The Frankish Reich
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Posts posted by The Frankish Reich
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Well, if we're going to take this little thought experiment seriously, and if we assume that players with under 2 years are exempt, then:
-The "please take this guy off my payroll" list: Dareus, Clay
- The "we'd be o.k. with keeping him, but we wouldn't be shattered if you took him" list: Hughes, Watkins (because he's unsigned beyond this year), Wood, Glenn, Kyle (sorry, it's not about you, it's about Father Time), Preston Brown, O'Leary, "Philly"
- The "we'll try to sneak him past the expansion draft, but we're really hoping nobody takes him" list: Tyrod, Richie, Micah Hyde (because we just decided he was worth the contract he just got), Jordan Poyer (same), Patrick DiMarco (same) and maybe Tolbert (same, but I can't think they're that excited about him), Lorax (same) Andre Holmes (same), Haushka (same), Jerel, Ducasse (same), Groy, Logan Thomas (the Bills have big plans for you, young man), Shady (because contract! not because of performance)
Which leaves us with the guys you'd want to protect under any circumstances, which is pretty uninspiring - basically the 2014-2015 draft/UFA class who are considered starter quality:
- Miller
- Darby
And right now I can't think of anyone else. This is why expansion teams are historically awful. The NFL is built around excess value found in pre-free agency players, and if you exempt players with 2 years service or less, the pickings are slim, particularly when you factor in that an expansion team isn't going to have the cap space to steal away everyone's Shady and Tyrod. But there's another point too with the Bills: really, Miller and Darby (and of course Sammy, and maybe Preston Brown?) are the only 3rd/4th year players expected to start? Yup. Doug Whaley, you really did a fine job in those 2014-15 drafts ...
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Plus "Jills" was about the dumbest name for cheerleaders since the Rams' unfortunate "Embraceable Ewes" c. 1974, which at least had the virtue of being offensively 1970s-ish and groanworthy.
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It does help... But expecting to get lucky and just draft the next Brady is unrealistic... We're going to need coaches who can maximize the hand they're dealt.
I found this quote and I absolutely love it!
"We forget these coaches are supposed to be teachers," Dilfer said. "And when they're not, it affects the players. And unfortunately, the NFL doesn't have all good teachers. There are a lot of guys who have coached and have ‘OC' by their name; it doesn't mean they can teach. Usually you can tell if a quarterback's being developed right by what his eyes and feet are doing. That offense doesn't have a real flow to the passing game. The feet and the eyes don't always match what's going on downfield. That's not a Tyrod Taylor issue. That's a coaching issue."
-Trent Dilfer.
Well, I guess that's true ... to a point. Of course, Trent Dilfer may also point to himself for the proposition that no coach can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. He started under Sam Wyche but didn't become Boomer. He started under Tony Dungy and Mike Shula but didn't become Peyton Manning (ok, unfair) or Cam Newton. He started under Brian Billick and somehow (well, we know how - defense and Jamal Lewis) won a Super Bowl, but never became late vintage Randall Cunningham (Billick's success in Minnesota that got him the head coach job in Baltimore). He even played a little under Mike Holmgren but never became Matt Hasselbeck. Wyche, Shula, Billick, Holmgren - that's a pretty good list of "teachers," no?
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Stop putting words into my mouth.
In general, the cornerback play has not been the limiting factor in the defense's ability to stop NE.
If you read my original post in this thread, you'd know that I never said it was all about scheme; that was a point that you apparently believe and felt was appropriate to project onto my post.
It's a combination of scheme and personnel; hence why only 2 teams in the league have had success against them. Or in other words; go back and read my 1st post in this thread without an agenda.
But really ... what do those two teams - Broncos and Seahawks - have in common over the last few years? Could it be great secondaries? From the defensive perspective, the answer is "get better players first," then try to play the schemes in which those great players can win matchups. Just like the answer on offense is "get a Tom Brady, then implement a passing game that takes full advantage of his unique skillset." No knock on you or trying to put words in your mouth, but I just don't see the defensive talent in Buffalo to pull off what the Broncos can pull off ...
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Sorry but what I see is idiocy that has given Bills fans a bad name for years now. Being a dumb ass isn't fandom, its being a dumb ass.
