Kalen Ballage 2020 Outlook

[rasrar 255]

2 minutes ago, Bugs bunny said:

Those keywords. “Right now” 

 

Of course. We all know Ekeler will be the guy once he is back. Until then, I feel like Ballage is the LAC back to own.

[this guy right here 986]

Small sample size but he's averaging 3.5 reception on LAC.

[Tomei7 591]

4 hours ago, ohio#1eaglesfan said:

Jordan Howard is a terrible comparison. Ballage ran a 4.4 forty which is above average especially for his size. I think Ballage just needed a change of scenery. He went to college at Arizona state so maybe LA with coach Lynn will help. 

Nah, .13 of a second difference in their 40 time big deal. Both are very similar in size and game speed, Ballage maybe an inch or 2 taller. Both are slugs, both are plodders, both will never outrun any defender on defense. Only difference I see is Ballage May catch a few passes. Jordan Howard 2.0

[gotamancrushontombrady 47]

2 hours ago, Tomei7 said:

Nah, .13 of a second difference in their 40 time big deal. Both are very similar in size and game speed, Ballage maybe an inch or 2 taller. Both are slugs, both are plodders, both will never outrun any defender on defense. Only difference I see is Ballage May catch a few passes. Jordan Howard 2.0

you say Jordan Howard 2.0 like a bad thing - better than Kenyan Drake rn 🤷‍♂️

Edited November 18, 2020 by gotamancrushontombrady
spelling

[rasrar 255]

44 minutes ago, gotamancrushontombrady said:

you say Jordan Howard 2.0 like a bad thing - better than Kenyan Drake rn 🤷‍♂️

Don't want to derail this thread, but Drake is the RB20 despite missing a game and already having his bye. He is also 7th in the NFL in rushing yards.

 

As far as Ballage, there's not tons of upside, but his passing game usage in a pretty good offense make him a pretty solid RB2 while Ekeler is out, I think.

[typh00n2k 18]

must start until further notice. Who knows if eckler is even coming back man. Pure volume he will receive is amazing 

[ohio#1eaglesfan 539]

5 hours ago, Tomei7 said:

Nah, .13 of a second difference in their 40 time big deal. Both are very similar in size and game speed, Ballage maybe an inch or 2 taller. Both are slugs, both are plodders, both will never outrun any defender on defense. Only difference I see is Ballage May catch a few passes. Jordan Howard 2.0

You have no idea what you’re talking about. Howard ran a 4.6 and can’t catch the ball. Bad comparison. 

[ohio#1eaglesfan 539]

 Check out the run at 22 seconds. He can definitely outrun someone.

[Tomei7 591]

8 hours ago, Tomei7 said:

Nah, .13 of a second difference in their 40 time big deal. Both are very similar in size and game speed, Ballage maybe an inch or 2 taller. Both are slugs, both are plodders, both will never outrun any defender on defense. Only difference I see is Ballage May catch a few passes. Jordan Howard 2.0

 

2 hours ago, ohio#1eaglesfan said:

You have no idea what you’re talking about. Howard ran a 4.6 and can’t catch the ball. Bad comparison. 

Throw the 40x’s out the window bud (reason being is Ballage ran a 4.46 and then ran a 4.57, Howard ran a 4.59, the 4.57 Ballage is what ur seeing game day), watch this years game film especially the game vs the Dolphins, dude runs like he’s running in a big jar of peanut butter, the real sticky chunky kind. Perfect example Joshua Kelley ran a 4.49 same as Ballage, does that show on the football field? No it doesn’t.... Salvon Ahmed ran a 4.62, does that show on the football field? No it doesn’t....and that was anomaly his game speed shows differently, Ballage’s game speed shows more like the 4.57 40 on his 2nd attempt more like Jordan Howard 2.0 like I said. I’ve already stated the only difference is that Ballage will catch the ball but as far as size and game speed my 1st thought is a rich mans Jordan Howard. It’s about game speed not 40x’s. That being said Ballage can be a PPR asset until Ekeler returns cause he will catch the ball and plays on a very gd offense. Any downhill runner who can catch the rock will have success in this offense. Ballage is nothing special, let’s be honest with ourselves.

[TroutFister 551]

seems like a troymaine pope week.

[Tghetty 355]

6 minutes ago, TroutFister said:

seems like a troymaine pope week.

chargers will be up and will run the ball up the pipe 

[montgrove 131]

 

[ludawg23 1,982]

1 minute ago, montgrove said:

 

I’ll take it this week vs the Jets but how do you give a guy who had 23 touches last week “more looks”?

Run him till he pukes!

