Shaw66
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Posts posted by Shaw66
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1 hour ago, TH3 said:
Hey Billy Shaw - Do you remember renting our families house in Clarence for the 1968 season? My father took a sabbatical that fall - I was 4 - but I remember you as the largest man I ever saw;)!!
Sorry, I am not Billy Shaw. I picked the name to honor Robert Shaw and the movie he made in 1966, A Man for All Seasons.
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42 minutes ago, Mat68 said:
I do not expect Samuel to take over that role. I think its likely he sees more volume than he has at any point in his career. I think the targets go Kincaid, Shakir, Samuel, Coleman and Cook. Coleman may move up that list but I think Kincaid and Shakir will be the early driving forces.
Everyone bringing up analytics with Coleman but want to ignore it when explaining the decisions made this offseason in the wr room. The most effective pass catchers in 23 for Buffalo were Kincaid, Shakir and Cook. What changed midway through the season? They moved targets away from Diggs, Davis and Knox to Shakir, Kincaid and Cook.
Coleman out of the box will take the Davis role and similar targets maybe a tick less but more efficient catch rate. They building off last year but upgrading the complimentary pieces.
That's an interesting take. I have trouble seeing Shakir and Kincaid leading the way. They both seem like complementary pieces.
Does anyone know of a good in-depth breakdown on the 2023 passing game? First half and second half were so dramatically different. Was it just Brady going in another direction; was Diggs slumping, or did they move away from him intentionally? Kincaid first half/second half?
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1 hour ago, Mat68 said:
Gotta look at them targets. If Diggs has 110 targets is he an elite wr? I think this year people get that answer. Samuel has never played in a high powered passing attack. Samuel’s traits lend very well with Allen. Last half of the year Shakir had more yards similar number of catches as Diggs on half the targets. I dont see another player getting over 150 targets in the offense going forward. I dont see Diggs getting that target share in Houston either.
That's interesting, what you say about Samuel. I have trouble seeing him having some kind of career year. I see him as being the player he's been for several years, but in an offense that gives him more opportunities. It's interesting to me to think of him as you suggest.
As I try to visualize the passing attack, I'm asking myself. "Who is going to be the guy who's the premier guy, the feature guy. Not that he dominates so much with big numbers, but is the guy we think of as the go-to guy? Because Diggs was that guy, and that guy is important.
That guy could be Kincaid. He doesn't strike me as a leader, as a feature guy. He may grow into more of a leadership role this year, but his play would have to step up from last season.
As you say, it could be Samuel. I don't see Samuel that way. I think Samuel needs a premier guy next to him for Samuel to be valuable.
Hard to see Shakir as that guy.
And that leaves Coleman. Who knows? Maybe Coleman and Samuel, together, present a combination of match-up problems that forces defenses to reshape, which in turn gives Kincaid and Shakir room to operate. That's definitely an offense where targets would be distributed more evenly, as you say.
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2 hours ago, Paup 1995MVP said:
Gunner I like most of what you post. But don’t sugar coat it. Diggs was pretty bad the second half of last season. He could not get open down the field. He was dropping passes and looked disinterested.
I think he is pretty much done. A lot of guys have their day. But he isn’t balling out til he is 35 like a Larry Fitzgerald Jerry Rice or Tony Gonzalez. He was excellent for awhile, but not nearly in that pantheon.
The Bills did great to dump him on Houston for a 2nd round pick.
I think you're both saying the same things: Diggs was a premier receiver for several years, and he certainly was a key part of the offense. It's not very likely that we're going to see that kind of production in many coming seasons.
And although I get that Diggs might simply be past the point where he can be again what he was, I expect a good year from him. He had special motivation when he came to Buffalo. He was motivated to show that the problem in Minnesota was Minnesota. 2024 he will be motivated in the same sense, to prove it wasn't him, it was Buffalo. I think the fire that burns in him has been reignited. The problem for Diggs is that his body's ability to respond to the fire is declining.
