he transition from college to professional football is always difficult, but running backs are generally considered to have it easier than most.
Accordingly, the speedy C.J. Spiller did impress in the preseason, averaging 4.7 yards per carry. So why has the ninth overall pick of last April’s draft, who had a star-studded career at Clemson, carried the ball just eight times in two games for the Buffalo Bills?
“When he got to the regular season, that first game he was just going extremely fast,” Bills coach Chan Gailey said yesterday. “I was probably unfair to him to throw him in there. We backed him back a little bit this past week.”
After seven rushes for 6 yards against the Dolphins, Spiller had one rush for 3 yards against the Packers. Gailey still believes in the potentially dynamic runner, and he’ll still return kickoffs. It just may not happen Sunday vs. the Patriots [team stats].
“He’s still going to make a lot of big plays for us in the future,” Gailey said. “We just need to get him going on a little slower pace than throwing him in there from the get-go.”
Not goods news for Spiller owners who were hoping he'd take over the starting role. That now means better news for Lynch and Fred Jackson owners. Gailey already said Lynch will get a lot of work this week against New England. But it's not a great matchup.
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