oldmanfan

As the proud holder of undergraduate and doctoral degrees from UB, I am very proud we have had 3 former University AT Buffalo guys on our roster the past year; always point out they are alumni to all around me when Lewis, Ingram, or Little Joe make a play. But I’m not sure any of them make the roster this year, especially Lewis and Ingram

If I had a dime for every time a coach said that to me…

I am optimistic. That is pretty much the opposite of miserable.

A broken wrist (Coleman) and a torn PCL (Kincaid) are legitimate injuries

You come out of the woodwork only to complain. Wallow in misery.

Two come to mind. The Roland Hooks Hail Mary game and the season opener in 1980 when we finally squished the fish after a decade of futility

Amazed to read the negative Nellie’s here. Remind me again what team scored the most points last season? And this coming year we’ll have a guy in Palmer who gets the one thing people bee-yatch about: separation. Kincaid had a good rookie year and was banged up all last year, so should expect a rebound. Coleman comes into his second year and needs to improve; God forbid players improve with more experience in the league. People yelled and screamed for someone who can stretch the field and they have Moore, who should benefit from having the league MVP throwing the ball. Samuel also looked good end of the season after getting through injury; his issue is staying healthy. And of course you have the 3 legged monster of RBs that can catch the ball. i’m not terribly worried.

Just throwing this out there, and before doing so understand that I think the world of Taron Johnson. But he’s getting a bit older and has had some injuries. Any chance one of the young kids beats him out?

I’m intrigued. Also want to see what Hancock brings.

You can’t have All Stars at every position. I think Rapp is pretty good. And let’s see what Bishop does with a year under his belt. Unlike many, I happen to believe players get better with experience

If so it explains our draft

I agree with much of what you’ve said. Last year at this time, and dealing with the same arguments, I said the most important thing for the offense going into the season was Brady. Brady needed to develop his offense and his everybody eats philosophy. And the results were one of the best offenses in the league, and an MVP for its QB. Going into this year the same questions arise. We have added two WRs in Palmer and Moore, have two guys in Coleman and Samuel coming back from injury, Shakir after a really good year, and the TEs (Kincaid has to come back from injuries) and RBs (I would now prioritize making a deal with Cook). Where I might differ is on the WR#1. Would I want a guy like a Justin Jefferson? Sure! But let’s remember what happened when we had that #1 guy in Diggs with Brady’s offense. Allen was pressured into getting him his touches, and the offense two years ago (once Brady took over) was not as good as last year. And of course the diva stuff on top of it. So if we can get a guy with # 1 talent that would not give us the diva stuff sign me up. Until then, I think we’re still going to be really damn good this coming season.

I really don’t think so. Just having a guy that can run fast is to me overrated on an offense. You have to match that with things like good hands, separation, and so on. And defenses can do things like put a safety over the top. Plus if you compare a guy that runs a 4.2 vs a 4.4 40 the actual space he frees up comes down to a couple feet. I like Codrington myself, but I see your point here.

Agree completely. Competition is always good.

Some seem to want to criticize Coddrington. Seemed to me he did a pretty good job especially getting positive yardage on punt returns.

Plus Cook, Davis, and Johnson sneaking out of the backfield

Yes. How about that? Some never let facts obscure opinions.

Ravens did pretty good

Ok. Let’s be real. We drafted a WR; you said we did not. Whether he shocks folks or not remains to be seen. Benford sure did.

Our long national nightmare is over Again can we please be factual. They drafted a WR in the 7th.

And I think guys can get better. Good conversation.

I think too many people today make erroneously quick judgments. He did not come back from injury strong and Beane called him out on it. So let’s see how he responds. My guess is it will be in a positive manner. I don’t see anything suggesting he’s a diva. And Worthy? Not bad but all his Super Bowl stuff was garbage time.

Let’s also pump the brakes on hyperbole. I don’t think most people are putting Coleman and greatness in the same sentence. My stance is that it is not unreasonable to think players can improve with more time in the league. Too many people are writing this kid off after a rookie season truncated with injury. He has to continue putting in the work; his GM and HC have made that public. So let’s see how he does assuming that work is done. He has the athleticism to be a strong contributor. And this is just my personal pet peeve but can we please drop the slow stuff. The difference in actual distance with a fraction of a second or two difference is around 2 feet.

The entire issue with this thread, the second one started by the same guy about the same topic, and multiple other posts over the past several days is that we should have taken a WR on day 3, and that Beane doesn’t give Josh weapons. But let’s examine these. The fact is we did draft a WR in this draft on day 3. Then the assumption made by naysayers are two fold: 1. a WR drafted in let’s say round 5 has to be better than a guy in round 7, and 2. a WR drafted say in round 5 has to have more value than the guy drafted instead of the hypothetical WR. Taking #1, I would imagine round 5 picks have a fractionally better chance to hit than round 7, but not by much. The Benfords of tound 6, or the famous Brady in round 6, are very much the exception. So if this Prather kid or one on the FAs we picked up surprises then it’s to me about as likely as a day 5 guy. I wonder if Prather got picked in round 5 if we even have this conversation. Taking #2, especially in later rounds from my understanding NFL folks are looking at their board for value, and asking if a guy at one position that grades lower than another guy should still be drafters to fit a perceived need. So let’s look at rounds 4-7. We had need in the defensive backfield and interior D line. That was known going into the draft. So in round 4 you have Walker available and some of the WRs folks are talking about, and that the Bills talked to. And then discussions ensue like is this guy at WR going to contribute more? Play special teams? Coach Brady, does he offer more than what we have on the roster currently? And so on. And then decisions are made. In later rounds we took two guys that play CB, one of which projects to safety. Why? Again because they represented more potential value at that point over at the available WR. Right now we’ll likely have Hairston and Benford start, but we have to have competition for the backup roles, and have to account for getting ready to replace Taron at the nickel CB spot. Looking at DB vs. WR we simply need more guys to compete at DB right now given how well the offense did and what was seen on D last season. Lost in all this is Brady’s offensive philosophy. He wants balance between run and pass game. He wants Josh to distribute to open guys, whether it be WR, TE, or RB. Would I love to see us get a guy like a Jefferson or a Chase? Of course. Who wouldn’t? But one of the drawbacks of being so good is you are not in draft position to get a guy like that. And while you could trade for a guy like we did with Cooper, Cooper I don’t think was that huge a difference last year. Could have gotten Metcalf but then would that have limited what could have been done to help the D in draft day? The truth is that Beane has done a lot to help Josh; building a really good O line, drafting guys like Cook, Kincaid, Coleman, Knox; bringing in guys over the years like Diggs, Beasley, Brown, Cooper, and so on. Some guys worked out really well, some aged out, and some it is still too early or through effects of injury to assess impact. As fans we can just think linearly. Beane doesn’t have that luxury. He plays chess while we can play checkers. So when he says people B word too much about WR, he’s right if you look at offensive output last year. And if he decides to trade for a guy like say Pickens, it’s not admitting he failed. It’s his attempt to constantly look to improve the roster. And last Saturday it was by adding to positions other than WR when it came time to make most of the picks.

Of course he’ll be on the roster this year.