[PlayTheWaivers 1,886]

Bumping- somewhat high value touches still but didn't blow up against Jets...expectations tempered obviously lol. Kelley looks phased out and maybe Ekeler returns soon.

Starting next week vs. Bills? Bills can't stop anyone against run either but not sure if LAC will be able to hang with Buffalo. Looks like Ballage is still getting receptions and almost has basically bellcow status. 

[owenmills 5,326]

The yards per touch was brutal and vintage Ballage but the touches are fantastic especially in the current RB landscape. Lots of touches + GL in a good offense is basically a default RB2 at minimum right now regardless of actual talent.

I caught some of the game on red zone and he almost scored at the GL right before the Hunter Henry TD catch. Probably a really good RB would've scored, he had a seam and just had to slip a tackle but it is what it is

Edited November 23, 2020 by owenmills

[TeflonDonNewcombe 75]

11 minutes ago, PlayTheWaivers said:

Bumping- somewhat high value touches still but didn't blow up against Jets...expectations tempered obviously lol. Kelley looks phased out and maybe Ekeler returns soon.

Starting next week vs. Bills? Bills can't stop anyone against run either but not sure if LAC will be able to hang with Buffalo. Looks like Ballage is still getting receptions and almost has basically bellcow status. 

 

The volume is nice and the Jets run D is somewhat underrated considering how bad of a team they are but this cat is pretty underwhelming. He does not have a nose for the end zone and the Chargers seem content to throw the hell out of the ball no matter where they're at on the field. Herbert even had a carry inside the 5 before throwing a TD to (I believe) Hunter Henry. Still a decent Rb2/flex play depending on your options since he has a workhorse role but this dude is a below average NFL back and not the long term answer for the Chargers. He has a floor at 8-12 points with little upside. 

Edited November 23, 2020 by TeflonDonNewcombe

[yanksman 3,781]

Volume monster. Asiata like. I dont think he can be blamed about the efficiency too much. Jets have had a surprisingly solid run defense this year. Still RB2 type volume until Ekeler comes back.

[gsw 291]

Anyone know anything about this injury?  Is he in danger of missing this week?

[ST. STEVEN 4,177]

17 minutes ago, gsw said:

Anyone know anything about this injury?  Is he in danger of missing this week?

They are saying it's an ankle/calf injury...he was only limited, so I would think he is on track to play?

[TeflonDonNewcombe 75]

He got a little banged up during the game and had to come out a few plays and get his ankle taped up but he went right back in. The limited practice seems related to that which doesn’t appear too serious. 

[Gryfter 1,039]

1 hour ago, ST. STEVEN said:

They are saying it's an ankle/calf injury...he was only limited, so I would think he is on track to play?

 

Prob just a maintenance day as the poster above stated. Ballage's ankle got banged up early in the game but came back in. Then close to the end of the game, it looked like he re-aggravated the injury.

The bigger concern is whether or not Ekeler gets activated to play this week. 

[ohio#1eaglesfan 539]

Not true. He hurt it late in the game when they were trying to run out the clock. He was covering up the ball with both arms and wasn’t trying to gain any yards. Just basically gave himself up just trying to protect the ball and got injured on the gang tackle. Had he been protecting the ball and actually fighting a little he probably wouldn’t have got hurt. 

[TeflonDonNewcombe 75]

12 minutes ago, ohio#1eaglesfan said:

Not true. He hurt it late in the game when they were trying to run out the clock. He was covering up the ball with both arms and wasn’t trying to gain any yards. Just basically gave himself up just trying to protect the ball and got injured on the gang tackle. Had he been protecting the ball and actually fighting a little he probably wouldn’t have got hurt. 

I missed this at the end of the game but saw Josh Kelley had some clock killing runs. Little more concerned now. How bad did it look, doc?

[ohio#1eaglesfan 539]

23 minutes ago, TeflonDonNewcombe said:

I missed this at the end of the game but saw Josh Kelley had some clock killing runs. Little more concerned now. How bad did it look, doc?

Couldn't really see what happened because he was tackled by so many defenders. He limped badly off the field. 

[EaglesRocker97 210]

This guys is ranked as a solid starter this week on a lot of sites, but it feels like a really uneasy situation to me considering he looked pretty banged up last and Ekeler might be returning. Apparently BUF run-d is bottom-end, so the matchup might look good on paper, but the defense is decent enough overall and the Chargers will be flying cross-country. It just kinda feels like Buffalo is a very good team overall and it just feels like a bad spot for the Chargers that is more lopsided than at first glance. They're +4.5, so with the added uncertainty of injury and Ekeler taking work away from Ballage, I'm tempted to bench, even if his replacement doesn't really inspire much confidence. What kind of usage are people expecting this week?