dave mcbride
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Posts posted by dave mcbride
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If Rudi Johnson and Alexander leave their teams, then Cincinatti and Seattle will need backs. Its a net wash. Lamont Jordan will be a good back in this league. The rest of those players mentioned are nothing more than backups.
Teams that need a RB
Miami
Cincinnatti (might be sold on chris perry...but im not)
Indianapolis
Tennessee (Chris Brown is good, but cant stay healthy)
Denver (Droghns is a fluke...but denver doesnt know it yet)
Oakland
Philadelphia (Westbrook is a FA)
Minnesota
Arizona (Emmitt cant run forever)
San Francisco (Barlow causing problems in SF)
Seattle (Alexander FA)
Available
Rudi Johnson
Lamont Jordan
Edgirrin James
Cedric Benson
Carnell Williams
Ronnie Brown
Westbrook
Travis Henry
So, by my calculation 11 teams need a RB. I will leave out Denver and even Tennessee, since they probably wont be in the market for one. That leaves 9 teams.
There are 8 available backs that I can think of.
Demand exceeds supply. Always good news for a seller. And with the exception of Edgirrin James, TH is probably the best back of the bunch.
Now, tell me the names of 10 other RBs i forgot...cuz im sure they are out there.
one player you're forgetting in this list is najeh davenport. a lot of people in the league apparently think he's got the skills to be an every-down back. he has looked good in spot duty for green bay, i must say ...
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What will it take for this guy to get fired? If he keeps his job this year I will really be wondering. Horrible drafts, no thought to anything but offense (and really only skill positions there), and ridiculous clock management. If he keeps his job I will really wonder what is going on. He would make a good wide receivers coach, I think.
as a head coach, he's 51-29, and has been in the playoffs 4 out of his 5 seasons. that's why he still has a job. he's got some real issues as a head coach, but he's probably the best offensive coach of the last dozen years. he changed the game, really.
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maybe the pats - romeo crennell is probably going to get the cleveland job.
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Respect the cowbell! Here's, on top of my head, the best all-time songs that feature, the cowbell. Now I'm not a music buff so I'm askin' for y'all to chip in and built the all-time best-song-that-feature-cowbell list.
Here's my contribution:
- Don't fear the reaper, BOC: No explaining needed here.
- Groove is in the heart, Deee-Lite: Okay theres just like 3 seconds worth of cowbell but the song just wouldnt be the same without.
- Push it, Salt N Peppa. A classic. I'm sure the producer who worked on the track was a Bruce Dickinson clone.
Now let's hear about yours....
Marc, under the weather, in Montréal
Go Bills!
here's the big list:
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He already is.
And of your three examples, only 1 is legitimate; the blown play in the Jags game.
I hope every time Nate sees a ball on the ground he tries to pick it up and go with it (like he did the very next week vs Cleveland). It didn't have anything to do with Sportcenter and it didn't put the team in a BAD spot.
And your example from the P'burgh game is invalid because he wasn't even playing corner. Not to mention that in that P'burgh game when he was playing corner he shut down his side of the field, had a pick, forced a fumble, created another pick and scored a TD to boot. Having that kind of impact on a game from the CB position is nigh impossible. But he still does it in the biggest game of the year and you want to give him hell for a mistake he made when he wasn't even playing the position this thread is about?
That was not a blown play!!!!!!!!!!!!! He had great coverage, and tried to make a play on the ball - the lack of which everyone here has been complaining about since the days of thomas "stonehand" smith. as you may recall, he made a great INT earlier in the game. let's step back and give credit where credit is due: to the great jimmy smith, a criminally underrated player who made an absolutely sensational, hall-of-fame caliber play. sometimes your guy isn't making a mistake; it's the other guy making a great play.
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I know most of y'all hate Dr Z cuz' he's sort of an overbearing, obnoxious tool. But he's also a former pro-am ballplayer who watches more film than any writer in the United States; which in my opinion makes him not only the most knowledgable football writer there is, but also the only I even bother reading.
He made Nate the #1 CB on his All-Pro team this year and I think I may very well have to agree with him. Clements' incredible consistency combined with the great danger he presents as a potentially devastating playmaker may well give the Bills the very best CB on the planet.
Congrats to Nate on the tremendous success he's had as a result of all the hard work he's obviously put in.
And congrats also to TD/Modrak and the Bills not only for drafting him but also for pulling off that incredible tradedown and still getting their man when I was pestering them just to take him at #14.
Cya
simon - i agree completely about dr. z - his writing and general level of intelligence are so much higher than his competitors (pete prisco, anyone?) that it's a joke.
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Well, lets look at teams that probably need a starting back...
Miami (FORGET IT! :I starred in Brokeback Mountain: )
Cleveland
Oakland
Carolina
Tampa Bay
Arizona
San Francisco
Can we convince one of these guys to give us a 2 for TH? Miami would probably be the most willing, then Oakland?
We can only hope.
you're forgetting seattle - shaun alexander is most likely gone. oakland's an obvious choice. norv turner likes inside-the-tackles runners like henry and they're desperate for one. henry had some good games against the fins while turner was there, as i recall.
