Who Powered Through: Eric Weems And The Giant Return

by Dave Choate on Nov 30, 2010 2:00 PM EST in Who Powered Through

You could almost see his eyes lighting up.

Eric Weems had an open path for perhaps the first time all season. He made some judicious cuts, the team opened up some holes for him, and he was on his way past the 50. Beyond that was the end zone, and Weems was heading there.

If you're Matt Wilhelm in that situation, you face a difficult choice. You can try to tackle this dynamo and likely fail, given his head of steam and the juke he's about to put on your Packer jersey-wearing self, or you can go for the penalty and get the stop. Wilhelm wisely chose the last one, grabbing ahold of Weems' helmet and twisting it, a move that put the Falcons on the 50 yard line.

It's a testament to Weems that he was able to put the Falcons in a position where he would've either scored, gotten most of the way down the field or draw a penalty that gives the team the ball at midfield. He powered through, and that's why we're recognizing him this week.

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Weems is slowly becoming my favorite player (non-Ryan, Turner, White, Police division) this year.

I hate the Phillies so much...

by frozendesert on Nov 30, 2010 2:41 PM EST reply actions

I agree.

I hate the Phillies too. Oh, yeah, and Weems is starting to turn a corner as well.

by jgentry425 on Nov 30, 2010 2:45 PM EST up reply actions

Damn those phils!

by RamblininAlb on Dec 1, 2010 6:31 PM EST up reply actions

His hits on returns have been awesome to watch this year

A little puny receiver shouldn’t be able to hit that hard.

by Dave Choate on Nov 30, 2010 2:48 PM EST up reply actions

P=MxV

Momentum = Mass x Velocity. He is on the puny side, but he’s fast as crap, so he can hit harder than you would think. Special teams were a huge weakness a few weeks ago, but now Smitty & Co. (namely Mr. Armstrong) seems to have coached up our guys a bit the past few weeks. Hopefully we’ll find out that it has been due to our improvement rather than just facing weaker special teams. A good litmus test is this weekend against Spurlock.

by jgentry425 on Nov 30, 2010 2:57 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs

E=MVV/2

Energy (Kinetic) = Mass x Velocity squared divided by 2.

So a guy (Weems) that weighs half the weight of the bigger guy but runs about 44% faster will hit with the same energy as the bigger guy :)

Atlanta Falcons fan in Moscow, Russia

by Gemini-RU on Nov 30, 2010 3:13 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs

You guys are awesome

by Dave Choate on Nov 30, 2010 3:15 PM EST up reply actions

Weems=Beastly

My kinda math.

by CubFan90 on Nov 30, 2010 4:10 PM EST up reply actions

Rec'd and Rec'd

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Nov 30, 2010 4:50 PM EST up reply actions

17+x=20

I got nothin

by aces666high on Nov 30, 2010 5:00 PM EST up reply actions

wait

where did you get 17 and 20 from?

Atlanta Falcons fan in Moscow, Russia

by Gemini-RU on Dec 1, 2010 4:58 AM EST up reply actions

okay

which one of you is Bill Nye?

by brotherbrown on Dec 1, 2010 3:07 AM EST up reply actions

my last name ends with an -ov

the original of Dimitroff’s -off
so that’s definitely not me

Atlanta Falcons fan in Moscow, Russia

by Gemini-RU on Dec 1, 2010 5:00 AM EST up reply actions

Bill Nye Rocks

but alas, I’m just a lowly engineer. I’ve had enough physics rammed down my throat, I often translate into everyday stuff, like football.

by jgentry425 on Dec 1, 2010 9:34 AM EST up reply actions

Special teams still needs work though

We just looked good last week or two. I think we still might give up a few big ones unfortunately

by brotherbrown on Dec 1, 2010 3:06 AM EST up reply actions

Thats what impressed me was his hits.Man what a beast!

by JT131 on Nov 30, 2010 3:03 PM EST up reply actions

That hit on Reed on the final kick return vs. the Ravens was a masterpiece.

I hate the Phillies so much...

by frozendesert on Nov 30, 2010 3:14 PM EST up reply actions

He's our own mini-Tasker

I wouldn’t mind giving him a long term contract (shouldn’t be too expensive) as a dedicated special-teamer.

by orion12 on Nov 30, 2010 8:04 PM EST up reply actions

Happy for him and us

He did a great job Sunday, and although I know he is a guaranteed 20yds per return, he doesn’t have any creativity back there. I wish Harry was back on KR and Weems just on PR. Weems is a hard runner and that works for me, on PR, because he gets 10+yds everytime but on KR, besides this game, he runs striaght into the pile and we get nothing but a simple 20 yds.

I like his hitting, but we need to give him some help. He shouldn’t be the only tackler everytime!

by Neighborhood J on Nov 30, 2010 2:54 PM EST reply actions

That run was huge...

While I am confident in Matty’s ability to move down the field, starting with the ball at midfield made all the difference in the world.

The Packers are very good against the pass, and we saw signs of their aggressive pass rush all day. Having to move the ball 50+ yards would have been very, very tough. Plus, turnovers are not as big on the other side of the field…

And I agree, Wilhelm actually made the right call there, I am just glad he didn’t hurt Weems in the process.

"You can't print what I said, but they have to catch us." - Chipper Jones

by Jman781 on Nov 30, 2010 2:57 PM EST reply actions

I think teams might consider onside kicks against us under 2 minutes.

Because this team has shown that it doesn’t really matter what the opponent does. If they give us a minute or more, we’re going to score again regardless of where they give us the ball. Given that, it looks like the best chance opponents have is to not let us get the ball.

I don’t know if this prospect worries me or makes me happy.

by vumpler on Nov 30, 2010 3:59 PM EST reply actions

A minute! Please..... 19secs sir.

Rule #1: Double tap.

by Ball Hawk on Nov 30, 2010 7:51 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

or 11 secs

by brotherbrown on Dec 1, 2010 3:10 AM EST up reply actions

Loved his play on ST's all day

Make some decent returns and also a couple good hits. When he wasnt hitting he did a good job of playing the lanes

I’d like to see him get a play on two in the main offense. HD has stepped up a little though.

by qthaballa on Nov 30, 2010 10:03 PM EST reply actions

Weems so far

Doesn’t have like Neighborhood J said the spectacular creativity or offensive experience as HD does.
But he’s solid. Doesnt’ bring it to the house…but usually guys that do that are hit and miss. Good when it works but when it doesn’t it fails badly at critical times.

Does weems ever fumble? Does he loose yardage trying to make a play?
No.
He runs straight up vertical and gets us to the 25 or 30 each time, and can make a sure tackle like William Moore.

by brotherbrown on Dec 1, 2010 3:13 AM EST reply actions 1 recs