hondo in seattle
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Posts posted by hondo in seattle
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It may indeed be a bad year to need an OLT.
And I think that means - whether Nix, Gailey and we like it or not - that Hairston will be our starter on opening day.
No NFL roster is perfect. Hopefully we don't have so many imperfections that they prevent us from finally reaching the playoffs.
Interestingly, there was a lot of panic going into last year with Bell as our LT. In fact, there was a lot of panic about the OL in general. Yet both our backs averaged over 5 ypc and our QB was not sacked much. Gailey and the offensive coaching staff did a great job at the beginning of last season covering up our weaknesses. Let's hope they can do it again - but for a full season this time.
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You guys crack me up.
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The draft is looming on the imminent horizon. None of us knows who Buddy will pick. But we should all know what will happen afterwards.
This board will be filled with both self-congratulation and self-assassination. Some of the draft gurus will give us good grades: others will give us poor ones.
The optimists amongst us will believe the former. The pessimists will believe the latter. Both sides will make cogent arguments to defend their point of view.
While I do respect the vast knowledge of guys like Brandt & Casserly and even McShay & Kiper, I don't think any of the media draftniks has a particular strong record when giving out grades. If the published prognosticators are bad, us fans are typically even worse.
Me, personally, I think this year I'll just trust Nix and Company and wait 3 years to see if my faith is proven right or wrong.
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Make your top 3 worst analogies between Buffalo athletes and historical Russian figures!!!!
Clint Malarchuk : Catherine the Great - Instead of dying while fornicating with a horse he got his throat slashed with a skate and lived.
Ko Simpson : Anastasia Romanov - Unfathomable net worth yet managed to disappear without a trace.
JP Losman : Yuri Gegarin - First man in space and first QB to put a ball into sub orbit on a 5 yard out.
This made me chuckle.
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I didn't agree with all the assessments but the article is really well written.
Most amateur sports journalists are barely literate. They offer up some really bad stuff. It's nice to see a guy who can spell and even get a little flowery as well as does his homework.
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PFT discussed Arkansas options and lists Wanny with this comment:
Dave Wannstedt, defensive coordinator, Buffalo Bills — There’s one reason and one reason only why the former Pittsburgh head coach has been mentioned by a national writer — a previous relationship with Long. Beyond that convenient tie, Wannstedt makes zero sense and would instantly and literally become one of the worst hires in the history of the game.
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/10/reports-bobby-petrino-fired-at-arkansas/related/
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Also... have you looked at Archie Manning's Stats? He wasn't a good quarterback.
Anyways, teams can be good without a good quarterback.
I'm just saying that a good quarterback will make a bad team good. Just watch what happens to the Broncos this year.
I did better. I watched Archie play. His stats may not be impressive because the supporting cast wasn't impressive.
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After getting blasted in the face with Russell Wilson all day everyday, a la Tim tebow on espn, I decided to take a long look at a bunch of Russell Wilson videos today. My thoughts prior to my research today: He's a good college qb that benefited from having an amazing OL and running game to go with some good talent at WR. I thought his height would be a big issue in the nfl and drafting him would be a COMPLETELY wasted pick. Post research thoughts: I like him more than I did. He's got great pocket awareness. I thought it was just his athletic ability that allowed to him make plays after the play broke down (tavaris Jackson is an example), but it's a definite combination of athletic ability and pocket awareness (Aaron Rodgers/big ben). He's a smart well spoken kid that has a tremendous head on his shoulders and motivation won't be a problem. I could see him developing in a solid player down the road due to his combination of character/ability. That being said, I still believe his height will be an issue. He may be able to overcome it, but he's still a guy that might be out of the league after 5 years of rising the pine. I wouldn't be opposed to drafting him in round 5-7. In the past, I scoffed at the idea. He's a good kid and has a chance, albeit slight.
Thanks for the good evaluation.
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Could be 8-8, but 9-7 if things go right. 10-6 is pretty optimistic. Then, there have been some huge turnarounds in the NFL, as well as huge falls recently. although Chan's offense will be in year 3, Stach's defense will be in year one with new guys everywhere, not sure that will jell quickly, despite the massive influx of talent. Sometimes the systems win and loose, not the individuals. I want to be optimistic, but have been crushed to many times to drink that cool-aid anymore. Most I can do these days is hope for the best....and expect, well, who knows what. Buffalo has certainly changed the mix, and the new administration is moving, we can see.
