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TJ

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) - Taiwan Jones spent all training camp trying to impress the Oakland Raiders with his speed.

Now they're trying to get the rookie running back to slow down.

Even he admits that might be a pretty tough challenge.

"My biggest problem is when I hear 'Hike!' I just want to go," Jones said Tuesday. "A lot of times you have to be more patient and let the blocks develop. I just have to remind myself to slow down."

After missing a large chunk of camp with a slight hamstring pull, Jones has a lot of ground to make up in a very short time.

He remains third on the Raiders' depth chart behind Darren McFadden and Michael Bush and is one of six running backs on the team's roster.

At 6 feet, 195 pounds Jones is also the smallest member of the group - and that's after gaining 20 pounds in the offseason.

Jones looked plenty quick in his debut last weekend against New Orleans when he ran for 81 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown, caught two passes and returned a kickoff.

"I'm not surprised, and I think he can do more," Raiders coach Hue Jackson said. "I think he has a bright future ahead of him but again, that was one outing. He needs to do it consistently in order to be talked about as one of these really good players."

Jones will get another shot to do that when the Raiders fly to Seattle for their final exhibition game on Friday.

McFadden, who missed a portion of camp with a fractured orbital bone, has not played at all this preseason and will likely be held out of the finale against the Seahawks.

Bush is likely to start in McFadden's place, but will probably take only a handful of reps before giving way to the backups.

That means a welcome but increased workload for Jones, Oakland's fourth-round draft pick who needs to keep hitting the pedal in order to make the Raiders' 53-man roster.

To do that Jones also needs to slow down a bit - at least mentally. That was something he admittedly struggled to do against the Saints.

With 30 friends and family members in the stands, Jones almost became too excited and had to catch himself before settling in.

"The hardest thing was trying to slow myself down," Jones said. "I was so anxious and excited that I was able to showcase my talent against another team that I was a little too fast sometimes. I just had to slow things down, take a deep breath and try to be patient."

The combination of McFadden and Bush helped the Raiders finish with the NFL's second-ranked running game in 2010, and Jackson is looking to build off that this year.

But both players have a history of injuries, too, which was one of the reasons Oakland drafted Jones in April.

Now it's a matter of getting the speedy runner to maintain his quickness while slowing down everything else.

"God, can this guy run," Jackson said. "He's very nimble and he's very smooth. For a guy that's built like he is, he's very physical. There's a lot of velocity behind the man when he runs into a pile."
Click to expand...

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/nfl-wire/article539973.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
My brother (who lives in Concord, CA) just Emailed me and said Taiwan Jones made the Oakland Raiders roster, according to the morning newspaper. He has also changed his number from #36 to #22. Way to go TJ! A good weekend all around for Eastern Washington!
 
jmyoung said:
My brother (who lives in Concord, CA) just Emailed me and said Taiwan Jones made the Oakland Raiders roster, according to the morning newspaper. He has also changed his number from #36 to #22. Way to go TJ! A good weekend all around for Eastern Washington!
Click to expand...
:clap:
 
:clap: :clap: :clap:

No way were they getting rid of TJ with their starting RB's proness to injury and TJ's pre-season performance against the Saints.

That said, maybe they need to be giving him the ball a lot more if they want to win any games this season. :shock:
 
Haven't seen him in the game at all tonight...unless I looked away at some point. Who knows, then again if the Broncos keep turning the ball over the more chances he has to get in the game.
 
Taiwan had one carry, four yards in Raiders loss to Buffalo.

http://scores.seattletimes.nwsource.com/fb/boxscore.asp?gamecode=20110918002&home=2&vis=13&final=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Bump...

Jones had 1 carry for 8 yards, caught a pass for negative 5 yards, and had 3 kickoff returns for 52 yards against the jets.

At least he is seeing the field.

Think we would be 0-4 if he stuck around for his senior year?
 
marceagfan5 said:
Bump...

Jones had 1 carry for 8 yards, caught a pass for negative 5 yards, and had 3 kickoff returns for 52 yards against the jets.

At least he is seeing the field.

Think we would be 0-4 if he stuck around for his senior year?
Click to expand...

Not a chance. We'd be 2-2 at the worst, with wins over UW and UM. Probably beat the Cats too.
 
Watching the Raiders take on the Broncos right now.......I think there's a fair chance Taiwan gets some reps in this game. :thumb:
 
They've got him in on special teams and he just got a PF for roughing the kicker............ :lol: To be fair, he kind of just sled into him, but they still called it. :cry:
 
Not good for a rookie to be making back to back penalties on the FG attempt. Ended up saving them 3 pts, though!
 
Dozy said:
Not good for a rookie to be making back to back penalties on the FG attempt. Ended up saving them 3 pts, though!
Click to expand...

Yeah, not his best effort. Hopefully he gets the damn ball a little in the second half so he can at least redeem himself a little. Only three carries in the first half, the longest of which was called back on a hold. Sometimes I think he tries to dance around a little too much or try to get around the corner when he just needs to hit the hole. NFL DE's and LB's are too fast for that shit!
 
My fantasy running backs are McFadden (hurt), Ryan Matthews (hurt), Javid Best (hurt and bye), and some role players. I picked up TJ on a flier in hopes he might help me out and as handcuff for McFadden in case Bush goes down. :ohno:

He did make a nice tackle on special teams in the first half and had decent run back though. :thumb:
 
They gave him more carries on Thursday night against the Chargers with McFadden out.

7 carries, 39 yards, 5.6 average. He would've had more if not for a holding call (per usual).
 
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