It took a while for Helu, Riley to grow into roles ASHBURN — The young guy sat for nearly a year and a half waiting his turn. Then Perry Riley got his chance, and here are the results: 34 tackles in three starts. The other guy didn’t wait as long, but he did have to wait. And then Roy Helu got his big shot. One-hundred-eight rushing yards later he grabbed hold of the starting job.
All of which begs the question: What took so long?
The answer is simple, yet it really isn’t.
– John Keim
| Notes |
| » Strong safety LaRon Landry (groin), defensive end Stephen Bowen (knee) and fullback Darrel Young (concussion) did not practice Thursday. None of them has practiced this week. Two weeks ago coach Mike Shanahan said he did not play Landry vs. Dallas because he was unable to practice at all during the week. Shanahan would not say whether Landry needed to practice Friday to be able to play Sunday, “but it sure would help.” |
| » Receivers Jabar Gaffney (foot) and Terrence Austin (hamstring) were new to the injury report. Both were limited Thursday. So, too, were linebackers Brian Orakpo (ankle), London Fletcher (ankle), receiver Niles Paul (toe) and right tackle Jammal Brown (hip). |
| » Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan likes quarterback Rex Grossman‘s mindset of wanting to throw downfield. “You’ve got to tone him down a little bit and make sure we’re moving the chains first,” Shanahan said. “[But] if they take something away, you can make them pay with a deep route. You walk a fine line, and you have to make them take that away before you go deep.” |
“When you feel someone is ready, you put them in,” coach Mike Shan?ahan said.
Then again …
“You never really know when they’re going to be ready,” defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said.
In Helu’s case, he already had been receiving the bulk of the action since Tim Hightower was lost for the season five games ago. But he had started only once before Sunday and had never received more than 10 carries in a game until he had 23 against the Seahawks.
The issue with Helu came down to his blocking. He didn’t pass protect much in college, and he struggled in that area this summer. In some games he played this season, he went out for a pass rather than pick up a blitzer, leaving the quarterback vulnerable to a crunching hit.
“He’s come a long way,” offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said of Helu’s protection skills. “It’s just hard for a rookie back sometimes to take the load. He’s gotten tougher throughout the year. He’s really been finishing runs well the last couple weeks.”
In Riley’s case, the coaches have consistently pointed to the lack of offseason workouts as a reason for him probably not starting sooner. Indeed, they did not re-sign last year’s starter, Rocky McIntosh, until a couple days after training camp had started — after they had seen where Riley was in his development.
“It’s hard to say if I would have done just as well just getting thrown in there,” Riley said. “I like the way Coach Shanahan handled me, with slowing down practice. We do a lot more walkthroughs now. It’s more of a learning [experience] instead of just full-speed practices.”
But Riley said he’s progressed rapidly just by playing.
“You learn faster and you catch on to things faster that way,” Riley said.
Coaches want to see development in practice before they put a player into a game. Haslett said in a case such as Riley, they drafted him in the fourth round a year ago for a reason. At some point, they had to find out whether they were right.
And with a first-round pick such as linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, the coaches knew from the start they had to live with his mistakes. With Riley, they needed to see more.
“You’ve got to know if the guy is instinctive, if the guy has physical skills, which Perry does have,” Haslett said. “We just felt it was time for Perry to play. … It’s something that if you’re willing to live with some of the mistakes, there’s a lot of upside.”
He still will make mistakes, but they’ve been reduced each game. In his first start vs. Miami, he received 15 minus plays. Against Dallas, he blew the coverage on a 59-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jason Witten.
“Just keep your eyes on my coverage no matter what the quarterback is doing,” Riley said of the lesson learned. “But I would say I’ve grown a lot … just getting experience in the games.”
