Leos on the Road Again vs the Eskimos

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I sure hope Khari Jones takes advantage of Sinkfield's speed and just doesn't line him up as the outside slot back all the time.

Jones started the season thinking Hawkins would be his boundary wide receiver. When he suddenly retired, Khari moved Gore to the boundary wide side and inserted Moore at outside slot, Gore's previous position.

When Moore got hurt, he put Boldewijn in Moore's slotback spot. So we had Gore learning a new receiver position and Boldewijn a wideout during college and pro tryouts, to learn the slot position.

Did Jones ever think of using Boldewijn on some plays as a boundary wide out, using his height and size? Nope. Does Khari Jones ever line up Arseneauz out wide as a boundary wideout, when he could have a good matchup there, either due to personnel or an injury in a game. Nope.

Do I envision Khari Jones lining up Sinkfield on the short side with Arsenault together, either in a stack or a very close stem together to create confusion for the defense. No I don't. Do I see him sending Sinkfield deep on the outside, looking for him and then coming to Arseneaux underneath on the same side. Just don't!

Do I see him lining up Sinkfield and Burnham together on the wideside, with Arseneaux quite tight to the line, as a big target to run a short pattern for a crucial second down. Sure don't!

I just see Khari Jones lining up Gore wide and Arseneaux in the slot on the boundary side, and Burnham, Sinkfield and Iannuzzi In that order on the wide side, with Arseneaux, Burnham, and Sinkfield waggling to the line of scrimmage.

The best we'll likely get is when Lumbala is also in, is Burnham inside and Sinkfield outside.

We now have four dangerous receivers in Arseneaux, Burnham, Gore, and Sinkfield. We have a burner in Sinkfield for deep and crossing patterns and to clear out areas. We have a great hands receiver in Burnham who can really run after a catch. We have a big, tough receiver in Arseneaux, who can high point the football and run through defenders. We have an excellent route runner in Gore.

Now that our passing attack has these tools, our passing attack should adapt. Arseneaux can play outside and inside as can Gore and Sinkfield. There is no reason to give the secondary the same look all the time, with our slots being slots always being slots and our outside receivers being outside receivers. They can and all should be moved around on different plays to take advantage.

Another way to take advantage is to go four receiver set and line up Rainey and Sinkfield in the backfield. If we send them both out quickly on a swing pattern, the linebackers will part like the Red Sea. That not only opens up the quarterback draw but also the short cross, the slotback quick dig or stop route, but also freezes the corner for the outside receiver running a sideline pattern or quick go.

We could also use play action effectively with both in the backfield on occasion and with them in the backfield we also run some counter action, counter play action, a quick reverse off a fake, or a bootleg off a fake reverse or fake counter. We could also motion one of them out of the backfield. The double screen or misdirection screen could become a nightmare for a defense.

Realizing that this is out of the box thinking for the smaller box that Jones operates in, he has to take advantage of the change to our receiving core.

We're not going to open things up that much with Sinkfield just playing the outside slot position. Heck, if we lined up Sinkfield even on the outside wide side on occasion and slid Iannuzzi inside, just Sinkfield being out there is going to draw the halfback and safety if he runs deep, therefore opening up the post for either Burnhan or Arseneaux. Marco Iannuzzi only has 4.58 speed but he is quick so using him more often on inside type of routes and closer to the quarterback makes more sense, rather than just standing out there in the flat.

So many ways to take advantage.

We should have been using Boldewijn on the outside more often (he was our fastest receiver) than using him to run possession type routes.... but there is no excuse to not change things up with the addition of Springfield. We paid the most money for him, we wanted a speedster who could catch and run and we have him.

It will be interesting to see how Jones utilizes or doesn't utilize this new weapon.