Donald Jones

[Kelly the Dog]

Surely one of the unsung heroes of the Bills start has been Jones. The knockdown in the endzone against the Raiders was a game saver. Lost somewhat were two very clutch short pass receptions for essential first downs in that win.

 

Sunday, the late bomb was a gorgeous catch on a gorgeous pass on a beautiful call, and another game changer. The kid is gaining some confidence, and we already know that Fitz and Gailey have full confidence in him by their comments and their actions.

 

His blocking has been very good.

 

He needs a ton of work on his game though as a WR, and when he starts to get it, he could be a good one. He has a lot of trouble picking up the ball in the air, IMO, and timing his jumps. Several times already this year a pass that at first seemed high by Fitz would have hit him in the stride had he just kept running and not stopped and jumped.

 

Even the long ball but pass that felt short and incomplete earlier against the Pats, a good WR will jump up and get.

 

On the first bomb down the sidelines that he caught for a 30-40 yarder, there is no reason to not score on that play. His own momentum sent him out of bounds by not positioning his body right after he caught it, it wasn't a bad pass.

 

He also dropped the first pass that became the INT, and a couple others. To his credit, he didn't let it get him down and he's only going to get better. If he starts to be a deep threat, watch out. IMO, Jones needs to pick the ball up in flight a lot better than he is now, but that is not a physical or mental deficiency, it can be learned through experience. He's starting to look like a player, and he brings different skills than Stevie and DNelson who are much more polished right now than D Jones.

 

The kid has talent, and can make plays. He's already fairly integral. We can live with Stevie's dropsies because he's so friggin' good. Hopefully, Jones' ascension is similar to SJ's (although I do not at all expect him to become one of the better WRs in the league, which Johnson is slowly approaching. All he does is score TDs, which cannot be under-estimated.

[TheMadCap]

I will say that I have been fairly (or unfairly, ha!) critical of Jones so far. The guy drops some easy passes, but then pulls off the fantastic catches! Once he learns to pull his total game together for a full 60 minutes, he's going to be big trouble opposite S.J.

 

Lee who????

[Magox]

It's a matter of confidence and experience.

[Chandler#81]

I see the same things, Kelly. Scares me a little, but huge upside. One thing we have seen so far, the mis-jumps/poor positioning and dropsies disappear in Crunchtime.

 

So we've got that going for us..

[GG]

I will say that I have been fairly (or unfairly, ha!) critical of Jones so far. The guy drops some easy passes, but then pulls off the fantastic catches! Once he learns to pull his total game together for a full 60 minutes, he's going to be big trouble opposite S.J.

 

Lee who????

 

Don Beebe redux?

[Webster Guy]

I noticed in the post game interview the guy is really jacked. Looks like a strong safety body.

 

Fitz loves him, so that's enough for me but I also thought he lacked speed in that end around run where got caught from behind by a DE. I love the call by Chan and I know Jones has good speed but maybe leave that one to Spiller or even Namaan next time.....

 

On a side note, my personal pet peeve is these WR numbers all being in the teens. David Nelson is the only WR with a number in the 80's it seems. I'm not normally a traditionalist but the teen numbers are for the attention guys like Keyshawn. Gimme back my 80's receivers ! We still have 87 and 89 open, and somehow we gave #83 to a practice squad TE.

 

Maybe they gave the numbering assignment to Ralph and he's still working on it.

[bladiebla]

Scares me a little, but huge upside.

 

Says it all!

[John from Riverside]

Personally I love these wide receivers....and I love how Fitz spreads the ball around.

 

Stevie is going to get more balls thrown his way and rightfully so.....but Fitz makes sure that he does not lock onto one guy which helps in TWO WAYS

 

- First.....it makes sure that a defense doesnt start to key in and shadow one playmaker when he is getting just about everything thrown his way and

 

- Second....it keeps everybody playing hard and running their routes hard because they MIGHT be the one to get the ball on that particular play......when players dont think they are going to get the ball they loaf a bit and defenses can key off that as well

[reddogblitz]

The guy drops some easy passes, but then pulls off the fantastic catches!

Funny, I was going to say the exact opposite. When the ball is there, he catches most of those. Like the one he didn't catch that turned into Fitz' first pick. But when he has to jump or out jockey a DB or something and fight for the ball, he always come up empty. If he's going to be a top notch NFL receiver, he's got to start making some of those tough grabs. Especially if he's going to play with Fitz who likes to throw it up there and let the receiver make a play on the ball.

 

But he has made several HUGE plays this year too. So, we'll see.

[The Big Cat]

I noticed in the post game interview the guy is really jacked. Looks like a strong safety body.

 

Fitz loves him, so that's enough for me but I also thought he lacked speed in that end around run where got caught from behind by a DE. I love the call by Chan and I know Jones has good speed but maybe leave that one to Spiller or even Namaan next time.....

