Johnny Coli

Stooges' guitar player found dead in his home yesterday. Rolling Stone link Detroit Free Press link A hugely influential guitar player. Those first two Stooges' LPs are classics. Gonna be dragging out some old vinyl tonight. RIP Ron. I'm at work so I'll leave the Youtube links to someone else.

Drew Willy in a late round steal. From NJ and played all four years in Buffalo. No more California QBs, man.

I think they just need to scrape bottom for one more year under Jauron, then he'll get run out of town and we can get behind a new regime. Looking at the division, Brady might be done and I don't see Belicheat staying more than a couple more years. Parcells usually sticks around for three years, and next year will be year two. The Jests are the Jests. So, let's have a couple beers and watch this team implode in 2009 under Jauron, chuckle at the mistakes and blunders, and look forward to 2010. Hey they're gonna suck, but they've sucked for years and you've watched them. What's another year of futility? Would you rather watch them stumble through another loss on a Sunday afternoon or spend that time with your family? It's a no-brainer.

Agreed. All but the one where they're riding around on bikes in a park are pretty good. I thought the Pirate one was genius.

Maybe it should be changed to "We've got our backup QB!"

People give you a lot of crap, crayonz, but more often than not you're an oasis of insight in a desert of ignorance.

Well then, lets take a look at the Bills offense versus the Pats* offense and see how it breaks down. Your premise is that NE* is a team that runs a fair amount of screens, and quite frankly their screens have given the Bills' defense fits over the past half decade. In 2008, 23.0% of the receptions by a NE* player were by the RBs, and their two main backs ended up 3rd and 6th on the team in total receptions. By contrast, in 2008, 27.8% of the Bills receptions were by their RBs, and they ended up 3rd and 4th in total receptions. At first blush one would give kudos to Jauron for trying to emulate the NE* offense. However, anyone that has watched the Bills over the past few years has noticed the relative rarity of the screen pass. Looking back at past seasons and the NE* numbers for RB receptions are as follows, shown as percent of total receptions and where the RBs finished in receptions compared with their teammates. 2005 17.3% (5th, 6th, 7th) 2006 24.5% (4th, 5th, 7th) 2007 15.1% (3rd, 8th) 2008 23.0% (3rd, 6th) So, really, a team that has used their backs in a pass-catching capacity admittedly pretty successfully have used it less than 25% of the time, but not really as a rule as they seem to change their offensive philosophy from year-to-year. The Bills, on the other hand, inarguably a team that hasn't relied on the screen for a decade had their RBs catch 27.8% of the passes thrown this season, with their RBs ending up 3rd and 4th in total receptions. But, being Bills fans we know that you could count the number of RB screens tried this season on one hand. Here are the Bills numbers. 2005 16.7% (4th, 6th) 2006 14.9% (6th, 7th) 2007 20.9% (6th, 7th, 8th) 2008 27.8% (3rd, 4th) So, my point is that Lynch and Jackson had their hands on over 25% of the passes caught this season. That would suggest that those passes weren't that far past the LOS, and as a Bills fan I know they were rarely called by design. Thus, Edwards has been "dumping off" a disproportionate amount of the time to his RBs. I also took a look at Pitt, a run-heavy team with a game-managing QB, and Philly, a team whose offense is definitely built around their pass-catching RB Brian Westbrook, and McNabb who has never been accused of being a dink/dunk QB. Using the above method of showing the data: Pitt 2005 9.6% (5th) 2006 14.7% (6th) 2007 14.5% (5th) 2008 14.1% (5th) Philly 2005 19.2% (tied for 1st) 2006 31.3% (1st) 2007 25.7% (1st) 2008 22.1% (2nd) Robo very rarely uses his RBs as receivers. McNabb clearly uses Westbrook because that's the Philly offense. Like I said above, at first blush you'd give kudos to Dick and Turk for trying to emulate the NE* or Philly offenses, but really we all know that's not the case. If it was we'd see more evidence of it on the field. We don't. Conclusion is Trent's ignoring his deep targets and dumping it off to Lynch and Jackson.