Obviously, the Bills had trouble switching to the 3-4 under Edwards partly because Edwards made things too complicated but mostly because we didn't have the right personnel for a 3-4. The switch back will be far less painful because Wanny will keep things as simple as he needs to and with the two DE signings, we have the right people to run a 4-3. I think both Dareus and K. Williams will excel in the 4-3. Kelsay will be a good reserve as a DE in the 4-3 assuming Anderson starts. M. Williams, of course, is built for the 4-3.
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Peyton Manning is injured for a year and the colts change from a 12 win team to a 1 win team.
The Patriots would be bad without Tom Brady.
Drew Brees went to the Saints and turned them into a title contender.
Ben Roethlisberger got drafted by the Steelers and won 2 superbowls. (defense was good before he was there)
Eli Manning did the same with the Giants. (strahan was there before him)
Those are just a few recent examples..
All true. And the Saints of old were mediocre instead of bad one because of Archie Manning. No one doubts that the QB is the most important player. But he can't lead a team to the playoffs without a decent supporting cast. Quarterbacks don't kick. They don't tackle. And they don't (usually) block.
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Here ya go!
http://profootballta...orkout-tracker/
Buffalo Bills
Ohio State offensive tackle Mike Adams (4/4).
Oklahoma State receiver Justin Blackmon (4/?).
Clemson defensive end Andre Branch (3/29).
TCU linebacker Tank Carder (4/2).
Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins (3/31).
Georgia tackle/guard Cordy Glenn (3/?).
Syracuse defensive end Chandler Jones (4/4).
West Virginia linebacker Bruce Irvin (?/?).
USC offensive tackle Matt Kalil (4/5).
Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick (4/5).
Stanford offensive tackle Jonathan Martin (?/?).
Arizona State quarterback Brock Osweiler (4/?).
Alabama running back Trent Richardson (4/4).
Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson (4/4).
Thanks for this!
I notice that 4 of 14 players listed are Tackles.
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This may be true, but it does not change the fact that he has not been successful to this point in the NFL. You cant use the "bad team" excuse for an entire career. Good Quarterbacks will turn a bad team into a good team.
I disagree. Archie Manning never made the Saints into a good team. I remember watching him play. He was good but the surrounding cast wasn't.
QBs don't play special team. They don't play defense. How can they stop the other team from scoring? At best, a good QB can make the offense productive. But you still need RBs to run the ball, blockers to block, receivers to catch.
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The Bills are looking for a #2 receiver, not a #1 receiver. It doesn't matter that many on this board think Stevie J. isn't a #1 receiver...he's the guy, and we're looking for a #2. If you pick a WR at #10 and he's the second WR off the board, you're taking him to be your #1 receiver. I don't see the Bills in the market for that player.
Better fits are Randle, Sanu, McNutt, etc. in round 2-4.
As much as I'm not crazy about the pick, I think we're looking at either Reiff or Kuechly.
And there's NO way we go WR with first AND second picks. This isn't Madden.
There really isn't a #1 and #2 receiver. Every team has two receivers and one happens to be better than the other so gets more throws.
Wouldn't it be an advantage to have another receiver as good or better than Stevie? A team can never have too many weapons.
I do not understand your posts. This whole number 1,2,3 WR talk is pointless. "stevie pushed lee out of a job?" Players perform and whatever happens happens. If Floyd goes for 75 catches and Stevie does as well what does it matter? It wasn't a problem for Bruce and Holt, Julio and Roddy, Reed and Lofton and a million other examples. So we shouldn't take Floyd because he might turn into a #1 ? Boy that would bad huh?
+1
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Wasn't Janikowski a first round pick. I think Ray Guy might have also been a first round pick. So its not an impossible option. In our case I suspect we have some 24 other positions in worse need than punter or kicker...well..maybe not one of our defensive ends and one of our wide receivers...
Ray Guy was indeed a first round pick. And he led the Raiders to three Super Bowl championships. Football is a game of field position and the easiest yards to get are through the air on a punt. We could get a game-changing punter with the #10 pick. I'm all for it!
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I remember Charles Rome... good DB.
And I remember France. My mom's from Drancy and I think I have a second-cousin named Olivier in or near Paris.
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Mike Lombardi
Lombardi is a guy I respect for his NFL experience. But I'm not sure his personnel career was as successful as Brandt's.
Pat Kirwan is who knows the business from the inside.
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It's an NFL rule change - if you are an eastern division team, you cannot be on the road for the 49ers and the Seahawks in the same season, and vice versa.
Being in Seattle since 2006, I haven't seen the Bills play once out here. It will not be until 2016, a full 10 years after I moved out here, before I see them play locally.
