Hapless Bills Fan
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Posts posted by Hapless Bills Fan
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Sorry for another Bills' D thread, but I want this specific question out there for discussion among some of the brighter minds on this board.
I read a lot, follow a bunch of folks on Twitter, and there seems to be a building consensus that the scheme Rex is trying to employ is not the best fit for the Bills' personnel -- specifically, the D line and LBs. Using Dareus as a space-hogging NT, for example. Putting Kyle at rush end. His scheme works, but only with the right personnel.
This week the move to put Hughes at LDE was actually a good one, but what do others think? I'm not a coach and don't claim to be -- I don't study film -- but it seems to me the talent is there to be a special D but all they've been thus far is perfectly average.
What I hear is Rex talking about giving the players the best opportunity to succeed and fitting the scheme to the players. A #3 or #5D was disappointing.
What I see is week after week, the players are not playing up to the standard they set last year under Schwartz.
I think Rex isn't putting his game plan and scheme where his mouth is. It's lip service. He's running a scheme that depends upon a quality of LB we don't have and uses our DL in a way that is not their best.
That said and somewhat of an aside - I love how everything becomes someone's "ego" when it crosses Sully's pen.
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No, the root of my criticism is giving up two #1s and a fourth. I do expect a monster for that. And, I think he could be one. But, this is frustrating as hell. It's all glimpses. Just like it was with CJ and it seems several others.
I have never understood this.
If you feel a player is goofing off - taking plays off, sandbagging, failing to take coaching - yeah, that's on the player. Bryce Brown would be an example. Apparently he failed to take coaching about improving his ball security to the point where the coaches wanted him gone and didn't want him back even when RB corps was decimated by injury.
But a high percentage of great college players, including players drafted high in the 1st round, don't make it in the NFL. Some of them are injured out of the league or perennially hampered by injury. Some just don't have it, for whatever reason.
If a player doesn't seem worthy of his draft position or what was traded for him, that's on the GM and (if involved) the FO. That's really not on the player, so why get a hate-on for the player over that? He didn't and couldn't control where he was drafted.
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he saw gregs Gun collection...Texans love the freedom to annihilate groupings of wood chucks and armadillos with out switching clips. fact
the M-4 is over the top btw
Late friend:
"When I drove from Indiana to Texas for my first programming job, they stopped me at the Texas border and searched my car for guns.
Fortunately I had some, so they let me in!"
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no, please don't. We draw the line at Mulligan targets.
He dug one out of his shoelaces and made some tough YAC/took a big hit vs NE. Clay and someone else (Harvin I think?) both passed up that opportunity in a later game.
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It seems the legal system has somehow failed here...
Eh. Accused has the legal right to face his or her accuser. If you can make the accuser disappear (in this case, voluntarily with $$$), there goes the accusation.
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i didn't follow the story very closely but I thought I read that she reportedly only had a hangnail or something... That she didn't have injuries. Could be wrong.
No, that's incorrect.
Hardy's lawyer, during the bench trial resulting in conviction, asked her something to the effect of how all she alleged could have happened to her when she didn't "break a nail".
Getting slammed around only counts if a girl breaks her nails, evidently. The lawyer's contention was that if Hardy had really thrown her around, she would have been injured much more severely.
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And another way of looking at it was, at the end of the game, down by 3 with 2:00+ and 3 time outs left, E.J. was not the difference.
True enough. But the assertion to which I was responding was that Bortles was not the difference in that game. When a QB's team is losing, and he leads a game-winning drive down the field, I don't think that assertion can be supported, regardless of what the opponent's QB doesn't do.
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Wait, What?
I thought Percy Harvin was out with a hip injury. Since when did it become a knee injury? Anyone know? WTF?
I hope Karlos is truly healthy and won't go down with the first big hit. I also hope the refs are on the watch and will nail any unnecessary roughness, someone picking him up and spiking him down in the hope of taking him out again or the like.
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Dude.
You know what I meant. He wrote that "Blake Bortles beat us."
We LOST to the Jaguars. But because "Blake Bortles beat us."
He netted 13 points. Two td's, two FG's, one pick six.
Blake Bortles wasn't the difference.
I see how you're looking at it.
Another way of looking at it is, we came back in the 4th Q and were leading the Jags 31-27. Bortles led the Jags down the field, including 2-12 and 3-15 conversions and capped by a 31 yd TD pass.
Then we stalled out on our 2-minute drive when just FG range could have tied it.
