Dawgg

Blaming Jerry Gray's scheme for the Jacksonville debacle is pretty shortsighted. The question you have to ask is this: On that 4th down play, was Nate Clements in a position to make a play that would have sealed the game? The answer is an emphatic yes. The fact that Clements went for the INT is more a reflection of a young, cocky (and stupid) player going for the INT instead of knocking it down. In fact, after the game Clements even admitted that JG explicitly told the D to knock anything down on that play. Feel free to blame that on the coordinator. If you want to maintain a selective memory, that's fine. But the fact remains that not many defensive coordinators could have done better given the circumstances. In the last 2 drafts, the Bills selected 13 times. Want to know how many of those picks were spent on the defense? TWO. (Tim Anderson & Eric King). While good teams like the Pats and Colts were fortifying their defense year after year, the Bills spent their picks on glamor positions like WR and RB. Add to that the fact that they signed no free agent help for the defense and they let go of their best interior linemen, it was a recipe for disaster. You can call it an apology for Gray. I call it facts. His defense sucked last year but to trash his entire tenure because of it is just ludicrous. Gregg Williams is a defensive genius... he would not have brought Gray here and made him a coordinator if he didn't think he was solid.

Week opponents: fair point, but only part of the story. The Bills offense that year was INEPT. Ranked 25th overall in the league, they couldn't score more than 10 points against a decent defense. JG's defense led the league in turnovers, yet even after creating turnovers in opposing territory, we came out with a field goal, AT BEST. Turnovers were not converted into touchdowns and the games were always close -- which has a profound effect on the way you can call a defense. The offense was so inept, the special teams and defense often had to bail them out. You notice in the games in which the offense actually performed (during the winning streak), the defense performed even better... it's much easier when you have a cushion. But when your offense just keeps getting 3 and outs and can't sustain a drive and the defense stays on the field all game long, there's no wonder they gave up some leads in the 4th quarter. But yes, all Jerry Gray's fault.

He called his own shots 2 seasons ago too, during Mularkey's first year. I suppose that doesn't count because his defense did pretty well and led the league in turnovers.

Yes. Willis is the league's best back.

TD had a "few" more problems than that.

I think he's referring more to the sub-500, nonplayoff seasons more than he is referring to Takeo Spikes himself.

Coy Wire should not be on an NFL roster and were it not for Tom Donahoe, he would have been cut a long time ago. He's TD's towel boy -- another one of his "cute" picks that seemed really cool at the time but never panned out. Instead of realizing the mistake Coy Wire was, Donahoe extended him and kept him around... my suspicion is that Wire is gone and a young safety is brought in to take over for Milloy, who will be gone after this season. I think Milloy stays this year.

This is true for virtually any scheme. Execution is the problem here and I have a hard time believing that this Cover 2 scheme will help Vincent learn how to stop missing tackles. With that being said, I wouldn't necessarily give up on him but I would hope that a decent young safety is waiting in the wings.

Would never advocate cutting him. I think he brings a lot to the table, particularly veteran leadership... but if I were running the team (thank God I'm not), I would draft or sign a younger more athletic safety and move TV to 3rd or 4th corner. I think he has a lot more to offer at that position and with teams increasingly using spread offenses, Vincent would still get a lot of playing time that way.

Of course it is logical to assume that the players on the defense were better than what they showed... but I don't feel that is the case for Vincent. That's my opinion, obviously... Clements had a bad year, that's the bottom line. He had an off year and it happens, even to very good players (Eric Moulds has one every other year!) McGee was solid for the most part. Milloy was solid. He was often sent to the line of scrimmage, but when a tackle had to be made, he made it. Vincent stunk up the joint on numerous occassions. I can't count how many times he just shied away from making a tackle that could have saved significant yardage. I sensed that he lost a step. I would rather put him back as a backup corner and draft a youngster to play safety. New England managed to do that when Milloy was cut... but Vincent is clearly overmatched and out of position as a safety.

I thought he played fairly well last year.

It's that simple. That's not to say that Vincent is the only one to blame. But more often than not, it was he was beaten or 2 steps too late on these deep balls.

