With the Detroit Lions' playoff hopes in the rear-view mirror, there is little motivation to continue watching their free fall into NFL irrelevancy. We may not often win, but it's the small victories from solid individual performances that keep our attention. Ameer Abdullah was one of the few players inspiring hope for the future after the first four weeks of the season, but with the good comes the bad. One of the most disheartening aspect of the blowout loss to the Arizona Cardinals was our rookie running back’s habitual inability to hold on to the football. Lost in the pandemonium after Sunday’s debacle, most seemed to overlook Ameer’s defects and placed their dissatisfaction elsewhere. Abdullah now has three fumbles in five games for anyone
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At Nebraska, he had a total of 15 fumbles between his freshman and sophomore seasons alone. Abdullah declared to make a concerted effort to fix the issue and whittled that alarming statistic down to nine his final two years. Once again, he finds himself in a similar situation as an old destructive habit has reared its ugly head. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to remedy the problem. Ameer understands what needs to be done and will be the first to admit the obvious.
"It's a physical thing. I gotta tuck it away better. I know what I gotta do. I will be better," said Abdullah.
This leads to the question, are fumbles correctable? It may seem like an easy fix, but some just don't seem to have the knack for holding on to the ball. Abdullah is at a minor disadvantage due to his small hands and stature, but there are plenty of backs that are similar in size and possess reliable mitts. Jim Caldwell even expressed confidence in Abdullah this week and reinforced his belief that the issue is only temporary.
“The thing about it is that I think you’ve seen there’s been a number of guys that, early on, had some issues with taking care of the ball. He’s one of those young guys, he’s going to have to learn,” the Lions' head coach …show more content…
A distant example of a back who mitigated the dreadful flaw includes a former pro-bowler, Tiki Barber. As most recall, the 205lb running back also had plenty of ball security issues for a number of years. From 2000-03, Barber put a total of 35 footballs on the turf. He had no choice but to adopt a new ball carrying technique after Tom Coughlin seized the reins and gave Barber an ultimatum. He had to either substantially reduce the fumbles or he would sit the bench. Barber eventually embraced the high and tight method which elevated him from a good to great running back. After his transformation, he only fumbled a total of nine times in his final three seasons. The decrease wasn't due to lack of workload either, as Tiki's numbers and stats actually increased during that
At Nebraska, he had a total of 15 fumbles between his freshman and sophomore seasons alone. Abdullah declared to make a concerted effort to fix the issue and whittled that alarming statistic down to nine his final two years. Once again, he finds himself in a similar situation as an old destructive habit has reared its ugly head. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to remedy the problem. Ameer understands what needs to be done and will be the first to admit the obvious.
"It's a physical thing. I gotta tuck it away better. I know what I gotta do. I will be better," said Abdullah.
This leads to the question, are fumbles correctable? It may seem like an easy fix, but some just don't seem to have the knack for holding on to the ball. Abdullah is at a minor disadvantage due to his small hands and stature, but there are plenty of backs that are similar in size and possess reliable mitts. Jim Caldwell even expressed confidence in Abdullah this week and reinforced his belief that the issue is only temporary.
“The thing about it is that I think you’ve seen there’s been a number of guys that, early on, had some issues with taking care of the ball. He’s one of those young guys, he’s going to have to learn,” the Lions' head coach …show more content…
A distant example of a back who mitigated the dreadful flaw includes a former pro-bowler, Tiki Barber. As most recall, the 205lb running back also had plenty of ball security issues for a number of years. From 2000-03, Barber put a total of 35 footballs on the turf. He had no choice but to adopt a new ball carrying technique after Tom Coughlin seized the reins and gave Barber an ultimatum. He had to either substantially reduce the fumbles or he would sit the bench. Barber eventually embraced the high and tight method which elevated him from a good to great running back. After his transformation, he only fumbled a total of nine times in his final three seasons. The decrease wasn't due to lack of workload either, as Tiki's numbers and stats actually increased during that