Marv on McGahee

[Dawgg]

You are so wrong on this it's not even funny.

 

I can't cout how many times Willis, instead of hitting the hole in front of him to pick up a significant gain, dances around and waits for the hole to close. It's maddening. This is the NFL... holes, when they are there, close up relatively quickly and it's up to the running back to hit them and hit them hard.

 

Are you telling me that the run blocking was good when Travis was here? PLEASE. The line was in shambles back then, arguably worse than it is now... but Travis managed to get positive yardage and even broke out for 5-8 yard gains from time to time.

 

Not hitting the holes has a far reaching effect. Drives are much shorter. More pressure is put on the QBs with 3rd and long situations and most importantly, it dictates the playcalling.

 

 

IMO, his dancing costs us about 10 yards a game on the ground but probably no change in points and very rarely even a first down.

859921[/snapback]

[daquixers_is_back]

Just for everyones information: the original poster left out the part of the article where Levy said the problem is a combination of things incluing the offensive line.

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

Are you telling me that the run blocking was good when Travis was here?  PLEASE.  The line was in shambles back then, arguably worse than it is now... but Travis managed to get positive yardage and even broke out for 5-8 yard gains from time to time. 

859938[/snapback]

And Willis doesn't match that production? Has he never had a 5-yard run?

[daquixers_is_back]

Are you telling me that the run blocking was good when Travis was here?  PLEASE.  The line was in shambles back then, arguably worse than it is now... but Travis managed to get positive yardage and even broke out for 5-8 yard gains from time to time. 

859938[/snapback]

 

What a joke ... the line was WAYYYY better with Henry. Our offensive line when Henry was here was a pretty good run blocking line. Just not a very good pass blocking line. That line had Ruben Brown, Jonas Jennings, and Mike Williams. Three good RUN blockers. Couldn't pass block worth a damn, but thats a different story.

 

To answer your joke question: YES! The line was wayyy better with Henry here. I would take that line right now in a second!

[reddogblitz]

I think Willis is awesome and makes stuff out of nothing many times. Look at the 2 TDs against the Chargers as examples. However, he has missed in many short yardage situations this year. So how about this? Put him in on 1st and 2nd down when he can get decent runs. On 3rd and short, Take the A-Train (It's the quickest way to Harlem). RBs are not like QBs, where you have to play the same guy every play all season.

 

Or, if we let Willis go, do you think that Travis will be a free agent by then? He's tearin' it up in Tennessee.

[RVJ]

Last year Mularkey put Willis on the hot seat , His comments to the press about the exact same thing. Willis responded for a game or two before reverting back to his current style. Its almost like he doesn't want to get hit. I really don't know the reason.

Is he afraid to get injured. Saving himself for when the team is winning, Or waiting

to get on another team. Or just doesn't love the game of football. I know one thing.

He loves the limelight, being on every sports TV show he can.

[daquixers_is_back]

Last year Mularkey put Willis on the hot seat , His comments to the press about the exact same thing. Willis responded for a game or two before reverting back to his current style. Its almost like he doesn't want to get hit. I really don't know the reason.

Is he afraid to get injured. Saving himself for when the team is winning, Or waiting

to get on another team. Or just doesn't love the game of football. I know one thing.

He loves the limelight, being on every sports TV show he can.

859956[/snapback]

 

Yeah ... or he wants the team to win so bad that he is constantly trying to make big plays out of nothing, because he knows that the passing game/regular offensive method is probably not going to work.

 

Thats another theory.

[Benjamin Franklin]

The way Willis ran in his first 8 games--the stiff arms, the power, the aggressive leveling of tacklers is not the Willis who plays now. He was supposed to be a great pass catcher--he's never in the passing game. He's not a great running back. He'll want tons of cash next year, no doubt.

 

In 2007, he's gone and I won't miss him. A-Train isn't the answer either so it will be interesting to see who the Bills pickup.

[Kelly the Dog]

You are so wrong on this it's not even funny.