The stats you cite in your argument that Vincent was a solid player (not great, not bad, but solid) are as follows: 4 Interceptions (20 yards per return) 2 Fumble recoveries These are a reflection of stellar play during 6 snaps over the course of a 16 game season. This represents a minute fraction of actual number of snaps for which TV was on the field -- and it is the subpar performance in those snaps that statistics simply do not capture. Perhaps it was improper for me to say he "sucks" (if I did indeed say that), but the bottom line is that he is not a good player by any stretch of the imagination, ESPECIALLY as a safety. Maybe the Cover 2 suits his skills better -- but there are certain fundamentals in this game that are scheme-independent, such as tackling, anticipation and speed. It is some of these fundamentals that were lacking in Vincent from my vantage point (and those Bills fans that I was watching with). Football isn't nearly as complicated as many tend to make it. At the end of the day, it's about throwing, catching, blocking tackling and running. I am sick of debating whether or not a new scheme will suddenly turn a marginal, aging player into a solid contributor. I have gone down that road -- Bledsoe, RJ, Chris Watson, and Mike Williams come to mind.

I knew this itemized list was coming, FFS... my rebuttal follows: Vincent certainly had his moments in 2005. The problem was that over a long, consistent period (16 games), he was well below average in terms of performance. Tied for team lead in INTs Vincent admitedly had 2 very solid games last season. 1. Week 1 vs. Houston: Recorded 2 INTs. 2. Week 5 vs. Miami: Had 1 INT and a fumble recovery. But in the great majority of his games, he was missing tackles and was often times too late to break on a play. That speaks not only to his speed (which I still think he possesses), but his instincts as a safety. Tied for team lead in fumble recoveries Good stat. I will give TV credit for that. 20 yards per kick return This is stretching it a bit. He posted returns of 22, 6, 8, and 42 yards respectively. You're choosing 4 distinct data points and averaging them out... when doing so, it sounds nice but doesn't mean a whole lot to me. INT returns depend a lot on the blocking you have in front of you and the location on the field in which the INT was made. If you want to talk about Terrance McGee's punt return average, that makes more sense because we're talking about 50 kick returns over the course of a season. Touting his average return on 4 instances is an awfully small sample size. Total tackles credited to him was not a huge number but... insert excuse here... I watched the games and saw numerous times when Vincent could have stopped a running back dead in his tracks and whiffed (not missed, but whiffed) on his tackles. He was often slow to help on the deep ball. Bottom line, opportunities were there for him to make tackles and he did not get the job done. You seem to be willing to pull out his INT return average when it is favorable to him, yet you dismiss his poor tackling numbers and fumble recoveries as the product of being on a bad team.

It would be even more of a disaster putting him in as a stating corner. Rod Woodson, when he transitioned to safety, was still a solid tackler and still had great instincts. Troy Vincent, when he transitioned to safety, has been a horrible tackler and seems to have no instincts at the safety position.

I respectfully disagree. Vincent as anything other than a 3rd or 4th corner would be scary. Very scary.

Troy Vincent was a step or two slow this year. It showed.

Agree completely. For someone to even insinuate that Coy Wire could "thrive" in this (or any) scheme is wishful thinking IMO.

First of all, your facts are wrong. Bates was offered the job and was Jauron's first choice. It was only after Bates declined that Perry Fewel was brought in. You write under the assumption that Fewel was chosen over Bates, but that simply is not true. Second, even the consideration that Coy Wire could thrive in this defense (let alone ANY Defense) is just ridiculous to me. I have watched him play and have watched him closely -- in my humble opinion, he belongs right where he is: Special Teams. Third, you are right about Troy Vincent. He is aging, he is not very good and is just way past his prime. Lawyer Milloy is still productive, particularly when the run defense isn't functioning as swiss cheese as it was last season. John Lynch managed to do just fine in a Cover 2 scheme and he was the same age as Milloy when the Bucs won the Super Bowl in 2002.

Through his actions and words, McNabb showed this year that winning is secondary to him... one can only imagine the message that sends to the rest of the football team, that their star QB cares more about his ego than winning games.

I live in SF but I'm going to Detroit for the big game!!!!!!!!!!

YES. Drafting a Tatum Bell like back in the 3rd or 4th round would be great. But that requires a good personnel department to unearth them. Anyone can find a stud in the first or second round.

I think Milloy was solid and think he is still a very effective player when he doesn't have to play behind a porous run defense like the one last year.

He was not the cab driver. The cab driver was John Butler.. that was made known to the public after he passed away. Since John Butler's passing, Donahoe became the driver.

Excellent analysis and well thought out post. I agree completely. I would also add that a large portion of what it takes to be a successful running back is mental. Willis just isn't mentally there at times, which is bothersome.