My thoughts on CJ

[cantankerous]

 

 

At some point he will rip off the occasional highlight reel run

 

 

 

Still waiting...

 

 

[BADOLBILZ]

CJ Spiller hasn't had a breakout rookie season for about a dozen different reasons, and only a few of them his fault.

 

1] Our run blocking blows. There are no holes on 90% of the running plays. Fred Jackson, who is an extremely patient runner, a veteran, and knows how to make the most out of every single run it seems, averages 4.1 a carry. CJ is 3.8. A difference but not a huge difference considering their experience. Marshawn Lynch averaged 4.4 before he was traded. Anyone want to make a case that he was a substantially better runner than Fred Jackson because he averaged .3 yards per carry more on this crappy running team?

 

2] Because our run blocking blows, CJ's greatest strength is nullified or at least tempered. If he could actually get a hole when he runs, he could explode. He rarely if ever gets one. Granted, it is his fault when there is no hole and he tries unsuccessfully to break it outside and then loses yardage instead of just accepting the 1 yard gain, but if he had any holes, he would be great.

 

3] He was never asked to pass block, he's not good at it yet, and out OL can't keep guys off our QBs without keeping the back in, so Fred Jackson has to play on third downs, therefore limiting Spiller's carries substantially. I think 9 touches is the most Spiller has had in any game so far (it was 8 up until last week). No one gets many if any yards with 8 touches a game.

 

4] Fred Jackson is VERY good. He does everything, and he's very reliable. On a young team, a player like him is invaluable, so it's not easy for Gailey to take him out and put Spiller in as much as he'd like to. This is especially true because we pass so much, because our line can't run block.

 

5] Spiller has yet to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. He's actually very good when there is ANY opening. His failures have been when there is NO opening, and he tries to make something out of nothing, thereby getting 3-5 yard losses instead of 0 yard gains.

 

6] His main fault, IMO, is simple inexperience. He gets tackled by one guy too much. By next year, IMO, he will be able to make the guy miss a little more, and then he will be off to the races. He should be a little better at it already than he is now, but I have no doubt he will learn the pro game soon enough, make that first guy (when he has an open field) miss, and then explode. The punt return last week is what we are going to see a little more of, an inch or two OB but otherwise an extraordinary run.

 

Apparently EVERYONE missed the nugget during the game last week about CJ.

 

According to the broadcasters, CJ claims that the play calling system is too complicated for him.

 

At Clemson, the coaches signalled the plays in from the sideline so that the entire offense got the call by looking to the sideline. Kinda' like Pop Warner football.

 

In the NFL, the QB receives the play call thru a fancy transmitter in his helmet and relays the play calls to the other guys.

 

That is proving difficult for CJ. They didn't elaborate but either Ryan Fitzpatrick is a very poor communicator(amish accent?) or CJ doesn't have enough time to remember the play or ask the player next to him what his job is supposed to be on that particular play.

 

I'm not making this up.

 

I COULDN'T make this up.

 

The Bills have had some of the finest minds in the NFL at RB recently.

 

Guys like Willis McGahee, Travis Henry, Marshawn Lynch........sure it was easy for them to handle such complexity but you can't expect to keep finding that kind of genius every time.

Edited December 25, 2010 by BADOLBILZ

[Mark Vader]

There is an expectation that every kid coming into the NFL has to be awesome from day one, like making the transition from college is supposed to be a no-brainer. Trust Chan on when his guys can play. Carrington didn't play right away either. Some guys take longer to adjust. The fact that Maybin barely sees the field, though, is a bad sign.PTR

Yes it is a bad sign Promo, especially when a DE/OLB from James Madison, who was drafted this year in the 6th round, is starting ahead of him.

 

Nevertheless I am not surprised. I told people we will not see anything from Maybin until his 3rd year with the Bills. I may have been optimistic with that statement.

[Booster4324]

Apparently EVERYONE missed the nugget during the game last week about CJ.

 

According to the broadcasters, CJ claims that the play calling system is too complicated for him.

 

At Clemson, the coaches signalled the plays in from the sideline so that the entire offense got the call by looking to the sideline. Kinda' like Pop Warner football.

 

In the NFL, the QB receives the play call thru a fancy transmitter in his helmet and relays the play calls to the other guys.

 

That is proving difficult for CJ. They didn't elaborate but either Ryan Fitzpatrick is a very poor communicator(amish accent?) or CJ doesn't have enough time to remember the play or ask the player next to him what his job is supposed to be on that particular play.

 

I'm not making this up.

 

I COULDN'T make this up.

 

The Bills have had some of the finest minds in the NFL at RB recently.

 

Guys like Willis McGahee, Travis Henry, Marshawn Lynch........sure it was easy for them to handle such complexity but you can't expect to keep finding that kind of genius every time.

 

Spiller's low Wonderlic score no cause for concern

[3rdand12]

I think Kelly the fair is closest to the truth. The kid just cannot see what Jackson sees. Our o line is not ready for CJ spiller style, and cj is slow adjusting to the nfl. I believe he cannot grasp it yet. It will be our coaches job to find away to make him work. Flats screens 4 man spreads. Surely the defenses are already keying on him, which is good for everyone else.

But lets give them some more time to work on this.

Sometimes i wish we kept Marshawn just to grind the ball and block, and i widh we never confused the backfield with the spiller draft. But hindsight is just that.

[Mr_Blizzard]

This kid is good. Even though he has struggled this year, we saw in preseason, and we even saw some nice runs during the season with him using that burst of speed. Its become clear the kid wasnt quite ready for the speed of the NFL, but im truly not surprised. Some rb's come into the league storming out, like Adrian Peterson, but some take a year or two to hit their stride- see OJ or even Mcfadden. If he continues to work hard, and listen to his coaches, he will be fine. One day this kid could be one of the best in the biz. Your thoughts? Go bills!

