dave mcbride
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Posts posted by dave mcbride
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I wouldn't use games against defenses who were mentally whipped before they ever hit the field as a gauge. The Fiedler of 2005 isn't the Fiedler of 2000, 2001, or even 2003. He's picked up alot of mileage over the last couple of seasons and his noodle arm would look REALLY bad in a regular OP wind. He looks beaten to me.
perhaps, but remember that we're looking for a backup, not a starter - a smart guy with experience who might not have a great arm but can still manage a game. fiedler is certainly a better player than shane matthews, and was the starting qb on a winning team every year from 2000-2003.
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Fiedler? Does anyone remember him playing in Buffalo in the winter? He is awful. Garcia would be a better fit, but he thinks he is a starter and would never come into Buffalo knowing the rookie had the upper hand on getting the starting job. I still don't see what the rush is to get Losman on the field. He is not ready, and Drew is not done. Stay the course.
actually, i remember fiedler playing flawlessly in buffalo in december 2000 in frigid weather, a game that miami won 33-6. i also remember him playing very well in december 2003 against buffalo in buffalo, a game that the fins won by 20-3. he also won at buffalo in november 2001 in horrible rainy conditions by a score of 34-27. the fins lost in late november, 2002, but ray lucas was the qb who stunk it up for them despite ricky williams running for over 200 yards.
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well, you're not going to get that for henry. i'm trying to be realistic. the best draft pick they'll get for him is a mid-third rounder, and pryce is worth a lot more than that. pryce is an excellent player when healthy, which he's been through most of his career. he's been to the pro bowl 4 times, has 2 super bowl rings, and had 58 sacks over 6 years, from 1998-2003. also, you take good players when you can get them, regardless of position.
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http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/bron...3548634,00.html
henry seems to me to be a very good fit in denver's scheme - a slashing, between the tackles runner who is quick to the hole.
trevor pryce, who will be 100% by mini-camp, doesn't fit the broncos' scheme now that they're going to a 3-4, but he'd be perfect in the bills' scheme and is a terrific pass rusher.
i think that a henry/price trade straight up makes both teams better, and his broncos cap number isn't an issue for the bills.
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writ...mqb4/index.html
(yawn) I wonder who his sources are? Maybe...EVERY newspaper and website in the country!
make fun of this all you want, but read the beginning of the piece re freddy mitchell and you'll understand why king is a good reporter who has excellent sources. that's pretty rich stuff, and the thing you're laughing at is an afterthought in a long column intended for readers who are not all bills fans.
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Branch, Patten and Evans are better. None is elite, but all are better at this point.
Moulds has lost explosiveness and his hands went from inexplicably inconsistent for much of his career, to awful this season. He's never been the type of receiver who can make the tough grabs either, which magnifies all the easy ones. What it adds up to is that Moulds is a drive killer. His career numbers have not been commensurate with his talent. He has passed his share of blame on QB's and OC's, but every time he kills a drive with a drop or "non-catch", he costs himself not only THAT catch and THOSE yards, he misses out on further opportunities that drive could have created.
Branch, Patten and Evans don't drop the easy ones, make some amazing catches and keep the chains moving and as a result are just more efficient.
badol, are you sure you mean patten? don't you mean givens? patten barely plays anymore, and givens is really great.
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i'm not reading too much into this, but given what lenny p says below and the fact that he's in close contact with the bills, well, you never know. the bills do need a backup qb:
"That Feb. 22 date means that another veteran quarterback whose current team will move in a different direction, Jeff Garcia of the Cleveland Browns, has less than two weeks until he is handed a pink-slip by the team that last spring signed him to a four-year, $25 million contract. Truth be told, given the rebuilding job that will be promulgated by new Browns general manager Phil Savage and coach Romeo Crennel, being released probably will be a good thing for Garcia, who will find a market for his services. Things never did work out for Garcia during his one-year tenure in Cleveland. The Browns never installed the offense they had promised him. ESPN.com has confirmed that Browns officials had promised Garcia they would bring in Bill Walsh as a consultant to help with the transition to a West Coast-style design, and that never happened. The offensive line disintegrated because of injuries and the running game was sporadic. Garcia didn't help himself, of course, by going public with his criticisms of the offense. And there were a number of off-field issues that made him a convenient target as well. But teams would be wise to go back and take a look at Garcia's performance in an Oct. 24 home loss to Philadelphia. Hard to believe, given the way in which the Browns season ended, but Cleveland was 3-3 going into that game. Garcia played exceptionally, completing 21 of 32 attempts for 236 yards against a Super Bowl-caliber defense, in a 34-31 defeat. For his career, Garcia has an 87.2 quarterback rating, has completed 61.0 percent of his passes and has 123 touchdown passes versus only 65 interceptions. Sure, Garcia will be 35 later this month. Yep, he's probably got to be in a system conducive to his talents. But the guy may not be quite as far over the hill as some Cleveland critics would contend. The bet here (with a little inside knowledge) is that Garcia will be of interest to a couple teams once he is officially released."