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8 hours ago, transplantbillsfan said:
Shaw... was arguing the Bills would be better next year before this draft even happened... so obviously, I agree with you.
To me, the national media is somehow gifting Buffalo the underdog mentality, which baffles my mind... but I think we take it and run with it.
Beane and McDermott said when they came to Buffalo that their objective was to make the team better each year - continuous improvement. Remarkably, they seem to be doing just that.
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47 minutes ago, Lost said:
I woulda rather ran our RB room back with Cook/Ty Johnson and using that 4th rd pick on another WR. As it is it seems like we're putting an awful lot of stock into Coleman devolping into a #1 receiver this season and Shakir into a number 2. Id like a little more insurance than that.
Yeah. There are many ways to skin the cat. They did need a running back, and they got a guy who might have what it takes to replace Cook eventually. And I don't particularly like a plan that says "we need a player, and we'll take two to be sure we get one who works out." You're almost certainly not going to keep both of them, so you're using two picks to fill one position. Not a fan of that, but I can't say it's wrong.
Going your way, they would need a running back in free agency. Going the way they did, they would need a receiver. Kind of six of one, half dozen of the other.
As someone said, Beane had a plan and he executed it The roster now looks pretty good to me. He had a variety of other ways he might have gone, too. Bottom line for me is that Beane knows what he's doing.
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1 hour ago, jimmynunn said:
Thanks Shaw, great analysis. Hopefully that will help talk some folks off the ledge. I'm not sure how we will do in 2024. Possibly tread water, possibly move up or down a bit. But with the draft capital for 2025, and with the cap money we will have next year, if ther Dolphins/Jets/Pats don't get us next year, I believe their window to get us "closes" for another 4-5 years.
As I said, there's room to criticize McBeane for getting into the situation they were in, but they certainly seem to have navigated the situation quite nicely.
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26 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:
He didn't say he is setting a low bar, he is saying all the people saying we "didn't replace Diggs and Davis" are not realizing how little production actually had to be replaced.
What has this team been in the past? SOFT. Diggs disappears in the postseason...Davis is not a smart player and had unreliable hands and was one dimensional. Those were our top 2 guys.
Now, we drafted a dawg in Coleman, how is open when not open, who has incredible hands and a massive catch radius and a redzone beast. Then we have Shakir who led the NFL in efficiency, catch rate, and yards per target in his 2nd year who is YAC beast. Then you have the sure handed Kincaid who is a mismatch for defenses and a big target in redzones. Then you add in a swiss army knife type guy in Samuel who has had between 50 and 80 catches 4 times (Davis never hit 50 even once) and runs a 4.3 forty and never had a chance to play with a real QB.
Instead of 2 guys who underachieve in the postseason, who drop passes when it matters (yes Diggs did too), and are too often taken out of games...we now have guys who go out and make plays, guys with sure hands, guys who are tough and cerebral.
Beane, like myself, got tired of the soft team that wasn't matching the toughness and physicality of its opponents preventing us from making that extra play or two to win these tough games where the other does make those extra plays or two.
I mean we probably beat KC last year if Diggs doesn't drop the bomb. Who did the Bills turn to for the go ahead TD on the final drive? Shakir ran a perfect route open to the endzone before Chris Jones bullied Dawkins back enough to step on Allens foot on the throw causing him to short arm it.
Diggs and Davis are addition by subtraction...just watch this year.
Man, that's excellent. Clear and concise. When I take a step back and look at what's lost and what's been gained, I'm liking it. That's the point of my Rockpile.
I like Josh throwing to these guys, and I suspect there still may be an addition.
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I often find that it’s useful to forget the money and the hype and the stars and instead to think about the game of football at its most basic. I think about what it’s like to have a career as a high school football coach trying to win a championship.
