BillsfaninFl Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 When the Bills drafted Hardy, they failed to realize that in college he just ran down field and tried to outleap the defender. It worked well for his college years, but it was obvious that he had trouble getting separation and running crisp routes in the NFL. I wonder if the year off included some route running coaching by the Bills' staff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commish95 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 When the Bills drafted Hardy, they failed to realize that in college he just ran down field and tried to outleap the defender. It worked well for his college years, but it was obvious that he had trouble getting separation and running crisp routes in the NFL. I wonder if the year off included some route running coaching by the Bills' staff? Not sure about the so called route running flaw but He was open many times last year so getting off the Jam was not a problems.......Maybe Trent sucked last year too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobillsinytown Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 I don't think it was the route running so much as reading the defense and making adjustments to the route based on the coverage. That's why it generally takes longer for wideouts to make the transition to the NFL. Hardy never had to do that in college. As you said, he just ran whatever route the QB told him and went for the ball. Can't do that in the NFL. I hope he makes the transition, but it seems like he's had plenty of time. Let's hope he puts it together or it's another bust for the scouting department... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zazie Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 The guy has the ability but needs to be coached. Bad luck for him, he is on the Bills. But next year maybe things will change and with a new staff he can reach his athletic potential Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GripnRip Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 James Hardy will be the Byrdman of our offense....watch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurman#1 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Not sure about the so called route running flaw but He was open many times last year so getting off the Jam was not a problems.......Maybe Trent sucked last year too. Which guy was open? Hardy? Are you kidding? No he wasn't. He was open on one play, his first TD, when they didn't know enough about him to defend him. Since then, he didn't get open much at all. After that, whenever the camera was on him, whether the ball was to him or not, he wasn't open. And he several times ran entirely the wrong route, resulting in the QB throwing it twenty yards away from anyone. On the other hand, very few rookie WRs are capable of much at all. As the OP said, let's hope he learned, and that all the confabs with T.O. helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H2o Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 I think Hardy is one of the young players that will benefit the most from bringing in TO. He was saying in previous interviews how much he has learned from watching Owens in practice and talking to him whenever he's gotten the chance. I think we will all see a big improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ishouldbegm Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Not sure about the so called route running flaw but He was open many times last year so getting off the Jam was not a problems.......Maybe Trent sucked last year too. he is right, trent has no chemistry with wrs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brand J Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Not sure about the so called route running flaw but He was open many times last year so getting off the Jam was not a problems.......Maybe Trent sucked last year too. I've heard this SAME thing from those who attended games last year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincec Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 The guy has the ability but needs to be coached. Bad luck for him, he is on the Bills. But next year maybe things will change and with a new staff he can reach his athletic potential Exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GripnRip Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Trent makes his WR's look bad because he cannot anticipate and "throw them open", as they say. This is a crucial ability when throwing to a taller, more physical, but slower WR. Hes not going to be wide open with nobody around him, hes going to be covered and relying on the QB to give him the ball in the right spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrudginglyPessimistic Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 When the Bills drafted Hardy, they failed to realize that in college he just ran down field and tried to outleap the defender. It worked well for his college years, but it was obvious that he had trouble getting separation and running crisp routes in the NFL. I wonder if the year off included some route running coaching by the Bills' staff? Hardy has shown problems since he was a rookie with being able to get the separation which would simply make him a monster with the advantages a tall body gets him. However, these problems have been badly exacerbated by a primitive Bills offensive system and failings in key parts of it (a learning QB and a flawed OL primary among them) which have made this lack if separation a bigtime problem. Add to this the critical factor of bad injury history and you simply have a failed career to this point. The key question is what are the Bills to do: 1. We need to get an experienced hand in here to take control of the offense. AVP is a great guy and MIGHT turn out to be a great one one day. However, today is not that day yet, and the Bills need a better OC (more later). Without some solid guidance and supervision on O this unit and this player will be just adequate with flashes of brilliance at best. 2. Hardy needs to step up his game and prove first that he can simply stay on the field and be healthy. IF (and it is an essential IF which he has not conquered yet) he can do this, then we can worry about him getting better. Its gonna be tough for him this year as the overall O just ain't there yet, AND his simple raw number of touches are gonna be limited since at best he is the 5th WR on this team (Evans is #1, TO is #2, Reed is #3, Stevie Johnson in #4, and then Hardy is #5. Even the frantic bleatings of some that TO should be cut to give Hardy some practice are simply bleatings since as even the #4 WR Hardy is going to be a sideshow on this team (and if Parrish has half a career I would have advocated simply IRing Hardy. Due to his individual needs to make a showing and to improve I would judge wait until next year to give him a real shot at demanding a critical spot on this team. 3. The more on this late about getting an OC able to develop and implement a vision is that this is hard to do when you do not have an overarching vision for this team. To get an adequate OC before that you need and adequate HC. Before that you need an adequate GM. Before that you need an adequate owner. The Bills have none of these things. Its really hard to fire the owner in this pseudo capitalist society (where benefits acrue to the individual but problems are socialized such as with the Wall Street bailouts). Its also an impossibility here since when the owner is ultimately retired by the hand of the supreme being (or force of your choice) the chances of the Bills leaving are not a given (perhaps not even likely as change is hard to manufacture in our life) but is a real possibility when Mr. Ralph gets his ultimate promotion. The more reasonable (but still not likely given the incompetent ownership shown by Mr. Ralph the last decade) choice would be that we hire a new GM who may or may not require that he is also the HC (Shanahan, Holmgren, and Cowher are guys who have been there before who MIGHT be able to do this job). This new GM MIGHT be the HC himself, but my sense is more likely he would hire an HC to implement his vision. Hardy needs this context or any development on his part is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. With him as our 5th priority WR (and at best 4th priority with a galactic move with TO that ain't gonna happen and even if it does probably still is not adequate to see a lot of Hardy this year means wait until next year likely to see much of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bufcomments Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 James Hardy will be the Byrdman of our offense....watch! maybe he will have 3 catches a game like Lee Evans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoner7 Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 Has he learned to run without cement filled shoes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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