[How useless is Percy Harvin?]

You mean the WR that despite injuries leads all WRs in receptions on the Bills and actually as a very friendly contract? Lol...this board is just one witch hunt after another, and as usual, very misguided.

 

Yes, it sucks he's hurt, but so is the rest of our offense. He was pretty useful on the field, and quite frankly, our entire offense is pretty useless without Harvin and Sammy on it.

 

Some issues with your post: One year, $6M isn't all that friendly of a contract - especially if Harvin misses a lot of games. A one year incentive laden deal with a smaller signing bonus and salary would have been a lot more team friendly. You were careful to say he lead all WRs on the team, which is true. He doesn't lead all receivers though as Clay is way ahead of him with 31 catches for 324 yards. Harvin only has 19 for 218. And Woods is only 7 yards behind him with 17 for 211.

 

So, no, Harvin isn't useless, but he has been way overpaid thus far.

[Percy Harvin Out vs. Miami; Placed on Injured Reserve]

One thing to keep in mind: If Harvin retires due to injury issues then the Bills can't recoup any signing bonus money, but if he were to retire for personal reasons they could.

[Percy Harvin Out vs. Miami; Placed on Injured Reserve]

I guess..... In a nutshell, It sounds like:

DW: hey how are you feeling

Ph: not good man. I'm worried about my future if I push it. Part of me feels like I should walk away while I can still walk.

DW: well, we will all be overseas this week, why don't you take some time with friends and family and think about it- try to get healed up... We can talk next week and hopefully the rehab and time to clear your head has you feeling better, but I understand your concerns.

Which isn't terrible, but who knows how well reasoned it actually was.

It could mean a lot of things, but that is - by far - the most Pollyanna way to assume the situation is transpiring. It could be:

 

- Just about Harvin getting healthy (as you assume)

- Harvin dealing with some personal matters unrelated to football that are interfering with his playing

- Harvin taking a powder because he's unhappy with the team/his use/etc. (and it wouldn't be the first time that happened, or the second)

- Harvin deciding whether or not his body has had enough of football

 

It really could be any one or multiple ones of those. I suspect that it isn't primarily #1 mainly because there hasn't been any mention of medical evaluations or treatments. The other issue is his track record. He's never put his team ahead of himself and despite many posters thinking his 2 whole months of keeping his mouth shut and suiting up while with the Jets meant he'd changed, some of us weren't convinced. I hoped he could make it through 1 season without the same issues raising their heads because he has so much on the line financially, but here we are in a situation that looks very familiar.

[Percy Harvin Out vs. Miami; Placed on Injured Reserve]

Tyler Dunne Verified account ‏@TyDunne 41m41 minutes ago

Whaley said team hasn't been in contact with Percy Harvin: "When we get back, we'll reach out to him and see where he is."

 

Tiffany Blackmon Verified account ‏@tiffblackmon 31m31 minutes ago

Whaley says Bills found out early last week that Harvin needed to take some time for personal reasons.

Adam Benigni Verified account ‏@AdamBenigni 48m48 minutes ago

#Bills GM Doug Whaley: No update or timetable on decision/situation with Percy Harvin @wgrz

That doesn't sound promising.

[Should the Bills trade for a WR?]

Harvin is making a lot of money to sit at home contemplating his future. I need to get one of those jobs where you make millions of dollars for doing nothing

Perfect! Let's get him.

Unfortunately Harvin and Bowe are in the same club. They both got a nice payday and neither really seems to want to play anymore. Bowe clearly does not give the slightest crap anymore. Harvin looks to be heading that way too.

[No drinks before Noon on Sunday...]

Here is the offending law, for those interested:

 

 

Antemeridian threw me off, then I realized that meant AM.

And I learned something here today.

[Tyrod Taylor ruled Out for Jags]

oh nooooo. if EJ loses to the Jags and Cassel wins for the Cowboys there's going to be a lot of explaining to do Mr. Whaley

I'm not in love with a lot of what Whaley has done, but judging him on something like that would be ridiculous. Not that some fans won't do it.....

 

Get the win Sunday and get healthy. I don't care if it's a field goal shootout. Just get the win.

 

Exactly. Win as ugly as you have to, but win. Good teams manage to eek out games like this. If the Bills want playoffs to remain a realistic possibility then they find a way.

[Jets are the new Bullies in the AFC East]

I'm thinking the JETS should give IK a HUGE $ reward for his actions that have allowed the JETS their current record.

Yeah, IK is pretty clearly their MVP right now.

[Little Help Please X and O question for the Football Pros]

I don't claim to be an expert, but my take is this:

Schwartz's defense was designed to maximize the playmaking of the front 4 and allow the rest of the defense to play with 7 DBs in various coverages as much as possible. The DL was focused on penetration from wide positions with lots of stunting. The secondary used more zones and focused on disguise to allow the DL time to work. The basic idea is that if you can stop the run with 7 and get pressure with four, you are going to be very tough to move the ball against.

