ESPN ranks Willis McGahee, 21st among active Rbs

[Beerball]

Despite our low rank in EVERY category, they'll still say our biggest mistake was firing TD.   

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Good point, someone splain this one to me.

[Pyrite Gal]

All "if's" and "wills". Not sold on Willis and have seen very little to make me think this guy is anything but average. Line or no line he deserves nothing more than a middle of the pack type ranking at this point if your ranking the backs themselves.

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Why is being the fastest RB to 2000 yards rushing as a Bill merely average? It does not make him the best Bills RB ever, but I am simply curious what he would have needed to do to be more than average.

[bbills17]

If they are ranking RB's, willis is a top 10 back.

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Top 10 through Buffalo Bills rose-coloured glasses maybe. Ask any non-Bills fans and they'll say 21st is about right. Below avg. speed, likes to dance around the line rather than run through it, below avg. quickness, hasn't shown receiving skills, what on earth do you guys base your top-10 on?!

[eball]

Why is being the fastest RB to 2000 yards rushing as a Bill merely average?  It does not make him the best Bills RB ever, but I am simply curious what he would have needed to do to be more than average.

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Fastest to 2000 yards despite playing behind one of the worst OLs in the league and with two seasons of inconsistent (at best) QB play. Average my ass.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Top 10 through Buffalo Bills rose-coloured glasses maybe.  Ask any non-Bills fans and they'll say 21st is about right.  Below avg. speed, likes to dance around the line rather than run through it, below avg. quickness, hasn't shown receiving skills, what on earth do you guys base your top-10 on?!

Willis was 10th in the NFL in rushing last year with that offense, and being overweight. Enough said.

[bbills17]

Willis was 10th in the NFL in rushing last year with that offense, and being overweight.  Enough said.

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You might want to consider how many teams employ multiple RBs and share carries, Willis got nearly all our carries last year. 10th means almost nothing.

[bluv]

Top 10 through Buffalo Bills rose-coloured glasses maybe.  Ask any non-Bills fans and they'll say 21st is about right.  Below avg. speed, likes to dance around the line rather than run through it, below avg. quickness, hasn't shown receiving skills, what on earth do you guys base your top-10 on?!

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Yeah; might as well kept Henry; at least he wanted to be a Buffalo Bill! Fans with atitudes like yours, everybody on the Bills would be an underacheiver unless they went to the Pro Bowl or got inducted.

[Ramius]

Top 10 through Buffalo Bills rose-coloured glasses maybe.  Ask any non-Bills fans and they'll say 21st is about right.  Below avg. speed, likes to dance around the line rather than run through it, below avg. quickness, hasn't shown receiving skills, what on earth do you guys base your top-10 on?!

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I'd be interested to see your list of 20 RB's that are better than willis.

 

I see these backs as better than willis...

 

1. Alexander

2. LJ

3. LT

4. Edge

5. Portis

 

Sure other backs, ala rudi johnson, ran for more yards, but if you watch any games, and consider the teams, rudi is no way better than willis.

 

edit: i see willis in a group of about 6-7 backs ranked right below these good backs. Which is enough to make him a top 10 back.

[BuffOrange]

I'm not a huge Willis fan, but that ranking is typical bandwagon "base everything on the previous year rather than the big picture" syndrome...preview magazines always do the same thing w/ their team predictions.

 

Off the top of my head:

AFCE -R. Brown?

AFCN - R. Johnson

AFCS - D. Davis

AFCW - L. Johnson

L. Tomlinson

NFCE - Portis, Barber

NFCN - ??

NFCS - Cadillac?, McAllister

NFCW - S. Jackson?, Alexander, James

 

I dunno, I think all the ones w/ "?'s" are all debatable either way, but I don't know where you find 7 more RB's in addition to this.

[Ramius]

Yeah; might as well kept Henry; at least he wanted to be a Buffalo Bill! Fans with atitudes like yours, everybody on the Bills would be an underacheiver unless they went to the Pro Bowl or got inducted.

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dont bother with him. check him posts. he's shown time and time again that he's nothing but a troll.

[The Poojer]

if i am not mistaken, the whole premise of this list(s) is ultimate depth chart, and they are rating the entire RB corp, not just the headliner, course I could be wrong.

 

He should be in the top 15, not 21st.

 

Link not up yet it seems on espn's sportsnation.

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[Beerball]

if i am not mistaken, the whole premise of this list(s) is ultimate depth chart, and they are rating the entire RB corp, not just the headliner, course I could be wrong.

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I think that they are looking at the overall position, not just Willis, but I could be wrong. They might even factor in O-line and QB play as well.

[R. Rich]

Who cares, it's ESPN.

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Too many.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

You might want to consider how many teams employ multiple RBs and share carries, Willis got nearly all our carries last year.  10th means almost nothing.

So because Willis got most of the carries and was 10th in rushing last year, it means nothing? Yeah, okay.

