BeastMode54 Posted April 28, 2008 Posted April 28, 2008 I'm luke warm on the McKelvin pick. If he can be the player that we think he can be in covering opposing WR's, playing wel against the run, and being a ball hawk, obviously I will be very happy. I'm just wondering if any of you think they will actually use his ability on ST. After watching a lot of highlights, he seems to have great field vision to go with amazing speed. I know we have Roscoe and McGee, but I wonder if he might spell them on occasion to reduce injury risk. Basically, my question is, will McKelvin return punts or kicks for us this year?
buffalobills09 Posted April 28, 2008 Posted April 28, 2008 I'm luke warm on the McKelvin pick. If he can be the player that we think he can be in covering opposing WR's, playing wel against the run, and being a ball hawk, obviously I will be very happy. I'm just wondering if any of you think they will actually use his ability on ST. After watching a lot of highlights, he seems to have great field vision to go with amazing speed. I know we have Roscoe and McGee, but I wonder if he might spell them on occasion to reduce injury risk. Basically, my question is, will McKelvin return punts or kicks for us this year? i think if he is not a starter at corner he will become the all time starter in kick returns
Turk Posted April 28, 2008 Posted April 28, 2008 I'm luke warm on the McKelvin pick. If he can be the player that we think he can be in covering opposing WR's, playing wel against the run, and being a ball hawk, obviously I will be very happy. I'm just wondering if any of you think they will actually use his ability on ST. After watching a lot of highlights, he seems to have great field vision to go with amazing speed. I know we have Roscoe and McGee, but I wonder if he might spell them on occasion to reduce injury risk. Basically, my question is, will McKelvin return punts or kicks for us this year? Yes
BeastMode54 Posted April 28, 2008 Author Posted April 28, 2008 Ok, if you said yes, then who takes a seat. Does he take punts from Roscoe, or kickoffs from McGee
jarthur31 Posted April 28, 2008 Posted April 28, 2008 Maybe it's just me but he should take over kicks and let Roscoe do his thing. In the end it won't really matter because we no longer have the blocking we once had. Man I miss Fletcher.
Astrobot Posted April 28, 2008 Posted April 28, 2008 I think he'll be better than Roscoe (who was no slouch) on punt returns. We're talking Deltha O'Neal, Cliff Branch, Johnny Rodgers good. From NFL profile: Holds the NCAA Bowl Subdivision records with 211 total kick returns (112 punts/99 kickoffs) for 3,817 yards, breaking the previous records of 203 attempts (110 punts/93 kick-offs) for 3,455 yards by Deltha O'Neal of California (1996-99)...His eight total touchdowns on kick returns (seven punts/one kickoff) tied the NCAA all-time record that he shares with Cliff Branch of Colorado (1970-71, 6 punts, 2 kickoffs); Johnny Rodgers of Nebraska (1970-72, 7 punts, 1 kickoff); Derek Abney of Kentucky (2000-03, 6 punts, 2 kickoffs) and Chad Owens of Hawaii (2001-04, 6 punts, 2 kickoffs)..His seven punt returns for touchdowns are one shy of the NCAA record of eight, first set by Wes Welker of Texas Tech (2000-03) and Antonio Perkins of Oklahoma (2001-04)...His 112 punt returns broke the old Sun Belt Conference career-record of 50 by Johnny Quinn of North Texas (2003-06) and his 1,471 yards on punt returns shattered the previous league all-time record of 478 yards by James Johnson of Arkansas State (2004-05)...His average of 13.13 yards via punt returns rank third in Sun Belt annals behind James Hickenbotham of Arkansas State (15.2-yard average, 2001-02) and Tyrone Gifford of New Mexico State (14.0 avg, 2001-02)...McKelvin's 99 kickoff returns topped the old conference all-time record of 63 by Darren Toney of Arkansas State (2004-2006)...His kickoff return yardage of 2,346 surpassed the previous Sun Belt all-time record of 1,373 yards by Charles Estes of Louisiana-Monroe (2003-04)...His kickoff-return average of 23.69 yards per attempt rank third in league annals behind Charles Estes of Louisiana-Monroe (27.4 avg, 2003-04) and Tony Lukins of New Mexico State (23.71 avg, 2001).
