Dan III Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 I was just watching the "snowbowl" game and one guy stood out for making a play every time he was on the field. Larry Centers. The guy did everything, solid runner, great pass blocker and an unbelieveable receiver. Larry was DB's safety valve and he kept the chains moving. Whoever the QB is next year, it would be wise for TD to find a 3rd dwn back in the "Centers" type mold.
Navy Chief Navy Pride Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 I for one hated to see him leave...Guys like Centers are hard to come by.
BillsNYC Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 But don't you remember, we dropped him so we could bring in Gash and run a power running offense? 100 passes on 3rd and short later......
d_wag Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 I was just watching the "snowbowl" game and one guy stood out for making a play every time he was on the field. Larry Centers. The guy did everything, solid runner, great pass blocker and an unbelieveable receiver. Larry was DB's safety valve and he kept the chains moving. Whoever the QB is next year, it would be wise for TD to find a 3rd dwn back in the "Centers" type mold. 226256[/snapback] i'm happy just seeing willis on the field for 3rd downs.......he's a solid runner, great pass blocker, and an unbelievable receiver....... i never understood why the bills used henry on 3rd downs last year -- he only has one of those three skills.........
Dan III Posted February 2, 2005 Author Posted February 2, 2005 But don't you remember, we dropped him so we could bring in Gash and run a power running offense? 100 passes on 3rd and short later...... 226276[/snapback] splitting Gash out a a WR..
eSJayDee Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 'm happy just seeing willis on the field for 3rd downs.......he's a solid runner, great pass blocker, and an unbelievable receiver....... I think you've got 2 out of those 3 correct. No disputing he's a good runner. He's also able to DEMOLISH people in pass protection & at least from my perspective, seems to always fulfill his assignments. As for the receiver, no I don't think so. He drops too many balls. He 'looks' more fluid & skilled than Henry & he's good once he gets into the open field (assuming he catches the ball), but he doesn't have good hands. Actually, back to the original premise of needing a Centers-type guy, I agree. I personally thought that Morris was if anything better than Centers, but considering he would have been relegated to 3rd string, I definitely see why he left. Now I sound like one of those wishful dolts, but if we end up tradin Henry to the Dullfins, maybe Morris will come back to be the 3rd down/2nd string RB.
Dennis in NC Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 i'm happy just seeing willis on the field for 3rd downs.......he's a solid runner, great pass blocker, and an unbelievable receiver....... i never understood why the bills used henry on 3rd downs last year -- he only has one of those three skills......... 226279[/snapback] Yes, that always baffled me - how Travis could be considereda 3rd down back. Very strange choice for a position that requires blitz pickup.
d_wag Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 As for the receiver, no I don't think so. He drops too many balls. He 'looks' more fluid & skilled than Henry & he's good once he gets into the open field (assuming he catches the ball), but he doesn't have good hands. 226305[/snapback] i disagree........if you just watched him only last year, you might think that is the case.........but the bills under-used him in that role and should have ran more screens to him.......sur he dropped a few, but what rookie doesn't? in college, willis caught alot of balls (27 his big year).......he made plays deep in the secondary and turned short screens into long gains....... coming out of miami, willis was widely regarded as a solid pass catcher by scouts, and i think he'll improve in that area as time goes on.......that aspect of his game will come more to the forefront next year and we'll see alot more of what willis has to offer as he gets more comfortable in the offense and the coaches get more comfortable with him......
John from Riverside Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 That actually is one of my selling points on why we need a top notch TIGHT END.... A TE can be just as good a safety valve for a QB as a pass catching fullback can.....AND it lets you keep Magehee on the field
Alaska Darin Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 i'm happy just seeing willis on the field for 3rd downs.......he's a solid runner, great pass blocker, and an unbelievable receiver....... i never understood why the bills used henry on 3rd downs last year -- he only has one of those three skills......... 226279[/snapback] He'd be a much better pass catcher if Drew would put some touch on the ball and throw it to him accurately in a more timely manner. When a QB throws a 4 yard pass at about 85% velocity and you have to get your hands in front of your face to catch it, there are going to be problems.
MadBuffaloDisease Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 That actually is one of my selling points on why we need a top notch TIGHT END.... A TE can be just as good a safety valve for a QB as a pass catching fullback can.....AND it lets you keep Magehee on the field Bingo! Buy that man a ceeegar!
34-78-83 Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 As stated, Willis IS a fine receiver out of the backfield and showed it time and time again in college. He really needs to be the guy on all downs to put defenses in a position of weakness. I've had enough of the tell-tale "packages" that we've used...
