Red Squirrel

I guess people didn't really read the articles about this. Garrard apparently has been a finger pointer; criticized his O-Line, receivers for dropping passes...teammates chose not to name him a team captain. Apparently this wasn't strictly about money, nor will he be all that missed by teammates. I don't want to be too one sided against the guy, though. He can play; he's better than several guys who start in this league, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him go somewhere else (Seattle? SF?) and take someone's job. If his attitude got worse this year, it isn't surprising; probably disillusioned after they took Gabbert in 1st round. Not seeing him wind up here. Fitz has this year to prove himself for once and for all, and Thigpen and Gailey have a high degree of familiarity with each other and the system.

This is actually a very good point. Once you establish roots, it isn't easy to pull them up. Many of us have had similar chances to move and upgrade our careers and turn it down for the same reason. The flip side of this situation exists in college sports; if a university doesn't get all the hometown talent, the fans scream and yell. Often a kid just wants to get out on his own and away from his family for four years...and many fans are hypocrites for complaining about this because we made the same decision for ourselves.

It didn't become easy for me until I was 35; that would make Maybin viable in what, 2023?

There's a guy here who uses Steve Somers of WFAN as his avatar; I was listening to Somers on Saturday afternoon, and he got a (rare) call from a Bills fan. He thinks we have nothing. At any position. Anywhere.

I was thinking they should have made a red charging Buffalo with a blue stripe; the best of both worlds! Seriously, I have no problems with either. I'm happy with the new unis except I thought they should have had blue pants with the white jersey...and make it AGAINST THE LAW to wear blue pants with blue jersey.

You have clearly never seen this guy play.

I saw a lot of him at USC, and he didn't remotely resemble an NFL caliber safety. The only thing he seems interested in is the big hit; he has no coverage skills, never has any idea where the ball was...the only thing he excels at is bodybuilding. Look, Carroll had the guy at USC and didn't want him on the Seahawks. Harbaugh played against him several times and studied film of him from the PAC-10 and doesn't want him. Let someone else waste their time with him.

The way I look at it: years ago, the two sides agreed to a deal that guaranteed a percentage of revenue to each side. The method for controlling the player's share is the salary cap. In order to determine the cap, the books had to be at least somewhat opened. If the revenue situation was so bad that the owners (as a group) were losing money, the cap...logically...would be reduced. This never happened. The salary cap went up every year, which indicates overall league revenues went up. But then, the owners pulled the plug on the CBA. No more salary cap; no more partially open books. Why would they choose this M.O.? Clearly, something changed since that old CBA was enacted. One could argue that it was the economy; I see this as just a small factor. This league might not be completely recession proof...the fact that there were more blackouts this past season shows some effect from the recession...but the economy has nowhere near the impact on the NFL as it does on the other pro sports leagues. Plus, there's the TV money. And again: theoretically, loss of revenue from ticket sales could have been offset by reducing the cap. They chose not to even try to make this case, and the answer why seems quite obvious: revenues aren't down; expenses (for some specific teams) are up. Stadiums! There were a couple of palatial stadiums built. These ownership groups (including the biggest swinging you-know-what and the largest media market) probably have lost some money on these facilities. Plus, other owners are jealous and want to build their own golden castles, but they all realize there is a limit to how much cost can be passed on to season ticket holders. So the money for funding these monstrosities comes from the players' slice of the pie. In order to pick sides, there really is only one question you have to ask: are stadiums like Jerruh's palace in Dallas necessary? The answer is obviously no. There is no good reason to back the owners in this dispute. I fully understand why Joe D is pissed at union leadership; they treat the old timers like crap. But the owners don't care about retirees, either. So it has no bearing on this negotiation. I also agree with Joe about the union needing to agree to some cost containment for rookies...massive bonuses for unproven players are utterly ridiculous and are also unfair to the average player. But again, this has nothing to do with the owners wanting to increase their share of the pie. All this amounts to is the owners are asking the players (and the fans) to fund their extravagances.

I think your first and third points are excellent. The second point...huh? Williams was very good both years; Byrd went from a ballhawk to a non-entity; Poz was Poz...average. Everyone *didn't* know they needed to change scheme. If anything was learned last year it's that the talent level (and the always underrated continuity) makes more difference than scheme. The "Tampa-2" you malign did very well against the pass in 2009; George Edwards' D was awful against the pass. Both were awful against the run. Bills pass defense: 2009 184 YPG; 14 TDs; 28 INTs; 61.1 passer rating against 2010 192 YPG; 28 TDs; 11 INTs; 92.6 passer rating against Bills run defense: 2009 156.3 YPG; 19 TDs; 4.7 per carry 2010 169.6 YPG; 18 TDs; 4.8 per carry That is a DRASTIC difference in pass defense, folks. I know it is hard to give Jauron credit for anything, but it is clear that he had a better idea how to stop the pass than the current group. I like Gailey, but I think if they had hired Fewell as HC and Gailey as OC, we might have won 8 or 9 games. It isn't like you can't find 4 or 5 close ones that could have turned if one or two passes were broken up.

