Jerry Jabber

http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2011/5/19/2179137/aaron-maybin-buffalo-bills Like everyone else, I've been very critical about Maybin, but the BR story might shed some light on Maybin's poor season last year: "Maybin is a favorite punching bag of Bills fans, but it's not as if he's had it easy. Reportedly, he was dealing with the sudden death of an infant son just two weeks prior to the start of training camp last summer. In two years, he's played two different positions in two different defensive schemes (though for the same position coach). He's fighting the stigma of being a draft bust despite being just 23 years old; only six of his Bills teammates (including five rookies) are younger. Yet his lack of impact - which goes beyond the realm of statistics to the point where he's not even providing much competition for playing time alongside players just as young and inexperienced - understandably sucks a lot of the compassion out of Maybin's story (aside from the death of his son, of course). Our question for you this morning: knowing that he's under contract for at least three more seasons, would 2011 be too soon to give up on the Maybin project?" That’s horrible news about Maybin’s son. I’m sure that played a huge factor with Maybin last year as part of his mental focus and preparation for the games. Losing someone very close to you, takes a lot out of you for a long time. IMO, with a beefed up front 7 (on defense), and with the opposing offense double-teaming guys like Kyle Willams and Marcell Dareus, this could give Maybin a clear shot at the QB. With Maybin’s speed, he would be able to close in on the QB very quickly. While Maybin does appear to be a bust at the moment, I do hope he improves and can be effective, otherwise he would just be another wasted 1st round draft pick. Maybin has the physical talent, but he really needs to develop as a player, hopefully Dave Wannstedt will help him develop.

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-2/Four-Downs-on-Marcell-Dareus-with-Alabama-play-by-play-man-Eli-Gold/11159f8b-402a-4dab-8af6-d7694f51d9f6 "At the event last week, I joked with him and said they only have two seasons up there in Buffalo ‘winter and July 4th.’ He replied ‘I can play when it’s hot, I can play in the cold. These people are going to find out that when they get Marcell they are going to get a full-time commitment.’ He is just a nice kid. He added ‘I’m going to show Buffalo that they drafted the right guy.’" So far, Dareus is saying all the right things and you can't help but like this guy.

Here's an article that Buffalo Rumblings posted today about Kelsay fitting in the Bills defense: http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2011/5/18/2177202/chris-kelsay-buffalo-bills-34-43-defense "Kelsay is, by a considerable margin, the toughest front-seven defender to project into Buffalo's various alignments, because he lacks the comprehensive skill set to play any one position (and therefore doesn't have a true position with the Bills), and has the type of contract that mandates he be on the field. The Bills are going to use Kelsay quite a bit next season - and in all likelihood, you'll see him stand up and rush the passer, rush with a hand in the dirt, and even drop into coverage. As the Bills continue to flesh out their defensive identity, it's just going to get even more difficult to fit Kelsay in. Right now, he seems more like a guy that they'll plug into a hole than a guy who'll live up to his franchise-building block contract." I agree with this 100%. IMO, Kelsay is a good backup DE in the 4-3, but that's about it.

Here's the latest lockout update: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81fdfb5e/article/sides-mum-as-they-arrive-for-day-2-of-supervised-mediation?module=HP_headlines The NFL is expected to put another offer on the table today. If the players don't accept it, looks like everyone will have to wait anywhere from mid-June to mid-July on the ruling from the judges.

To be able to see Dareus sack and nail Brady as often as possible would be awesome!!

Dareus is P.O.'d that two teams passed him up and plans on making them pay on the field: http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2011/05/16/dareus-hot-about-going-3rd/ “If I ever get a chance to play Carolina I’m going to make them pay for passing up on me,” said Dareus. ”Denver I’ll get a chance to play them in the regular season (this year) and I’m going to make it hell for them every time I play against them.” Love Dareus' passion and intensity already. I'm looking forward to the Denver game already.

I love how Dukes made fun of the Dolphins fan that had his jaw to the floor when the Fins drafted Ted Ginn Jr in the first round. Dukes talked up Ginn big time and said in a few years, that fan would be happy the Fins drafted Ginn...Oh, how wrong he was!!!

