Attack of the Mack....Hollins

[Mr. WEO]

21 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

Gabe Davis was our #2 with very bad drops.  He was our #2, Mack is our #5 and not held in the same regard.  

 

well...Beane and McD made him WR2, having neglected the WR room for years.

 

And his drop rate is zero this year, 3.7% last year. 

[HappyDays]

12 hours ago, NewEra said:

No-  he is more.  He’s made several huge catches that simple

role players don’t really make. Many of his catches have been in crucial times.  
 

just because he isn’t a good WR1-2 doesn’t mean he isn’t more than a minor role player.  Guys like Trent Sheffield were minor role players. Hollins is clearly more than that.  He’s just not a WR1-3

 

Sherfield isn't a minor role player, he's an unrosterable player. Hollins has shown he's a rosterable player that ideally is WR5 on the depth chart. A very good WR5 at that especially since he plays special teams.

 

I just don't agree that minor role players can't make important catches. Even Sherfield made one of the catches of the year against Miami last year. I like that Hollins has grown some chemistry with Allen. None of his catches against Indy were plays where he outright won a rep against a CB, but he had some savvy plays making himself available to his QB and caught the ball when thrown his way. That is what you want your WR5 to do when forced into action.

 

A lot of the posts in this thread have somewhat of a "told ya so" cast. As in, all the people that said Hollins isn't a good WR were wrong. Like I said I happily admit he is better than the unrosterable player that I pegged him as when we signed him. But the WR room very clearly was not good enough to start the year and Hollins being one of our two starting outside WRs was a big reason why. The passing offense has been very inconsistent whenever he's been asked to go above his ideal 0-2 targets per game. Luckily Allen is playing the best football of his career and that means Hollins has been enough to get us out of most games when called upon.

[Rocky Landing]

5 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yep. Some of that is obviously driven by injuries the past two weeks to Cooper and Coleman but more of it is also driven by going into the season with Mack Hollins as a starter before the trade for Cooper. And that's on Brandon Beane. The fact that the Bills are 8-2 despite it does not change the fact it was a poor example of roster building. 

I don't believe they acquired Hollins with the intention of making him a starter. Beane's roster building notwithstanding, I think Hollins' ascension speaks more to Samuel, and MVS underperforming than Beane overvaluing Hollins. I think it's also worth remembering that the Bills are spending over $30M in cap on WRs who are no longer on the team.

 

Of course, all of that is on Beane. But, I think we're lucky that Hollins has stepped up to the extent he has.

 

Edited November 14 by Rocky Landing

[Saxum]

1 hour ago, Rocky Landing said:

I don't believe they acquired Hollins with the intention of making him a starter. Beane's roster building notwithstanding, I think Hollins' ascension speaks more to Samuel, and MVS underperforming than Beane overvaluing Hollins. I think it's also worth remembering that the Bills are spending over $30M in cap on WRs who are no longer on the team.

 

Of course, all of that is on Beane. But, I think we're lucky that Hollins has stepped up to the extent he has.

 

 

That is right - none of the spending is due to players not making effort. They are completely blameless even when they have a fit when being well paid.

[NewEra]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

Sherfield isn't a minor role player, he's an unrosterable player. Hollins has shown he's a rosterable player that ideally is WR5 on the depth chart. A very good WR5 at that especially since he plays special teams.

 

I just don't agree that minor role players can't make important catches. Even Sherfield made one of the catches of the year against Miami last year. I like that Hollins has grown some chemistry with Allen. None of his catches against Indy were plays where he outright won a rep against a CB, but he had some savvy plays making himself available to his QB and caught the ball when thrown his way. That is what you want your WR5 to do when forced into action.

 

A lot of the posts in this thread have somewhat of a "told ya so" cast. As in, all the people that said Hollins isn't a good WR were wrong. Like I said I happily admit he is better than the unrosterable player that I pegged him as when we signed him. But the WR room very clearly was not good enough to start the year and Hollins being one of our two starting outside WRs was a big reason why. The passing offense has been very inconsistent whenever he's been asked to go above his ideal 0-2 targets per game. Luckily Allen is playing the best football of his career and that means Hollins has been enough to get us out of most games when called upon.

