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JESSEFEFFER

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Posts posted by JESSEFEFFER

  1. I loved the Hardy pick. Guy caught 36 TDs at Indiana and came into the NFL at 6'5". He was billed as a more physically gifted version of Plaxico Burress. And when he caught that game winner in the back of the end zone against Jacksonville, I thought he was going to do that every Sunday for years to come. The light never went on for him and he just couldn't put it together on the field. He had the talent but his lack of maturity and focus killed his career.

     

     

    I did too. He was not a 1 year wonder. I also liked his basketball background as I think it teaches a player to gain advantage in tight spaces through their body position relative to the ball and opposition. Think Gates, Gonzalez, Metzelaars, McKellar, etc. I think Naaman Roosevelt is a classic example of how to make this advantage work. As Gailey said "God didn't give him great speed or great size but he maximizes what he does have." I think what he has is a great ability to play the ball in flight, sheild the defender, and catch the ball. Think the Hail Mary catch against Temple for the best example of this. Strangely, Hardy was not very good at this at all.

  2. Is wide receiver a difficult position to learn? I would tend to think that it is one of the positions where players make an immediate impact without the need for an "apprenticeship."

     

    I remember Bill Polian having to decide between extending Edgerrin James or Reggie Wayne. When he picked Wayne he said it was because it took three years to get a WR fully integrated into the NFL/offense thus making him tougher to replace. Since he was tougher to replace it made him the more valuable to keep. He could draft Addai and get good value as James' replacement.

     

    This might explain why WR trade value is so low as well.

  3. We need to come up with a nickname for the Bills offense given they are a whole pile of also-rans and never weres. The are basically the "Replacements"

     

    Current Bills Starters/potential starters

     

    QB Fitzpatrick 7th round for St Louis

    RB Jackson undrafted

    FB McIntyre undrafted

    WR Johnson 7th round

    WR Parrish 2nd round

    WR Nelson undrafted

    WR Jones undrafted

    TE Chandler 4th round by San Diego, dumped and subsequently dumped by NYG and Dal

    LT Bell 7th round

    LG Rinehart 3rd round by Washington, dumped and subsequently dumped by NYJ

    LG Levitre 2nd round (just demoted to 2nd team)

    C Wood 1st round (a real player)

    RG Urbik 3rd round by Pitt - dumped

    RT Pears undrafted

     

     

    Rework the list a little, maybe add Roosevelt, Davis and/or maybe Caulcrick and get rid of Woods and Levitre to get the number to 12 names. Then you have "The Dirty Dozen." If you know the premise of the movie, 12 condemned men offered a last chance to redeem themselves on a suicide mission, then it kind of fits their career status. This is the last and/or best chance for most of these guys to be relevant to the NFL.

  4. If anyone here is old enough to remember the 1988 season, no one saw the Bills getting within one game of the Super Bowl. In fact I vividly recall every publication and TV show picking us for last place. Fact is no one sees the freight train coming until it runs them over. Gailey must be dancing a jig over the Bills being overlooked. We want that. No better place for us to be.

     

    FYI:

    1986 Bills 4-12

    1987 Bills 7-8

    1988 Bills 12-4

     

    PTR

     

    A 4 and 12 season characterized by a new starting QB, a new head coach, with many losses in high scoring games where the offense failed in the clutch and had problems with TO's. Three of the games they did win were of the low scoring , Jauronesque type that we have come to know all too well. They averaged scoring just under 18 points/game and were dead last in the league in turnover differential. This was followed by a defensive heavy draft heading into an NFL season which was to be tainted by an interruption in league operations due to management/labor strife.

     

    Everything here describes both the 2010 and 1986 seasons. Many are inclined to deny the analogy and can't get beyond "Fitzpatrick is no Jim Kelly." It's as if it might casue them brain injury to consider the point.

     

    Remember it well....though I think we had a bit more respect heading into the 88 season than you recall. After the Bennett deal in 10/87 we had collected a load of talent on both sides of the ball and had a shot at the playoffs in December that year. We lost our last two at the end and blew it..... but for the first time in a while we had a 'dog' in the race. With the addition of Thurman in the 88 draft (risks acknowledged) we had a an outstanding young team....and some national attention as I recall. Regardless your point is still valid. We can make a leap this year. Maybe not to 12-4..but we can 'surprise' people.

     

     

     

    Bills and Bengals. That is hard to believe. If I remember correctly, a fairly dumb penalty by Derrick Burroughs sealed our fate in that AFC Championship game.

     

    As I recall, he was baited by that punk Chris Collinsworth. I think Bruce got hit with a bogus face mask penalty on Esiason that was actually a grab of his collar which ended up extending a drive that resulted in points. Don't know where to go to confirm the latter.

  5. Other predictions:

     

    1) He will be the most popular training camp 7th round rookie ever.

     

    2) The Bills will find special situations for him to justify a roster spot much like they did for Jason Peters. He is too big to hide on the practice squad. Anything he does well in a preseason game will stand out on film.

     

    3) His small school, small town roots will endear him to Bills' fandom.