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This looks like a pretty ambitious plan. There are some big dollar figures attached. It would be nice to see it succeed, but I'm not sure if it is viable financially. Where will the money come from? I'd be concerned about large scale residential high-rise development along the waterfront too. I'd like to see more of a park.
hate to say it, but this is ugly - many years behind the times in terms of urban design. also, for anyone who thinks buffalo will be a major convention center town, there's a bridge in brooklyn i'd be happy to sell. this is a typical big developer/big money flim-flam plan straight out of the early 1980s that'll probably never happen. the smaller, more human-scale option would be a lot easier to implement and probably more successful.
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i'm no pats fan, but good for them. football should be played in the elements, and dome stadiums are a plot hatched by the devil himself.
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It's an interesting conclusion to reach, and obviously in the short term it's not possible to refute it. It's over the long haul, and especially if the Pat's sustain and extrended period of balls bouncing the wrong way or if Adam Vinatieri explores his Unrestricted FA status this coming off-season and due to a "lack of sentimentality" your very best player leaves the team, where we will find out if Belichick is as sly as a fox even where he looks weak, or if he is indeed unable to manage human relationships as well as is necessary to attain "dynasty" status.
um, since drew bledsoe was hurt, the pats are 54-13 including the playoffs and have two world champioships. if that doesn't qualify as dynasty, i don't know what does ...
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Parcells, on the other hand, crippled his franchise. He released a decent young player in Quincy Carter, a quarterback who had taken the team to the playoffs and a 10-6 record just a year ago. His replacement? A Parcells crony -- Vinny Testaverde.
He then traded away Antonio Bryant, one of the league's best young receivers, refusing to play him over the likes of... yep you guessed it: Parcells boyz Terry Glenn and Keyshawn Johnson.
Overall, I do think Parcells' style is effective as he has had a lot of success to show for it. But the same applies for Belechick.
you've gotta be kidding - quincy carter? he's horrible, and so shall he ever be. he was horrible for the jets this year too.
antonio bryant? one of the league's best young receivers? he's way too inconsistent for that.
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With Eric never reaching higher than the 45th best player at WR over the past 4 seasons- is Moulds that bad or is the system they use to analyze statistics the bigger question?
Maybe the question is how does a service with this faulty a set of formulas for statistical analysis convince anyone to espouse its results?
Or has Eric Moulds been vastly overpaid for his services in Buffalo?
oh my god - the absolute dumbest statistical ranking known to man arrives. in 2002, moulds is ranked 55th and peerless price is 15th. anyone who watched the games knows that moulds was a) the better player b) the money man and c) the guy who drew the double coverages. that fact alone deligitimizes this ridiculous compendium of loosely related facts.
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We're both just guessing here, but I think if you see the play again(I haven't either) and look closely you might change your mind. Watch how quickly Drew steps out and then fakes the pitch hard; had it been an actual pitchleft, he would have eyeballed Shaud and then went to make the pitch instead of coming right out from center and selling the pitch w/o even lookng at the back. I also think I remember Williams taking a hard step to his left and then coming back right at the same time Drew pivots his feet and body to position himself to pitch it the other way, which would indicate a designed counter. Finally check the LG and see if he doesn't come out and pull back to the right.
Regardless of the looks on anybody's faces or who has been practicing with who, I really got the sense from what happened on the field that the play was sort of a variation on the fakesneak throwback to the wideside they ran a couple weeks ago. Instead of faking the sneak they faked the pitchleft, and then countered back to the nearhash instead of the far hash; but instead of just simply pitching it like he was supposed to, Drew got jumpy and tried to deliver it overhand like had to Willis on the other play.
Cya
you're right - i would need to look at it again. maybe you or I could write to mularkey in the ask the coach column on buffalobills.com to get the real scoop!
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I don't know if I'd use the term "huge mistake" with so many variables involved. I think Jennings is rock-steady and would certainly prefer he stays right where he is, but I don't want to see the Bills fork over a 25mil bonus (nor do I think they will) when MWilliams may be ready to flip to LT and you also have former LT Teague already on the roster. If worse comes to worse and Jennings demands a huge contract, I think it's be easier to move Mike/Trey over and then fill the RT/C spot via FA. But I'd much rather pay Jennings a fairmarket contract and maintain continuity and keep a guy who has been a very solid LT for a few years now. I guess it's just a matter of what the two sides see as fair market.
Cya
since you're in steeltown country, who did the steelers replace john jackson with when he left? my recollection is that they struggled at lt for some time afterwards. i always thought jackson was a sensational player for the steelers when they were in their mid-90s prime. i bring this up for obvious reasons, of course ...
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what about someone from the inside who knows the system? krumrie? szabo?
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I wouldn't be uspet if we re-signed Jonas. He should be our worst case scenario at LT. If we downgrade at LT, our offense will be worse than it was this year, and Drew (who like it or not is probably our starter next year) is set up for failure. So it's gotta be Jonas or better. I'm of the ilk that if I'm going to have to pay $5-6m per year for the sirloin (Jonas), I'll take the filet mignon for $8m per year (Jones).
agreed. the other alternatives are bottom round at best and ground chuck at worst.