I have to agree. It is kind of funny I'll admit, watching drunk idiots. But it's getting kind of tiresome too, and it's too the point where I can expect people to bring these antics up as soon as I mention I'm a Bills fan instead of talking about, you know, football ...
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Not with Jordan Mills as your starting RT.
He was god awful in pass protection for most of the year.... Hopefully the rookie Dawkins can play the position and play it well.
Yeah, but I just read that Jordan Mills won the offseason. Best shape of his life!
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In earlier discussion in this thread I agreed with others that CHOKER is not the right characterization. Choking means he gets anxious in the moment and his anxiety keeps him from performing well. That isn't what happens to Fitz. He's a lousy decision maker in critical points in the game. He does what you say - throws into coverage, tries to make throws his arm can't, etc. Unless it's fourth down or the last play of the game, those decisions are bad because there's always another play, which is another opportunity for your team to make a play or the opponent to make a mistake.
Fitzy is a gunslinger, like Favre and Big Ben, but without the arm to back it up. In the old west, being a gunslinger and a lousy shot was a bad combination. Fitz is the football equivalent.
That's why we loved him. For a little while. A guy with a limited talent set for an NFL QB, yet not afraid to act like he was fully capable of doing the things a Favre did. Which is why we hated him as a QB after a little while. I wonder what Fitzy would do if he played on a team with a really good defense and somehow restrained himself from trying those dangerous plays? We saw a little bit of that in Houston, but that didn't last either.
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No...it's a way of saying that they approached the game differently than Buffalo.
Rex's D (and Schwartz's for that matter) asked their corners to play sticky in coverage and prevent completions; Seattle and Denver ask their corners to beat up WRs at the LOS to disrupt timing and take away the easy YAC opportunities.
So ... Gilmore and Darby = Chris Harris Jr and Talib???? It's all about scheme again? Maybe, just maybe (fool though he is) Ryan didn't use Gilmore and Darby that way because they simply weren't capable of succeeding that way.
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And the goalposts are at the GOAL line, where they belong.
Do you need to cross the back of the end zone to score a TD? No!
We win XXV if the goalposts are left where they belong!
Right! They sprung that rule change on us in 1974 with little notice. How quickly did they think we could adapt by getting a stronger legged kicker? Unfair! By the way, I know it was a "safety issue" so it's never going back, but I did love the goalposts on the goal line, with that big goalpost standard a few yards into the end zone making things more interesting .... -
I don't think it's a coincidence that McDermott & Co. prefer tough, long-armed corners that can press/bail and tackle.
One of the reasons that NE has struggled (relatively) with Denver and Seattle is that they're willing to rough up the WRs and do what's necessary to get pressure on Brady. Part of that is having safeties that can play like LBs against the run so as not to sacrifice integrity on the interior when telling your front-4 and slot corner to play solely pass-focused defense.
Which is kind of another way of saying that their corners have just been flat-out better than ours? This is why I was fine with moving on from Gilmore ...
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yes this a big pet peave of mine. i start yelling at the tv every time. it's an easy 5-10 yards every time when they play the Pats especially
Because when they play them tight they get burned on 60 yard TDs? Seriously though, I agree with you. I'd rather take my chances on the bombs than die that slow death. But to me it all comes down to the fact that the defensive personnel just hasn't been good enough. I think the defensive scheme is important, but not as important as the limited talent (and yes, that includes the supposed "shut down CBs" in Gilmore and Darby).
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Slow bearded white guys can get open when other slow bearded white guys block the defenders and the refs look the other way.
I assume you mean Edelman, although I'm not sure where the "slow" fits in ...
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My Dad used to bug me to go to games when I was about 8.
He was a nasty drunk and I was afraid of him but there was something I sensed as a kid; that it was important to him.
After a few years of him asking me I said yes..... First game he took me to was Miami, the first time we beat them in a decade. I was ten.
Needless to say I was hooked, he took the time to explain it to me, didn't yell at me, bought me hot chocolate.... he was a Dad. The Bills were the only thing we ever shared. The only time he was nice to me.
I went to every game during the Chuck Knox era except Pittsburgh ( held Bradshaw to 9 yards passing or something) because I was sick.
He died when I was 14 having his second liver operation. No boo hooing. One thing I learned as a boy was how to be a parent by doing the exact opposite of what my parents did.