     

    4) His underdog, out-of-nowhere story will play like Roy Hobb's and he may be an NFL version of a Greek myth. As Bill's fans we can only let the story write itself and hope he truly is a nose tackle "Natural."

  6. I remember a video posted on the UBFan website from UB's Pro Day which was held at the fieldhouse. Jeff Quinn was talking to Chan about Davonte. "Four time 1st team, All Mac, only the 4th ever to do it, etc." Roosevelt was standing there and Chan said with a smile something to the effect of "if you have any more like him, I'd want them on my team." So, it could happen.

  7. I do not know about ESPN but I did hear him on the NFL Network. Maybe he was on both, I do not know. As for the NFL Network piece, the interviewer asked him three times in three different ways about what the sticking points were from the players perspective. He answered the question each time the same way. They hadn't seen the proposal yet. Had just been presented to the union like an hour prior to the interview. Said he did not know wwhy the media outlets were saying the players would be voting that day. It didn't come from them (maybe implying it came from the ownership side to put ther pressure of fan expectations on the players.) They had never worked with a timetable and did not have one now. He came off OK, in my book as I thought the interviewer was sub par.

  8. He will be very popular at training camp. If he treats the fans there anything at like he did you, he will be even more popular. Part of it is his freakish size, part of it is his underdog story, part of it is his attitude. Mostly though, it's the thought that he could be a Roy Hobbs story. A guy from off the map, nowhere that may be a freakish athlete, naturally gifted to dominate.

  9. Well...We'll see...

     

    These Workouts may or may not prove to mean a thing in the long-run...Only time will tell...And this Teams Offensive Leader has a Career 73 QB Rating...So I'm not going to count any Chickens yet... B-)

     

     

    A wait and see mindset is the right one or as I say "keep and open mind." The following numbers are Eli Mannings's first four years in the NFL. Year, starts and rating. He was neck and neck with JP Losman for much of this time. Being a #1, #1 pick probably bought him some extra time to get it. The light does come on for many QBs between their 30th and 50th starts. Let's hope that 2010 was the start of Fitzpatrick's emergence. It has happened where an NFL team got lucky and had a great QB come out of nowhere. The Bills are overdue for some luck.

     

    2004.......... 7 ..... 55.4

     

    2005.......... 16 ..... 75.9

     

    2006.......... 16 ..... 77.0

     

    2007.......... 16 ..... 73.9*

     

     

    * The Giants Super Bowl year.

  10. Let's say for the sake of argument that a "pressure situation involves" an unblocked defender in the backfield that casues the QB to either move, hold the ball, run the ball, throw the ball early or take a sack. In this analysis by Khaled Elsayed I see the following:

     

    No attempt to quantify a successful QB run as a "good" response to pressure.

     

    No scale of how quick the pressure came. Was it early or late? Did it kill the play or did the QB have time to survey the field, let the patterns develop and identify the coverage breakdowns before the pressure came?

     

    Was the pressure from one defender or two? Or more? It is tough to escape from multiple, would be pass rushers.

     

    How much time and space did the QB have to recognize the protection breakdown. The center whiffs on a block and the QB has time to react to it. A running back misses a blitz pickup occurs within two steps away from him.

     

    All "pressure" is not created equal. Getting rid of the ball and not taking a sack is often a good play. Avoiding it and running for a first down is even better.

     

    This ranking is not comprehensive.

  11. Would any here deny the following?:

     

    "All pressure is not created equal. Quick pressure @ 2.5 seconds (a whiffed block) is not the same as pressure that occurs @ 5 seconds. The first is a play killer where an incompletion or a scramble and run would be a good play. The second is an opportunity in that the play has developed, the QB has had time to survey the field, and the coverage has had a chance to breakdown."

     

    If you agree with that then would you also conclude that any attempt at assessing pressure that ignores when it occurred is flawed?

     

    Fitzpatrick was hit 80+ times. That's among the highest in the league. That's 80 attempts with a defender hitting him as he was throwing or with a defender one step away. That's over six times a game. A guy like Eli Manning was hit a little over 3 times a game. What would this tend to do to a QB's passer rating?

  12. Taking a DB this high in the draft is much like opening that really pretty package at Christmas and having it filled with socks and underwear. You know that the other packages will be more fun and these items are truly needed so it would be really unwise to complain about it.

     

    On the other hand, when you are running late for work, it is really a nice feeling to pull your dresser drawer open and have some nice, never worn, perfectly clean undergarments to put on.

     

    In football reality, secondary guys get hurt all the time, especially when you're becoming road kill drying to defend the run. Many times teams have 5 or 6 DB's in the game and a good offense will find your weak link and exploit it. That's why taking a DB high in the draft is a good idea most every year.

  13. It's semantics really. Judging the spectrum of worst to best based on one year is premature. Judging it based on "first year impact" of the class is more in line with what is being done here. In that case, I can't disagree that the Bill's 2010 draft was low impact in a situation where the opportunity was there to have a high impact.

  14. I like fitz, I really do but I don't see a ring with him. I also want to point out the bills had less drops than almost any of the teams with better %

     

    brees, Brady, manning all had more dropped balls.

