Swift Sylvan
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Posts posted by Swift Sylvan
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People need to admit that they were !@#$ wrong about calling him a bust before he got a chance to play on the field. Since nobody ever admits being wrong about anything people keep bringing up the same issues over and over again. Maybe if people actually admitted THE BILLS screwed up not utilizing Maybin properly and that Shawn "Good Gamble" Merriman was anything but that these threads die.
Once everyone sees and admits the truth of the matter bringing this stuff up goes away. Saying "get over it" is also a cop out. Who says people aren't over it but are showing how one organization did the right thing and is getting the most out of this guy. If we "just get over it", learn nothing and ignore our mistakes we are DOOMED TO REPEAT THEM. I think we have a pretty obvious record of repeating past mistakes.
So lighten up Francis. Admit that we screwed the pooch and lets try not to do it again in a year or two with somebody else. It's all about keeping the good ones and replacing the bad ones. Until we start to do that as an organization we will never be a winning franchise again.
My opinion doesn't matter in these parts, but I applaud this post. It's post like these that make a message board have value and allow people to communicate and relate to each other.
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I think we have about 5-6 starters from FA which to me seems pretty significant. Florence, Merriman, Pears, Fitzpatrick, D Edwards, Barnett. Or are facts ruining our argument....?
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So the real key then is to retain all of our worth while players this year. If we can draft 4 starting-solid depth players then we should be better prepared for injuries right?
The Patriots lost their best player in 2008 and still managed to go 11-5. His replacement has not fared well in KC and may be done as a starter.
Let's look closely at the injuries that have hurt Buffalo most: Jackson, Wood, and Kyle Williams. The Bills had a 1st round pick to back up Fred who has underwhelmed. Shouldn't the expectation be that he adequately fill in for Jackson given the hype and praise he received from the staff on draft day 2010? Meanwhile, they had no backup OC on the roster, so of course Wood's injury hurt significantly when they were forced to shuffle the left side of the OL. As for Williams, he was mostly their 1 gap 34 NT, where Dareus is playing, thus forcing Carrington to be LDE. And, they placed immense faith in Merriman not only producing, but remaining healthy at ROLB. Talk about setting yourself up for failure.
The Bills are like an individual who lives in hurricane country and refuses to purchase homeowners insurance because it costs too much. When the home is damanged in a storm, he complains that he can't fix it now for lack of funds despite making 7 figures.
To add a little context, I think the patriots went 10-6 which means they still played quite well, however they did miss the playoffs. I think that was the only year in the last decade or something that the Pats didn't make it to the post season.
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It will be interesting to see JP play Sunday. His performance could suggest if we had more problems with our ability to evaluate talent vs. the ability to develop it.
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The continued inability to use Spiller is one of the failings of Gailey's tenure.
Again, I support coach right now but it's real simple.
They drafted him because they felt he was too great of an offensive weapon to pass up.
If that's the case, why is Derek Hagan or Naaman Roosevelt on the field instead of Spiller on 3rd down?
It's understood that Choice is the better pass blocker.
That being the case, just put Choice and Spiller on the field at the same time. Devise plays for that package.
Start Spiller in a two-back set and motion him to one side or the other.
Like the OP said, we used Spiller as a wide receiver when injuries hit that position… now suddenly he can't be used as a 3rd down receiver?
+1
Right and that is what the real issue is with this team. We ARE drafting talented players, but we are not using them well. We're not devising a system that plays to the strengths of our personal and that is why it is so hard to tell how far away we are from contending. We HAVE to start designing an offense and defense that knows how to take what our players are good at. The one thing I have to give the coaching staff credit for is the O-line. They have utilized that well, now we need to do the same with other players.
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Just got home. How is Sheppard playing? His stat line looks busy.
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This is ridiculous. Football is a team game. Dareus is a rookie DT on a team where no one around him can capitalize on his playing. Dareus is good enough to be a dominant player and to be one of the key players for an outstanding defense. We haven't given him the talent around him to play off of his contribution.
This isn't madden where one player can dominate for an entire defense. Dareus has become target #1 with KW out for opposing offenses, therefore he is our best player on the DL.
We're trying to measure the success of a player without giving him a chance to actually succeed. This is why players like Justin Bannan, Ron Edwards, Jim Leonhard, and others can be average at best here and yet play vital roles on other teams. For the last 7 years our team has not given the players the talent and schemes to be successful.
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Has anyone gotten any pressure on their quarterback?
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Spiller is clearly a bust.
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Fitz is 5th in completion percentage (min. 600 throws); Dalton is 18th.
Fitz is 12th in NFL rating (min. 600 throws); Dalton is 14th.
Fitz is 16th in yards gained per attempt (min. 600 throws); Dalton is tied at 16th.
Fitz is 7th in TD's; Dalton is 11th.
Dalton is 9th in passes dropped; Fitz is 25th.
Stop it, those facts might suggest that winning a football game involves a team effort instead of a quarterback. Dalton MUST be better, he has a better record
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Disappointing...what were our expectations?
Disappointing that our best players got injured...yes
Disappointing that we showed real promise at the start of the year and don't still...yes
Disappointing that we have a team talented enough to beat the patriots when we're relatively healthy? no
If you don't mind, I'm going to wait until the end of the season before I actually proclaim how I felt about the whole season.
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Look at the quarterbacks for the ten most recent Super Bowl winners.
2011: Aaron Rodgers
2010: Drew Brees
2009: Ben Roethlisberger
2008: Eli Manning
2007: Peyton Manning
2006: Ben Roethlisberger
2005: Tom Brady
2004: Tom Brady
2003: Brad Johnson
2002: Tom Brady
Of the ten entries above, nine (including Eli Manning) are from quarterbacks that are clearly, hands-down, better than Fitz. In 2009, 2010, and 2011, Eli Manning averaged 7.9, 7.4, and 8.4 yards per pass attempt, as compared to the 6.8 yards per pass attempt Fitz averaged in 2010, and the 6.9 yards per attempt he's averaging this season. (Numbers which represent by far the best averages of Fitzpatrick's career.)