Rex's scheme is to play much more man coverage to allow more players in the box- safeties and LBs to play the run and blitz (or fake blitz). The DL plays more traditional run first defense and have more two gap responsibilities. The defense is really designed to work with superior linebackers (especially the outside guys), excellent cornerbacks and big immovable linemen. I thin Rex has been playing much more 1 gap with the DL than he did in NY but they are still no where near as free to wreak havoc as they were under Schwartz.

One thing that has improved- with the DL playing more conservatively and more players in the box the run defense is better than last year. However, the pass defense relies on confusing the blocking schemes and effective blitzing and that hasn't been happening.

Simply put, I think that Schwartz's scheme may fit the Bills personnel better but they are talented enough as a group to play any decent scheme and be successful.

I'd add this to vincec's explanation (nice job):

Schwartz's Wide 9 is really designed to rush the passer at the expense of playing the run as it is easy for the OTs to push the wide technique DEs out of any interior running plays. They even take themselves out of a lot of them. That kind of trade-off is best utilized when the offense is high powered enough to force the opposition into passing. When Indy had Manning they had this philosophy with defensive personnel and scheme (although I don't remember how much Wide 9 they played). Dwight Freeney was the poster boy for that. He was too small as a RDE to effectively set the edge and play the run, but he could sure get to the QB. And with Manning, opposing teams almost always had to pass to keep up.

 

Under Schwartz and Pettine I kept wondering why the defenses were so geared toward the pass and so unconcerned with the run because we didn't have the offense to consistently get ahead and force teams into pass-only mode. Looking at what happened in Miami I think it's safe to say that the defense can still get set loose on a QB if the Bills get a nice lead. The problem has been getting that lead so it can happen.

[Why Is It So Hard To See The Problem ?]

And here I thought the answer was going to be "The Bills lack a franchise quarterback".

[Sunday Ticket subscribers sue NFL, DirecTV, etc.]

The Bills may be the least shown team nationally but this year they have been available on Boston TV for 6 weeks straight. Take into account the Yahoo feed and two national games and Buffalo will be seen in Boston 9 of the first 10 games.

Technically that analysis only considers the 1st and 2nd most shown teams. Teams within the same division usually gets shown in the other teams' markets. It's just a general measure of the national presence of teams.

[Eric Wood is 2nd ranked Center in NFL by PFF]

Geno Atkins did not seem to be a huge problem on Sunday.

That's a good point. And if I'm going to ding Woods and say that he has to step it up in part because of PFF grading then I should give him props when it shows him doing well. Last season i noticed him because of his poor play and this season I haven't noticed him at all. He did need to step up his play and it appears that he has. His poor performances the last couple years could have been due to poor guard play around him (always having to look to help out) or playing with injuries. Tough players who don't complain about those sorts of things, play through them and have their play suffer are often the targets of frustrated fans. In any event he looks to be playing like I hoped he would and I've got to tip my cap to him.

[Jets are the new Bullies in the AFC East]

I understand that. My disdain for the Pats holds no bounds. I think the Bills will take care of the JETS all by themselves (or so I hope).

 

The way the AFC is right now, the Bills still hold the 6th best overall record (mitigated by teams with a bye)

Yeah, but the Bills would NOT make the playoffs if they started today. In the way you are ranking teams the Colts would lose a tiebreaker with the Bills, but in playoff seeding the Colts go because they would have won theirdivision and the Jets and Steelers are the WC teams. But that's telling in and of itself. The WC teams look to be coming from the AFCE&N. San Diego could still make a run though, but that's about it. The AFCS is a mess and I think the Colts will clinch it with their 7th or 8th win. So the Bills have a fighting chance at a WC if they can take care of the Jets. Oddly, I think the other playoff teams can already be predicted with near certainty: Pats, Colts, Broncos, Bengals, Steelers. That leaves the Jets, Chargers and Bills fighting for the other spot.

[At What Point is Watkins Officially "Injury Prone"]

Categorically not true. Was even a hot topic after scrimmage with them. I have a few close friends who always bring it up and how they would have rather have kept the pick and had Watkins then get more picks the Browns would waste on lesser players.

 

I'm from Cleveland and follow both the Bills and Browns. While it is true that some Browns fans still wished they'd have taken Watkins as recently as this pre-season, that has since changed after his recent comments and further injuries.

[Sunday Ticket subscribers sue NFL, DirecTV, etc.]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-nfl-team-are-you-stuck-watching-every-sunday/

 

Interesting tangentially related subject - what teams get televised most often where.

[At What Point is Watkins Officially "Injury Prone"]

Sammy is a stud.

 

I bet Cleveland would rather undo that trade.

Only because who they got with the picks from the Bills are even worse, but no one in Cleveland is pining for Watkins.

[Jets are the new Bullies in the AFC East]

They haven't had any major injuries yet. We'll see how they respond when they do.

