Hand it to Ray Lewis for giving us a football term we've never heard before.
Prior to Monday night's game between the Lions and Seahawks, the ESPN Monday Night Football crew previewed the matchup. One of the main topics heading into the game was the Seahawks' usage of Jimmy Graham.
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That was when former players Trent Dilfer and Lewis started to break down what Graham is as a player, and they were harsh on his blocking skills.
“He’s a fantastic offensive weapon when split out. But when he’s an in-line tight end, it’s not perception, it is fact. He is unwilling and incapable to hold up in the run game as an in-line tight end,” Dilfer said. “He’s more of a spectator than a blocker. They’re averaging zero yards per carry when he lines up as an in-line tight end.”
Lewis agreed, and used some more colorful language.
“He’s a queen tight end. He’s the opposite of what I used to be playing against,” Lewis said.
He went on to tell a story of when he played against the Chiefs. He brought up how they had two tight ends — Jason Dunn and Tony Gonzalez. He said 90-95 percent of their runs would go toward Dunn's side because Gonzalez was not a blocking tight end.
“When you have this type of deficiency in your offense,” Lewis said, “this can take away your identity without you even knowing it takes away your identity.”
Both analysts made some good points, but we've never heard the phrase "queen tight end" used before. A Google search doesn't show any results for it, either. It's also a strong stance by Dilfer to say Graham is "unwilling" to be a blocker.
They said at different times they weren't "ripping Jimmy Graham," but it's hard to come away thinking that.
