thebandit27 Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 Upgrades in talent are always preferable, but it must have been a mirage when the led the NFL in rushing last season with the same guys who'll be there in 2016. Bill and I have discussed the OL extensively, and I don't believe that's what he's saying. He believes, as I do, that the right side of the OL was clearly the weak link in the unit last season. I agree that they could be upgraded, especially at RT.
eball Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 Hogan. He was an afterthought everyone wanted gone before he signed with the Pats. Now he's significant. Kraig Urbik, same story. Yeah, the Hogan thing is curious. The guy was hardly a "reliable" option in Buffalo (dropped a bunch of balls) but now the Pats*** signing him means Brady* has a huge new weapon. I would have been very disappointed if the Bills matched what the Pats*** paid and kept Hogan.
26CornerBlitz Posted May 14, 2016 Author Posted May 14, 2016 Bill and I have discussed the OL extensively, and I don't believe that's what he's saying. He believes, as I do, that the right side of the OL was clearly the weak link in the unit last season. I agree that they could be upgraded, especially at RT. The question is with what player? Anthony Davis? IMO, if there is no suitable upgrade, then they can still have success on offense provided they can avoid injuries.
PromoTheRobot Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 It will be interesting to see if Taylor can continue to protect the ball as well as he did. I think he will take more chances this year and look better doing it, but will turn the football over more as a result. I've said all offseason it would've/would be nice if they added another legitimate threat outside of Sammy(someone like Boldin would be a welcome addition) and a legitimate RT or RG(they passed on Slauson) to help Taylor keep progressing. Hopefully the offense is close to as good as it was last season and the defense improves. Anything is possible but how realistic is it to think a guy won his job in training camp and played as a mid-level starter in his first season is going to suddenly forget how to play football? He will benefit from a full offseason as the starter. We are still a team with a strong running attack so I don't expect 4000 yds passing. But keep in mind if defenses didn't respect TT as a passer, the run game wouldn't work.
hondo in seattle Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 I hope he is wrong...but it seems like we often "pooh-pooh" the national guys when they say anything negative about the Bills...and then, at the end of every season, it turns out they were mostly right...unless they were high on the Bills in the off-season! Wait and see... Clayton knows a lot about the NFL in general but he's not an expert on the Bills. I'd trust him more when he reports on his two favorite teams: the Steelers and Seahawks. I tend not to give much credence to the national media guys. They don't study every move of the Bills like we do on OBD. Then again, Buftex is more right than many of us may want to acknowledge.
dave mcbride Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 (edited) Mario Williams was a far-below-average NFL player last year, and he played a postion that a veritable parade of good, committed players under Rex thrived in over the years. He literally didn't try, yet he took home something like $18 million. It's truly laughable that he has defenders here. By the way, he did have one vulture sack against Fitz in the final game, but after that play (which occurred early), he did nothing the rest of the game. Ironically, old college teammate Manny Lawson was twice the player Williams was last year. -- partly because he played like he cared (plus he's a lot smarter than Williams, who seems like a true knuckle dragger). Not to make excuses for Ryan, who I have serious issues with, but one of the reasons for the defense's disappointing performance was the zero-level contribution from the guy playing LDE/LOLB--an important position in that defense. He may may well have cost the Blls the second NE game with his idiotic freelancing. My one question for the Mario thing has been this - he wasn't all in, etc etc - played in meaningless games, etc etc. But he went 2% and Jerry went 150%...and they both got 5 sacks, leading the team. So were there other players not "all in" or am I missing something? Hughes had 52 tackles and Mario had 15. Hughes had 4 stuffs/tackles for loss and Williams had 2. Hughes had 4 passes defensed and Williams had 0. Hughes had 22 qb hurries/pressures, and Williams had 13 ( http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/defensive-hurries/2015/ ). Hughes was far superior last season. Edited May 14, 2016 by dave mcbride
Kirby Jackson Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 Which means Dareus plays NT, which I have never liked. But we'll see.I don't really care for that either. It's a waste of his talents. The Bills don't really play a traditional 3-4 though, it's more like 5-2.