This is disappointing for me too! I just moved here 3 years ago and was hoping to see the Bills in person this season.
I wore my Bills stuff to games in Miami and San Francisco in years past. The Miami crowd heckled me while the San Fran crowd was mostly very polite. I'm wondering how Seattlelites will respond to someone decked out in Bills logos. Apparently I won't personally find out until 2016 - thanks for the info.
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It's not just the addition of one player. Here's why I think the Bills D will be much improved.
1. Injuries. Last year, arguably our best D Linemen, best LB and best CB were all injured. This year, with a complete training camp working with our trainers, we won't be savaged by injuries. Just being healthier (cross our fingers) will make us better.
2. Wanny. Not only is he switching us to a 4-3, he's also simplifying the defense so players can react more quickly and instinctively. As pointed out, he's a Super Bowl winning DC. He'll make some other improvements that we won't anticipate.
3. D Line. The addition of Anderson and especially M. Williams, combined with an improving Dareus and healthy D. Williams makes this line significantly better than last year's line. A better line will make the LB and secondary look better.
4. Draft? It will be interesting to see who the Bills add to the Defense on Draft Weekend.
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Brandt is way overrated and rests on his laurels from days gone by. He didn't even have Brock Osweiler in his top 100 a month ago now he is #35. Two months ago he had Vontaze Burfict his #22 ranked player, Alshon Jeffery #9 and Zac Brown #10. Jeffery and Brown are now 2nd rounders and Burfict off the list. When you have dramatic changes in the list, to me, that is a big red flag that this guy doesn't really know the players in and out. It's not too hard to look at the million or so rankings out there and formulate your own list of names. He sits and watches prospects at the combine and talks to scouts and other personnel people to come up with his updated list. To me this says more about his ability to gather together opinions rather than truly being an idependent minded scout, so to speak.
That being said, I still like to read his later lists because I think it represents a general consensus of a number of fairly good talent evaluators.
Brandt is overrated? Along with Tex Schramm, he turned the Cowboys into perennial winners. He's got 30 years of experience scouting for an NFL team. He's forgotten more about player evaluation than you or I will ever know.
Of course players have moved up and down on his list. Back in his NFL days, Gil had a team of scouts working for him. Now he does all his work on his own. As he continues to watch tape and talk to scouts, he reevaluates players. Some move up, some move down.
Tell me another draft guru who can claim on his resume that he built a Super Bowl team?
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there's 3 pages in this thread, and i'm sure 25 other pages worth of posts scattered across this board on this topic, so nothing i'm going to say is going to be ground breaking.
but.
these rankings are meaningless, not for the reasons that so typically spring to mind (which are all true,) but for the simple matter that they can change on a whim. for instance, if the bills make the playoffs, lose in the conference championship game, or even *gasp* win the super bowl, where does fitz rank then?
im assuming higher than 24.
but clearly for that to happen, so much more needs to fall into place - such as a good to great defense, a good to great offensive line, a favorable schedule, some fortuitous bounces of the ball, and less injuries than the buffalo bills typically accrue - ALL THINGS THAT RYAN FITZPATRICK CAN NOT CONTROL.
now, if you were to take the 32 starting qbs in the NFL, throw in a few backups, line them up at a combine, and have a draft, (career statistics and accomplishments aside) would fitzy really go 24th? IDK. i find that hard to believe. i think his smarts, ability to read defense, and qualities as a leader outweigh mitigating factors like..
the "long ball."
because, according to my eyes
youtube.com/watch?v=34aat0isP0I&feature=fvst
that's ryan fitzpatrick throwing a FREAKING frozen rope of a football FIFTY yards in the air, dead on target into stev13s hands, in a pressure packed instant, against the best team in the conference.
so, truthfully, i just shake my head when people say fitz can't throw long. i would be curious if the 23 quarterbacks listed above him could make THAT throw in THAT situation.
Fitz does throw a nice deep ball once in a while. The problem is that when Fitz uncorks a long ball, you have no idea what to expect. It might be a fluttering duck. It might travel to some place unintended. And it might actually land in the receivers hands. Sometimes it seems he's really straining and putting everything's he's got into the throw so it will have the distance. But his forced effort causes the ball to be erratic. Did you ever listen to him when he's wired? He grunts when he throws those frozen ropes. A stronger QB makes long throws look (& sound) effortless.
I like Fitz. That means I just live with the fact that his long throws are rolls of the dice.