In high school, the raw material for building a roster is left mostly to chance (putting aside the little bit of recruiting that goes on in some places). The head coach has very little control over the quality of players who show up on the first day of tryouts; the physical capabilities of most of those players was largely determined in random bedrooms 16 or 18 years earlier, and now here they are. The coach’s job is to choose a roster from among the guys trying out, and then to train and mold them into a team that wins football games.
The programs with the best coaches have up years and down years like everyone else, but they tend to have more up years. Why? Because their brand of leadership, their teaching ability, and their strategic and tactical approach to the game is better than most other coaches. So, even in years when the gene pool has left the coach a little short-handed compared to some other schools, their seasons often are quite successful.
(I have had the opportunity to observe this phenomenon up close twice in my life. I played high school basketball for Bob Hettler, one of the greatest high school coaches in New York State history, and I was on the faculty with Morgan Wootten, one of the greatest high school coaches in U.S. history. The players changed year after year, but the winning more or less never stopped. (Wootten did have the advantage of being able to recruit, at least a bit.) Only occasionally did the talent fall together in just the right way to have a true championship caliber team, but even in down years, their teams stood out.)
Coaches know when the talent they have is outstanding and when it’s just okay. Good coaches adapt to the challenge each season and look for the ways that this group of players can succeed, whether this group offers raw physical talent that is better or worse than last year’s group. That’s the coach’s job, and good coaches find ways to win.
Coaching is coaching, at any level. Pro football coaches face the same annual roster turnover that high school coaches deal with. There are differences, of course: The high school coaches have bigger problem, because their roster will be a collection 16-18 year-old kids with their own issues. The pro coach, on the other hand, can expect at least semi-adult behavior from most of their players.
The big difference, however, is the pro coach gets raw material selected from the very best players in the country. The pro coach, year after year, is going to start the season with a training camp roster of 90 of the biggest, fastest, smartest, and toughest football players in the world. And that means that the differences in team success based on physical talent become smaller: the guy being tackled and the guy tackling both excel at their jobs. For sure, if your team has more of the best guys, your team has an advantage, but in the NFL it’s very difficult to collect and hold onto talent that is physically dominant at several important positions. In the current era, it isn’t possible to collect and keep stars like the Kelly-era Bills did.
I’m not saying that getting the best talent doesn’t matter. Of course, it matters. What I’m saying is that not having the best talent doesn’t mean that you can’t compete. With coaching, talent that is excellent but not the best can play a team-game that neutralizes the talent advantage any particular team might have. Of course, if I have the best talent AND the best coaching, then the talent will be the difference.
People can argue endlessly about the talent on this roster and that roster, but at the end of the day success in the NFL is going to come down to how well coached your team is. Does your coach get your team into the strategically and tactically correct offenses and defenses year-in, year out and game-in, game-out. Does your coach get your team physically and mentally prepared to execute those offenses and defenses?
In that context, consider for a moment what has happened to the Bills roster in the past three months that has the fan-base and the media all in a tizzy: The Bills lost six big names from their roster: White, Morse, Davis, Diggs, Hyde, and Poyer. When each of those six came into the league, the draft market place valued them, by draft round, this way: 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 7. Add ‘em up: 24.
And now consider the Bills’ top-six acquisitions over the past three months. Samuel, Coleman, Bishop, Carter, Davis, Van Pran-Granger. 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5. Total: 18.
I’m not arguing for a second that there’s anything but the least-sophisticated logic to that analysis. You can’t really just add up draft value and determine which college is better. But those numbers aren't meaningless.
Those numbers are some evidence of the fact that the talent every team starts with, at least in terms of what the league thought of them when they came in. Going into most drafts, most GMs would take 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5 over 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 7.
In terms of the quality of talent that will take the field in September compared to what the Bills had three months ago, I think I’ll take exactly where the Bills are today. Think about the departures: White, may still be a player, but at the very best he’s about to wind down, Morse, never the greatest physically, and his days were ending, Davis, the guy everyone loves to hate, Hyde slowing down and needs to go for his own health, Poyer, some years left, perhaps, but not his best. Diggs, may still be good, but not so good that he's worth the headache.