I know he had one of his best games at SD, but if you noticed, before the Wilson hit, Edwards would stay in the pocket to make a play, even if he knew he was going to take a hit. After the Wilson hit, that's when he really started checking it down, to avoid getting nailed.

There's been talk about Pegula possibly buying the team, if ever up for sale. That would be more ideal for us fans, than Golisano.

I think the Adrian Wilson hit altered his career.

I remember Golisano saying that. Hopefully, he is right and the succession plan is already in place.

I completely agree. This is a make or break year with Fitz. If he has 30+ TD's and a 2:1 TD/INT ratio, then I can see Nix & Gailey give him strong consideration as the franchise QB.

http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2010/10/12/1746725/wawrow-speculates-on-possible-bills-succession-plan Ralph stated last October that it will take the Bills three years to turn around, and he doesn't expect to be around for it, leading many people to think (including John Wawrow) that Ralph is/has put a succession plan in place. After October, not much else was mentioned about it. Has anyone else heard more info on that? The only one I can think that Ralph would give the team to, would be his niece.

I agree. With a better defense, they should be able to get off the field more and give the offense more opportunities.

http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2011/5/11/2166068/can-the-bills-start-winning-close-games-instead-of-losing-them "In weeks 3-16 with Fitz as the starter, the offense averaged 335 YPG, 116 rushing YPG, 219.6 passing YPG and 19.9 points per game. In the three games that Fitz did not play in last season, the offense averaged 171 YPG, 70 rushing YPG, 101 passing YPG and 8 points per game. Also, Fitz had two games in which he passed for over 300 yards (382 & 308), something that wasn’t done in a Bills uniform in years." I knew there was a difference in the offense from when Fitz was in and when he wasn't, but I didn't realize what a sizeable difference it was. With the offensive stats w/Fitz, the offense would have ranked 20th overall, 13th in rushing and 20th in passing. Definitely, much better stats with Fitz (and Gailey running the offense) compared to Losman, Edwards & Jauron. If the Bills can stop the run and get off the field more often, then the Bills could win a lot of those close games.

Here's the results from the 2010 regular season: http://www.nfl.com/teams/schedule?team=BUF&season=2010&seasonType=REG Regular Season 1 Sep 12 MIA 15 @ BUF 10 2 Sep 19 BUF 7 @ GB 34 3 Sep 26 BUF 30 @ NE 38 4 Oct 03 NYJ 38 @ BUF 14 5 Oct 10 JAC 36 @ BUF 26 7 Oct 24 BUF 34 @ BAL 37 9 Nov 07 CHI 22 @ BUF 19 10 Nov 14 DET 12 @ BUF 14 11 Nov 21 BUF 49 @ CIN 31 12 Nov 28 PIT 19 @ BUF 16 13 Dec 05 BUF 14 @ MIN 38 14 Dec 12 CLE 6 @ BUF 13 15 Dec 19 BUF 17 @ MIA 14 16 Dec 26 NE 34 @ BUF 3 17 Jan 02 BUF 7 @ NYJ 38 Out of the 12 losses, there are five games in which the Bills could have won if they had a better defense and better players all around: 1 Sep 12 MIA 15 @ BUF 10 3 Sep 26 BUF 30 @ NE 38 7 Oct 24 BUF 34 @ BAL 37 9 Nov 07 CHI 22 @ BUF 19 12 Nov 28 PIT 19 @ BUF 16 With a better defense to give Fitz & the offense more time on the field and the D being able to stop more opponents, IMO I can see the Bills starting to win close games like the five I mentioned.

I agree. IMO, I think Nix feels like they had a solid draft and things are finally coming together for the defense he wants the Bills to run. Nix was around when the Bills had the best defense in the league in the late 90's, so I'm sure he wants Buffalo to get back to that stature.

No problem. Good question on the partial season.