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Judging by this thread it would appear that the concept of due diligence is not clearly understood. When properly applied you gain experience and knowledge at a more rapid pace and contingencies reveal themselves rather than the need to sweat details and assume unnecessary risks based upon assumption. Smart GMs assess players that know they will not pick or be able to pick to make projections for them hypothetically and then track their progress in the league. It is part of self assessing your abilities to make accurate projections on players. I guarantee that Cam Newton is being observed indirectly to self evaluate if they would have been correct in drafting him if he was available. If this concept is lost on some of you then you should really study it. It can vastly improve your own job performance or investments depending on the variables in play. Leave no stone unturned as they say.
Thanks for the condescending attitude. May we all be as bright and worldly as you some day.
As a business professional, I'm familiar with the concept of "due diligence." I'm also familiar with the concept of "limited resources." As a business owner, I don't waste much time on unlikely scenarios. Time is too valuable. The Bills have only so much time to study players and can only bring in 30 players. When time/money/visits are limited, why spend it on a player we are highly unlikely to draft?
I think I'm asking a valid question. And I think Buddy probably has a valid answer. And maybe the answer is indeed "due diligence." Maybe drafting Richardson isn't as unlikely as I assume it to be. Then again, maybe it's not due diligence. Maybe the Bills just want to appear interested in Richardson to influence the decision making of other clubs. I'm not pretentious enough to claim to know Buddy's intent.
P.S. My business is highly successful despite your comments.
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Here's how I rate Fitz:
Better than Rob Johnson, TE, Gary Marangi, AVP, JP Losman, Todd Collins, Vince Ferragamo, Dennis Shaw, Kelly Holcomb, Dan Manucci and the great Brian Brohm
Not as good as Joe Ferguson, Frank Reich, Jim Kelly.
The Bills have been blessed with some good RBs over the years. But not a lot of good QBs. While Fitz may not be "elite," he's better than a whole bunch of his predecessors. So I'm happy to have him as our starter.
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- When Chris Hairston was drafted I didn't expect much from him this past year......I thought we might have another developmental type that might not stick
- But then I got a chance to watch him play.......NASTY mean streak...ability to hit fast moving targets....NATURALLY strong in the upper body.
- Had better feet then I thought he was going to have
- Legs need work
- Weight needs to come down
- Rookie
But all in all....I saw what I needed to see to believe he could man the LT spot this next year and do it well.....I dont know exactly HOW good he is going to be until I see him at about 15 pounds lighter. But I saw enough to understand why he was playing in place of Bell AND why the bills didn't go out of their way to resign Bell.
Please understand this....teams dont let start LT's go in free agency unless they know they have a viable plan B....and Hairston is it. This is not a great draft for tackles....the free agent market is weak....and the bills have made not attempts to look at any other OT's in free agency. Why do you think that is? Because they think they have something in Chris Hairston and I tend to agree with them.
I appreciate your insights on Hairston. I hate watching the Bills lose and so didn't watch a lot of games he played.
However, I have to disagree with the part I bolded. Despite not having a viable Plan B, we let Peters go and he wasn't even a free agent. Sometimes teams do let good LTs go, for salary cap or other reasons.
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Aren't most if not all pro athletes overpaid?
+1
Who benefits society more? Firemen? Law enforcement officers? Teachers? Soldiers? Or football players?
Nix on WGR this morning
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
Two years ago, I correctly guessed Nix would draft Spiller. I don't watch college football much. I can't evaluate college players. And I ignore draftniks. But listening to Nix talk pre-draft made me believe that was the direction he was going.
Last year, most people correctly guessed Dareus. Nix made it plain which players he liked. The only challenge for us fans guessing the pick right was figuring out the pick ahead of us.
Nix says what he thinks. He doesn't seem to have any kind of deception plan to befuddle other clubs. He doesn't give us too much information but he does tend to give a lot.
This year, though, I'm having more trouble understanding him. And maybe because I want a Tackle so badly, I'm not really listening when he's suggesting a different direction. This last interview made me wonder if he'll go CB??? Or WR??? He says he wants a playmaker or difference-maker and then went out of his way to explain that a Tackle could fit the bill. But it didn't seem he was talking about Tackles when he was saying the Bills should get a play-maker with #10.
One thing I thought was interesting was that Nix said they've done lots of studies on Tackles. We have some folks on the board who read lots of draft magazines and then seem to think they know more than the FO. Nix and his team are incredible experts on the draft. They've done all sorts of studies on all the positions. They know the key indicators of success and have fully vetted the top maybe 250, 350 players in the country. Who ever #10 turns out to be, I won't pretend that I can intelligently second-guess Nix. (Though I might do it anyway just for fun).