Is Star good or bad?

[LabattBlue]

Last year it was Star sucks, Star is overpaid, I never hear Star's name called, Star doesn't make any plays, etc...

 

Fast forward to this year, the excuses for why the defense is in the bottom 1/3 of the league all seem to revolve around Star's absence.

 

Is he really the difference between what what thought to be Top 5, or at least worst case Top 10, and one that is terrible.

[jrober38]

Star played a thankless role. 

 

Eating blocks and commanding double teams against the run so our linebackers could attack.

 

He didn't produce stats, but he made the defense better. 

 

Without him, our defensive tackles are tiny and outmatched against the run, and it shows. 

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

I was one of the more vocal people in saying that Star was overpaid, and I'll stick to my guns. 

 

There was too much turnover on the D-line this offseason to pinpoint how much of an impact Star had. In addition to Star opting out,  we lost J Phillips and Shaq Lawson in free agency.

 

 I thought those three guys would've been easy enough to replace, but here we are. 

[Royale with Cheese]

Star doesn't get pushed completely out of the way where there is a hole that 3 RB's can get through.  Last year, I used to see Edmunds getting in the backfield, now I don't know if I've seen it once....it's because our DT's get pushed at the point of attack.

[teef]

there was a poster on here last year that called star's contract, "the worst in nfl history".  that was actually said.

[LABILLBACKER]

Is Star an amazing 1 tech. No, of course not. But his role is vital. By taking up 2 blockers allows the others to maneuver thru traffic better. We definitely miss him this season. If we don't go out and find a 1 tech guy we'll continue to give up 28 a game. Finding a dumpster dive pass rusher will probably not happen. 

[thebandit27]

While he didn’t make a lot of plays or occupy

multiple blockers, he was very good at maintaining gap integrity and rarely missed tackles.

 

The guys that replaced him don’t do any of those things, and it shows.

[BuffaloRebound]

For what it’s worth, Beane thought Star was overpaid too as evidenced by a pay cut.  

[jrober38]

2 minutes ago, DabillsDaBillsDaBills said:

I was one of the more vocal people in saying that Star was overpaid, and I'll stick to my guns. 

 

There was too much turnover on the D-line this offseason to pinpoint how much of an impact Star had. In addition to Star opting out,  we lost J Phillips and Shaq Lawson in free agency.

 

 I thought those three guys would've been easy enough to replace, but here we are. 

 

I think you can argue $10 mil for a run stuffer is a lot. Saying he's overpaid isn't wrong, but if you fail to replace him like we did and go into the season with no established run stuffing defensive tackles on your roster, you're asking for trouble.

[Matt_In_NH]

half the people think he sucks, half think he eats space and does not make plays by design.

[ALLEN1QB]

6 minutes ago, jrober38 said:

Star played a thankless role. 

 

Eating blocks and commanding double teams against the run so our linebackers could attack.

 

He didn't produce stats, but he made the defense better. 

 

Without him, our defensive tackles are tiny and outmatched against the run, and it shows. 

It is just frustrating that you and I can figure that out but the defensive Masterminds of Buffalo could not foresee this.

Edited October 20, 2020 by ALLEN1QB

[jrober38]

Just now, ALLEN1QB said:

It is just frustrating this you and I can figure that out but the defensive Masterminds of Buffalo could not foresee this.

 

In their defense he opted out at the end of July.

 

Their planning for the season was in March and April.

[Da webster guy]

We ran a 6 man front last night vs a stud runner.  That will be ugly 100% of the time.

Right now we have Ed, Zimmer and Jefferson all decent interior players, Star would just be another meh guy in there.

[Thurman#1]

Good.

 

Damn good

 

Not at pass rushing. Not at penetrating. Not at quickness.

 

But though often double-teamed on runs through the middle he was still able to not be pushed back, to go sideways in whichever direction the runner went, to keep blockers off  the LBs.

 

There's a reason they paid him a lot. McDermott's always had a guy like Star in that spot and always been willing to pay for it. He did a job well, a job that McDermott's defense requires be done at a high level. And there aren't that many guys big, strong and enduring enough to do what he does.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Thurman#1

[Seoulofstone]

Star was overpaid but he did make run stops at critical moments. Run D wasn't a strength last year but it wasn't a weakness either. A brief glance at the Panthers historically bad run D last year should tell you why Butler was a bad choice to replace star. 

[Thurman#1]

8 minutes ago, jrober38 said:

 

In their defense he opted out at the end of July.

 

Their planning for the season was in March and April.

 

 

this

 

 

[ExiledInIllinois]

Why isn't "ugly" one of the choices? Definitely get my vote!

 

[Thurman#1]

10 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

For what it’s worth, Beane thought Star was overpaid too as evidenced by a pay cut.  

 

 

Funny how the people who bring this up never bring up that in exchange the Bills gave him another year and a half of guarantee. Which is big for a player. 

 

Or that the pay cut was $1.5 million on a $50 million contract.

[Ramza86]

I was always under the impression that he did his job. 

 

Hes not great but he helped plug. 

[H2o]

6 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Why isn't "ugly" one of the choices? Definitely get my vote!