Willis McGahee

[MartyBall4Buffalo]

Maybe we should get rid of Lee Evans he hasn't even hit 50 catches in a season yet, or London Fletcher all his tackles are always downfield, or Terrence McGee cause he only had 1 ko return td last year he's obviousily on the decline..... Forget the fact Willis is our most productive offensive player and that he doesnt have the luxury of a passing game that other top tier backs enjoy like larry johnson tiki barber or alexander. Nope it's all on willis.....

[BuffOrange]

Oh thats right McGahee's 100+ yard week 17 performance was the reason we lost to the jets 

689748[/snapback]

 

OK I admit even I ran for the bus rather than watch that game

That was his first 100 yard game in quite a while, no?

[Orton's Arm]

Many thanks.

You're welcome.

[Kelly the Dog]

That would have been my plan as well, but when you go the route the Bills have taken, which is to weed out the high maintenance players and try to create synergy by putting together a group of pluggers that is team first then a douchebag like McGahee becomes a big problem.

 

IMO, McGahee wants to choose where he plays and he is taking the passive aggressive approach, doing just enough to get by, but hoping that the Bills cut or trade him so he can sign where he wants and get more money in the process.  He proved his talent two years ago, now all he has to do is JUST ENOUGH and set himself up for his next team.  As a 'Canes fan, I'm disgraced by his performance last year and lack of preparation.

689691[/snapback]

Is that why they signed Peerless?

 

Here is my theory, and I'd like to know your opinion on it. Willis, after his good season in 2004, had very high hopes for 2005 like a lot of people did. But when the defense tanked early, and Mularkey/Clements went completely insane with their game planning/play calling in game one series one, and it escalated in its mind boggling foolishness in the Tampa game and the Falcon game. Combined with the quarterback problems and the ridiculous way it was handled. Combined with the fact he was getting no holes to run through anywhere. Willis just got frustrated when it was clear this team was going nowhere fast.

 

He wasn't used to losing. He wasn't use to not being the focal point and star. He knew our defense was not going to stop anyone and our offense was not going to block anyone, and we were going nowhere. And he just mailed it in when the season was over 5 games into the season. And that if this year's team shows some spark, or has a chance, that he won't be just trying to get to his next team, he will be running hard and breaking tackles and making us excited again. I'm not saying I advocate that attitude, in fact, I hate it. But that's what I think happened.

[Dibs]

The question that i want to ask is why are people so firmly behind a guy who is just going to leave when his contract expires. 20 internet dollars say that McGahee's loyalty does not lie with Buffalo and you will see him book to a southern team at the end of his time in Buffalo.

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Because that is pure speculation(though I think quite possible).

For better or worse, he is our best RB & is potentially a *star*.

I'll reverse the question....

Why wouldn't you get right behind our potential star RB & support your team as much as possible?

Who knows, maybe high fan support might just convince him to stay long term in Buffalo.

 

Also....what has he actually done wrong? It is not like he is a Ricky Williams.

[The Dean]

Am I the only one who scrolls through long drawn out posts without reading them?  This could be the most intelligent thing ever written, but I will never know because I don't go on a chat board to read a novel.  If I could get the cliffs notes I would really appreciate it.

689102[/snapback]

 

 

If it's Pyrite Gal, I advise you read the post. Sometimes it actually takes a while to make the proper point.

[The Dean]

That would have been my plan as well, but when you go the route the Bills have taken, which is to weed out the high maintenance players and try to create synergy by putting together a group of pluggers that is team first then a douchebag like McGahee becomes a big problem.

 

IMO, McGahee wants to choose where he plays and he is taking the passive aggressive approach, doing just enough to get by, but hoping that the Bills cut or trade him so he can sign where he wants and get more money in the process.  He proved his talent two years ago, now all he has to do is JUST ENOUGH and set himself up for his next team.  As a 'Canes fan, I'm disgraced by his performance last year and lack of preparation.

689691[/snapback]

 

 

While i hope you're wrong about Willis (he really DOES seem like an asswipe), if you are right, at least it's just he RB. On a team with a good offensive system, RB's are a dime a dozen, IMO.

 

But, he can be as asswipe and still be productive here if they just give him the damn ball.

[The Dean]

the O-LINE SUCKS ASS!!!! walter payton himself would have a hard time running behind this sorry excuse for a o-line!  put willis with the chiefs or broncos and i guarantee u that people would say willis is already hall of fame bound

 

people really need to stop worrying about willis,he is the very least of our concerns and trust me there are quite a few!  the guy was the second coming of oj with size before the o-line regressed last year.  fastest guy in nfl history to ten 100 yd games, yeah lets get rid of him he sucks

689711[/snapback]

 

 

Willis was not the problem on this team last year, you are correct. But, he is also not a back that overcomes a bad line...and there are some...few, for sure.

