Gabe Davis caught an abysmal 51.6% of his 93 targets this year. Update: High% off target

[Mango]

27 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Allen asking for Brown and Bease is not a good sign for Davis and McKenzie. Davis is cheap, but they must bring another guy to provide legitimate competition for that role.

 

The QB asked for Dorsey and Barkley too. There is certainly a grey area between taking your QB's wishes into consideration and granting him everything.

The offense was high scoring and had a lot of chunk plays to it. But it was certainly not methodical. I thought Allen's request for those guys was more an attempt for him to get his groove back and less a condemnation on the guys in house. 

[Maine-iac]

1 hour ago, Figster said:

 

Depending on who you reference Gabe came in 8th.  If you look at the entirety of the league there are many receivers dropping as many passes.  I remember Amari Cooper having trouble with drops one year with the Raiders.  He's still a great receiver.

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2022/receiving_advanced.htm

[Beast]

25 minutes ago, Thrivefourfive said:

70-85 catches, 1000 yds, 8 tds 

 

That’s would should’ve happened. It’s the Bills job to figure out why it didn’t go that way, and fox it for next year. If they don’t, the offense is going look even more unimaginative and inefficient than this past season. 

Actually, I think that is for Gabe Davis to figure out. Maybe wearing out a jugs machine or two this off-season would help him. Does he have that type of commitment?

 

What the Bills need to figure out is how to bring a legit threat in that can replace Davis. The Bills should no longer be banking on Davis to take his craft seriously from February to July.

[Figster]

9 minutes ago, Maine-iac said:

Depending on who you reference Gabe came in 8th.  If you look at the entirety of the league there are many receivers dropping as many passes.  I remember Amari Cooper having trouble with drops one year with the Raiders.  He's still a great receiver.

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2022/receiving_advanced.htm

I agree with you here. 8th is different then tied for 1st so let me check with my sources numbers. He's a Police Officer so If I get locked up over this you may need to bail me out @Maine-iac 

[Thrivefourfive]

7 minutes ago, Beast said:

Actually, I think that is for Gabe Davis to figure out. Maybe wearing out a jugs machine or two this off-season would help him. Does he have that type of commitment?

 

What the Bills need to figure out is how to bring a legit threat in that can replace Davis. The Bills should no longer be banking on Davis to take his craft seriously from February to July.

No, that’s exactly it. The Bills need to figure it out. If Davis can fix it, great for him. But the Bills can’t bank on that. What they have is a 50% catch rate WR2, that got most his production in a half handful of games. 

[Dr.Sack]

Remember Dawson Knox once had hands of stone (HoS). The way he corrected it was catching smaller balls, and working on his hand eye coordination and reaction time.
 

I’ve seen Davis offseason training regimen video last offseason it seemed intense and led by a very credible AT geared toward strength and explosiveness. In that video from last summer we saw Davis catch Juggs machine simulating his signature sideline catch. What Gabe needs to do next is focus is on doing exactly what Knox did to improve his hands. 

[TwistofFate]

I'm not ready to give up on him yet.  Many wanted to give up on Knox, now the dude makes circus grabs and runs guys over. 

 

Lets see how he rebounds, then assess next offseason. 

[Figster]

31 minutes ago, Maine-iac said:

Depending on who you reference Gabe came in 8th.  If you look at the entirety of the league there are many receivers dropping as many passes.  I remember Amari Cooper having trouble with drops one year with the Raiders.  He's still a great receiver.

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2022/receiving_advanced.htm

Thanks for this and a correction has been made on my topic title. 8ths not good, but its not tied for the worse in the NFL.

 

[finn]

Well, at least we have Hodgins to fall back on. Oh, wait...

[Maine-iac]

1 minute ago, Figster said:

Thanks for this and a correction has been made on my topic title. 8ths not good, but its not tied for the worse in the NFL.

 

I think there are multiple groups that are keeping track.  The numbers you got totally could have been what one of those groups was reporting,  I was just offering the rose colored numbers.  Just my opinion but Davis has still got it.  He needs to get routes worked in that aren't all contested catches 20 yards down the field to help his catch percentages.

[NoSaint]

1 hour ago, GolfandBills said:

Gabes problem other than he can’t catch is that he’s horrible in the short and intermediate areas of the field.  

And does not seem to have a good sense of finding soft spaces for easy throws- possibly a bigger issue than the drops. 
 

a one trick pony deep ball catcher with both modest speed and hands is a tough role to consistently produce in. 
 

that said, he never looked crisp all year. Part of me hopes we find out he was playing through some sort of core injury in addition to the early ankle. It could explain so much…

1 hour ago, Mango said:

 

The QB asked for Dorsey and Barkley too. There is certainly a grey area between taking your QB's wishes into consideration and granting him everything.