 

I can't cout how many times Willis, instead of hitting the hole in front of him to pick up a significant gain, dances around and waits for the hole to close. It's maddening.  This is the NFL... holes, when they are there, close up relatively quickly and it's up to the running back to hit them and hit them hard.

 

Are you telling me that the run blocking was good when Travis was here?  PLEASE.  The line was in shambles back then, arguably worse than it is now... but Travis managed to get positive yardage and even broke out for 5-8 yard gains from time to time. 

 

Not hitting the holes has a far reaching effect.  Drives are much shorter.  More pressure is put on the QBs with 3rd and long situations and most importantly, it dictates the playcalling.

859938[/snapback]

So, what, he dances every play and would have gained three more yards each time? He'd be averaging 6.7 yards a carry this year? He only carries the ball 18 times a game. He maybe, maybe dances about 5 of those carries, at the most, when he could have hit the hole harder and maybe, I repeat, maybe gained two more yards. That's ten yards a game. And that is assuming that at NO carry does he actually gain more yards by trying to find a hole, like, say, the two TDs he had in the Jax game.

[Benjamin Franklin]

Yeah ... or he wants the team to win so bad that he is constantly trying to make big plays out of nothing, because he knows that the passing game/regular offensive method is probably not going to work.

 

Thats another theory.

859960[/snapback]

 

If that's his thinking, then he's an idiot as evidenced by his lack of big plays. All that dancing rarely gets him anywhere.

[Chilly]

So, what, he dances every play and would have gained three more yards each time? He'd be averaging 6.7 yards a carry this year? He only carries the ball 18 times a game. He maybe, maybe dances about 5 of those carries, at the most, when he could have hit the hole harder and maybe, I repeat, maybe gained two more yards. That's ten yards a game. And that is assuming that at NO carry does he actually gain more yards by trying to find a hole, like, say, the two TDs he had in the Jax game.

859968[/snapback]

 

Those couple of yards would have helped a helluva lot in order to get a first down though.

 

I'd think its more important to consistently give the offense short 3rd down tries rather than occasionally break a longer run.

[Benjamin Franklin]

So, what, he dances every play and would have gained three more yards each time? He'd be averaging 6.7 yards a carry this year? He only carries the ball 18 times a game. He maybe, maybe dances about 5 of those carries, at the most, when he could have hit the hole harder and maybe, I repeat, maybe gained two more yards. That's ten yards a game. And that is assuming that at NO carry does he actually gain more yards by trying to find a hole, like, say, the two TDs he had in the Jax game.

859968[/snapback]

 

That Jax game is the exception to the rule. He's not a big play guy. He has 2 30 yard runs this season. That's it. And 4 running TDs. He's averaged more than 4 yards a carry 2 games this year.

 

All that dancing doesn't get him much.

[Dawgg]

After the Jax win, Willis asked me what the Bills' record was.

 

You be the judge.

 

Yeah ... or he wants the team to win so bad that he is constantly trying to make big plays out of nothing, because he knows that the passing game/regular offensive method is probably not going to work.

 

Thats another theory.

859960[/snapback]

[Kelly the Dog]

That Jax game is the exception to the rule. He's not a big play guy. He has 2 30 yard runs this season. That's it. And 4 running TDs. He's averaged more than 4 yards a carry 2 games this year.

 

All that dancing doesn't get him much.

859971[/snapback]

You're right. It doesn't. And that is what I and Marv are saying. My point is that it's not losing much either. Travis Henry hits the hole every time hard. For his career and when he was on the Bills, Travis, who had better offenses and blocking, averaged 4.0 yards per carry. Willis has a career average of 3.8 yards per carry. For those of you keeping score, that means for every 20 carries, Travis gains 4 more yards by hitting the hole hard and not dancing. I over-exaggerated 2-3 fold and said it could be ten yards a game. That will win a lot more games. A Train for his career averages as much as Willis. Exactly as much: 3.8 A Train for THIS SEASON averages 3.7 which is less than Willis. So what is everyone actually saying? And it's not like Willis has been busting long ones which throws his average off.