My boy John LOVES football. He's the one I go to if I have NFL questions. We share other things though, guitar and fishing to name two.
Someday the Bills will win a Super Bowl and we will celebrate it as a family. I will hug him and tell him I love him.
Having a kid is such a privilege.
Just wanted to say thanks for the story. Glad to see you turned a difficult situation into a huge benefit for your son.
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October 18, 1970. Dolphins at Bills. My dad took me to my first NFL game at the old Rockpile. End zone seats. I was 8 years old and had just gotten into football that season. Dolphins were starting to put things together and would be Super Bowl bound the next season. Dennis Shaw threw for 348 yards (that didn't happen all that often in those days! He was my first Bills hero), Marlin Briscoe caught 2 TDs (no, I didn't remember these things but Pro Football Reference does), and O.J. danced around behind the line of scrimmage and somehow picked up 35 yards rushing (I do recall the dancing and my dad muttering about how he'd never amount to anything in the NFL unless he learns to hit the hole that exists, not the one he wishes would exist).
Dolphins destroyed the Bills 33-14, part of what would become a long, long trend. I ate stuff like crackerjack and had trouble following the game for quarters at a time, particularly when it all was happening in the opposite end zone as the Dolphins chewed up the yards.
Did I mention that It was a great day with dad at the stadium?
The next year the economic decline of Buffalo seemed to speed up to a frenzy and my dad lost his job and we had to move away from Buffalo to a city far from any NFL team in those days. I didn't see another NFL game with him for 38 years. The second time around, the Bills beat the Broncos in Denver and effectively ended their playoff hopes. To this day I believe that this was the game that ended Mike Shanahan's rum as Broncos coach. It was about 5 degrees in Mile High in mid-December by the time the game ended, but when things started the sun was out and after a rough first Broncos series it became obvious that the Bills had come to play and the Jay Cutler and the Broncos hadn't. We stuck it out till the end as Broncos fans made their escape to the warmth of their heated cars. Dick Jauron the motivator. Trent Edwards for a moment there looked just like Dennis Shaw in 1970. And he soon continued to resemble Dennis Shaw in his quick slide into oblivion.
It was another great day with dad at a different stadium. 38 years later.
Happy Father's Day, Dad, and all dads everywhere ....
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Myth: firing Rex will bring back the excellent 2014 defense he ruined.
Reality: there are 4 players left from that 2014 defense. A broken down warrior (Kyle), a fat pot head (Marcel), a slow linebacker (Brown), and good but not great pass rusher (Hughes).
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End of the Josh Woodrum era.
And I was so impressed with the strides he'd made with his footwork.
EDIT: wait a minute ... who the hell was Josh Woodrum?
Is Kouandjio really a bust? He was playing pretty well in a backup role last season. He is still very young and has some ability.
I recall a thread of about 30 pages entitled "is Kouandjio a bust." I think someone should find it and finish it off with a definitive yes. Was it the crappy on field performance or the splendid pants-less performance? Either way ... yet another Whaley bust.
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Further, Hunter had Cordarrelle Patterson across from him. Volunteers in his senior season played NC State, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Alabama, and South Carolina, among others. Better schedule? Sure, but they also stunk to the tune of 7 losses.
BonhamRocks, your Zay crush is getting a bit tedious, like a Moby Dick drum solo that goes on for half an hour.
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He took a broken down Matt Schaub to Baltimore as a backup because he could run his system..... Dennison likes that vet guy who knows the scheme. I can see McDermott and Beane being where you are Kirby, very easily, the question is whether Dennison has sufficient influence to change that. I very strongly suspect he will want Yates on the 53.
Right or wrong, the Bills management/coaching staff is going into 2017 aiming to compete for the playoffs. That tells me there's no way TJ Yates gets cut unless Peterman goes all Dak Prescott/Russell Wilson on us in the preseason. And there's no way Peterman gets cut since he's McD's guy. So ... barring injury or a truly awesome camp/preseason, I'm not seeing much of a future for Cardale on this team. Now, if they really were punting on 2017 and trying to build a true contender by 2019-20, then they'd keep both Peterman and Cardale. But again, that doesn't look like what they're thinking ... yet. Come November, perspectives may change ...