Thurman possibly squeezed more out of his talent than anyone, but the talent gap between the two is so vast there really is no way getting around it. OJ was much bigger, stronger, and above all, faster. It would be fair to say that neither could have been used the same way the other one was; OJ couldn't catch or pass block like Thurman, and Thurman could never have been a 30 carry a game guy, game after game...much less average 5 to 6 yards a carry. And honestly, if OJ had started his career in 1988, there would have been no K-gun. OJ was a special talent, and any coach with brains (unlike what he was dealing with his first three years) would have fed him the ball as much as humanly possible. I'll also contradict K-9 a bit about the talent level of their teammates; yes, Thurman played with more talented guys, but the '70s Bills weren't without other threats. Braxton would pound the ball up the middle like a sledgehammer, and didn't scare you to death about fumbling like Mueller and Gardner did. Chandler and Hill were pretty good receivers (would have been really nice if they kept Rashad, too). And Fergy figured it out by his third year and punished teams that overplayed the run; he threw 26 TDs in '75 in a 14-game schedule. And o-line play was vastly different back then; the Electric Company were smaller, but most of them could run circles around modern day lineman. This would have helped Thurman, but not to a level where he averages 6 YPC for a whole season.

Yeah, that does bring back the memories...some of them weird. I was 14 when that game took place and the day before my sister brought home a puppy...which peed on our couch right before the game. I can specifically remember watching that game on a couch with no cushions on it. And scaring some more pee out of that dog when I jumped up and down during Butler's TD right before the half. SanJoseBills fan mentioned the catch Butler made against the Steelers when he reached around Blount's head; I had forgotten that he did the same thing in this game to Johnny Lynn. I think the one against Blount sticks out because of the great still photo that Roush mentioned. A week or so ago, I was watching a Mets game and announcer Gary Cohen was talking about Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong having gone to Kutztown State. Being a Queens boy and longtime Jets fan, he mentioned Bruce Harper as a Kutztown alumni...he appeared in this video getting smashed first on a kick return and later by Smerlas. I sat there thinking, "Bruce Harper? ANDRE REED, you dummy!" Lastly, TE Joe Shipp, who caught the last TD, is the father of 3 sons who were very good basketball players. All of them went to different Pac10 schools; Joe Sr:USC...Joe Jr:Cal....Josh:UCLA, and Jerren:ASU. I saw the kids play dozens of basketball games and didn't know their dad played for the Bills. I did know that former Sun Devil (current Clipper) power forward Ike Diogu was born in Buffalo and grew up a Bills fan in Texas. He could have been an awesome TE.

The catch over Blount was the play I was going to mention; just an awesome grab. He had good speed and a flair for the dramatic...all he lacked was the solid physique that guys like Reed and Moulds had. I also remember he liked to spin the ball like a top when he scored. And the other WR on those '80-'81 playoff teams, Frank Lewis, wasn't half bad, either...a lot of his career was wasted sitting behind Swann and Stallworth in Pittsburgh. He didn't even get to Buffalo until he was past 30, but he had probably the 4 or 5 best years of his career with the Bills.

Any relationship between his standing in the pocket longer before the Wilson hit compared to after it can be explained quite easily: the teams they played early that season were TERRIBLE. He actually had a pocket to stand in. As SJfan said, the SD game was his best that year. He also had solid games against KC and Denver...better games than he had during the winning streak...better games than he had in previous seasons. Look it up! It would be fair to say he could have been better if he had more protection. Of course, that applies to ALL QBs...although no one seemed to want to believe a better O-line would help Fitz a year ago (it did). It also would be a reasonable argument to say Jauron/OC turmoil screwed the guy up. I don't believe this myself, but I'd happily avoid getting involved in that argument...both sides have a point. I also kind of doubt the compartment syndrome explains much of his troubles (specifically the checkdowns), but again, I have no desire to get into a back-and-forth about that. What I personally think is this: checking down was a young Trent's monkey trick. He figured out that when he did this he got a treat from his coaches, who thought he was wise beyond his years. It was, in effect, butt kissing. It was the one specific thing he did well. And he beat it into the ground, to the point that defenses could defend the Bills passing attack the same way they did the running game; both suffered and Trent didn't adapt. Somebody might get through to him, someday. In fact, I thought J-ville was a good place for him because the OC there likes the longball and might have forced him out of his rut. Now here's the thing: I have about 140 posts on this site over the last two years, and an absurd number of them point out the very thing SJBillsFan said: the guy had the best game of his career immediately after the Wilson hit. SJBillsFan and dozens of other commenters have posted this, over and over and over. And here we are arguing this point again. A wise man I have a lot of respect for would call the type of argument that Trent hasn't been the same since the Wilson hit a "zombie lie". No matter how many times we show the Wilson hit effected Edwards for only one week, this will never die.