So yeah, another way of looking at it was, at the end of the game, Blake Bortles was the difference.
They have support garments to address that.
LOL but actually, I have long thought Fitzy should take to wearing a glove. That extra grip in the cold weather could be all the difference.
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I'm actually starting to come around to this view, along with the realization that this might be a very poorly coached team. But the Watkins trade/pick is still sticking in my craw and it hurts more and more every time ODB lights it up while Sammy is either injured or getting three targets per game. It was a terrible trade and a lot of us said so at the time. unfortunately, it was Whaley's signature move. I know I need to let it go, but I just can't.
I understand your viewpoint on Sammy. I do think you need to let it go, though. Seek professional help if you must.
Have you ever watched the video of the War Room whilst they were negotiating for that trade? Watch it carefully - do you know which of those guys is Brandon and which is Littman and Overdorf? then ask whose "signature move" that is. Whaley is the buck-stopper - the GM - so yeah, he gets the credit or blame, but looking at how positively gleeful and ecstatic Brandon is, it's kind of easy to think that there was influence there, especially with the past history of "ticket sales" roster moves from the Bills (TO, VY, etc).
That said, Watkins was never hurt in college and OBJ has Manning throwing to him, so it's hard to lay Watkins injuries on Whaley.
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Re the right side of the line, I'm not sure Henderson and Miller are better than their replacements -- at all. Miller has played poorly all season, and Henderson is a weak link. I don't see any dropoff from those two Urbik and CK, at least not yet. In other words, they're not a great loss.
Henderson - > Kujo agree but Miller >> Urbik. Urbik is better in pass protection which is an experience thing I think, but he can not run block. Miller can. Maybe not well yet but better than Urbik.
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Some NFL players get broken, and never do get repaired. Kaepernick is, and has been playing very, very poorly in a good offense. This isn't a player that will magically transform into a decent starter simply because he changed uniforms.
The Bills have enough problems on offense without adding a broken player to the mix. What does it say about a player when his own teammates want him benched?
allow me to add, http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25360365/look-colin-kaepernick-completely-misreads-defense-which-leads-to-a-safety
I'm not quite ready to annoint the 49'ers offense as "good". When Kaep was doing well, they had a strong running game - they were one of the teams 3 "run first" teams - and a very good OL.
I don't think either are true any longer.
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Tank mode
@RapSheet: The #49ers are benching QB Colin Kaepernick, I'm told. He has been informed. Blaine Gabbert is the starter.
Interesting.
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No, he's clearly declined. He just finally has a team who can pick up his slack.
It will be the height of irony if Peyton wins his second championship in his worst non-rookie season. The ultimate team game and all that. Can't wait for Brady to face this buzz saw.
Denver has an amazing D and a running game, both true.
But Peyton was throwing ropes last night. The Packers D wore down at times, but in the first half he was throwing those quick accurate throws to covered receivers, placed exactly where the receivers could get them and no one else could. He may have declined, but his decline is still pretty dang good and his demise has been over-predicted.
Aside: did anyone else notice that under pressure, a bunch of Rodgers check-downs and dump-offs were down at the shoestrings or otherwise off target?
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Rex's defense is always about Rex, not his players. He can make anything successful , he feels due to his ability to confuse the offenses.
Memo to Rex:
1. Some offenses don't seem confused.
2. When offenses make changes then line up and snap quickly, instead Bills D seems confused
3. What happened to "I will suit my scheme to the players"?
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Schefter said so, and he seems to have in an in with every important agent. He's usually reliable.
Rex's agent is Jimmy Sexton. For those who remember the Marrone divorce, they'll recall that Schefter was getting info from Marrone's agent -- the same Jimmy Sexton.
Isn't Schefter the one who fluffed up Marrone as a "hot prospect" for the Jets, Atlanta, and at least one other HC job?
If Ryan is crying to his agent about stuff Whaley does so that Sexton can leak it to Schefter, he's a jerk. If he really isn't on board with a decision, it should go to the Pegs as his and Whaley's boss.
If it's other coaches, ditto. I totally believe one or more coaches weren't happy, but there are probably other coaches who are screaming for more roster spots with injuries and someone has to cowboy up and make the tough decision.
If Ryan is unhappy about Cassel because of EJ's performance after watching Cassel's last two games, he's an idiot. Cassel has not looked good. Russ Wilson gift wrapped 7 points for the 'Boys and they walked off with a FG.