The offense was high scoring and had a lot of chunk plays to it. But it was certainly not methodical. I thought Allen's request for those guys was more an attempt for him to get his groove back and less a condemnation on the guys in house. 

honestly, after diggs, I felt like a lot of our guys didn’t have a great feel for throttling up or down around soft spots in coverage, and often took angles that left really difficult throws for Josh. Like they didn’t understand the coverage shells and the qb line of sight…. And that was before the spotty hands. 

[Figster]

1 minute ago, Maine-iac said:

I think there are multiple groups that are keeping track.  The numbers you got totally could have been what one of those groups was reporting,  I was just offering the rose colored numbers.  Just my opinion but Davis has still got it.  He needs to get routes worked in that aren't all contested catches 20 yards down the field to help his catch percentages.

I get where your coming from and why Allens completion percentage was alwsys questioned at the collegiate level. Josh Allen has never padded stats with little Dinks and Dunks. Nor has Gabe Davis IMO. Its not the way he's used IMO. 

 

Good point 

[Mango]

3 minutes ago, Figster said:

I get where your coming from and why Allens completion percentage was alwsys questioned at the collegiate level. Josh Allen has never padded stats with little Dinks and Dunks. Nor has Gabe Davis IMO. Its not the way he's used IMO. 

 

Good point 

It’s not stat padding, it’s keeping drives alive and making defenses pay for making certain decisions. 
 

It is a very real, regular, and necessary part of playing the QB position. 

[NoSaint]

6 minutes ago, Figster said:

I get where your coming from and why Allens completion percentage was alwsys questioned at the collegiate level. Josh Allen has never padded stats with little Dinks and Dunks. Nor has Gabe Davis IMO. Its not the way he's used IMO. 

 

Good point 

Gabe Davis runs like a 4.55 forty. The dude better learn how to produce short of 30 yards downfield. 

[Mango]

9 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

And does not seem to have a good sense of finding soft spaces for easy throws- possibly a bigger issue than the drops. 
 

a one trick pony deep ball catcher with both modest speed and hands is a tough role to consistently produce in. 
 

that said, he never looked crisp all year. Part of me hopes we find out he was playing through some sort of core injury in addition to the early ankle. It could explain so much…

honestly, after diggs, I felt like a lot of our guys didn’t have a great feel for throttling up or down around soft spots in coverage, and often took angles that left really difficult throws for Josh. Like they didn’t understand the coverage shells and the qb line of sight…. And that was before the spotty hands. 

Unsure of Gabes ability here. We just never seem to use him here. Chicken and egg, I won’t take a stand one way or the other. But I am tempted to agree with you. 
 

I do think Shakir has a knack for it. In the limited snaps he got, he seems to be very QB friendly. 
 

Not to beat a dead horse, but I thought Hodgins flashed here too in camp. It clearly translated to live game speed.
 

I am put  99% of the Shakir/Hodgins issue on McBeane. But given Josh’s ask for Brown, Beasley, Dorsey, and Barkley, I have something nagging that there may be “some” culpability on the QB. But that may just be my frustrations from the season talking still. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

40 minutes ago, Dr.Sack said:

Remember Dawson Knox once had hands of stone (HoS). The way he corrected it was catching smaller balls, and working on his hand eye coordination and reaction time.
 

 

Didn't Knox drop a gimmie TD in the WC game? He's been better but I don't think he is out of the woods yet. 

[RunTheBall]

Gabe has proven he is not a legit number 2. He’s a very good #3. I don’t think we can waste another year hoping he will progress without bringing in someone who has a better than average chance of winning that #2 spot.

 

Gabe is a limited route runner without speed who does not separate early which accounts for his abysmal short and intermediate route numbers. I’m not even talking about his drops and lack of contested catches. He’s been figured out and he isn’t making teams pay for doubling Diggs on almost every snap. 

 

We need a legit #2 who can run the whole route tree or at least more than Davis is capable of.

 

[Success]

He has the skills to be a great #2 on this team.  For a bit there in the playoffs, it looked like he was "back," and making some big plays.

 

The future looks a lot brighter if some of our players who underachieved this past year get back to form in the upcoming season.  There are young guys on both offense & defense who just fell short this year. 

 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

I think in an ideal situation, Shakir emerges as the #2 next year. Davis goes back to his role as #3 and thrives. Bring in another speedster to compete with and possibly move on from McKenzie. 

 

Would be great to draft a great WR early but with also needing upgrades on the o-line I'm not sure I see that. It does feel like WR salaries have exploded so long-term it may be wise to draft a WR round 1 over an o-lineman. 

 

I have two requirements of any WR the Bills draft early. They need either have game breaking speed like a Waddle or Hill or they need to be minimum 6'3".

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Down year from Gabe, for sure. But you all forget some of the insanely difficult and huge catches he made this past year too. As I recall, he made some game-saving 3rd and 20 diving caches, and some really acrobatic and big play ones too (eg, both TDs in the Steelers game). 
 

Also, the loss of a true slot this year with the Crowder injury really shouldn’t be held against Gabe. 
 

There are things he can improve on, but he is a hard worker and has shown enough flashes to be our #2.