I clicked on this thread precisely to mention this guy; I brought him up in one of the millions of QB threads last fall, knowing it wouldn't get anywhere because it was highly unlikely he'd enter the 2011 draft. IIRC, Tuberville said he was the best QB in their league, which would of course include Blaine Gabbert and Landry Jones. Griffin has a big arm as well as great running ability, and his throwing mechanics are better than we usually see from guys that run around a lot. I watch more PAC10 than the other conferences, and here's my take on their QBs: Luck is obviously the top prospect and it is doubtful that will change. I don't recall ever seeing him throw one of those frozen rope sideline passes that you like to see a QB be able to complete, but I have seen enough of him to think he can do it. Barkley doesn't look as big as he is listed in the OP's comment and doesn't appear to me to have that great an arm. He'll play in the NFL, but he doesn't excite me too much. Foles is a big, lumbering guy who looks like he could get himself in better shape. He has an NFL arm, but doesn't get to show it much in U of A's offense, which throws a zillion WR screens. Foles looks like he has more room for improvement than Barkley. Thomas at Oregon has done a good job but much like Barkley, I'm doubting he's as big as he's listed, except in his case it's his weight. He has awfully skinny legs for someone who allegedly weighs 212. He also pushes his throws a bit and when he tries to muscle the ball into a tight space he often bounces it. The only other PAC10 guy I can imagine an NFL scout even looking at is Osweiler at ASU. He's done very little at this point, but he's physically impressive. Mobile, strong arm, tough, and 6'8". I'll bet a year from now, Barkley and Thomas will decide to play a 4th year and will be ranked below Osweiler as prospects.

I'm glad someone agrees with me about this guy. I thought he treated Clausen unfairly last year. I don't even like Clausen, but Gruden just didn't play fair with the kid.

I voted for Fitz, but for the right price I'd pick one up with any of those guys...except Maybin. I wouldn't buy one of the Wall of Fame guys; they don't have a connection to a new design. We can always buy theirs in throwbacks of the designs they actually wore. Or in my case, I could lose about 30 pounds so I actually fit into my 15 year old Tasker jersey I voted for Fitz, but for the right price I'd pick one up with any of those guys...except Maybin. I wouldn't buy one of the Wall of Fame guys; they don't have a connection to a new design. We can always buy theirs in throwbacks of the designs they actually wore. Or in my case, I could lose about 30 pounds so I actually fit into my 15 year old Tasker jersey

I doubt he regrets it that much; considering the owner's past history, this defensive coach is probably making twice as much money as he was in Pittsburgh. Maybe 3X if he's a household name. We all know how fond Dan Snyder is of shiny objects.

Somewhere some sportswriter is preparing a story on how Chicago will now pedal Cutler to Washington.

silvermike answered already, but I'll add 2 cents more. QB rating vs your defense is probably the BEST way to use that stat. As many have pointed out, it is a flawed stat for an individual game because of small sample size. And it is somewhat flawed when comparing individual QBs over the course of an entire season for a number of reasons, including (but not limited to) different quality in teammates (and of course guys like Rob Johnson who inflate their rating by running out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage ). Total yards against is generally a very poor way of judging pass defense. Think about it: if a team stinks against both the run and the pass, a smart opposing coach would mix it up early in the game, build a big lead, and do nothing but hand it off the second half. One more point: the difference in run defense between this year and last was even less than the final stats show. In both seasons, the Bills finished up with a game against an opponent who had clinched their playoff spot and had nothing to play for. The Colts, who owed nothing to fans at RWS, half-assed it in a snowstorm and finished with less than 30 yards rushing. The Jets in 2010 gave a much better effort in front of their home fans...who pay an ENORMOUS amount for their tickets...and went for well over 200 on the ground (and were playing with a lead the entire game). These two games account for pretty much the entire difference in rushing yards against when comparing 2009 and 2010.