 

On a side note, my personal pet peeve is these WR numbers all being in the teens. David Nelson is the only WR with a number in the 80's it seems. I'm not normally a traditionalist but the teen numbers are for the attention guys like Keyshawn. Gimme back my 80's receivers ! We still have 87 and 89 open, and somehow we gave #83 to a practice squad TE.

 

Maybe they gave the numbering assignment to Ralph and he's still working on it.

 

I'm going to say--without looking it up--that D.Jones had the most bench reps of receivers at the 2010 combine. Someone want to fact check that? I'm pretty certain though.

 

I agree with everything that's been said about this guy in this thread. Love him at times. At other times he scares the **** out of me.

[John Adams]

Funny how no one even blinks at Evans's departure. Lee who?

[Magox]

Funny how no one even blinks at Evans's departure. Lee who?

You clearly underestimate Lee's abilities to draw quadruple coverage....

[Kelly the Dog]

Funny how no one even blinks at Evans's departure. Lee who?

Well, Lee Evans definitely scores on the first bomb and probably catches the ball in stride and scores on the second bomb. Jones had 5-101. Those same plays and patterns, Evans probably has 7-150 yards and two TDs (and probably less drops, maybe only one Fitz INT).

 

But I really don't at all want this thread to turn into a Lee Evans thread. Most people didn't love Lee Evans just because he was Lee Evans. They wanted a deep threat to spread the field. If Jones can go deep and make people pay, like he did twice on Sunday, we have no need for Evans at all (or if Easley could have done it).

 

Right now, the offense is beautiful though, and we do not miss Lee Evans. I don't see how adding a deep threat and having Evans in there instead of Roosevelt would lessen the offense. It would strengthen it.

 

I promise this is my last post in this thread about Lee Evans. Feel free to respond if you must. I intentionally didn't want to bring him up only because all the arguments have already been hashed and rehashed to death.

 

Personally, we are great now and I think would be better with him, especially because of the injuries. But I'm loving this offense right now.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Kelly the Fair and Balanced Dog

[Coach Tuesday]

The second bomb was a thing of beauty. He fought his way off of the line (something he excels at - and Evans does not), got position behind the defender, and made a clutch, diving, and very difficult catch. It might have been the most impressive and important individual play of the entire game.

 

EDIT: also, if I recall correctly, the Bills had both Easley and Jones ranked in their top 3 run blocking WRs in last year's draft class.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Coach Tuesday

[Billsrhody]

I'm going to say--without looking it up--that D.Jones had the most bench reps of receivers at the 2010 combine. Someone want to fact check that? I'm pretty certain though.

 

I agree with everything that's been said about this guy in this thread. Love him at times. At other times he scares the **** out of me.

 

Link

 

Jones had 20 Reps on the bench.

 

That was tied for tops in WRs with Arrelious Benn and Scott Long (who??).

Edited September 27, 2011 by Billsrhody

[TPS]

In a pre-season thread on "surprise or step up players" this year, I picked Jones solely on the comments from Fitz and Gailey. In last week's prediction thread, he was the player I said needed to step up, as he was going to draw most of the one-on-ones. He was bad, then good.

 

I think your assessment is right on. I think we also have to recognize that he is a second-year player, and most WRs usually take 2-3 years to really learn and develop in the pro game.

[Alaska Darin]

He also dropped the first pass that became the INT

Bad throw. That throw can't be high - it has to be numbers or lower. Should receivers catch balls they touch? Most of them - but if a QB throws high to a tightly covered receiver, the result we got is just as likely as a catch. It plays into the DBs strengths.

 

My concern with him is he doesn't catch the ball with his hands every time, especially when he's tightly covered. He makes little hops to get his body in front of the ball, especially when he's facing the QB. That all but ensures he's not going to get any YAC and increases the likelihood of having a tip drill.

 

Those are coachable things, as long as he's confident in his hands.

[reddogblitz]

Bad throw. That throw can't be high - it has to be numbers or lower.

Come on. This is the bigs. If the ball hits you in the hands, you gotta catch it. My favorite quote about this is from Pete Gent who was a tough as nails Tight End for the Cowboys in the 60s and went on to write "North Dallas 40" and "Texas Celebrity Turkey Trot". He said "if you can touch it, you should be able to catch it." That's my standard.

[Buftex]

Jones certainly has been erratic catching the ball, but I think, maybe, his most value to the Bills, is that he is a really fine blocker...when the Bills bunch up receivers to one side or another, if Jones isn't busting free, uncovered, he is making it possible for someone else to.

[Jeffery Lester]

Pure and simple without Donald Jones we do not win that Ball Game. He was the MAN in the second half. He absoleutly came through for us when it counted the most. He seems to be having a habit of that. To me this counts 10 fold over some of his early game drops. Which also seem to be the normal.