 

Coach him up, and give him a line he can run behind. Do we even have the personnel to run the "counter-trey" effectively??

 

[Thoner7]

Who would have thought that before his rookie year is over - there would be a thread dedicated to getting some kind of use out of our 9th overall pick. Use him in the slot, use him on screens.... just trying to manufacture ways for him to produce. Shouldn't a top 10 pick be able to produce on his own? I know our blocking isnt great but FJ seems to find holes just fine, and Spillers ability to read the blocks he does get has been terrible, worse than Lynch ever was.

 

Who would have known... O yea, ME! The Bills scouts blow donkey nuts and we need to listen to smart people not those idiots!

[Bob in STL]

No, most fans don't expect every rookie to tear in up their first year. But 9th overall picks playing the easiest position to transition into the NFL should deliver more than 351 yards from scrimmage in 12 games. He may well become an excellent back, but this season is almost a wash.

 

 

Transition to RB is easy? Not sure I ever heard an "expert" say that but I read this folklore on TSW all the time.

 

Running the ball is 1st one-third of the positon and that what most people think is easy and for some maybe it is? For Spiller and his style, runing the ball has not been so easy because he outruns his blocks. In college he was used to running past everyone and that is just not going to happen in the NFL. He has to learn patience to read blocks, and how to cut back and use the defenders pursuit against them.

 

Receiving is the 2nd one-third. Spiller is learning here as well. Like the great Thuramn Thomas, he is not a natural receiver coming out of college. He can learn this skill as well and has great promise as a reciever due to open field speed and moves.

 

Blocking is the 3rd one-third. Spiller really needs to work on this, especially his reads on blitz pick up. Watching Freddy Jackson's play by example would help. It will come with time if he choses to study and learn.

[Glory Bound]

Who would have thought that before his rookie year is over - there would be a thread dedicated to getting some kind of use out of our 9th overall pick. Use him in the slot, use him on screens.... just trying to manufacture ways for him to produce. Shouldn't a top 10 pick be able to produce on his own? I know our blocking isnt great but FJ seems to find holes just fine, and Spillers ability to read the blocks he does get has been terrible, worse than Lynch ever was.

 

Who would have known... O yea, ME! The Bills scouts blow donkey nuts and we need to listen to smart people not those idiots!

Not a bad post...'til your last sentence. Too much egg nog?

[ColdBlueNorth]

Spiller's low Wonderlic score no cause for concern

 

Run Forest Spiller.... run!!!

 

 

 

Couldn't resist

[DFITZ1]

What's dumb is picking a running back at #9 when we already had Fred and Marshawn. Ok, perhaps that's old news. What isn't old news is that either Fred or CJ will be under-utilized as long as their on the same roster. Why not make up for yet another strategoc draft blunder and get an impact player for CJ and let Fred do his thing!! We don't need a #9 pick backing up Fred--c'mon now!!!

 

Dr. E - best to quit right now. I posted the idea of trading CJ for a critical need position and I got flamed so much the air conditioner in my house kicked on just reading the responses.

 

What most posters don't infer is that any trade offer would have to be a good one (a #2 seems like a loss) and if the offer isn't good, you don't trade. What others also forget is sometimes you have to give up someone very good to get someone great. The trade that landed Cornelius Bennett in '87 is a great example. Bill Polian was questioned internally about that move and it was masterful. Also, many forget that OJ wanted to be traded in '76. Lou Saban wanted the trade to keep team unity and had a deal in mind with the Rams (for Lawrence McCutcheon plus draft choices, I think). Instead, RW made OJ a sweet deal to stay, but gave nothing to the rest of the team. The players became disgruntled and the coach quit. By 1977, we had reached a 2009 type low.

 

Whether picking and/or keeping CJ is the right move won't be known for another two years.

[BADOLBILZ]

Spiller's low Wonderlic score no cause for concern

 

Yeah, I love all the tangents this thread takes to explain CJ's struggles.

 

It couldn't be that he has an unusually difficult time processing information.

 

Again, this WAS DISCUSSED DURING THE CBS BROADCAST last week.

 

The man's measurable intelligence is far below average for an NFL RB. As you linked, he had THE LOWEST score. Not just a low score, the lowest.

 

Hopefully, it doesn't prevent him from becoming a star player, but right now it's affecting his development.

[Bill from NYC]

Yeah, I love all the tangents this thread takes to explain CJ's struggles.

 

It couldn't be that he has an unusually difficult time processing information.

 

Again, this WAS DISCUSSED DURING THE CBS BROADCAST last week.

 

The man's measurable intelligence is far below average for an NFL RB. As you linked, he had THE LOWEST score. Not just a low score, the lowest.

 

Hopefully, it doesn't prevent him from becoming a star player, but right now it's affecting his development.

 

Badol, I would tend to assume that intelligence would matter less at RB than at any other position. It would seem to be a place where a player relies a lot on instinct.

I think he has other problems as well. He seems to go down very easily as well as hesitate way too much. I never, ever could understand this selection in a football sense, and saw it as a marketing ploy. The thing is, he hasn't produced the break away runs to draw fan interest.

This pick didn't fit with the rest of the draft (which imo has a chance to be a very good one). The remaining picks were quite sensible imo. At least they set out to make the team bigger snd stronger on defense.

 

I suppose it isn't too late for Spiller. He still seems to have a great deal of fans who think that he is a very good player, or at least will be. I am not seeing it, but stranger things have happened.