BiggieScooby Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 This post is all about the deep pass and why the Bills can still be successful with "slow" receivers. The Bills offense by design is all about Fitz making quick decisions and getting the ball out. That's the reason he's been sacked only 3 times in the first 5 games. It takes a runner around 4-1/2 seconds to run 40 yards in spandex. Add a helmet and pads and the speeds surely go down. That said any sane play caller would not want his Quarterback consistently hanging on to the ball for 4 seconds or longer. In fact NBC ran a interesting analysis last night showing Aaron Rodgers releases the ball around .27 after the snap, and Peyton Manning & Tom Brady .30. Really the modern NFL is all about cuts and finding opens in the passing game and the QB hitting the open receiver. The ability to run routes and consistently catch the ball ranks higher than pure speed down the field. Receivers Steve Johnson 4.59 David Nelson 4.54 Naaman Roosevelt 4.60 Brad Smith 4.46 Kamir Aiken 4.45 Ruvell Martin 4.61 Running Back CJ Spiller 4.27 Fred Jackson - ? Tight ends Scott Chandler 4.78 Lee Smith 4.94 Injured/Traded Donald Jones 4.46 Marcus Easley 4.39 (2010 NFl combine) Lee Evans 4.39 (2004 NFL combine) Roscoe Parrish 4.37 (2005 NFl combine) NFL Hall of Fame WRs Jerry Rice 4.65 Michael Irvin 4.52 Deion Sanders 4.17 KR/PR/WR/CB RBs Emmitt Smith 4.55 Barry Sander 4.35 Notable WRs Don Beebe 4.21 Donte Stallworth 4.22 Laveraneous Coles 4.20 Ted Ginn Jr. 4.06 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsForever Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Great post bro! You are correct. The reason we are successful in the passing game is because of the Fitzy getting the ball out VERY quickly. This is because of Chans scheme and his assistants. It relies on precise route running, most notably "setting legal pics" and/or Fitz finding the mismatch. It's nice having a bunch of receivers where they don't demand catches. This offense relies on exploiting the best matchup and getting the ball to them. No forcing the ball to certain players a la Evans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo_Stampede Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 (edited) Quickness in and out of routes is better than speed, problem is our WR's lack both. Stevie is very physical and can get down field, but he isnt asked to do that often. Edited October 10, 2011 by TheTruthHurts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonramz Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 you are correct in your post... however, it is not just 40 time, it is quickness and suddenness in and out of breaks. We are not threatening at all at the WR position right now... when teams can play us man to man without problems, that is a very very bad thing. And that is exactly what the Bengals and Eagles did to us. The Jets are gonna do it too. Luckily we catch a break this week against a terrible Giants secondary which has just been destroyed by injuries as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggieScooby Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 The Bills haven't put up prolific passing stats the past 2 weeks for a reason the Eagles have the 7th ranked pass defense at 211.8 passing yards against per game, and the Bengals are #3 at 191.0 The Bills had their biggest games against New England #32, Raider #28, and the Chiefs #17. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of Leonidas Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 This is a great, well thought-out post, but Ted Ginn never ran a 4.06, I don't care what website claims he did. That would make him by FAR the fastest football player of all time. I've never heard of anyone beating Deion's time at the Combine 25+ years ago. Also, Donte' Stallworth allegedly ran a 4.18 at his pro day, but we all know how the pro day times are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Speed is nice but it is not the most important issue about becoming a deep threat. If you have speed and never get downfield, never get open and never beat teams on a deep pass for chunks of yardage and scores, you are worthless. A lot of great deep receivers do not have great 40 times (which isnt really the best indication of deep speed anyway). Stevie Johnson can get deep and make teams pay. I really don't care what a players 40 time is. If he can make teams pay from catches down the field, or take two players from the other team out of the play because he has made deep catches before, he is valuable. Until he has beat teams deep and hurt them, more than a couple times, he is not a deep threat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggieScooby Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 This is a great, well thought-out post, but Ted Ginn never ran a 4.06, I don't care what website claims he did. That would make him by FAR the fastest football player of all time. I've never heard of anyone beating Deion's time at the Combine 25+ years ago. Also, Donte' Stallworth allegedly ran a 4.18 at his pro day, but we all know how the pro day times are. Ted Ginn was 1/100th of a second slower than Deion's 40. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ycn-9163571 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt in KC Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 That piece on Sunday Night Football did not show Rogers or Brady or any of them throwing the ball .27 or .3 seconds after the snap! The measurement was from the start of the throwing motion to the release of the ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonramz Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Or is Cincy's pass defense doing well b/c other than Buffalo they went against: Colt McCoy Kyle Orton (with no Brandon Lloyd) Alex Smith Blaine Gabbert Not exactly a murderous row of QB's. Last year Cincy had an excellent defensive secondary, now w/ the exception of Leon Hall, it really isn't that good. Nate Clements?!?! he's their #2 corner It is the same reason guys can be less athletic guys can be successful in college and then bomb out in the pros. There is a minimum level of athleticism that is needed to be successful at the higher levels. It is why Stevie lasted until the 7th round. He has proven them wrong. The same thing w/ Anquan Boldin, he dropped b/c of fears that he wasn't athletic enough. I agreed for the most part with your post, but I just ask that you look at the film and notice that teams are not afraid to play lots of man to man against the Bills and then use a robber in the middle of the field. This is why David Nelson has been a non factor the past couple games. With a lack of threats on the outside teams can concentrate on taking away the short middle. Also look at New England... Wes Welker is an unstoppable WR, yet the Jets were able to put Revis on him b/c they did not fear the deep ball (Peter King has a good article about this in his MMQB) It is a good discussion, but you still do need those outside threats... it's why the Bills tried to throw deep against the Bengals, they had 1 on 1 on the outside, but we were unable to take advantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggieScooby Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 Or is Cincy's pass defense doing well b/c other than Buffalo they went against: Colt McCoy Kyle Orton (with no Brandon Lloyd) Alex Smith Blaine Gabbert Not exactly a murderous row of QB's. Last year Cincy had an excellent defensive secondary, now w/ the exception of Leon Hall, it really isn't that good. Nate Clements?!?! he's their #2 corner It is the same reason guys can be less athletic guys can be successful in college and then bomb out in the pros. There is a minimum level of athleticism that is needed to be successful at the higher levels. It is why Stevie lasted until the 7th round. He has proven them wrong. The same thing w/ Anquan Boldin, he dropped b/c of fears that he wasn't athletic enough. I agreed for the most part with your post, but I just ask that you look at the film and notice that teams are not afraid to play lots of man to man against the Bills and then use a robber in the middle of the field. This is why David Nelson has been a non factor the past couple games. With a lack of threats on the outside teams can concentrate on taking away the short middle. Also look at New England... Wes Welker is an unstoppable WR, yet the Jets were able to put Revis on him b/c they did not fear the deep ball (Peter King has a good article about this in his MMQB) It is a good discussion, but you still do need those outside threats... it's why the Bills tried to throw deep against the Bengals, they had 1 on 1 on the outside, but we were unable to take advantage. Okay just so I spell out my position we will be alright despite what many believe to be an apparent lack of WR speed. The reason we haven't put up tons of passing yards the past 2 weeks was because of the quality of our opponents pass rush and secondary. Jerry Rice ran a slower 40 than all of our receivers yet he consistently burned people deep and took short passes the distance. I also wouldn't mind seeing a couple of back shoulder throw's to David Nelson in single coverage down the numbers - do you think some 5'10'' corner wins that battle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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