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lenny p has been close to donohoe and modrak for over a decade; they all got their start in pittsburgh.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor..._len&id=1989339
Around the league
• After a couple of weeks at home in California, quarterback J.P. Losman arrived back at the Buffalo Bills complex this week to begin offseason workouts, and there is a pretty good reason why the 2004 first-round pick is suddenly the team's early bird in the weight room. The decision has essentially already been made by Bills officials, several sources told ESPN.com, that Losman, who missed much of his rookie season recovering from a broken leg suffered in training camp, will be the starter in 2005. In fact, it is believed that Buffalo officials have apprised Drew Bledsoe of the plan to elevate the former Tulane star to the top of the depth chart and are giving the 12-year veteran some time to consider the ramifications of the move, and to determine if he wants to return to the Bills as the backup. Bledsoe is due a $1.05 million roster bonus in early March, and a base salary of $3.3 million for 2005, and has a salary cap charge of $6 million-plus. The Bills seem to feel they have gone about as far as they can with Bledsoe, and view the success of Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh this season as validation that you can win with a young quarterback when you surround him with solid talent. Losman appeared in just four games in 2004, all cameos, and threw only five passes. But head coach Mike Mularkey and his staff are enamored of the former Tulane signal caller, both from a physical and intangibles standpoint, and are ready to make the transition. As for Bledsoe, well, the Bills maintain a great deal of respect for the veteran and want to do right by him. There has been some speculation that the Dallas Cowboys might be interested in Bledsoe, who began his NFL career under Bill Parcells at New England in 1993 and at 33 is eight years younger than Vinny Testaverde. Then again, Bledsoe might prefer to be released, and then choose his own landing spot for 2005. If he did wind up in Dallas, there would be some irony to such a relocation. It was the Cowboys who dealt Buffalo a first-round pick in the '04 draft, and the extra selection was used by the Bills to grab Losman. It should be noted, in the case of Bledsoe and other veterans suddenly on the bubble with their teams, that players cannot be officially released until Feb. 22.
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Darin, I know this is heresy in these parts, but flutie's season in 98 was the best by a buffalo qb since the 91 season. no season by a buffalo qb since has approached his performance that year. by the way, why is he considered such a dick anyway? it was wilson who ordered his benching before the tennessee game, not the coaches.
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news flash: 90% of the players in the nfl are dicks. as i always say, for 3/4 of the players in the league, if not for the nfl, jail. that comes with the territory when the population under study achieved what they did by being more violently psychotic than the rest of society.
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Yep I was around and wanted both guys out of here post haste. This situation would bear no resemblance as in the former both guys were compete tools, while in the latter you've got three guys who are not complete tools.
And Wade's problem wasn't a failure to commit; his problem was his willingness to commit regardless of what was happening on the field. If he'd have had the guts to use both guys smartly, he probably could have saved his job.
Call it a difference in philosophy. I've always believed that in certain situations you can win with more than 1 QB and I think this is one of those situations. You need a strong head coach who has his players' respect, a tough-minded squad with good leadership and 2 or 3 veteran QB's who have been back-ups before and are willing to put aside their egos for the good of the team.
The Bills can fill all three of these criterion and I wouldn't mind seeing it. Instead of sacrificing a year to a kids development, they can get Losman the experience he needs to be the guy and at the same time play some winning football by using another guy or two who have already proven that they can play well in this league. You just need to have everybody on the same page so that expectations are understood and surprises are at a minimum.
Innovators innovate and imitators imitate.
Mularkey seems willing to march to his own beat and I think he may have the right combination of creativity and horsesense to pull something like this off for a year or two, if he has the right tools to work with. At this point Batch, Johnson and JP strike me as the right tools.
Having Wyche around doesn't hurt the plausibility of this scenario either.
Cya
i hate to sound heretical, simon, but i will go the mat arguing that flutie was a significantly better player than rob johnson when he was here and had good reason to kvetch (especially after it came out that wilson and not the coaching staff ordered him benched for johnson). he had some poor outings, but was far better in the clutch than any of his successors. remember that baltimore game against what was then an unrecognized defense for the ages?
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Just to further the conversation....I sit there and try to figure out why Moulds has the most success with Doug Flutie.....
And it gives me hope for a resurgence with JP Losman
What were Fluties qualities that allowed him to stay in the league? The ability to move around long enough for receivers to come open?
That will end up being one of Losmans best traits as well I think.....the time to allow Moulds to break open is going to be key in how well he does.....improvement of the line AND a QB with the ability to throw on the run are going to help Eric.....not to mention a speed demon on the other side of the field loosening up the coverage......
john, since kelly's retirement, it's hard to argue that doug flutie hasn't been the bills best qb by a mile.
