Here were some of the notable themes on RB Stevan Ridley from today’s conference calls with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels:
1. Coaching mindset on Ridley’s fumbling: McDaniels was asked if we’ve reached a point where the coaching staff’s comfort level in putting running back Stevan Ridley into games is jeopardized because of his recent streak of fumbles (3 in 3 games), and he addressed it head on.
“When things happen like this, in back-to-back games – or in this case a few games in a row – I think you certainly have to address what you can address in terms of trying to fix the problem. I have great confidence in Stevan as a runner. He’s been very productive in our offense. He’s done a lot of things. At the same time, obviously, ball security is the most important factor for our offense and for our team when we have the ball. We have to be part of the solution. We have to work with him,” McDaniels said.
“He certainly wasn’t the only one that put the ball [on the ground] or got the ball knocked off of him the other night. We had way too many balls out, or balls on the ground, and turned the ball over a significant number of times. We were fortunate to overcome that, which is very rare. I think our entire offense, we need to do a better job of taking care of the football, protecting when we have it, and making smart decisions and not giving the defense the opportunity to either strip it off of us, knock it off of us, whatever it may be. That’s a team thing. Our confidence, as an offense, you want to be able to protect the football no matter who you give it to. That’s our goal and that’s our focus, and we’ll work with everybody to try to fix the issues that certainly came up the other night.”
We posted a news item earlier today that suggested a committee backfield, which seems pretty likely at this point. Ridley can't be trusted, at least for this week. That makes only Shane Vereen as a safe play at RB.
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