[CFLstyle]

wow, one of the best RBs in the league, one of our only top notch offensive threats, and the message board people try to drive him off the team. He single handedly won the game against Jacksonville and just to show you how special a back he is, look at how the "A-Train" did behind the Bills offensive line. McGahee is a STUD, one of the premier backs in the NFL, and you people just can't appreciate that at all. Unbelievable.

 

Of all the problems we have on this team, RB is the LEAST of our concerns. Every other position on the team has issues, yet the biggest concern here for everyone seems to be our stud running back. Wow is all I can say.

[keepthefaith]

wow, one of the best RBs in the league, one of our only top notch offensive threats, and the message board people try to drive him off the team. He single handedly won the game against Jacksonville and just to show you how special a back he is, look at how the "A-Train" did behind the Bills offensive line. McGahee is a STUD, one of the premier backs in the NFL, and you people just can't appreciate that at all. Unbelievable.

 

Of all the problems we have on this team, RB is the LEAST of our concerns. Every other position on the team has issues, yet the biggest concern here for everyone seems to be our stud running back. Wow is all I can say.

860022[/snapback]

 

You'll need to support your "he's a stud" and "premier RB" claims with some supporting data or somehow qualify your opinion. The line appears to be sub-par, and many would agree that the team has greater needs to solve. He doesn't look anything close to a "premier RB" to me. We'll certainly know how the Bills management feels about him come contract time.

[Simon]

Jeez, didn't Meathead do that last year, too?

859648[/snapback]

 

Yeah but Mularkey is an idiot and Uncle Marv is a sage..........

[cantankerous]

Actually, he didn't say that, he said "he has to blast it into the line a little more". That's a little more, that's not "hesitates way too much", and I can agree with Marv on that. He probably should. There are certain plays, many in fact, that he could get 1 or 2 more yards if he just ran up the gut harder. I don't believe, however, that the long bursts will just magically come if he does that. You need more of an opening IMO to break those. And the Bills as a whole do a crappy job of holding their blocks, especially the WRs as well as the right side of the line.

 

I also am not necessarily a Willis lover. I don't like the way he blocks. I don't think his leg has been well until this year. I really liked Travis and stuck up for him to no end.

 

My argument has always been not that Willis is great, but that Willis never gets holes. And he doesn't. If he did, he would be near the top of the league IMO. The run blocking in front of him has been deplorable since he got here. And that his dancing does not come because he is stupid, or not a smart runner, but rather that he is trying to make a play, and make something happen out of nothing and provide a spark by breaking a bigger run. It hasn't happened very much at all, because he gets no holes. He does, however, break a lot of tackles.

 

What happens because of his dancing, however, is that we get 2nd and 10 instead of 2nd and 9, or 3rd and 6 instead of 3rd and 8, and we would very much likely punt or make the first down anyway. In other words, IMO, his dancing costs us about 10 yards a game on the ground but probably no change in points and very rarely even a first down.

859921[/snapback]

 

 

Excellent post. I can't stand all these fair weather fans who jump all over Willis this week, and if he breaks a few td's or has a good game next week will be all over his jock again. He's a Buffalo Bill. He wants to win. I wish people would just give it a rest about the guy...he played against jax with 3 broken/and or cracked ribs and did great...now he's trash because Marv Levy said he should hit the hole harder a little more? Give me a break.

[keepthefaith]

Excellent post. I can't stand all these fair weather fans who jump all over Willis this week, and if he breaks a few td's or has a good game next week will be all over his jock again. He's a Buffalo Bill. He wants to win. I wish people would just give it a rest about the guy...he played against jax with 3 broken/and or cracked ribs and did great...now he's trash because Marv Levy said he should hit the hole harder a little more? Give me a break.

860059[/snapback]

 

My strong hunch is that he takes Marv's advice and we'll all see a difference in his running approach this week. That's good because it should make a difference and help the team to win.

[YOOOOOO]

Bring back the Willis of old(the one that made Henry look below average)....the one that dropped shoulders, threw stiffarms and ran hard every carry.....

 

 

This is not the same Willis...its sad