     

    I just feel like anyone making comparisons to the top tier guys hasn't watched a top tier guy for 16, or 32 straight games since Kelly. There's a huge difference between fitz and them.

     

     

    Fitzpatrick's 2010 numbers are better than Jay Cutler's 2010 season and VERY similar to Eli Manning's average for the last 4 seasons. Are these two "franchise" caliber, in your opinion? They were drafted in the 1st round, they have big contracts, and Eli managed to lead his team to a Super Bowl win. Just wondering because some would say yes and others would not. If you look at Manning's game by game numbers you'll see them bounce around also. Part of that is the reality of playing outdoors in the northeast during November and December.

     

    With regard to Fitz, the late season decline you cite is heavily the result of the Minnesota and New England games. The other seven were not that bad. As a matter of fact, the Bills were the Lindell missed OT field goal and the SJ OT drop from winning six of the seven. Were the 2010 Bills capable of having a 6 and 3 stretch with substandard QB play? I say no.

  15. My distaste for a QB at 3 is that the pick and the money associated with makes it necessary to play him before he is ready. It also means that a team woulfd have to invest 30+ starts to see if he's gonna "get it."

     

    Vince Young is talented, has won some in the NFL, will be much cheaper and may have learned something from his failure. He will be in a situation where he would have to be clearly better than Fitz to move him to the bench. If his head is in the right place, then I like this better than any QB this year at #3.

  16. I still haven't heard the guys backing fitz say what they'd offer him cash wise..... Just saying, I bet it isn't franchise money.

     

     

    The 2011 equivalent of Rob Johnson's deal. That deal was based on one game. This would be based on 13.

  17. Well that's a serious limb you've gone out on there... :lol:

     

    But regardless of whether or not I agree...I do hope you're right about Fitz...But I just don't see how a Career 58% Passer is going to turn into the next Brees, who is one of the most accurate Passers in the history of the NFL...But again I hope you're right...Sometimes miracles do happen... B-)

     

     

    It took Drew Brees ~30 career starts before he became DREW BREES! He was so good early on that the Chargers drafted Manning and then traded him for Rivers.

  18. In my glass is half full thinking, SJ dropping that catch may have produced some nice outcomes for the team. Gailey had come out with the "humble vs. humbled" line in the Bengals post game when asked about the "Why so serious?" antics. He use it again in the Steelers post game. A subtle "I told you so" moment.

     

    It gave Fitz a chance to be a leader by not "throwing a teammate under the bus." Think about what Fitz is trying to do. Make the best of what may be his best and only shot to be a franchise QB. Beating the Steelers would have helped that cause.

     

    And, best of all, maybe SJ will be better for it.

  19. true but that has to do twit the offense as well.

     

    THe bills O only converted 38% of third downs. THey averaged a measly 5.1 yds a play while the best are near 6.0 yards a play.

     

    You cant really say they didnt have the ball either. The Bills O ran 2.5 less plays per game as compared to the packers, yet still sucked. The Bills O has one of the worst points per play ratios in the league.

     

    You see bc our O isnt anywhere near as good as you think, and cant stay on the field, our poor run defense gets killed.

     

    The O does not suck bc of lack of opportunity. its a lack of talent.

     

    When you subtract out the pathetic game 1, 2 and 16 offensive showings, the Fitz lead offense managed a 42% conversion rate and 5.7 ypp. Both are numbers that are worthy of the top 10. That 2010 run defense was "bad at the first snap" unlike in 2009 when it did wear down and collapse more often late in games.

  20. The Ryan Fitzpatrick we saw last year was not good enough to win in post season. He had a record of failure in crucial situations late in games that followed a familiar pattern. Tight game, 4th quarter, drives the team to the other side of the 50 but just outside field goal range. Deep throws are just off the mark (or dropped or fumbled) and the one critical first down never comes. This was NE1, Bal, KC, Chi, Pitt that I remember. This is also how I remember the late game failures of Jim Kelly's 1986 season so this trend of failure does not have to be career defining.

     

    The Ryan Fitzpatrcik of 2011 will get every advantage to be better. If a commitment is made to overhaul the defense then he could really shine. He has the smarts to learn from his mistakes and a pressure beating package of quick read and quick release to mask the protection problems he has faced and still allow the offense to function. He has reached the point in his career when many other QB's have had their careers take off and 2010 may have been the first sign of it happening for him. When this question is asked next year there will much more evidence with which to derive an answer.

  21. And if Fitz regresses while one of these 1st Round QB's we pass looks like a Franchise guy, what say you then? ;)

     

    It can happen you know? And once again it will be "what if?" in Buffalo... :doh:

     

    Then some QB in the 2012 draft gets a pile of money. Or some QB that they get in this year's draft gets to compete for the job. I personally feel that Vince Young would be a good pickup. He's talented, has performed well when on the field, and maybe he can thrive under a QB freindly HC.

     

    As soon as you take a QB at the top of the draft it's like the Bills are married to the guy. Saying that you'll play Fitz for a year or two would be like dating someone other than to whom you are engaged. Makes no sense to me. I want Fitz to be plan A for the 2011 season and see if he elevates his game. Having a plan B or even A1 is ok with me too. As long as their is a legit competition for the job.

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