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/sports/nfllabor Found this on the Direct TV website. "You won't pay until they play. We at DIRECTV love football. That's why for over 15 years, DIRECTV has been the exclusive home for NFL SUNDAY TICKET™, the only way to watch your favorite teams no matter where you live. And DIRECTV will continue to be the exclusive home for NFL SUNDAY TICKET™. Like all football fans, we are hoping for a positive resolution to the current NFL labor negotiations. And when the NFL is ready to play, we will be ready to bring you every game every Sunday. If the NFL negotiations result in a shortened or canceled season, rest assured that DIRECTV has you covered. Your subscription to NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ is risk-free: You will not pay for any game that the NFL does not play.*"

I'm not sure if anyone has an answer for this, but Direct Tv usually starts charging for the NFL Sunday Ticket in June. If there is no new agreement set in place, will they start charging us Direct TV customers anyways? Or even further, if there is an abbreviated season, will they charge a lower rate for less games?

Some people just think it's just as simple to air it out to Evans everytime. Evans does not have the physical capability to outmuscle DB's and can't shake the double teams. Evans cannot stay a one-dimensional player (a deep threat) if he wants to be successful. Everyone was so use to seeing Losman air it out to Evans, in which people got accustomed to. But Losman only had a good deep ball, his short to intermediate game sucked. So if Evans does not improve on his underneath routes and his route running in general, then he will be off the team soon.

Ask, and you shall receive: http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2011/3/23/2067266/lee-evans-chan-gailey-buffalo-bills Since Losman was let go and coincedently, after Evans signed his big contract extension, his numbers went down dramatically. Granted in 2009, there was a lot of turmoil on the team, so that can be excusable. But last year, all the young WR's outshined Evans. They busted their butts off and looked better than Evans did. So, if Evans can't improve on his underneath routes and become more productive, then he'll either be traded or cut the following year.

http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2011/5/9/2162356/what-can-we-expect-from-the-bills-2011-draft-class "Out of nine draft picks, only two actually started games (22%); six played in games (67%), two landed on IR (22%), and one player did not make the team (11%). Those nine players combined to play in 60 games out of a total combined 144 (42%). Injury affected playing time of three during the season (33%) Spiller, Carrington and Wang. By looking at those stats, it shows that the Bills 2010 draft class did not have much of an impact. (These stats do not include UDFAs)" By looking at those stats, without the stats from the UDFA, it looks like the 2010 draft class didn't have any impact whatsoever. It looks like the UDFA's had the most impact. "David Nelson: 15GP, 3 GS, 31 rec, 353 yds, 11.4 YPA and 3TDs. Antonio Coleman: 8GP, 12T (7T, 5A) Donald Jones: 15GP, 5GS, 18rec, 213 yds, 11.8 YPA and 1 TD. Naaman Roosevelt: 6GP, 1 GS, 9 rec, 139 yds, 15.4 YPA, 0TD. "With those four UDFAs, heres what the stats would like: Players that started in games: Five (38%); Players that played in games: Nine (69%); Games played 104 out of 208 (50%)." "Does this mean that the 2011 draft class will experience the same numbers as the 2010 draft class? No, every year is different. But this year presents a different problem. With the NFL and the former NFLPA battling it out for a new CBA and with the current lock out going on, this affects all non-playoff teams that rely on the draft picks to make an impact. With the rookies not being able to attend any rookie camps, OTAs, mini-camp and training camp, this severely hampers the development of all Bills rookies." This could be a very big problem for the Bills if the NFL & the players don't get their act together and get a new agreement worked out.

Good post. But I think Parrish stays, just as long as he remains healthy. Parrish had his best season under Gailey last year and was more productive than Evans (until he got hurt). I agree about Evans. Evans gets this season (if there is one) to show Gailey & Co that he can improve on his route running (which Gailey publicly criticized him for) and to show that he can be more productive. If not, Evans will either be traded or cut loose. For those that disagree with this, look at the rookie WR's last year, they busted their butts off and had more of an impact on the team than Evans did. Evans has been in the league for 8 years now, he should know how to run routes, there's no excuse you can use for Evans' poor route running.