chris heff Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 The premise that the Bills have regressed is based on the assumption that none of the top three draft choices significantly contribute. If even one of them contributes the defense will not regress. The biggest question mark with the defense is Rex Ryan. The offensive question mark is really the right side of the line, if they can just get adequate play from those guys, they will be fine. I believe Taylor will just get better for reasons already expressed in this thread. The Hogan thing is just silly, he was a street free agent a couple of years ago, who was ok, but no big deal. Hogan will probably have a good year with the Pats, but it will be more because of Brady and the offense they play than Hogan's skill.
hondo in seattle Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 Btw, Bill Polian once said of Clayton, “Having a discussion with him is like having a discussion with another general manager. It’s as though you’re talking with a peer.” http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article25862434.html (This is an awesome article if you want to know how Clayton became so successful as a NFL reporter and what makes him different). Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article25862434.html#storylink=cpy
Wayne Arnold Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 What is the rationale? Roman was able to hide many of Taylor's deficiencies in 2015 and that's unlikely to happen for a second straight season. It's also rare for an entire starting OLine unit to go through all 16 games unscathed like they did in 2015. Odds are the team will suffer at least one if not two injuries there and our depth isn't good at all.
26CornerBlitz Posted May 14, 2016 Author Posted May 14, 2016 (edited) Btw, Bill Polian once said of Clayton, “Having a discussion with him is like having a discussion with another general manager. It’s as though you’re talking with a peer.” http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article25862434.html (This is an awesome article if you want to know how Clayton became so successful as a NFL reporter and what makes him different). Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article25862434.html#storylink=cpy Clayton doesn't really impress me at all. He often talks in sweeping generalities and when he's team specific the outcome is very often far different from what the thought. Is it really a surprise that Bill Polian would praise an ESPN colleague? Roman was able to hide many of Taylor's deficiencies in 2015 and that's unlikely to happen for a second straight season. It's also rare for an entire starting OLine unit to go through all 16 games unscathed like they did in 2015. Odds are the team will suffer at least one if not two injuries there and our depth isn't good at all. Firstly, you assume Taylor's game will remain stagnant. With him getting #1 reps for the entirety of OTAs, Training Camp, and Preseason along with being in the system for a 2nd year there's no reason why he cannot improve. Secondly, Miller missed time with a very bad high ankle sprain and also played with it while Henderson wasn't healthy all season and eventually went out with his illness. Edited May 14, 2016 by 26CornerBlitz
Wayne Arnold Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 (edited) Btw, Bill Polian once said of Clayton, “Having a discussion with him is like having a discussion with another general manager. It’s as though you’re talking with a peer.” http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article25862434.html (This is an awesome article if you want to know how Clayton became so successful as a NFL reporter and what makes him different). Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article25862434.html#storylink=cpy And NFL GM's are always right! Firstly, you assume Taylor's game will remain stagnant. With him getting #1 reps for the entirety of OTAs, Training Camp, and Preseason along with being in the system for a 2nd year there's no reason why he cannot improve. Secondly, Miller missed time with with a bad ankle and also played with it while Henderson wasn't healthy all season and eventually went out with his illness. I'm not "assuming" anything. I'm simply talking probabilities. I hope Taylor can improve but from Week 1 to Week 17 he never really showed much improvement with regard to his pocket awareness (my biggest concern with him), anticipation throws and mid-range throwing accuracy. It's also extremely unlikely that Taylor will continue to connect on deep throws at the rate he did in 2015 - unless Taylor really is the best deep thrower in the NFL. Bills were lucky that their two worse starters (by far) were the only ones to suffer injury. Their backups were actually better. Hopefully we see (massive) improvement from both Miller and Henderson. Edited May 14, 2016 by Wayne Arnold
26CornerBlitz Posted May 14, 2016 Author Posted May 14, 2016 And NFL GM's are always right! I'm not "assuming" anything. I'm simply talking probabilities. I hope Taylor can improve but from Week 1 to Week 17 he never really showed much improvement with regard to his pocket awareness (my biggest concern with him), anticipation throws and mid-range throwing accuracy. It's also extremely unlikely that Taylor will continue to connect on deep throws at the rate he did in 2015 - unless Taylor really is the best deep thrower in the NFL. Bills were lucky that their two worse starters (by far) were the only ones to suffer injury. Their backups were actually better. Hopefully we see (massive) improvement from both Miller and Henderson. I disagree. It's a demonstrated strength. Where he needs to show improvement is with intermediate throws to exploit the middle of the field. Henderson wasn't good, but I think Mills is flat out bad.