That's not what I saw; the run defense sucked both years, but the pass defense was pretty good in '09 and dreadful in '10. Pass D in 2009: 14 TDs; 28 INTs; 56.8%; 61.1 QB rating (2nd best in league) Pass D in 2010: 28 TDs; 11 INTs; 62.2%; 92.6 QB rating (28th in league) Run D in 2009: 4.7 YPC; 156.3 YPG (30th in NFL) Run D in 2010: 4.8 YPC; 169.6 YPG (32nd in NFL) As many have pointed out, Jauron has a fondness for smaller quicker defenders. There is an obvious solution to that: limit his influence on personnel decisions.

A write-in vote for Mallett here.

Some points that I don't think have been covered: Using cumulative stats tells a story but not a complete one. If you are to assume (and frankly this is a dubious assumption) that comp% is significant when judging accuracy, you HAVE to look at individual games to get a more complete picture. In Fitz' case, he was above the *seemingly* all-important 60% mark in well over half his games (8 of 13, or 61.5%), but still finished 57.8%. Two games under 50% did a great deal of damage. BTW, this was the same case last year when we were comparing Fitz to Edwards...Fitz' numbers were ruined by the Jets, while Edwards threw only 5 passes against the best pass D in the league BY A MILE (he completed all of them...for one whopping first down, of course). Most of the Fitz backers here have already pointed out that he attempts higher degree of difficulty passes; how much of this is him or how much is because of game situations is hard to pin down, but the results are predictable: Pass attempts 21 to 40 yds (Ignoring longer than 40 due to most of them being hail-marys; Brady thanks me): Fitz: 54 attempts (12.2% of total attempts); 26% comp; 5 TDs; 2 INTs Brady: 30 att (6% of tot); 47% comp; 6 TDs; 0 INTs P. Manning: 77 att (11% of tot); 30% comp; 10 TDs; 5 INTs Brees: 49 att (7.4% of tot); 44.9%; 9 TDs; 3 INTs and a couple guys who had higher QB ratings than Fitz but I feel had worse seasons: E. Manning: 54 att (10% of tot); 41% comp; 9 TDs, 3 INTs Palmer: 35 att (6% of tot); 34.3% comp; 6 TDs; 3 INTs Clearly, longer passes are harder for EVERY passer to complete; Brady is the best at it and still is under 50%. Peyton Manning is almost equally "inaccurate" on longer passes as Fitz...is it a coincidence that he has a similarly high percentage of long pass attempts? I really wish I had time (or knew where it was already computed) to run all QBs and also find out league averages on all this stuff. Another point: fans here were quick to dismiss Fitz' numbers early this season because of so-called garbage time. This is an example that shows you just can't have it both ways: NE and JAC were covering pretty loose, and Fitz made them pay (although obviously not enough to overcome the Bills' wet toilet paper defense). So he's accurate in situations when he's getting little pressure and the safeties are 50 yards back. He also was deadly accurate in '09 in a snowstorm, and also throwing bombs when teams overplayed the run. What does this prove? That under ideal circumstances, his accuracy isn't much of an issue. I got into it here a year ago with folks who thought Fitz couldn't improve; he did, and might continue to do so. I thought touch was every bit as much a problem as accuracy. I thought he too often rifled dump-offs to the RBs when he needed to take a little off. I thought he fixated on receivers and ignored the TEs and RBs too often. I thought it was extremely troublesome that he fumbled 6 times (lost 5) in his last 4 games after only fumbling 2 times (lost 0) in his first 9. These things are fixable. The defense............

I don't remember much about what JK allegedly said to irk Harbaugh, but I do remember Harbaugh was an INCREDIBLY frustrating player to watch. He would CONSTANTLY push the limits on intentional grounding, and every time it happened it was with two guys draped around him after he'd backpedaled 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Then he'd hoist himself up with a tremendous (and quite melodramatic) effort, and repeat. I thought he was a clown and his career revival was a bit of a fraud. But having said that, what he's done in a short period of time at Stanford is pretty close to miraculous. And that is considering he isn't all that great while the game is going on.

A guy that hasn't been mentioned that I like is Robert Griffin III of Baylor. He's a red-shirt soph; I believe that makes him eligible to come out, but I could be mistaken. I thought Luck was also a red-shirt sophomore, but he's listed as a junior on ESPN.com even though he's only played 2 years. Anyway, Griffin is bigger and throws better than most of the other guys that are asked to run a lot; 18-4 TD-to-INTs this year. Good background, known as a good leader, and the other coaches in his conference cannot praise him enough. Tuberville called him the best QB in the country and Mack Brown thinks he's an obvious Heisman candidate. And he's winning at a school that hasn't done much of that lately.

What are you, 2 years old? Go find your mom's teat, you little child.