 

OTOH, almost any NFL starting back can run behind a GREAT OL (see Denver).

 

Hopefully, Marv is building a TEAM with character guys that play all out. If the line is better (it really HAS to be, IMO) and they give Willis his carries (and don't punk out when we're down by 7 or 10 in the 3rd quarter, Willis will be productive and happy (enough).

 

If he proves to be a punk and trouble, he'll be easliy replaceable.

[jdellapelle]

give him 30+touches a game

[jdellapelle]

he is 228lbs and runs a 4.28

[Coach Tuesday]

I don't know why I ever voted for Willis for Mayor. He has really let us down, the schools haven't improved and property taxes are higher than ever.

[Hollywood Donahoe]

he is 228lbs and runs a 4.28

Probably not.

 

There's a poster on my Pats board who extensively studies the nature of 40 times, and has asserted that Carl Lewis' then-record 9.92 100m time projects to a 4.49 40. In short, the hypothesis is that the NFL's 40 times are complete and total BS.

 

But it's only a theory. It's always interested me, though.

[Dibs]

Probably not.

 

There's a poster on my Pats board who extensively studies the nature of 40 times, and has asserted that Carl Lewis' then-record 9.92 100m time projects to a 4.49 40.  In short, the hypothesis is that the NFL's 40 times are complete and total BS.

 

But it's only a theory.  It's always interested me, though.

690539[/snapback]

Do you have a link to that?

I'd be interested to muck around with his figures myslef.

[BADOLBILZ]

Is that why they signed Peerless? 

 

Here is my theory, and I'd like to know your opinion on it. Willis, after his good season in 2004, had very high hopes for 2005 like a lot of people did. But when the defense tanked early, and Mularkey/Clements went completely insane with their game planning/play calling in game one series one, and it escalated in its mind boggling foolishness in the Tampa game and the Falcon game. Combined with the quarterback problems and the ridiculous way it was handled. Combined with the fact he was getting no holes to run through anywhere. Willis just got frustrated when it was clear this team was going nowhere fast.

 

He wasn't used to losing. He wasn't use to not being the focal point and star. He knew our defense was not going to stop anyone and our offense was not going to block anyone, and we were going nowhere. And he just mailed it in when the season was over 5 games into the season. And that if this year's team shows some spark, or has a chance, that he won't be just trying to get to his next team, he will be running hard and breaking tackles and making us excited again. I'm not saying I advocate that attitude, in fact, I hate it. But that's what I think happened.

689870[/snapback]

 

McGahee was bad from the start last year. His lack of intensity was evident even in preseason and by game 3 Mularkey had had enough, and rightly so. He wasn't around in the offseason and subsequently didn't put a fine point on his game, and I don't believe he really cares to.

[Hollywood Donahoe]

Do you have a link to that? 

I'd be interested to muck around with his figures myslef.

I got the Lewis numbers from here. (Whole thread here.)

 

Unfortunately, the database has deleted most of the older posts where he gets into the nitty-gritty of it all, so the only remaining posts are the one where he refers to older (since-deleted) posts and concepts. I'm not a math guy, so I didn't retain a whole lot of what he posted (raw numbers and calculations as they were), but they were still fun to read.

 

A very interesting area of study, certainly.

[Dibs]

I got the Lewis numbers from here.  (Whole thread here.)

 

Unfortunately, the database has deleted most of the older posts where he gets into the nitty-gritty of it all, so the only remaining posts are the one where he refers to older (since-deleted) posts and concepts.  I'm not a math guy, so I didn't retain a whole lot of what he posted (raw numbers and calculations as they were), but they were still fun to read.

 

A very interesting area of study, certainly.

690548[/snapback]

 

Thanks for that.

Pity the older ones are gone, I would have really liked to know how he extrapolated 4.49 from Lewis' 9.92.

 

One thing I learned though...(& please excuse my ignorance in the matter, I'm from Australia & never get to see footage)...the 40 times are timed by hand!

That's ridiculous. I honestly would have thought a multi billion dollar industry like the NFL would set up professional timing equipment at the combines.

I'm staggered.

[keepthefaith]

he is 228lbs and runs a 4.28

689929[/snapback]

 

 

Baloney to both of those numbers. He's heavier and slower.

[BADOLBILZ]

While i hope you're wrong about Willis (he really DOES seem like an asswipe), if you are right, at least it's just he RB.  On a team with a good offensive system, RB's are a dime a dozen, IMO.

 

But, he can be as asswipe and still be productive here if they just give him the damn ball.