Start looking at them player by player, or at least paired: Would you rather have Diggs and Davis or Coleman and Samuel? Would you rather have Morse or Van Pran-Granger? Bishop or (pick one) Hyde or Poyer? White or Carter? Collectively, I'd rather have the youngsters than kept or extended all of those guys.
Now, for sure, not all of the rookies necessarily will pan out, and it may take them a year to begin to play at the level that’s needed for them to succeed in the league, but looking at the Bills three months ago and now, I will definitely take the uncertainty of these young talented players over the uncertainty of old, injured, troublesome talented players.
Would the Bills be in an even better position if Beane had managed the draft in another way? I don’t think so. The extra talent one of the top three receivers in the draft would have brought to the team couldn’t offset the loss of the rest of the players the Bills drafted. Said another way: six guys are gone, and I like my chances better if I get six new guys instead of two (the new receiver and Curtis Samuel).
In terms of how Beane and McDermott have done in their jobs, well, it depends if I’m a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full guy. I like that they’ve improved the team, but I also have to ask why a group of unproven guys actually is better than the gang that just left? How did the Bills get in the position they were in, with a group of guys who no longer were quite good enough to win, and with no backups in sight?
However they got to that position, I think if you asked McDermott if he likes the talent he has today, he’d say, “Absolutely!” Can you win a Super Bowl with this talent? “Absolutely!” And that’s not just power-of-positive-thinking Sean speaking. I mean, he and we thought he could win it with the talent he had last year, and if this is actually a better group, then why shouldn’t he think he should win this year?
Translate this back to high school football. It’s as though McDermott is coaching high school and has a five-star recruit at QB, several locks at D-1 scholarships (Milano, Oliver, Cook, Coleman, Torrence) and several guys who very well also might go D-1. Considering D-2 and D-3, he has maybe 20 kids who are going to play in college. Maybe one other high school in the state has a 5-star QB. Some other schools might have two five-star players, but unless they have a five-star at QB, they can’t be as good together as the five-star QB he has. Some other schools may end up with a few more D-1 guys than he has, but the reality is that doesn’t make all that much difference.
Ask McDermott the high school coach if he likes were he is right now, and I’m sure he’ll say, “Absolutely.” Ask him, the pro coach, and he'll say, "Absolutely."
I like what Beane has done since the end of the last season, and I’m looking forward to the 2024. The Bills will be in the middle of the contest for the Lombardi.
GO BILLS!!!The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.
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2 hours ago, Mango said:
What is strictly? Like he takes 1 snap outside and suddenly you are a soothsayer? Almost no WR on any team in the NFL "strictly" just plays inside or outside. Curtis played nearly 70% of snaps from the slot last year. He also had similar usage under our OC Joe Brady when they were both in Carolina.
Even guys who are pure slot receivers like Isaiah Mckenzie still have seasons where they spend 40%+ of snaps on the outside.
Thank you. You've helped me see better how it works. Samuel will get 30% of the snaps at wideout. So will Shakir. That's 60%. Kincaid will get 10%, minimum. Cook and other running backs will get 5-10%. Bills will play with an 8-man line on 5-10% of snaps. That's 80-90% of a receiver full-time at wideout. Coleman will get 80% of the other side. There are you two wideouts.
That's what is going to happen, unless the Bills come up with a more serious answer.
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2 minutes ago, MRW said:
Slower than Coleman?
Not that slow.
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28 minutes ago, Mango said:
I agree with you. The alternating upper and lowercase means I’m making fun of those people/sarcasm.I thought so, but I am slow.