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For those saying Decker because he's a big-bodied WR that we don't have: what about the 6'4" 210 Andre Holmes? Compares favorably to the 6'3" 214 Decker. Not saying the talent-level is the same, but why can't Taylor find Holmes with a similar consistency that he found the 6'4" 201 Justin Hunter? I'd take 4 TDs from Holmes.
Plus, it's not like the 6'2" 201 Zay Jones or the 6'1" 205 Sammy Watkins are all that small. Even the 6' 198 Maclin is at least average size.
Decent point, but ... you're right that Holmes doesn't have Decker's level of talent. And Zay Jones is very much an unknown quantity. I actually see no reason to believe right now that he will be better than a Justin Hunter, who was, after all, a 1st round draft pick with a better resume than Jones just a few years ago. Fans always seem to prefer the new version and expect better results based more on wishful thinking than anything objective.
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haaaa this list is a joke... cardale is most likely going to be cut this season
I think that's probably right. Cardale, you are officially the Bryce Petty of the Buffalo Bills.
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Isn't that the religion that Madonna made up to complement her fake British accent?
It was described to me as "football without a ball."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabaddi
Kind of fascinating to watch. More like rugby without a ball. The most interesting thing is that the runner can only keep going as long as he (she) has the breath to keep chanting "kabbadi." Which by the way is what Madonna chanted, but only for purely spiritual reasons.
How a girl from Ridgefield CT (posh part of the state) came to be a player in an Indian sport played mostly by ethnic Indians in Britain is no doubt a good story.
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Decker. For the Bills, it's not even close. The Bills have been most effective when Tyrod gives his WRs an opportunity to make a play. We saw Sammy destroy some defenses with Tyrod just getting the ball near him leaving the rest to Sammy's athleticism. Decker is no Sammy athletically, but he's big and he can haul in those less-than-perfectly-accurate passes. The Bills have been hurting for a big WR for years. Even a waiver wire mediocrity like Justin Hunter showed us how valuable it is to have that big guy. Right now, that would be a spot that may be filled by Zay Jones, but he's a rookie and an unknown quantity. Anyone recall Decker killing us with Fitzy throwing bombs to him on a September Thursday evening last year? And take a look back and you'll see a few examples of Decker burning the great Stephon Gilmore too ... it would be worth signing Decker just to see that happen again.
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I don't buy the methodology I am afraid. Why shouldn't a Quarterback who throws a perfect 2 or 3 or 4 yard pass to a guy who can catch it in running without breaking stride and take advantage of a hole in the defence to go the distance get credit for that. Brady and Matt Ryan in particular do that an awful lot and it is the absolute perfect placement on those shallow crossers etc that often creates the YAC.
Exactly. Timing/hitting a receiver in stride is a skill for QBs, and a very important one. I have no problem with PFF's concept that traditional QB metrics are incomplete, but by trying to credit YAC completely to the receiver rather than the QB you are throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
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I look at it like Pro-Bills and Pro-Winning.
Pro-Bills folks put their emphasis on loving the Bills in their current incarnation at all times, virtually no matter what. Pro-Winning put their emphasis on the Bills winning even if it would mean major change to the current incarnation.
Do the Pro-Bills group want to see them win, of course, but they put more emphasis on their love for the team. Do the Pro-Winning people love the Bills, of course, but they put more emphasis on seeing them become a winner.
That's probably as good a summation as any. So many of the threads here eventually arrive at that destination: "Keep Tyrod, maybe get lucky and make the playoffs in the next couple years" vs. "Go for the full rebuild, maybe have a Super Bowl contender by 2020 (2021-22?)." After 17 years of the former model not working, I'm tending strongly toward the latter. But I'll admit it: there's no convincing people of the opposite mindset. Nothing wrong with that, but it does make for some tedious conversations.
Why the Pats have the best short-pass game in the NFL
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
I actually liked Dilfer. He seemed to figure out fairly early on what he was and what he could never be. A lot of journeyman type QBs would've screwed up that Ravens Super Bowl team by trying to do too much - imagine a Fitzy in that role. And then even later he filled in when Hasselbeck was hurt and went 4-0 in his starts one year. But still ... he had the size/arm strength, etc., but it was his inability to read defenses like the top tier QBs that made him a journeyman. Hence my comments about how even several "offensive geniuses" had limited success with him.