One of the entries includes Brad Johnson, a very solid quarterback who had a Pro Bowl year the year the Bucs won the Super Bowl. Is it possible Fitz can put together a Pro Bowl year too, and that his Pro Bowl year will happen to coincide with the Bills having as good a defense as the Bucs did in 2002? Yes. But is this likely? Not very!
If the Bills merely want to win more regular season games than they lose, then Fitz is not the problem. Fix the defense, add some depth on offense, improve the OL, and voila! But if the Bills want to win the Super Bowl, they're going to need a quarterback who can go toe-to-toe with the guys on the above list. Fitz is not that guy, and never will be that guy.
It's way too early to judge the 2011 QB draft class, so I'm not going to go there. Peyton Manning didn't look all that good as a rookie, a fact which resulted in
. But I agree with the larger point that franchise quarterbacks are very rare, and that typically between zero and one are added to the NFL each year. If franchise QBs are both very rare and very valuable, then any time you get a chance to add one, you do it! Period.Isn't Fitz third in pro-bowl voting? At least that's what was said in another thread.
As usual (and we seem to do this every 2 weeks), the idea of determining a players worth after playing in the NFL for 11 games is silly (not meant to be directed at you Edward's/Holcomb's arm, but at the whole thread)
Players who were busts after their first year:
Vernon Davis
Aaron Rodgers
Darren McFadden
Drew Brees
The list could go on for quite a while because any player in their first year who did not play at the level they are playing at now would be considered a bust. Our brains are hardwired to find patterns in limited sets of data and again we are doing this here. You could argue that most of the guys who you say are busts now will be, but that's not the correct reasoning.
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We have had about 3 games where it was obvious our offense was failing. 3 (offense) is much better than all, minus the Redskins (defense). Fitz has played well enough to make this team a playoff team and for what we're used to he clearly is someone to build around. I could care less whether or not Fitz can lead us to a superbowl right now. I care about what we need for this team to function better and Fitz will be one of the last parts/players that will need to be replaced.
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Let me retract that statement a tad, It is partially the playcalling as Gailey isn't a complete moron and calling 5-7 step drops like Schonert used to do. Unlike the DC he is calling plays that fit the strength of his offense
What's the strength of our defense?
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This.
It seems as though Chan is determined to use Spiller as something he's not, rather than figuring out what he is, and scheming for that.
"Systems don't win, players do" per your .sig but....the right system can sure help the players.
If Chan knew the best ways to use Spiller, would we have the players to implement this playing style in the first place with our current o-line?
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Yeah I think Spiller has the tools to be successful. If we have better run blocking he and Jackson could be extremely deadly. CJ needs to improve, but I think he will.
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Why don't we wait until the end of the season before we decide what season this is most like.
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If the jets are pass rushing into the wind, that's enough to road grade maybin.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the Jets try to make Fitz beat them with the same throws he attempted to Stevie in the giants game.
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I find their percentages interesting. What do we get from ESPN if their wrong and there is a 100% chance we're not making the playoffs?
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It's weird in that it seems like we just can't pour enough draft picks in to defense and yet our offense is clearly our strength. Or, at least I think it is clear.
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I typically use the heuristic of the over/under of 21 points. My assumption is that if a team can put up 21 points (we can even say 24) then they should win the game. Either way, our defense is very underwhelming. If Fitzpatrick can give a team 24 points consistently every single game, then he is good enough to be a starting quarterback in the league. This is especially the case if he doesn't turn the ball over very often and if he does, the interceptions don't result in pick 6's.
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2009:
We might only have gotten 3 players from it. However, when those 3 players are Eric Wood, Jairus Byrd, and Andy Levitre I would say that seems like a decent draft to me.
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True, but watching that game I saw Tebow complete 4 passes. 1 was for 0 yards, 1 was a screen pass at an opportune time, one was an amazing grab in spite of Tebows throw and the last was actually a good pass. Most of his throws were wobbly and off target. I think he is a gamer and could be much better, but that comeback was not because of great quarterback throwing by any means.
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2. Fred Jackson is the best HB of 2011
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It’s time to say it, Fred Jackson (+3.9) is the standard so far in 2011. He is running with power, speed, vision and moves and so far has not been contained by any of the Bills’ opponents. Buffalo has been getting much improved play from their O-line this season too, so the chances that Jackson is slowed down because of those blocking in front of him is pretty slim compared to years before. He still tops the Elusive Rating for the season with a score that remains ridiculous compared with the previous three years of data (119.5) and if anything, was even better in this game despite arguably his toughest test of the season.
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3. Don’t drop Chris Kelsay into coverage. Ever.
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The Bills seem to have this utility player approach to Chris Kelsay. He’s linebacker, he’s defensive end, he’s covering a zone 15-yards down field. Wait, what? Unlike most teams with one of these hybrid linebacker/defensive end types, the Bills seem intent on dropping Kelsay as if he was a 230-pound 4-3 linebacker, and they’ve found disastrous consequences. Kelsay (-3.1) is clearly not only uncomfortable, but often completely lost in his zone. Teammates believe that zone is accounted for so they don’t cheat over to help – which they’d need to do if they were watching receivers wander into it completely uncovered. The Bills are giving up too many big plays directly as a result of this at the moment.
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Pro football focus talked about Jackson and Kelsay the previous week for the Oakland week as well. Although that week both of them received a positive grade.
Official Bills Dolphins game thread
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
Is CJ still a bust? He's averaging 8 yards a carry.