[nonprophet]

They say that only because Marv's the GM.

 

If we had kept TD, he would have drafted Hava Nagila at 8 instead of Whitner and ESPN would have ranked our running game in the top 10 - 15.  Of course TD would have ignored the OLine just as he did all 5 years of his reign, but ESPN would figure that the "better value" selection of a DLineman at #8 would have to have the efffect of improving our running game, probably the passing game too. It's a Brewski kind of thing.

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I don't know, he may have drafted an undersized WR instead...

[bbills17]

So because Willis got most of the carries and was 10th in rushing last year, it means nothing?  Yeah, okay.

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Well, if every team employed one back that got all the carries, he'd be luck to be in the top 25.

 

I am basing it on watching the damn games! He has no breakaway speed that he had in college, and he doesn't want to be a 'hard runner'. You figure it out.

 

On top of this, he doesn't want to be here people! If he had even a decent year last year, he would be holding out right now. He'll be gone the instant his contract is up, if not sooner.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

No one wanted to be in Buffalo about midway through last year. A lot of that had to do with the coaching staff. And as for Willis looking slow, again it's because he played too heavy and because of that fool of a S&C coach Mularkey hired (Brad Roll).

 

And as for your contention about sharing carries, Willis averaged 20.3 carries a game. Hardly a ton of carries. The range for RB's in the top-10 last year was 17.5-24 carries a game with ~20 being the average.

 

And WRT pass-catching skills, being that he was removed on 3rd downs and wasn't INVOLVED by Mularkey in the passing game, it's kind of hard to SHOW your skills.

[bbills17]

No one wanted to be in Buffalo about midway through last year.  A lot of that had to do with the coaching staff.  And as for Willis looking slow, again it's because he played too heavy and because of that fool of a S&C coach Mularkey hired (Brad Roll).

 

And as for your contention about sharing carries, Willis averaged 20.3 carries a game.  Hardly a ton of carries.  The range for RB's in the top-10 last year was 17.5-24 carries a game with ~20 being the average.

 

And WRT pass-catching skills, being that he was removed on 3rd downs and wasn't INVOLVED by Mularkey in the passing game, it's kind of hard to SHOW your skills.

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Take a look for yourself:

http://www.nfl.com/stats/playersort/NFL/RB...NG/2005/regular

 

Every single RB below Willis in this '10th' rushing yards ranking had less carries. Also look at his 3.8 ypc average and compare it to the rest of the league.

 

Beyond the stats, Willis just did not run well last year, and was a big part of the offensive problems in my opinion. If he's lighter this year and will have his speed back maybe we'll see a different RB, I sure hope so. His speed is one thing, I think his non-chalent attitude could use an adjustment as well, hopefully the new coaching staff helps that along.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Fair enough. I still don't think he was over-used compared to other backs and I agree that his YPC were low, but that had a lot to do with his weight and the offense. I think he's excited by what Fairchild is doing and he came into camp lighter and in great shape. Let's hope it means something on the field.

[Pyrite Gal]

Fair enough.  I still don't think he was over-used compared to other backs and I agree that his YPC were low, but that had a lot to do with his weight and the offense.  I think he's excited by what Fairchild is doing and he came into camp lighter and in great shape.  Let's hope it means something on the field.

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Mad Buff I think you dhoulf hesr flea out and think abput what he is saying. You are right that one certainly needs to consider the reality that the bloacking in front of Willis sucked and he was often playing with a QB who offered no alternative effective O threat in JP or little long pass worry from KH. One would have to be a fool to deny this.

 

One would also be ignoring reality unless one acknowledged that he gained over 1000 yards.

 

Yet, as flea points out he carried the ball an inordinate numbers of times for the Bills and gained the tenth greatest number of rushing yards without hitting the holes hard or trying very hard.

 

He accomplished what he accimplished with no breakaway speed and what flead demonstrates was a weak effort.

 

After reading flea's post I am really psyched now because if one realizes that WM did all this being lackadaisical, can you imagine what he will accomplish if he merely ramps it up to a 3/4 effort.

 

There are those who would argue that WM is in it only for the money and does not care about the team. Well, flea provides in his post an answer to this whine as well. WM clearly does not want to be here.

 

If you combine this thought with the notion he is only in it for the money it is no wonder that WM has taken 4-10 lns. off with his workouts at the U this off-season. Obvioudly his plan is to work at 75%+ effort this year rack up a bunch of yards and then hold out for the big $ and jumo ship.

 

I certainly had my doubts about how things would go with WM thiis year, but thanks to flea pointing out that he finished in the top 10 in rushing yards with a half-aa;ed effort, we can only be osyched as Bills fans to see his results when he ramps it up to a 2/3 or 3/4 effort as he goes after a big payday when he and Drew R. holdout next year. Flea has got me really psyced about our RB prospects behind WM in 2006.