Fewell733 Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afceast/0-3-161...-football-.html ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- My locker-room conversation with Buffalo Bills third quarterback Gibran Hamdan started out as a quick blog item and turned into something much more. I wanted to ask Hamdan about Cam Cameron, his head coach at Indiana University who brought Hamdan to Miami Dolphins camp last year. Cameron was fired after the season and became the Baltimore Ravens' offensive coordinator. I asked Hamdan if he could detect anything foul about what would turn into a 1-15 Dolphins campaign. We talked about the leadership in place with such respected captains as quarterback Trent Green, linebacker Zach Thomas and defensive end Jason Taylor. What I discovered was Hamdan is a raconteur. Hamdan, an NFL Europa MVP who also has played for the Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks, delivered one of the more passionate and insightful interviews I've recently been a part of. So here's our talk when the subject turned from last year's Dolphins to this year's Bills. What happened in Miami last year was surprising because of the leadership of guys like Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor and Trent Green ... GH: Overall team chemistry is very important, and you can have the leadership at the top, but you've also got to think who's the 52nd and 53rd guy on your roster, the 49th. What do they bring to the table? I think that's something we do well here in Buffalo. Everybody has a role. Everybody looks at themselves in the mirror each week and says 'This is how I can help the team win this week.' If you get a team that can believe in that, and you have a head coach that exudes the importance of that, I think you're better off. Obviously, there are certain guys making the plays on Sunday, and we have some very talented ones here. But I would say everybody in the locker room feels they've done something to help the team win, no matter how minimal or maximal it is on Sunday. Related to that all-for-one mentality, the Bills seems to be a team with no elite talent, but no weaknesses. Would you agree with that? GH: Now, see, I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say that. There is elite talent here. I think where we are located geographically, the coverage that we get, leads people to believe a certain thing about our team. I've been on a lot of teams. There are elite players here. Maybe not big names. Maybe not guys that the average fan, looking at a fantasy-football sheet, would say 'Oh, yeah.' But that's not how you build a team. I think if you look at the successful teams over the years, namely the ones in our division, New England, or a San Diego or an Indianapolis, you don't necessarily go down the roster and say 'first-round pick, first-round pick, first-round pick, eight-year Pro Bowler, six-year Pro Bowler' ... You look at how teams are built, and the teams that are having success are the teams that are doing a good job of bringing players in that fit a system, that can jell into a cohesive unit and know their roles. So you can say all you want about not being an elite player, but I'll take a guy who plays his role excellent on each and every play than a guy who maybe is an elite player but isn't playing at a high level because he's maybe upset about his role on the team or where he's situated. I think I misspoke when I said 'no elite talent,' but thanks for setting me straight. What I meant is that the Bills aren't loaded up in any one area of dominance that bails out another area on a weekly basis. There's total balance. GH: Our game [sunday] was a perfect example of that. Defense keeps us in the game the whole way through. Then the offense comes around and makes a couple plays. That's the way you've got to win in this league nowadays. It really is. You can't just one-side your way through a season. Sure, there are anomalies. Sometimes an offense can be just unstoppable. But the NFL isn't fantasy football as much as people like to look at it that way. We have that conversation every week. You can't look at us like fantasy football. It's all about 'Who's going to perform up to their abilities so we can win?' If you have a lot of guys that know their role on the team, know how to perform that role and do it consistently every week, it doesn't matter what kind of talent you bring in here because that team will win. That's what we've built here as a team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Chroise! Kidding aside, that's a great interview. Gibran is obviously an intelligent guy, and perhaps he will be the man who steps up into the #2 role next season when JP almost certainly moves on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Tuesday Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Obviously a smart guy, but it takes him 10 minutes back there to read defenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Cat Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Somebody here posted a link to a Canadian show that featured Hamdan and Trent and one thing that he said that sticks out in my mind (considering Hamdan's 'journeyman' status) was when he stated that the 2008 Bills have better team chemistry than any squad he's ever been on. Personally, I think team chemistry is one of, if not THE most important factor to a team's success, and Hamdan's comments really got me excited! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steely Dan Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Somebody here posted a link to a Canadian show that featured Hamdan and Trent and one thing that he said that sticks out in my mind (considering Hamdan's 'journeyman' status) was when he stated that the 2008 Bills have better team chemistry than any squad he's ever been on. Personally, I think team chemistry is one of, if not THE most important factor to a team's success, and Hamdan's comments really got me excited! If you have a lot of guys that know their role on the team, know how to perform that role and do it consistently every week, it doesn't matter what kind of talent you bring in here because that team will win. That's what we've built here as a team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jangalang Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 If you have a lot of guys that know their role on the team, know how to perform that role and do it consistently every week, it doesn't matter what kind of talent you bring in here because that team will win. That's what we've built here as a team. Awesome quotes in there...I'm gonna use those with my football team. Hope Hamden sticks around and does his part! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 You can never have too many California QBs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganesh Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 Awesome quotes in there...I'm gonna use those with my football team. Hope Hamden sticks around and does his part! While that quote is awesome, You do need talented players to win in this league....If you do not have talent in the form of speed and natural abilities you are not going to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bladiebla Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 Obviously a smart guy, but it takes him 10 minutes back there to read defenses. Right... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleed Bills Blue Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 Obviously a smart guy, but it takes him 10 minutes back there to read defenses. Yeah, must be the playbook loses something in the translation to Arabic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 I just wanna say i knew this kid had it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrite Gal Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 Somebody here posted a link to a Canadian show that featured Hamdan and Trent and one thing that he said that sticks out in my mind (considering Hamdan's 'journeyman' status) was when he stated that the 2008 Bills have better team chemistry than any squad he's ever been on. Personally, I think team chemistry is one of, if not THE most important factor to a team's success, and Hamdan's comments really got me excited! I think even we outside observers can feel the team chemistry being good. However, this feeling does lead to questions like: How did the Jason Peters situation reflected onto the team chemistry (overall, I think Peters did the team a great favor by pursuing his idiotic and failed to this point quest by entering the cone of silence and not having him or his agent say word one to anyone- this kept this dispute one between the management and the player and kept out of the team chemistry as much as possible). What the heck happened with Angelo Crowell? Is the Lee Evans thing gonna get done or not and does it not getting done (yet) impact team chemistry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
True Posted September 27, 2008 Share Posted September 27, 2008 I thought he looked pretty good in the pre-season, I had never even seen him play anymore... of course I think he was playing mostly guys who are fliiping burgers now... B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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