rollingrock Posted April 28, 2008 Posted April 28, 2008 Ok, if you said yes, then who takes a seat. Does he take punts from Roscoe, or kickoffs from McGee What's wrong with putting McKlevin and McGee out there together on kick returns..? You could have potentially the most dangerous return tandem in the league..No more kicking to the opposite side to keep the ball away from McGee..Teams will have to pick their poison..Idealy,that's how I'd like to see it play out anyway..
Dan Posted April 28, 2008 Posted April 28, 2008 Ok, if you said yes, then who takes a seat. Does he take punts from Roscoe, or kickoffs from McGee yes By all accounts, this guy is being billed as the next Devon Hester. Is he? I don't know, but we have to find out.
Astrobot Posted April 28, 2008 Posted April 28, 2008 What's wrong with putting McKlevin and McGee out there together on kick returns..? You could have potentially the most dangerous return tandem in the league..No more kicking to the opposite side to keep the ball away from McGee..Teams will have to pick their poison..Idealy,that's how I'd like to see it play out anyway.. Great Idea, rollingrock. I don't like your beer, but I like your idea!
BeastMode54 Posted April 29, 2008 Author Posted April 29, 2008 Great Idea, rollingrock. I don't like your beer, but I like your idea! I like that idea too, however it seems as if he excels most on punts
EndZoneCrew Posted April 29, 2008 Posted April 29, 2008 What's wrong with putting McKlevin and McGee out there together on kick returns..? .. Nothing at all.....remember when we had London Fletcher out there with Mcgee......what a joke that was!
The Big Cat Posted April 29, 2008 Posted April 29, 2008 Great Idea, rollingrock. I don't like your beer, but I like your idea! I was thinking the same thing? Why only have one threat when you can have two? TOTALLY limits where a team can kick to!
EndZoneCrew Posted April 29, 2008 Posted April 29, 2008 TOTALLY limits where a team can kick to! Out of bounds?
Pyrite Gal Posted April 29, 2008 Posted April 29, 2008 I'm luke warm on the McKelvin pick. If he can be the player that we think he can be in covering opposing WR's, playing wel against the run, and being a ball hawk, obviously I will be very happy. I'm just wondering if any of you think they will actually use his ability on ST. After watching a lot of highlights, he seems to have great field vision to go with amazing speed. I know we have Roscoe and McGee, but I wonder if he might spell them on occasion to reduce injury risk. Basically, my question is, will McKelvin return punts or kicks for us this year? I think a lot depends upon how fast the coaches judge McKelvin picks up the mental side of playing the Cover 2. Many players have said that NFL vets need a year in the Cover 2 before they really gain enough command of making the reads about what the other team is doing and communicating with each other to make sure they are making the same read. My assumption is that not only will McKelvin have to deal with the load of adjusting to the NFL game being quite different that the college game (a difference made even more pronounced by the not top rate competition he faced at Troy State) but he will have the additional load of gaining command of the Cover 2. The physical side of the game should be no problem at all for McKelvin, but I will not be shocked at all if it takes him a little while to demonstrate to the coaches and his teammates that he is ready to go as a starter. That being said I would expect to see a lot him at CB pretty quickly as a nickel and in the many plays will play when neither the Cover 2 nor the variation known as the Tampa 2 is appropriate (ex. plays in the redzone where there is no deep zone, short yardage plays, prevent defense, etc). If however, the coaches deem another player a better choice for position play, then I think it is more likely we will see McKelvin returning kicks. Rather than deal with the impatience of fans who invest in the conventional wisdom that a first round pick should immediately start and a media which would be happy to prematurely label him a bust if it sells advertising on WGR or fills column inches in the Buff News, If the coaches feel McKelvin needs more time seeing pro plays before they can entrust the CB role to him then I think we will see him as kick returner.
lets_go_bills Posted April 29, 2008 Posted April 29, 2008 It's funny because, while he is the best returner in the draft, we have two electric returners already: McGee on kicks, and Parrish on punts. Still, they'll factor him in somehow. He'll get a chance to field a few.