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when i watched them coming off the field, williams appeared to be hanging his head and drew had a look of disgust. i know that you can't judge a book by the cover, but it did appear during the replay that bledsoe expected him to come out one way and he went the other way. given that he's an undrafted free agent fresh off the practice squad and that knowing the playbook is an actual strength of DB's, i'll assign blame to williams in this one.
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You positive about that? It sure seemed to me like the play was designed for Drew to fake the pitch left then pivot and pitch it right.
I have the same gripe about what receivers are getting away with and certainly agree that the stripes should be consistent in how they call a game. But I think the ball was in the air when Reed set his pick so it was hands-off no matter how far beyond the LOS they were. And the reason P'burgh didn't get called for the obvious pick play was because the receiver had the sense to just rub his man off (shut up you hogs) as opposed to Reed who felt the need to get his arms up and step into the block instead of just running a route that would force the guy to go around him.
I'm starting to believe that kid is dumber 'n a chicken......
Cya
yeah, reed is a real disappointment. i know you've been a defender for some time, so i feel for your disappointment. too bad - i think he's done in buffalo. he's simply unproductive. getting back to the block, though: if an offensive lineman blows a d-lineman off the ball and nails him beyond the line of scrimmage while the ball is in the air, wouldn't that constitute the same thing? that happens all the time, right?
where do you stand on jennings? do you agree with me that letting him go is a huge mistake?
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i think he is looking for "superstar" money, but not as much as jones or pace (or ogden, for that matter). given what i know about LTs -- john fina, anyone?? -- I'd be happy to pay it. the bills are not in bad cap shape at all, and can easily swing it. people who think these guys are easy to replace should watch some giants and tampa bay games. the bills have no successor waiting in the wings. price is strictly a solid backup - nothing more nothing less - who tends to get eaten up by the richard seymours and jason taylors of the world.
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It wasn't a trick play, it was a simple little counter pitch which would likely have gone for big chunky yards had it simply been executed properly. Instead our QB double clutches on the pitch and then decides to fire it overhanded behind the back's ear.
That TMQ guy lives in a sheltered little world of numbers and I've never seen him display any real grasp of the game.
Personally I liked the call that would have had us 1st/goal at the 5 if Reed keeps his arms down, I agreed with Mularkey's decision to take the 3 at that point in the game and I also liked the counter call and think it was going to be a big gainer.
Cya
p.s. that call on reed was hoooooooooooooooooooorible. his block occurred within 5 yards of the LOS, which is legal. plus, given what receivers get away with these days, to call that was criminal.
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It wasn't a trick play, it was a simple little counter pitch which would likely have gone for big chunky yards had it simply been executed properly. Instead our QB double clutches on the pitch and then decides to fire it overhanded behind the back's ear.
That TMQ guy lives in a sheltered little world of numbers and I've never seen him display any real grasp of the game.
Personally I liked the call that would have had us 1st/goal at the 5 if Reed keeps his arms down, I agreed with Mularkey's decision to take the 3 at that point in the game and I also liked the counter call and think it was going to be a big gainer.
Cya
simon, i agree that it wasn't a trick play, but that was not bledsoe's fault - it was shaud williams, who pulled a travis and went the wrong way.
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yeah, right. walter jones has held out 3 years in a row and expects to be the highest paid LT in football. he ain't coming to the bills even if hell were to freeze over. the reason LTs get paid so much is that they're so valuable. also, there is the continuity issue. in pitt in donohoe's glory days, john jackson, a 6th rounder, was great because he was so well integrated into the system and played in it for years. when he left for greener pastures, pitt really couldn't replace him and their fortunes sank. he's a lot like jennings -- a very good player without being a superstar who plays so well in part because of familiarity with the system and continuity.
is henry a top 5 back?
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
when loooking at the facts, i would argue that henry is the fourth best back overall - in the afc east!! And even then i'm not sure he's better than lamont jordan...
in the afc alone, these RBs are clearly better than him:
dillon
curtis martin
mcgahee
bettis (even as a part time player)
fred taylor
edgerrin james
priest holmes
tomlinson
jamal lewis
by my count, he's the 10th best RB in the conference.
in the nfc, these players are better:
portis
westbrook (i love this guy)
julius jones (hasn't proven as much as TH obviously, but he looks damn good)
tiki barber
ahman green
the new guy for detroit (same story as julius jones - looks like he's going to be a hell of a player)
warrick dunn (much better receiver and is more productive as a runner than a lot of people realize)
deshaun foster when healthy
shaun alexander
deuce mcallister
This puts henry - who has had three leg injuries that have cost him time in 4 seasons - at #20 overall. A later 3rd rounder for a guy who's dumber than the proverbial box of rocks and with some real wear and tear? I'd get on my knees and offer praise to donohoe. you can get a quality LB, safety, or guard with a 3rd round pick.