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Since Shane Matthews is most likely gone, and if Drew stays on either as the #1 or #2 QB, would any of you object to the Bills taking a flyer on a QB maybe in the 6th, 7th round to serve as a #3 QB instead of signing a re-tread?
Who knows, if J.P. never worked out for whatever reason, maybe the Bills can hit paydirt like the Pats did with Brady, who knows.
Thoughts?
if a guy is rated highly and he is there and at a spot below his slotting in the bills ranking system, they should take him regardless of position. it's time to start learning from the pats. take good players who you like and don't reach based on position. no more travares tillmans.
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One thing you can say about Oakland; they have much broader acceptance guidelines than most other teams, ours included. I suspect it adds to the mystique. But Moss to Oakland makes sense...though I wouldn't have imagined he could pull a high first round pick AND Buchanan. Maybe he can. But I think that's a lot for Moss.
Conversly, it would be a tremendous move for the Vikings. They'd get a pal for Winfield, which they need, AND a high pick, where they could maybe grab an Evans-like rookie. Get rid of Moss, and maybe not slip TOO dramatically on offense.
Frankly, Culpepper is to Moss as Bledsoe is to Moulds. To a fault. A fault I think that cost the Vikings better resullts this past year. Almost addition by subtraction, but more like not-so-bad subtraction by subtraction.
fair enough assessment, but i will say one thing about moss -- he's hands down the best receiver in the league, and has been so since he entered the league in '98. he missed a half dozen games this year due to a hamstring pull, but that's hardly a debilitating injury and he should be 100% next year. and for all of the criticism leveled at him, it really can't be argued that the guy doesn't produce. in fact, he's staggeringly productive, and if the vikings D was better than a JV squad the past few years, they would have done a lot more than they did.
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Ahh I see. If I think about it I had a lot of confidence in them too. I do remember always being a bit concerned though that we were not getting turnovers, as good as they were. Overall I believe we are comparing two different philosophies here, and thus comparison becomes somewhat futile. On one hand you have a 3-4 defense that rarely blitzes or takes too many chances, and never gives up a deep play. On the other you have a complicated scheme based 4-3 who will blitz at any opportunity to force the offense into a position of weakness or indecision. They are certain tradeoffs that come with both defenses. I guess it comes down to preference....
there's also the bruce smith-4th quarter pressure factor from those years ...
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maybe a better way to think about it is the bills d's persistent failure the last 2 years to make a big stop late in the fourth quarter in a close game. outside of miami this year, i can't think of any occasions, really, where they stopped an opponent in a really close game. even in the 2nd jets game this year, with the woeful quincy carter at qb, the jets managed to throw a long bomb to santana moss to make it close at 22-17.
believe me, i appreciate everything you're saying, and i'll be the first one to admit that that the statue-directed offense is a serious, serious problem that precludes all others. but the d has to be better at stopping good teams late in games. the 90s bills defenses, for all their flaws, were very good at that. and certainly, the pats defense of today has to be one of the best ever at that (think bootleg, drew bledsoe, accompanied by missed block, travis henry, and missed block, marcus price, followed by sack, tedy bruschi, followed by fumble recovery and TD run, richard seymour).
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I wouldn't want to overgeneralize, but this defense is missing one player from being a dominant unit. The late '90s had Bruce Smith who still commanded a lot of respect and Hansen was very capable and better than Schobel in the all-around game. Right now, this defense is missing the one guy who can effectively rattle the passer from the edge.
There's no way I take the '90s secondary vs this one, and if you get rid of Posey, I like this LB crew, but not it's depth.
Thus, I'd say, give me this defense + Bruce Smith
excellent point, gerry. bill walsh always said that what made a defense great was a terrific 4th quarter pass rush, and i can remember numerous games where bruce brought it in the 4th - against philly in the mid-90s, against the raiders in the freezer bowl game in the january 94 playoffs, against drew bledsoe in the mid 90s one year - the list goes on. no one now can do that. bruce was so damn good - best ever, in my opinion.
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Sorry I just don't see it that way (especially your Jax reference). All defenses give up plays or drives here and there. We gave up fewer plays / yards / however you want to measure it .... than 30 other NFL teams. YPP was among the league lowest, Turnovers #1, yards #3, Sacks #3. Even 3rd down % (which does need improvement) was like #13. There was no defense this past season that you could not say the same thing about. This is the NFL and there is another team on the field with talented players and coaches as well. If you think the D in the Steeler game was even equally responsible for the loss with the O, then I'm wasting my time even debating this with you.
i'm sorry, but the d in the steelers game was equally responsible. see my post above. there's no way a team should have been able to run the ball down the bills throat in the fourth with brian st. pierre at qb and a third stringer at rb. come one. this is not to justify the statue's performance or say that the bills d was not a good one, by the way. i just happen to think they're overrated given their performance against good teams the last couple of seasons. they rank above the pats d in most categories, but i'd take the pats D any day over the bills. it's not even close - those guys are money when it really counts.
