It's time to sit Coles...
 

I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting really tired of hearing about Laveranues Coles getting nicked and banged up in each preseason game. My heart always races when I see him catch the ball in a meaningless exhibition when everybody already knows what he's capable of.

Seriously, Coles doesn't need to prove nothin' to nobody. Can we all agree on that?

So why not sit him for the final two preseason games, get all the reps he needs in practice, and be totally fresh for the first regular season game?

Who's with me?

Not to be a smartass or anything, but with this logic we should sit the whole team and forfeit the last two preseason games.

I know what you're saying Beems, but if the coaches and team doctors don't have a problem with him playing who's to say he shouldn't be out there getting the reps? Why should we put Coles above anyone else on the team?

Coles isnt fragile, it's his toe injury everybody is worried about. he's already conceded to play with it all year.

while i agree that we should reduce the chance of him aggravating it every week, there's a whole new quarterback and passing system this year, and a whole new chemistry has to be developed. Coles has to practice the new playbook. Brunell and Coles have to learn each other out. Ramsey may have been here last year, but he has to learn himself out in this new system, then reacquaint himself with Coles in it. its not just about talent, its all about TIMING. and you can never practice that 'enough', you have to keep at it until it becomes second nature for it to be effective.

i say limit the routes that aggravate his toe, like sudden Ins and Outs, limit his vulnerability over the middle, but still get him some reps with the new guy and new system. save the painful stuff for real games.

i'd like to leave Lavar out another game or two though. his position isn't as symbiotic with other positions as QB+WR, and we can groom Pierce and Washington even further while resting that knee. man what a scare.

[QUOTE=Mattyk72]Not to be a smartass or anything, but with this logic we should sit the whole team and forfeit the last two preseason games.

I know what you're saying Beems, but if the coaches and team doctors don't have a problem with him playing who's to say he shouldn't be out there getting the reps? Why should we put Coles above anyone else on the team?[/QUOTE]

No, that logic does not follow. Coles is the most explosive player on this team. If something happens to him, our passing game takes a serious hit, and there's no one who can match his game breaking abilities at the wide receiver position. The rest of the team needs the game experience, Coles does not.

He's coming off a serious toe injury, a sore hamstring, bruised shin, and bruised ribs.

I stand by my argument. Get fresh for the Bucs, and get those injuries healed.

everyone has sore muscles and bruised bones from PRACTICE, let alone preseason games. and he's not coming off that toe injury, thats gonna be there the whole year.

again, its not about how talented Coles is, its about learning his QBs tendencies, when to turn around and expect the ball to be there, where to option when the play breaks down, this isnt about physical ability, its about time on the field and in game situations. if he's wearing down, then maybe rest him during practice, but our entire passing apparatus has to really develop more under the lights..

I agree with Ill, there are reasons Coles needs to be out there. A new starting QB, a new offense, all of that requires timing, game timing not practice timing.

sometimes players don't always reveal the whole truth about there condition to team docs. the coaches and docs need to know what the player is capable of so they can tell if that player is playing up to speed. that would hard for coach to tell, being new to the team and all but how about the docs. are they new to the team too? and does anybody know how they rate with other team docs?

Arrington is nicked up too... He's our most explosive defensive player. If something happens to him, our defense takes a serious hit. There's no one that can match his pass-rushing abilities at any position. Do you think we should sit him for the last two pre-season games?

Is this argument significantly different?

[QUOTE=Beemnseven]No, that logic does not follow. Coles is the most explosive player on this team. If something happens to him, our passing game takes a serious hit, and there's no one who can match his game breaking abilities at the wide receiver position. The rest of the team needs the game experience, Coles does not.

He's coming off a serious toe injury, a sore hamstring, bruised shin, and bruised ribs.

I stand by my argument. Get fresh for the Bucs, and get those injuries healed.[/QUOTE]

it is different. while LaVar has a relationship with the other Linebackers and DBs, it's not as nuanced as the relationship between a QB and a WR. that kinda thing takes repetition, and more repetition, but introducing the xfactors that only games offer, not practice.

LaVar's ability as a pass rusher is based on his enormous talent, not on his precise one-on-one timing with another player. while the LB schemes may be new, its not clockwork, and nowhere near as meticulous.

he's played, and played well during the preseason, he's not a questionmark like our passing game is. i think he should sit out for this upcoming game, and maybe even the next one.

While the QB-WR relationship is important, don't underestimate the importance of the LB's working together as a unit. We haven't had our starters out there together yet.

yeah man, Barrows. what's up man? this nagger is another nervous point. i really hope it's just tendonitis and not arthritis...

but word of LaVar's injury really shook me. there were some tears in there. he should recover a bit. yes, LBs need to jell too, but the LB play, and defense for that matter, has been a strong point this preseason.

our offense has been the biggest concern. we finally addressed the running game (against a shaky Miami team, mind you), but have yet to really address the passing game. a definite weak point so far this preseason. we need more reps with our first team. think Gibbs and co. would agree.

coles needs to play, but limit his reps, i agree with ill and matty. he is the best offensive player in my mind, better than portis, so if we do lose him it will be huge. but we do have excellent depth, and i think we could still be decent, but he needs to be out there. no one wants to see another jon jansen, but you gotta play to get better

Portis is the key to this offense to me, not Coles, though I won't deny he's an important piece of the puzzle.