You could also look at who is getting the receptions. Looking back at the 2006 through 2008 seasons and taking the top eight team leaders in receptions, the breakdown is as follows: 2006 team receptions by position (using the top eight players): WR 188 TE 30 RB 40 The top eight went (1 = leader in receptions): 1-4 WR 5 TE 6-7 RB 8 TE 2007 team receptions by position (using the top eight players): WR 141 TE 50 RB 55 The top eight went (1 = leader in receptions): 1-3 WR 4-5 TE 6-8 RB 2008 team receptions by position (using the top eight players): WR 153 TE 48 RB 84 The top eight went (1 = leader in receptions): 1-2 WR 3-4 RB 5 TE 6 WR 7 TE 8 WR Receptions by the WRs declined 2006 to 2007/2008. However, receptions to RBs in 2008 shot up 152%, where the 3rd and 4th highest reception totals on the team were by the two RBs. By coaching design or by player aversion to take a shot down the field, Edwards has been dumping it off to the RBs at a fairly high rate and at the expense of the WRs.

Nice. So, not only will the Bills need to get a competent FA QB for the near-term to plan for the almost certain injury of their "franchise" QB, they also need to be thinking long-term and draft a QB in case their oft-injured "franchise" QB continues to stink. Does this sound like a guy you want to build your offense around?

Seeing a pattern, here? Trent will get the offseason shoulder surgery, miss most of the pre-season and then he'll get to use the "lingering effects of the surgery and shortened pre-season" excuse when he stumbles for the first four games. Then he'll get hurt in the fifth game, miss his two to four games, and the lingering effects from that injury will be effecting him for games eight through ten or twelve, depending on the injury. By then the weather will be turning ugly and he'll falter because "those were the worst conditions I've ever seen."

Five shoulder injuries in four years at college, resurfacing again in his second year in the NFL along with multiple other ailments. Its a good thing the Bills are building their offense around this guy.

"It's as plain as the nose on your face."

If they built a new stadium why wouldn't they just play in the current one until the new one is finished? You'd just do what the Pats* did; threaten to move the team unless the state pays for the new stadium, pull out of the deal at the last second so it looks like you're saving the franchise, obtain some of the surrounding property through questionable means, build the new stadium next to the old one, level the old one, build a mall, and charge people $70 to park. That's how its done in today's NFL.

Giving the QBs a B- is far too high of a grade. The starter played bad in more games than he showed promise in, having a huge hand in a mid-season swoon that had the team going from 1st to last in the division, and the ineffective backup was allowed to walk away. How does that warrant a B-? They're still averaging under 200 yards per game, barely improved on last season's passing TD total by only 2 TDs, and threw 1 more INT. Taking into consideration the soft schedule they had this year compared to last year and you could make the case that the passing game has regressed. Badly. That's not slightly above average. That's terrible.

If you have to explain a parody then it's not an effective parody. In this case its pretty easy to see it for what it is. And its not a parody by any stretch.

Coughlin was also pretty successful as the HC of Boston College, as well. He's won consistently at both the NCAA and the NFL. The only consistency Jauron has shown is that his teams always come up just short of 0.500.

Well aren't you the !@#$ing Superfan?

bravo, sir. bravo.

Nice moves.

LOL Beautiful

There's a very good possibility that the Pats* do the unthinkable and franchise Cassel. Reports today are that Brady is behind schedule in his recovery. Pretty good article from Tom Curran, today: link.

LOL

I'd be shocked if Carroll would even consider coaching in the AFCE again. If he has any feelers out for coaching in the NFL again, I'd bet they would be out West.

I'm not ripping you. Its an interesting question. Is the collective zeitgeist of the fans turning Ralph into a vegetable, the regional ethos imprinting itself on the local sports team? Are we miserable because the team blows, or does the team blow because we're generally miserable? I have to confess, there's something tragically romantic about rooting for a perennial loser.

Not sure what you are saying. Are you saying that repeated statements/sentiments from the fans, in this case saying Ralph is old and out of his mind, are actually manifesting themselves and pushing Ralph into senility? Our collective consciousness is hastening Ralph's mental degeneration? Fascinating stuff, Mr. Jasper. Sell the team, Ralph. Sell the team, Ralph.