off, let's skip the over exaggeration. Cook doesn't get tackled for loss "over and over". 

 

No RB will pop a 20 yard run every time they touch the football. What I personally notice from watching Cook vs. Fournette cutups is that Fournette left a lot of yards on the field. 

 

When the OL blasts a hole, both are equally dynamic (perhaps LF moreso because once he gets a full steam going, he's tough to stop at the 2nd level).

 

When the OL doesn't create a massive hole in which the RB can accelerate however, LF more often than not puts his shoulder down and picks up 2-3 yards and be done with it. Now there's definitely a fine line here, as sometimes you do want your RB to do that. But there were several plays where I saw (or felt) that the lanes would open up if LF showed more patience instead of simply bulldozing his way in.

 

On the other hand, I thought Cook did a much better job of taking those 2-3 yard gains if that's all there is. But at the same time, I thought he also did as good a job on runs that should have been -3 yards that he turned into 3 or 4 yard gains.

 

Also going back to "big plays". Majority of LF's big plays are when the OL blasts holes through for him and he basically bursts through it, maybe make one-cut, then explode into the secondary where he turns on his jets and does the rest.

 

While you see some of these with Cook, there were just as many runs where the run looks like a 3-4 yard gain for most normal backs, but his vision, patience, and burst turns it into a huge play.

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