It is due to suspension, but missing Richardson indefinitely is certainly a major loss.

[Jets are the new Bullies in the AFC East]

By the end of the season the Bills and Jets will only have two games with different opponents (plus two head to head match ups). It should be easy to see where we stand relative to each other by then. I'm not optimistic about that at this point, though.

[Strong words from Jimbo on Rex/the team.]

This whole dropping guys into coverage thing is overblown. Happened a few times.

When a guy like lebeau does it, it is hailed as genius.

That was because Lebeau was doing it 2 decades ago. He was incredibly innovative, but - much like Tom Landry's shotgun formation - eventually everyone else copies you to a degree and gets used to seeing and handling it on the other side of the ball.

[Keep Calm: Get to the bye at 4-3 (and other positives)]

Deep breathe folks. We're 3-3 with a ton of injuries. We'll be alright.

 

Here are some positives:

 

- We get Aaron Kromer back to help coach up our O-Line

- Shady looks to be back healthy

- Karlos Williams should be back after the bye

- We have a forgiving schedule coming up

- The defense will make adjustments and improve

- Tyrod should be back healthy

- The AFC looks pretty week.

- Oh yeah, we play JAX and go into the bye to heal up

 

Teams that are doing well right now have been together for at least 2-3 years if not more. Our group is still forming and norming. I want us to be in the playoffs just as bad as anyone, but realistically I felt that this was going to happen. We're hitting a rough patch, but our play down the stretch will matter most.

 

Keep hope alive Buffalo.

 

Peter

 

What schedule are you looking at? If the Bills want to make the postseason they need to be 11-5 or maybe 10-6 (best case). They've used up 3 losses already and still play at NE (big home field advantage there, which I'm sure is totally for legit reasons and all) and the Jest twice. They'll also play Dallas late in the season with Romo likely back. They've got to win some of those 4 games, probably going 2-2 at worst, to keep playoff chances alive. There are a lot of games the Bills should win, but dropping any of those - and certainly not more than one - would make the road to the playoffs very, very difficult. That starts with taking care of the Jags in London, which I'm not all that confident about. The Jags are better than they were and we are likely starting EJ without much help at WR or RB. The defense is probably going to have to be the difference and last Sunday doesn't sit well on that front. Nothing to do but wait and see how the team responds though.

[Strong words from Jimbo on Rex/the team.]

Exotic blitz schemes is what you do when you need to generate a pass rush without having pass rushers. We have our cover guys rushing the passer and our pass rushers covering receivers. Makes you want to pull your hair out.

I've said this a million times - you design a scheme (offensive or defensive) based on your players' strengths. When you force players to play a system, it rarely works.

I agree wholeheartedly. The advantage of having stud pass rushers and defensive linemen is to get pressure without bringing extra rushers or getting too fancy too often. It is a huge advantage for a team to be able to consistiently get pressure with 4 rushers so 7 can be in coverage. Presumably those would be the 7 that are good at it.

[Most under/over rated Buffalo Bill on the roster right now?]

Overrated by the board: the importance of a stellar front 7

 

Underrated by the board: the importance of a franchise QB

[At What Point is Watkins Officially "Injury Prone"]

Rib, glute, hip, calf and now ankle. Am I missing any injuries since he's been a Bill?

[At What Point is Watkins Officially "Injury Prone"]

How do players, such as Sammy and Goodwin, get to the NFL? How did they survive college? Is it really just terrible luck or are they simply unfit to withstand the rigors of the NFL? It is so frustrating for us fans. I cannot image how it must feel to the Pegulas who are spending out so much money on these guys or the coaches who have their livelihoods on the line.

The NFL is a different world. I've heard rookies say things like "Safeties look like linebackers, but they're so fast!" The NFL used to be played by big, tough men; now it's played by physical freaks. So not only are the players bigger and faster, the windows are smaller (less time to prepare for hits, etc.), there is more practice time and the season is longer. Even with non/light-contact injuries there can be issues with players being asked to play heavier, but leaner and faster. These guys really push their bodies and sometimes they go past their limits. That's what worries me about any player with a lot of soft tissue problems - muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc. - because they tend to keep happening. Watkins is certainly fitting that pattern thus far.

[At What Point is Watkins Officially "Injury Prone"]

Seriously?

 

Do you not see his ankle completely roll over?

Yes. It's obvious where he injured it. (I looked again and still didn't see the ankle roll over. It's obvious that it gives though.). What I'm saying is that he had already slowed way down and that planting his foot at that speed should not have resulted in injury. He didn't have great body position at that point (his fault) and the pass was down and behind (not his fault), but he was at a slow jog by then. No way should even a sharp cut at that speed result in injury. It's concerning in both how it happened and that it's yet another soft tissue injury. Speedsters who have a lot of soft tissue injuries tend to keep having soft tissue injuries - and they usually don't stick around all that long.