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25 minutes ago, Mango said:
bUt WhAt AbOuT tHe BeNgAlS?If you're serious, the thing about the Bengals is that what they did was an accident of timing. You simply can't run your franchise expecting that you can decide to have a receiver room like the Bengals have had and then just do it. Timing allowed them to keep Boyd, then get the other two. Certainly it's happened, and we've seen some other great receiver rooms come and go, but if I tried to build a team around that model, I could be waiting a long time before I have that kind of combo. Lots of pieces fell together for the Bengals.
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37 minutes ago, Mango said:
No they don’t. Deebo and Curtis aren’t similar receivers. It feels like last week one guy said that on here and now it just keeps getting repeated.
Curtis Samuel has very little ability to play outside. He doesn’t have the size or strength to be effective there with any regularity.
I said it, not last week, but when the Bills signed him.
He is NOT going to play strictly out of the slot. I'm sure of that.
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2 minutes ago, Bangarang said:
Kupp, St. Brown and Kelce were proven commodities as #1 receiving options. Putting complimentary pieces around those players at least has some logic to it.
They were anything but proven commodities when they were drafted. What they are is very much what the Bills' receivers are - good hungry athletes ready to play in a system.
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3 minutes ago, Bangarang said:
That's literally why people are so frustrated. That's not an impressive group of receivers.
Good point. Looks a lot like Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, and Demarcus Robinson, before they became a deadly combination. Or St. Brown, Reynolds, LaPorta, and Raymond. Kelce, Rice, Valdez-Scantling, Watson. The style of offense these teams are playing, and getting good production in the passing game, is not dependent of big name receivers. It's a style that repeatedly leverages the defense in ways that allow good athletes to get open. Shakir, Samuel, Coleman, and Kincaid are good athletes and they will get open.
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3 hours ago, Big Turk said:
I think the Bills have a pretty diverse skill set of offensive weapons now and I think it's going to be pick your poison defending them with different players being the "go to guy" in different games depending on what other teams do on D and how they play them.
Kincaid is going to be a star and matchup nightmare.
Cook is already close to a star and matchup nightmare.
Shakir was coming on strong and is going to likely take a huge step this year.
Knox is still solid even tho he had a down year.
Samuel is a solid #2 and provides quickness and speed and is a YAC chewer upper
Coleman is a big bodied WR that is open when he isn't open that can box out defenders like he was playing basketball and should be a big red zone target initially.
Davis is going to be a great change of pace back along with Ty Johnson who just always made stuff happen every time he touched the ball.
I think people are underestimating the offense. I don't think much changes in terms of scoring ability.
Plus we still have Josh Allen who more often than not can make something out of nothing and make your jaw drop
Agreed.
Beane's not done, but the pieces are already there. The real question is whether Brady is the man to do something with the quality parts he's been presented with.
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25 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:
people are more pissed we aided KC’s speed arms race. But, yes. I would have traded up for AD or Franklin once they were falling so much. Would have been a much more positive outlook at the positionYou know, not to argue with you, but I don't understand. Shakir fell and was available in the fifth. He had 161 yards receiving in his rookie season. I don't get why people would feel much better about the receiver room if the Bills added a guy who probably will see very little playing time.
The Bills are going to come at teams with Coleman, Samuel, Shakir, Hollins. There might be another addition who works his way into what is essentially a four player rotation. I don't think a fifth round guy is breaking into that group.
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15 minutes ago, starrymessenger said:
If the plan is to trade for Aiyuk when Tre’s cap number comes off I will consider this Beane’s second best draft. Aiyuk would make the Bills a serious contender.
49ers seem to have been sending mixed signals about whether Aiyuk or Samuel is available. Sure seems like one must be, after going wideout in the first round the other day.
I'd much prefer Aiyuk. The mix of skillsets he'd create would be a great combination. Bills already have a Samuel-type; even his name is Samuel.
2 minutes ago, Casual fan said:Thank you very much Shaw.
It was very kind of you to take the time to explain all that to me.
Much appreciated! 🫡
Your welcome, but don't put too much stock in it. I'm happy to write what I think, but that doesn't mean it's correct!