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I still believe it was how they had mismanaged the spot prior to 2013 rather than in 2013 and 2014 that has left them in this position. For me they have to draft a Quarterback early this year. It doesn't HAVE to be a 1st... but a 1st or 2nd should be spent at the position in my view if there is a guy there you think is worth a shot. Get a Quarterback and a left tackle first two pick please.
Pretty much, This. Tyrod Taylor may work out - or he may not. People seem to have short memories that he was failing to spot open guys esp. over the middle of the field, throwing some drive-killing INTs and taking drive-killing sacks vs. stepping up into the pocket and/or throwing it away - some of the same mistakes EJ made. I like Willie and when he's hot, I'm screamin!.
But I would like to see another QB in the hopper, please.
For too long this team has been about thinking we have the right guy on the roster if he only takes a step. The real mistake was waiting until 2013 to draft a QB rather than taking one in 2011 or 2012.
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Schwartz tenure as HC was marred by undisciplined play and a team that underachieved for it's talent level. Ryan's teams overachieved at first , then things fell apart as the talent level dipped below average. What's the difference? All these Coaches in the NFL are eventually fired and recycled. I don't recall Belichick being available last offseason. The team had already gone the coordinator route and reached to the college ranks. Ryan was the highest profile hire the team has made since Chuck Knox. It was hardly a status quo move. Ryan will get 3 seasons barring a 2-14 disaster type year before that. This story is a long way from over.
I agree about Schwartz as HC, but our defense was pretty much to be counted on when he was DC
Last year the Seahawks (formerly Seasnakes, renamed in honor of FredEx joining them) were a Superbowl team with a stout D. This year with Quinn as HC in Atlanta, 6-1 isn't looking too shabby.
Specifically a turn-around from 6-10 to a 6-1 start isn't looking too shabby.
So while Belichick wasn't available, and Schwartz as HC arguably wasn't a great idea, other coaches who might be quality, creditable coaches were available.
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Rex is a good coach. It's his first year and he had to bring in his own QB to get this team anywhere near to competitive. What would have been the alternative? Jim Schwartz that couldn't win as a head coach despite having a good franchise QB? I don't understand how people can turn on a new coach to this franchise that hasn't even coached half a season with the team.
Its the Defense. We see what was an elite D last year turned into a ball-less pile of slush this year and we want change.
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@RapSheet: The #Browns have engaged in discussions about potentially trading two of their best players: LT Joe Thomas and C Alex Mack, sources say.
Mack has a no trade clause as a result of Browns marching the transition tag offer sheet Jax gave him last year - but he can waive it if he wants out early
@RapSheet: Joe Thomas has no guaranteed money for 2016, but a salary of $9M. Alex Mack could opt-out of his deal. Would want value if hes gonna bolt
I don't know how we would do this or for whom but we could sure use some help on the O-line.
'Cog seems solid and Wood much improved (if sometimes confused) but Henderson and Glenn - Ay yie yie yie CarUMba!
"Ground and Pound is more like Mush and Slush", describes it
i could see the pats ending up with mack or thomas.
I don't think so? The Pats strategy is to make the line work with rookies, which is going fine for them as long as they can count on Brady to get the ball out quickly and the refs to blast any opponent who lays a finger on him late.
As opposed to players like our Tyrod or Cam Newton who can have a DL knock him down on a false start and come away with a ref handshake.
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They are both equally terrible.
I kind of can't agree.
EJ is terrible like a sine wave. He has periods of absolute suckage, and periods where he makes some really really good on the money plays. The really really good parts make you feel like "hmmm, could he really have something? would he?" The absolute suckage makes you want to swallow your tongue and die. He's kind of like the Bryce Brown of QB.
Cassel is terrible like a flat line that runs down the middle of the sine wave. He sees the field, but his long ball is gone and his intermediate throws wobble and then, all those picks. Vets aren't supposed to throw all those picks.
So EJ and Cassel average out close to the same overall performance, but the details are different.
I have and have never claimed any insider knowledge but with the weird timing - we brought Cassel back at a discount, then we traded him off for not much after a couple games - I wonder if something went on in the QB room that led the team to say well, this isn't going to work too well. Because that would make a lot more sense than the "Whaley's Ego" theory propounded by the media.
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The only major fail was promoting EJ to #2 and letting him see the field, we would be in a much better position if the plan went as planned, situations change.
EJ potentially sabotaged the year, again.