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There was a thread a while back that suggested Belichick sold his soul to the devil to turn into the "genius" he is today. I mean this guy was "Hank Bullough-stupid" in Cleveland. The guy couldn't find an NFL-caliber player in the draft if there was a blinking neon arrow pointing at one. And now he is making all the personel decisions! And it's not like he's right 70% or 80%, it's more like 99%!!
It sure makes one scratch their head.
PTR
p.s. keenan mccardell was also a draftee of the browns in the belichick years
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There was a thread a while back that suggested Belichick sold his soul to the devil to turn into the "genius" he is today. I mean this guy was "Hank Bullough-stupid" in Cleveland. The guy couldn't find an NFL-caliber player in the draft if there was a blinking neon arrow pointing at one. And now he is making all the personel decisions! And it's not like he's right 70% or 80%, it's more like 99%!!
It sure makes one scratch their head.
PTR
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you're wrong, promo - in his prime, everitt was among the best centers in the league (along with d. dawson and stepnoski). langham was awesome for a couple of years as well. and let's not forget the late eric turner, who was the best safety in the league for a couple of seasons.
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I think the doofus is the guy who wrote the column. Talk about revisionist history!
Belichick spent 5 years as HC of the Cleveland Browns .He took a team that went 3-13 and improved them to 6-10, followed by two 7-9 seasons. In his 4th year he finished 11-5 and won a playoff game before bowing out of the playoffs. The next year, Modell destroyed the team when he announced on 11/6 that he was moving the team to Baltimore. The team was 4-5, 1 game out of 1st place and after the announcement went 1-6 the rest of the way, finishing 5-11. After the season Modell wanted someone with ties to Baltimore & fired BB, hiring ex-Colts (and Bills OC) Ted Marchibroda. The next season, minus the genius the Ravens went 4-12 showing it wasn't Belichick's fault. In addition, after being fired by the Ravens, Belichick rejoined Parcells in NE and helped get NE into the Super Bowl with Drew as QB-quite a feat. He then came to NY with Parcells with the stipulation that he would be HC of the Jets when Parcells stepped down-quite a lofty promise for a "failure". When Belichick wanted to move on to NE, Parcells stepped down & named Belichick HC-NY Jets. Since he didn't want Parcells shopping for his groceries, he resigned & waited out the process until NE gave the Jets a #1 pick in order to get BB to NE. Ever heard of a #1 in exchange for a failure? Neither have I! Belichick was a victim of Modell's move in Cleveland & both the NY Jets & NE Patriots didn't view him as a failure. So BB didn't get along that well with the press, so what! Ever listen to Parcells press conferences when things don't go right-I've never heard a more abraisive, sarcastic press conference than Parcells after a loss & noone ever called him a failure.
also, this doozy:
It's so easy to see things in black and white. For sure, Belichick is a failure-turned-success. But he did both to such extremes that you wonder how many other factors are at work. We're so lost in his success now that we forget about Cleveland.
They remember in Cleveland. Touchdown Tommy Vardell, Steve Everitt, Antonio Langham, Craig Powell. No one else remembers them.
for those who remember, antonio langham and steve everitt were *excellent* players for cleveland for a few years before injuries got to them. in fact, the bills were in hot pursuit of everitt because of hull's retirement and everitt's pro bowl caliber performance but he went to the eagles as a free agent (after which he ended up getting hurt). some reporters are just awful ...
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bill - i really do think that every position is a priority assuming the player under examination can improve the performance of the team. not to belabor a point, but just look at the pats - in the past four seasons, they've drafted 3 DTs in the first round (warren, wilfork, seymour) and have made relatively big signings (traylor, ted w). they've also drafted 2 tight ends in the first round the last three seasons (watson, graham) along with signing christian fauria.
in my view, if a guy fits the program in a special way, you go after him even if you're decently stocked at the position (see mcgahee, willis).
having said all of this, darren howard for NO is supposed to be an excellent player.
what we really gave up for losman
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
just to set people straight, we did NOTt give up a first, a second, and a fifth round pick for losman - we gave up a 2nd and a fifth. we also swapped our first rounder in 05 for dallas' first rounder in 04. spelled another way, both teams ended up with the same number of first round draft picks in 2004 and 2005 -- 2. (our pick in 05 will be a hair higher than dallas' in 04, but factor in that for a trade made in 04, a first rounder in 04 is worth more than a 1st rounder in 05 (using the draft pick point system that pretty much every team abides by)).
again, we gave u a 2 and 5 to get him, not a 1.