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On 4/27/2024 at 12:18 PM, QLBillsFan said:
We need a player to go from good to great in the clutch!!
It may be Kincaid. It may be Coleman.
Need one on defense, too.
15 hours ago, ControllerOfPlanetX said:
Yes….and Duke? Is that a real College?
Listen to Carter's press conference in Orchard Park. Without bragging, he said Duke was pretty horrible his first two years, but he and some other guys helped change the culture and make them into a good football team. And many people apparently thought he'd enter the portal and go to a bigger time school for his senior year. He made it clear that his loyalty to the program and his teammates kept him there.
I think that if you watch his video, it's pretty easy to see that the guy can play, whatever school he went to.
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19 minutes ago, Rockinon said:
You could tell that the Bill's brass changed their thinking in the way they select WRs last year when they picked up Kincaid. He was considered to be the best pass catcher in the draft, even among WRs. Coleman also is a good pass catcher. Not really sure if this works out since he will always be matched up with a CB.
I said yesterday that I think Coleman is the wideout version of Kincaid the tight end.
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14 minutes ago, Casual fan said:
Hello Shaw66,
Not flamethrowing here. I have a genuine question.
Am I right to think that elite rookie wide receivers rarely have much of an impact?
Like I seem to remember that OBJ made quite a splash as a rookie. But I think I remember that all these years later because of how unusual that is.
Usually aren't we waiting for at least a year for them to work on their route running and all the rest of the complex stuff that have to learn?
So my thinking was / is even if we traded the farm for a round-one wideout, they wouldn't have much impact next year.
Does that sound right to you or am I off in my thinking? I say again, I'm asking you because I want to know!
As for Coleman I'm not willing to second guess Bean because watching his highlights, it seemed to me, that he is abnormally nimble for a man his size. Even among professional athletes I mean. I'd have to see him in person to be sure. But when I've seen that in person it's never been wrong that the guy will be a good one (unless injury gets him).
I think you're generally correct. Having said that, for the buzz around the three top guys, it sounded like those guys have good shots at making impact from day one. One or more of them is the exception.
Working into the lineup more slowly seems to be the norm. I gather that the complexity of the route trees and choosing the correct option of the route tree given what the defense is doing makes it tough for most receivers to break in early. They're running option routes in college, but the reads are simpler, I think. And they have to block, which isn't a part of the game for a lot of college receivers.
On top of that, we keep hearing players talk about what a whirl-wind the first season is. Combine, draft, introductions, press conferences, moving, learning a new scheme, adjusting to the speed and strength of all the competitors on the field, all add to the difficulty of just learning to play the game at this level. Many of these guys say their game is enhanced greatly going into their second season, when they have all of February, March and April to get rested and their bodies well, and to be focused on the things that they learned in the first season.
As I said elsewhere, I think the Bills' challenge this season will be escaping the first half of the season with enough wins to be in at least decent position to compete in the second half. I think Coleman, Bishop, Carter, and Davis all will begin to emerge as the season progresses.
Having said that, I think it's possible that Coleman might flash early because of his unusual athleticism. If I'm Brady, my plan for Coleman is to quickly get him into a few sets and patterns that get him open for short and medium completions with opportunities to run. If the Bills can do that, Coleman might do some damage early and get the attention of the defenses. If that happens, he could become more productive than many rookie receivers.
Coleman could have a great rookie season, but I think it's reasonable to expect no more than 600-700 yards. And of course, he also could be mired as the Bills' fifth or sixth option all through the season. Eric Moulds had 279 yards his rookie season.
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So, I found a write-up about Hardy's state championship game in high school. https://tribhssn.triblive.com/penn-hills-daequan-hardy-has-revis-like-performance-in-piaa-class-5a-championship-victory/
QuoteHERSHEY — Fifteen years have passed since Darrelle Revis played here, and tales continue to be told about his incredible day at Hersheypark Stadium.