Steely Dan Posted April 29, 2008 Posted April 29, 2008 What's wrong with putting McKlevin and McGee out there together on kick returns..? You could have potentially the most dangerous return tandem in the league..No more kicking to the opposite side to keep the ball away from McGee..Teams will have to pick their poison..Idealy,that's how I'd like to see it play out anyway.. That's exactly what they will do I believe. I've never seen this before, that can remember but, could they put him back with Roscoe on punts too? Out of bounds? Then the Bills start at the 40!
Pyrite Gal Posted April 29, 2008 Posted April 29, 2008 What's wrong with putting McKlevin and McGee out there together on kick returns..? You could have potentially the most dangerous return tandem in the league..No more kicking to the opposite side to keep the ball away from McGee..Teams will have to pick their poison..Idealy,that's how I'd like to see it play out anyway.. It would be interesting. Teams used to routinely set two guys back to receive kicks but the current approach seems to be to have one return guy back who shifts left or right depending on the direction of the kick. I think there are at least 2 factors which have led to the one return guy being the standard: 1. When they moved the K from being launched at the 40 to create more run backs this both allowed more time for the return guy to run to either sideline to field it and also increased the yardage the coverage team needed to run to get to him. This increased time allowed for one guy to hang back instead of needing two depending on which side the kick went to. 2.STs now really choreograph the return blocking in more complex patterns than simply setting up a wedge and everyone else man-on-man blocks. This has led to there only being one return guy as adding a second guy would making the blocking patterns even more complex. 3. Kickers are more accurate these days and rather than simply attempting to kick it as far as they can each time, they now kick for a particular height and hang time as well as direction so the blocking patterns have become more complex as they try to anticipate what the kicker might do. April seems to be a good enough coach that he should be able to figure something out with two kick returners. If they both are dynamic and raise fear due to success we might well see more kicks out of bounds simply giving the Bills the ball at the 40.
Steely Dan Posted April 29, 2008 Posted April 29, 2008 It would be interesting. Teams used to routinely set two guys back to receive kicks but the current approach seems to be to have one return guy back who shifts left or right depending on the direction of the kick. I think there are at least 2 factors which have led to the one return guy being the standard: 1. When they moved the K from being launched at the 40 to create more run backs this both allowed more time for the return guy to run to either sideline to field it and also increased the yardage the coverage team needed to run to get to him. This increased time allowed for one guy to hang back instead of needing two depending on which side the kick went to. 2.STs now really choreograph the return blocking in more complex patterns than simply setting up a wedge and everyone else man-on-man blocks. This has led to there only being one return guy as adding a second guy would making the blocking patterns even more complex. 3. Kickers are more accurate these days and rather than simply attempting to kick it as far as they can each time, they now kick for a particular height and hang time as well as direction so the blocking patterns have become more complex as they try to anticipate what the kicker might do. April seems to be a good enough coach that he should be able to figure something out with two kick returners. If they both are dynamic and raise fear due to success we might well see more kicks out of bounds simply giving the Bills the ball at the 40. Good post. It will be great if they use a choose your poison method.
LynchMob23 Posted April 29, 2008 Posted April 29, 2008 That's exactly what they will do I believe. I've never seen this before, that can remember but, could they put him back with Roscoe on punts too? Yes we can - we did it a few times last year with Jimmy L back there with Roscoe. Some teams do it so the punt returner has a personal protector kinda like the punter does. With McLovin', we can rest the actual starter (McGee) late in games, as well as force the punter to pick his poison. We could probably also start using the rarely done reverse on KR and PR.
Recommended Posts