Portis is going to get 20-25 touches a game, where Coles will probably see 5-7.

If we had to lose one, we could get along better without Coles.

[QUOTE=Mattyk72]Portis is the key to this offense to me, not Coles, though I won't deny he's an important piece of the puzzle.

Portis is going to get 20-25 touches a game, where Coles will probably see 5-7.

If we had to lose one, we could get along better without Coles.[/QUOTE]


Good point Matty. This isn't the fun-n-gun anymore where Coles was the only offensive weapon we had.

I think Coles and Portis should both just play one drive. Yes the QBs should get reps with the number one receiver, but whatever, they can do that in practice. Its more important that we see the other receivers anyways because we dotn know the order after coles.

Personally the two people that I want to see on the bench are Coles and Portis. You dont want to risk anythign with Portis, and Coles needs to rest that toe. i dotn want it sore for week one then its a bigger lingering injury throughout the season.

more reason to hold back Portis while finding out who the #2 would be. i think Portis could run behind practically any OLine...

while we know how good Coles is, we don't know how good Brunell or Ramsey are quite yet (at least i hope we don't), much less Coles and them together. we really gotta chuck it more this preseason, even if its not gonna be the breadn'butter in the regular season.

He shouldn't be going across the middle like he's been, but I do agree that he should play. He should NOT have gone back in after that hit though!
On the other hand, if he's only in for 1-2 series, he'll likely only get a couple catches at most. Is that really gonna make that much of a difference with the QB/WR chemistry??? Just playing devils advocate....

hes our deep threat, and gardner is our over the middle guy. lets try that in the preseason and utilize that speed, while keepin hijm from the linebackers

Portis got smacked and flipped up twice on that drive. I definitly felt my heart skip both of those times, and when coles got hit hard.

WOAH WOAH WOAH! Make up your minds guys! In another thread we don't need to work on the passing game because they do that in practice, but now it's of the utmost importance Coles is out there.

Coles is an idiot. Simply said. He needed surgery during the offseason but he skipped it for the Pro Bowl. I'm sorry, but the Pro Bowl is useless. I have nothing against him playing a few reps in pre-season, but stop taking him across the middle to get pounded. Let him go 1v1 on the outside with someone.

coles will bang his head into a wall until he's dead if you ask him to... he'll never volunteer to leave unless his leg has dun been torn asunder or some such... coles is definately important to keep healthy...

even though matty mentioned portis will get 25 touches a game, i think the more important issue is that we got lots of decent WRs, but our other RBs are no where close to portis... (yeah, coles is better than gardner/mccants, but gardner and mccants in the starting lineup wouldn't be too bad... rock as the starting RB would make me want to cry though).

i think coles opted out of surgery because theres a chance it could go wrong, and he may not know what he'd do without football... definately intense.

yea wanst it Coles that if he had his surgury it could either help him or end his career?

Coles opted not to have the surgery because there was an outside chance that it could end his career if the foot didn't heal properly. I don't think it really had much to do with the Pro Bowl.

I think his approach to it was that he was better off going without the surgery and trying to allow it to heal naturally with some offseason rest, rather than have the surgery and risk ending his career.

The problem is, Coles doesn't really know how to back off and take it easy. It's an admirable quality, but one that can be counterproductive in a situation where rest and relaxation are truly the most effective solutions.

The training staff did what it could to circumvent any further damage to the area, trying out different orthopedic inserts in his shoe, and holding him out of a good portion of minicamp activity. But Coles resisted the idea of sitting out completely, and that's probably why the injury continues to be an issue.

If Coles could have held off practicing until training camp, that probably would have been the best solution, but when you have a new coaching staff, a new quarterback and a new offense to get acquainted with, that's a tough sell for a guy like Coles.

It's painful for us fans to know that Coles' foot problems could have been resolved earlier, and it's unpleasant to watch him play preseason games, knowing any bad turn or tackle could end his season. But that's just the way it's going to be, and like Coles, we're all just going to have to grin and bear it... and hope for the best.

I think the game plan for preseason, if this is typical Gibbs from the past, will be to play the starters against St. Louis very much like last week in Miami. The one exception would be to not play Brunnel. 1st series of Atlanta game all starters will play then be pulled. They have been running passing camps since the end of March. They know the routes and the plays by now. Trainning camp is for technique and learning how to be physical again. So limited play willl be in order for the last game.

Coles plays hard and thats what we like. I wonder if we will see him venture accross the middle again like last week. I hope not.