Fifteen years from now, they’ll still talk about Daequan Hardy’s.
The Penn Hills senior returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown in Friday night’s 36-31 victory over Manheim Central in the PIAA Class 5A championship, but that record-tying, goal-line-to-goal-line sprint was only one piece of Hardy’s all-around unforgettable night.
Hardy scored four times and made three interceptions as Penn Hills (16-0) celebrated the second state title in school history and its first in 23 years.
“Revis had what, four or five touchdowns in a state championship game?” said Penn Hills coach Jon LeDonne, himself a 2001 Aliquippa graduate. “Daequan Hardy is very close, a very special kid, Revis-like.”
Along with his 100-yard interception return, Hardy had touchdown catches of 74 and 27 yards and returned a kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown.
“I didn’t think this was going to happen how it happened,” Hardy said, “but I’m happy it did.”
“It should be up there with the best performances in state history,” LeDonne added.
The do-it-all receiver and cornerback raised his season touchdown total to 22, a collection that now includes 12 receiving, five rushing, three on interception returns, one punt return and one kickoff return.
Friday’s performance stirred memories from 2003, when Revis scored five touchdowns three different ways in an individual performance that pushed Aliquippa to a state title.
Hardy was just as spectacular.
“It was nothing short of amazing, but it’s not surprising,” said quarterback Hollis Mathis, who threw two of his three touchdowns to Hardy. “He’s the best player in the state, hands down. The best defender in the state, the best DB in the state, the best all-around player in the state and it’s showed.
“You don’t make an impact like that in the state championship game and not be the best player in the state.”
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3 hours ago, Back2Buff said:
Keon is never going to get separation, he just won't. He isn't twitchy enough to do so. He won't be able to learn it and it's not coming with more reps. It's never going to be there.
I woke up this morning knowing I'd be arguing with this idea. I think "getting separation" is way, way over-rated.
Let's start with the obvious: Yes, it's great to a have a receiver who can get open off the line of scrimmage, but the truth is there are very few of those guys, and most of them are slot receivers. Those are the guys who operate in close quarters and use quickness and change of direction to create quick separation. And yes, there are some wideouts who get better releases off the line than others. But I'd say there are fewer than 10 wideouts in the league who actually can consistently get separation. The defensive backs in the NFL are too good - if they can stay reasonably attached to even the best receivers, they aren't playing.
To a great extent, separation comes scheming: formation, motion, route design, and options. Most of the completions we see are throws to receivers who are open because the defender has been put in a difficult position with the scheme. Defenders can't position themselves to handle both in-cuts and out-cuts. Zones all have weak spots - often those weak spots are created by the routes.
The Bills' passing game is going to be all about creating those kinds of challenges for defenses. Coleman, Shakir, and Samuel all are run-after-catch guys. Cook, too, and now Davis, too.
The receivers seem like a good collection zone busters, so I'd expect the Bills will see a lot of man. The Bills will counter with a lot stacked formations - trips wide, trips tight, with plenty of motions and rubs. Bills have been notoriously bad at screens, and at at wide receiver screens. I think that will change. Shakir, Coleman, and Samuel all are serious ball-carrying threats - two of them are punt returners.
Coleman is going to be a nice addition to the group. I think people need to start getting used to seeing some outstanding athletic plays out of him. That's what he's going to bring, and the Bills will find plenty of ways to get him the ball.
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THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - Reloading
in The Stadium Wall
Posted
I think that teams that believe the Bills can't get deep will be looking at the backside of Samuel, Shakir, Coleman, and Cook. I think receivers are going to be crossing all day long, with one or another slipping deep on various plays.
Someone will go over 1000 yards. Samuel, Shakir, Kincaid, or Coleman. Three others will get between 600 and 800. Cook and Knox will add a few hundred yards each, and there'll be miscellaneous other guys contributing. Allen will get comfortably over 4000 again this season.