Larry Johnson And Willie Parker Know What's At Stake Tonight
Posted by Matt Terl on September 2, 2010 – 2:53 pm
It’s going to be tough — if not impossible — for this team to carry Clinton Portis, Larry Johnson, and Willie Parker on the roster together. We’ve all known this since training camp. But just because it’s become part of the conventional wisdom of the 2010 preseason doesn’t make it any less strange to hear Kyle Shanahan lay it out as plainly as he did earlier this week.
Kelli Johnson of Comcast SportsNet asked Shanahan the question frankly enough: “Can you really keep three backs, though, that aren’t gonna contribute on special teams?”
And Kyle Shanahan answered with equal frankness: “No,” he said. “That’s always tough. If you have three guys up, one of ‘em’s gotta contribute on special teams.”
If the bluntness was surprising, though, the news wasn’t, even to Johnson and Parker themselves.
“It makes sense,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to dress three backs or four backs — and I include the fullbacks — without having special any special teaming experience. Some guy goes down on special teams and we don’t have that hole to fill ’cause none of us have been working.”
“Yeah,” Parker agreed. “We pretty much know that. We been in this game before. We know what’s up. You can’t keep three guys — you gotta at least have one of ‘em playing special teams. We knew that when we came here. So it’s tough.”
What’s not tough is the solution to this dilemma: “We have to work extra hard just to get a spot on this team, just to make it harder for the coaches to decide if we should keep three, keep four, or keep two,” Johnson said.
And Parker will have another opportunity to make his case tonight, Kyle Shanahan said. “When he did get his chance he didn’t have too many opportunities, similar to Larry the week before that,” Shanahan explained. “So we’re gonna try to give him more chances, a few more runs this week.”
Parker is ready to do his part — in the running game, at least. “Definitely not on special teams,” he said, with a rueful kind of laugh, “but, yeah, I should be able to get a chance to show myself again.”
The question is if he’ll be able to do enough. “Hope so,” Parker said. “That’s the only thing I’m banking on. I hope so.”
Tags: larry johnson, preseason 2010, willie parker
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