If what "plan went as planned"?
There appear to have been several fails. Not enough done for the OL was one. But as for "EJ potentially sabotaged the year", what is the objective evidence that Mr "My Long Ball is Shot, my Short Passes Wobble, and I threw 3 Picks v Giants" Cassel would have done a better job vs Jax?
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He definitely neglected the QB position. He bought a mansion then Cancelled his home insurance policy.
Some blame must fall on Whaley, his gamble backfired.
You break it, you buy it.
Imo
I agree with the "some blame" for QB. But as far as mansion, it seems to me that Ryan's invited the frat boys in to play "slip and slide" on the parquet floors and punch holes in the bedroom drywall. I'm not sure homeowner insurance covers that from invited guests.
We agree the Bills QB neglect far precedes Whaley, correct? It precedes Nix, although Chix and Nailey def. hitched their star to the Fitzpatrick bandwagon and drafted winners like TJ Graham instead of Russ Wilson. Can we pin that one on Whaley?
Watching the video of the trade-up for Watkins...Brandon and Overdorf are just gleeful, all smiles, flying high, after Whaley hangs up the phone. I'm sure Whaley was invested in it and should carry a lot of the responsibility, but looking on the glee displayed by Brandon, that can't have been all Whaley's notion.
I can't say that but Rex was handed some sweet talent with NY. One thing is for sure is that Tannenbaum built a MUCH better team for Rex when he entered year 1 than what Whaley has done for Rex.
Explain and defend, please, because I don't see it.
Yea I do.......Jim Kelly
Oh, in the name of little pink penguins, give it a rest.
Jim Kelly is a huge fan and a deserving HOF QB. But what on earth is there to lead anyone to believe he has interest, let alone aptitude, for the sort of detailed year round talent evaluation and for managing a staff of scouts and pro-personnel guys to bring in as much football talent while staying under the cap?
There's a reason why quality NFL GM's serve an apprenticeship as scouts and pro personnel directors before taking on the GM job - it takes time to develop those skills. Then it takes drive and energy (and yes, ego) to stay on the job once you're in it.
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Okay okay.....maybe I was going a bit overboard....
I'm just really disappointed that he's stuck by EJ for so long and is almost trying to force things to work out with him - almost like fitting a square into a round hole. And he cut Fred Jackson and traded Cassell - you all know this....The moves just didn't make sense as a whole and my gut feeling was that his ego has been hurting the team (and the fans) lately....I mean we could have drafted David Carr or Bridgewater in the past drafts if he had recognized early on that EJ was just not cut out to be a NFL QB...I could go on and on, but hopefully you see where I am coming from.
Objectively, if you draft a young QB who is known to be a project, it makes no organizational sense to add another QB who is thought to be a project from a weak class in the next draft. The fatal QB flaw really began on Buddy Nix watch as GM, where once we cut Edwards and started Fitzpatrick, IMO we should have been working overtime to scout and draft 1-2 promising QB in 2010-2012. Bridgewater and Carr may be or may not be "all that and a bag of chips" (they haven't proven themselves to me yet) but if we're playing might-have-been, why not pine after Andy Dalton, Russ Wilson, Nick Foles, or even Ryan Tannehill (we could conceivably have moved up for him)? Why start with 2014, which is widely regarded as one of the weaker QB classes?
The point of view I simply don't understand is all the criticism for cutting Fred Jackson and trading Cassell. I think there can be some legitimate criticisms of some of the draft and roster decisions on Whaley's watch, but those two choices? Seriously?
Fredex was the oldest running back in the league last year. He has 11 attempts for 54 yds running for the Seahawks. I find it really difficult to take seriously the football cred anyone who makes a statement like "the move just didn't make sense as a whole".
I thought it was OK to acquire Cassell, but how he looked in training camp was not how I expected. He sees the field better than EJ, but his throws were limp and in case you haven't noticed, during the Dallas game that weekend he threw 3 picks and walked off the field with a 62.3 rating, which is significantly lower than EJ despite EJ's abysmal 2Q play. And we just don't know what was going on where we brought Cassel back and then traded him so quickly, but I don't think everything leaks. For all we know, he made himself PNG in the QB room with how he was pointing out Taylor's mistakes or something.
The point is, neither Jackson or Cassel have done anything so far this season to make cutting them look like a whopping size blooper calling for signs to fire the GM.
Doug Whaley
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
Nah, hashing stuff out in one thread never shut us up before in another.