Last season, Trent sherfield was a minor role player.  That’s what he actually was. That’s what he actually is this season.  Regardless of what you think he might be….this is the reality.  You thought Mack was Trent 2.0.  
 

i won’t get into this with you anymore.  Continue to downplay him all you want.  You’ll just continue to be wrong

[NewEra]

 

He’s like Encino Man!!  Had me rolling.  Brendan Fraser as his best 😂 

[Alphadawg7]

On 11/13/2024 at 3:21 PM, HappyDays said:

 

I mean in the games where he's been asked to be more than just a depth WR with limited targets, Allen objectively has had worse stats. I have nothing against Hollins at all. In fact he's been better than I expected and I can admit I was wrong about him - I called him another Trent Sherfield when we signed him and he has been a clear step above that. I'm just saying he is not a player you want as one of your starters outside. He is a depth piece and a minor role player who has done as much as could be reasonably expected.

 

The post I was responding to mentioned Allen's passer rating when targeting Hollins, and I'm saying that that alone isn't enough to summarize Hollins' value to the offense. The fact is that in games when Hollins is targeted a lot, the passing offense's performance declines. Here's Hollins' games this year ranked by total targets:

 

Baltimore - 6

Houston - 6

Miami (home) - 5

Indy - 4

Jax - 2

NYJ - 2

Arizona - 2

Tennessee - 1

Miami (away) - 1

Seattle - 0

 

If you were to rank the passing offense from worst game to best game it would look very similar to that list. Miami at home is the one glaring exception. Clearly the passing offense is better when Hollins is targeted 0-2 times per game.

 

 

This is a much more fair accounting of him than the post of yours I responded to, so kudos on that.  And I agree with what his role is and should be.  

 

However, I still am going to push back some on the correlation you are making about Allens worst game and Hollins targets.  Allen played poorly and missed throws, opportunities, etc all over the field in Houston and some against Indy.  These were things Allen was doing poorly, not that Allen had no help or no one to throw to.  

 

I love Allen as much or more than anyone.  Anytime he is on my TV or phone my wife says "hide your b***r" lol...but Allen gets to own his poor play too.  Allen was the worst player on the field against Houston offensively for a large part of that game, he was considerably off.  And his going rogue on the final drive when he had open guys underneath is a huge reason why we still lost that game.  Against Indy, he made some poor choices, missed open receivers on throws or just didn't see them, etc.  It was Allen who made those mistakes and left a lot on the field.  

 

Had Allen been playing his tail off and guys like Hollins were letting him down, I would totally support your correlation.  But the facts were the mistakes were self imposed by Allen, and not because he didn't have options out there or open targets.  

 

Edited November 15 by Alphadawg7

[DrDawkinstein]

Continuing my "Mack Hollins Apology Tour". Dude is so solid on the field and in the locker room. Seems like a guy who has enough good karma built up to deserve a SB win in his career. 🤞

 

[Big Turk]

Mack Hollins has played a very important role for us and has made a number of big plays at big times for this team...

[JP51]

14 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Continuing my "Mack Hollins Apology Tour". Dude is so solid on the field and in the locker room. Seems like a guy who has enough good karma built up to deserve a SB win in his career. 🤞

 

Like this... he is not an upgrade in theory to a number 2 WR... but, you know I am glad he is on our team.. just seems like a good locker room guy, a leader, and every now and again he comes thru with a really nice play, first down, big block or like last night a TD...  not the fastest or most shifty, got some size in his own lane he is fine out there... but probably more important in the locker room... dude is serious about winning, but keeps it light and fun...  watching him point in the middle of the JA17 TD run against the Chiefs was just classic... 

[Billsfed1]

Gotta give it to him…he just continues to impress.  
 