MadBuffaloDisease Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 As stated, Willis IS a fine receiver out of the backfield and showed it time and time again in college. He really needs to be the guy on all downs to put defenses in a position of weakness. I've had enough of the tell-tale "packages" that we've used... True too. When the no-huddle was clicking, Thurman stayed in all the time because he was a fine WR, and teams didn't know WHAT was coming.
pkwwjd Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 Actually, I thought this post was gonna say that we never recovered from Kent Hull's retirement. He may be the smartest man to don a Bills uni. Kelly made the KGun go, but Hull made it happen -- with Hull, the KGun never works.
Mark VI Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 I was just watching the "snowbowl" game and one guy stood out for making a play every time he was on the field. Larry Centers. The guy did everything, solid runner, great pass blocker and an unbelieveable receiver. Larry was DB's safety valve and he kept the chains moving. Whoever the QB is next year, it would be wise for TD to find a 3rd dwn back in the "Centers" type mold. 226256[/snapback] Couldn't agree more, Dan. I was just looking at the Free Agent list yesterday, with that in mind. http://www.theredzone.org/2005/freeagents/...asp?Position=RB Seems to be slim pickings. Westbrook will cash in as an RFA. The Eagles will be forced to match any offer. Any opinions on the rest ?
d_wag Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 Couldn't agree more, Dan. I was just looking at the Free Agent list yesterday, with that in mind. http://www.theredzone.org/2005/freeagents/...asp?Position=RB Seems to be slim pickings. Westbrook will cash in as an RFA. The Eagles will be forced to match any offer. Any opinions on the rest ? 226416[/snapback] i doubt westbrook will get an offer from outside philly -- RFA's rarely do.......he could end up signing the one year tender offer, just like rudi had to last off-season.......
Bill from NYC Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 When I looked at the title of your post, I tried to guess who you meant. I was torn between Pete Metz (who I settled upon) and Kent Hull. Centers was good, but he was used as a safety valve because our OL was SOOOOO bad at the time, there were no other options. Sorry, jmo.
Fake-Fat Sunny Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 i disagree........if you just watched him only last year, you might think that is the case.........but the bills under-used him in that role and should have ran more screens to him.......sur he dropped a few, but what rookie doesn't? in college, willis caught alot of balls (27 his big year).......he made plays deep in the secondary and turned short screens into long gains....... coming out of miami, willis was widely regarded as a solid pass catcher by scouts, and i think he'll improve in that area as time goes on.......that aspect of his game will come more to the forefront next year and we'll see alot more of what willis has to offer as he gets more comfortable in the offense and the coaches get more comfortable with him...... 226324[/snapback] I think a lot of whatwe're seeing here is how what is sometimes spouted forcefully or repetitively on bulletin boards like TSW can somehow come to be accepted as the coventional wisdom even if it is only based on occaisional occurences and single example. Yes, I believe that Willis can be better utilized as a pass catcher, but also I belive that the stats and broad experience indicates that Henry can be better utilized as a receiver than he has been. Willis caught 27 balls during his best year in college indicating that he can be used that way. He had a number of drops for the Bills last year of balls that appeared catchable and for the most part struck me as a combination of him moving to run before he made the reception and Bledsoe being trained to throw the ball the same way everytme regardless of the need for a little touch. Yet, it is simple see how folks might focus on these few drops and draw conclusions about his play which are not good football. Likewise, Henry actually made 40+ catches as a Bill when he was employed more as a receiver in a far more effective offense in 2002. Yet, people seem to disreagard these catches because he made a few awful drops as part of the horrid offensive showing in 2003 and this has translated into a few posts which falsely make the claim that Henry is a horrible receiver. Believe Josh Reed had a real dropsy issue and neither Henry's drops last year or McGahee's drops this year are anywhere near the production problem Reed has or some sign that neither WM or Henry cannot be effective receivers.
kota Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 Willis isn't that good of a receiver. Sure he can catch the dump off passes and screens but that doesn't make him a receiver. When he starts lining up as a WR like Thurman did then maybe you can call him an unbelievable receiver. Sheldon has good hands but when it comes to 3rd and long even 3rd and 3 and you decide to pass you would much rather have a WR in the game.
obie_wan Posted February 3, 2005 Posted February 3, 2005 i disagree........if you just watched him only last year, you might think that is the case.........but the bills under-used him in that role and should have ran more screens to him.......sur he dropped a few, but what rookie doesn't? in college, willis caught alot of balls (27 his big year).......he made plays deep in the secondary and turned short screens into long gains....... coming out of miami, willis was widely regarded as a solid pass catcher by scouts, and i think he'll improve in that area as time goes on.......that aspect of his game will come more to the forefront next year and we'll see alot more of what willis has to offer as he gets more comfortable in the offense and the coaches get more comfortable with him...... 226324[/snapback] Bills will be much more effective running screens when they start a QB can execute those short, touch passes.
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