Wayne Arnold Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 I'm not sure why people think Henderson is a viable option at tackle. Even as depth. The guy has Crohns and was awful as a starter. Mills will start or they get lucky and a decent starter becomes available over the next few months. He has the most physical ability and potential, and he's still young. But you're right in that he's been awful even when healthy.
26CornerBlitz Posted May 14, 2016 Author Posted May 14, 2016 Mills was better then Henderson. And it's really not that close. Mills sucks!
Marv's Neighbor Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 It's essentially the same old, that he runs with every year. No matter what the BILLS do, it's either wrong or not enough.
26CornerBlitz Posted May 14, 2016 Author Posted May 14, 2016 Lol agreed, but he's better then Henderson. A healthy Henderson is very much better than Mills IMO. Better athlete and feet by far.
Big Turk Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 (edited) True enough. The real improvement from this team has to come from the guys who are already here. The Defense has to play like we know it can. If it doesn't improve, it'll slip further due to the losses of Mario, Nigel & McKelvin. Darby cannot have a sophomore slump. If the 1st 3 draft picks contribute, that'll offset the other personnel losses. TT must progress as a QB Shady, Karlos, Robert Woods and Sammy need to stay healthy. The right side of the line must improve. Charles Clay must play a bigger role in the offense. Rex needs to improve his game and clock management. Again bottom-line: the guys who are here need to step-up this year. We look good on paper, but didn't play to that level last year. You cannot make blanket statements like "The defense will slip because of the loss of Mario, Leodis and Nigel". How do you know? How do you know they played the defense well and weren't the ones missing assignments? Mario didn't even bother playing half the games. Leodis was hurt for much of the season, and Nigel played OK. But more than that, it has to do with players wanting to play well together and playing well within the way the defense is designed. Talent doesn't always win. Sometimes its the unselfish guy who does the "dirty work" nobody else wants to do that allows others to be in the right place to make a play based on the design of the defense. Good defenses have a few of these guys on them---the ones who make it possible for the others to rack up the stats and get little credit themselves...except in the locker room and the film room where the players an coaches know whats going on. More than anything, the defense simply needs buy in from the players. What we saw last year had less to do with talent and more to do with players resisting what they were supposed to do and not playing the system the right way. And that manifested itself in numerous ways. Confusion, missed assignments, players not on the same page, lack of effort...it only takes ONE player to not be in the right position or make the right decision for a play to go totally awry... From most accounts the top 3 picks are all good players and they all fit the system...I expect a big turnaround this year on D Edited May 14, 2016 by matter2003
26CornerBlitz Posted May 14, 2016 Author Posted May 14, 2016 Based on what? Henderson got beat like a mule early in the season before Mills came in, he was also awful his rookie year but very hyped up for some reason. I already said he's a better athlete with better feet than Mills. That's my opinion. You don't agree and that's just fine.
vincec Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 (edited) Bill and I have discussed the OL extensively, and I don't believe that's what he's saying. He believes, as I do, that the right side of the OL was clearly the weak link in the unit last season. I agree that they could be upgraded, especially at RT. In the salary cap era you can't have good players at every position, unfortunately. And depth is a virtual impossibility. The Bills just need to get lucky on the right side: Henderson returns strong or a serviceable season from Mills. In any event, they can adjust their play calling and blocking schemes to play to their strengths so I think the offense will be fine. Edited May 14, 2016 by vincec
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