Has played well above expectation in my book 🦶🦶

[Drew21PA]

I’m sensing hollins loves it here and is going all out because idk how you explain his production … pretty impressive 

Edited December 2 by Drew21PA

[EmotionallyUnstable]

1 hour ago, Big Turk said:

Mack Hollins has played a very important role for us and has made a number of big plays at big times for this team...

99% of the fans (myself included) would have read this post in the preseason and guessed we were 4-7. It’s remarkable 

[Big Turk]

1 minute ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

99% of the fans (myself included) would have read this post in the preseason and guessed we were 4-7. It’s remarkable 

 

Think it goes to show that on every really good team there are certain roles that need to be filled that aren't flashy and aren't ever going to be the "star" players, but they are very important roles nonetheless and how well you fill these roles can be the difference between making the playoffs and not making the playoffs and winning in the playoffs and not winning in the playoffs.

[Bruffalo]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Continuing my "Mack Hollins Apology Tour". Dude is so solid on the field and in the locker room. Seems like a guy who has enough good karma built up to deserve a SB win in his career. 🤞

 

Cheers, I'm right there with you. 

 

After the Texans game I said I never wanted to see Hollins on offense again. I think what I should have said was "I never want to see him thrust into that role again". 

As a roleplayer, Hollins has been about as good as you can ask for. 1000x what Sherfield and Harty were for us.  If you're asking Hollins to do what he does best, which is block and occasionally catch a TD or first down, he seems like just the guy you want.

[Logic]

Just now, Big Turk said:

 

Think it goes to show that on every really good team there are certain roles that need to be filled that aren't flashy and aren't ever going to be the "star" players, but they are very important roles nonetheless and how well you fill these roles can be the difference between making the playoffs and not making the playoffs and winning in the playoffs and not winning in the playoffs.

This.

Prior to the season, I was very discouraged at the notion that Mack Hollins would be counted on as the Bills' WR2. Like Gabe Davis before him, he boasts a very specific skillset which is, in my opinion, not suited to be a top two receiver on an NFL offense. His career stats bear out this notion.

However, like Gabe Davis before him, he's well-suited to be a WR4. A guy who blocks his ass off, plays special teams, and can make the occasional clutch play on offense while opposing defenders are keying in on other guys. In THAT role, he has been excellent.

Hollins is a quintessential "glue guy". Not a star and never will be, but you need guys like him on your football team. Selfless guys, work ethic guys, character guys, dirty work guys.

I'm glad that Mack Hollins is a Buffalo Bill. Easy guy to root for.

[Big Turk]

2 minutes ago, Bruffalo said:

Cheers, I'm right there with you. 

 

After the Texans game I said I never wanted to see Hollins on offense again. I think what I should have said was "I never want to see him thrust into that role again". 

As a roleplayer, Hollins has been about as good as you can ask for. 1000x what Sherfield and Harty were for us.  If you're asking Hollins to do what he does best, which is block and occasionally catch a TD or first down, he seems like just the guy you want.

 

Not only does he do those things, but he seems to do them at critical times often in games.  That's REALLY hard to find in a role player.

[Rochesterfan]

1 hour ago, JP51 said:

Like this... he is not an upgrade in theory to a number 2 WR... but, you know I am glad he is on our team.. just seems like a good locker room guy, a leader, and every now and again he comes thru with a really nice play, first down, big block or like last night a TD...  not the fastest or most shifty, got some size in his own lane he is fine out there... but probably more important in the locker room... dude is serious about winning, but keeps it light and fun...  watching him point in the middle of the JA17 TD run against the Chiefs was just classic... 

 

 

If you watch the big Dawson Knox catch versus the 49ers - where Knox is running down the seam - as the throw is in the air there is a great shot of Mack doing the same type of pointing toward Knox knowing the play design worked.

 

I nearly died laughing just thinking about him doing this in the middle of a play.

[3rdand12]

On 11/12/2024 at 11:44 PM, stevestojan said:

Some useful laundry tips today: 

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DArZzX1v1ws/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

 

is he married ?

[3rdand12]

Perfect fit in the Bills Offense.

That is all 😇