689903[/snapback]

 

Willis is just an idiot. Flat out. You never know what you will get from him. This is the same guy that was so mentally distraught about being picked on by Clinton Portis at Miami that coaches felt he was compeletely ruined as a player, and yet he showed a lot of toughness in rehab. Then he came out and ran hard and beat out an established 1200 yard back for a job in his first season playing in the NFL, and subsequently played like a POS the next year, made no effort to improve in the passing game, and didn't care.

 

You might not think this matters because he has talent, but what it really reflects is a lack of accountability. I think Marv and Jauron underestimated the problem, and now they have a ton riding on the hope that Willis will be motivated.

[Hollywood Donahoe]

Thanks for that.

Pity the older ones are gone, I would have really liked to know how he extrapolated 4.49 from Lewis' 9.92.

I am nowhere near the expert on this as is freak from KFFL, but I remember something about 100m times containing 10-yard splits, the first four of which were used (largely) as the basis for the 40 time extrapolation.

 

One thing I learned though...(& please excuse my ignorance in the matter, I'm from Australia & never get to see footage)...the 40 times are timed by hand!

That's ridiculous.  I honestly would have thought a multi billion dollar industry like the NFL would set up professional timing equipment at the combines.

I'm staggered. 

I have it in my head that the combine utilizes electronic clock stoppage (triggered by the runner hitting a string), but that starts are still hand timed. Pro days are even more informal, as I believe everything is hand-timed. I'm not sure of this, but I think it's the case.

 

Don't get me wrong - come draft time, I live and die with each 40 time the media reports. But it is quite interesting to explore the validity of it all, and see that these times that are so oft-cited stand upon the flimsiest of foundations.

[Pyrite Gal]

Willis is just an idiot.  Flat out.  You never know what you will get from him.  This is the same guy that was so mentally distraught about being picked on by Clinton Portis at Miami that coaches felt he was compeletely ruined as a player, and yet he showed a lot of toughness in rehab.  Then he came out and ran hard and beat out an established 1200 yard back for a job in his first season playing in the NFL, and subsequently played like a POS the next year, made no effort to improve in the passing game, and didn't care.

 

  You might not think this matters because he has talent, but what it really reflects is a lack of accountability.  I think Marv and Jauron underestimated the problem, and now they have a ton riding on the hope that Willis will be motivated.

690554[/snapback]

 

You seem to draw a lot of conclusions about WM's attitude, thinking, level of positive commitment, reasons for doing things, and motivations which far beyond reasonable conclusions which can be drawn from what he has said and what is said about him in the media.

 

Do you have some personal knowledge or interaction with WM which makes these authoritative conclusions reasonable ones to draw?

 

Alternately you may have reached these conclusions based on what we can all read in the media, and given the various incomplete stories and inaccuracies we often see in a media doing this as a business from reports from the business which is the Bills and also the business which is the product Willis McGahee, how do you make judgments on what is believable to draw these conclusions.

 

Even beyond this which may possibly be reasonable in terms of drawing conclusions about WM, the conclusion that Marv and Jauron underestimated the WM problems simply seems to draw conclusions from the brief time Marv and Jauron have been here when they had much more immediate and big decisons to make of which WM was a factor for them to work with but really a small part of the equation.

 

Marv needed to work with his first priority being understanding what his boss Ralph wanted, then getting the best HC he could get with a focus of his time on a zillion factor one of which was WM, but I hope that was a minor occupation for him compared to working with, getting to know and getting control of Modrak and his staff and interviewing and giving serious consideration and thought to attracting and hiring Jauron amidst other candidates like Sherman.

 

Even after this, it would have been nice to be able to focus time and attention on the managing WM issue, but I hope they did not as I think a priority to get more Ws for this team was working with Jauron to build a quality staff. Even as we went through this process, the draft should have been one of their primary occupations though again WM management issues would have been an important sidelight in figuring this out.

 

What the heck else do you think should have been done (that coulda been done besides signing Thomas. it might be one thing that indicated underestimation of problems with WM, if they had heightened reliance on him by cutting RBs on the roster or not going after a credible back-up.

 

However, they did not cut Gates or Wiiliams (not that these two could ever step up to start but if you cut them you actually put more reliance on WM unless you replace them with far better talents. I do not see how the Bills do this is in a draft with far less talent at RB than last year for example. They did pick up Thomas and again though it isdoubtful he can return to the level of consistent starter he was at Chicago, there is no way the Bills can likely afford an James or Alexander if your prescription for taking him seriously is to replace him.

 

So even if you are some great seer of what the future holds, what specifically do based on not underestimating the problems he will/can cause.