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A Hi-Tech Solution To Our Talent Problem (Especially At QB)


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I don't know about you, but I am sick to death of watching the Bills get clobbered. Our front office pays lip service to using modern sports management practices, but that's the problem, it's just lip service. I have no confidence in the analytics department when our talent evaluators give us CBs like Heath and Rogers - - even if they get cut.

 

The 2011 CBA now requires all teams to pay a minimum team salary over a 4 year period, so even IF the owner's profit motive put us at a disadvantage in the past, that handicap is gone. [Note that I said IF - - I don't want to get sucked into an argument about whether Ralph is cheap because that's in the past - - this post looks to our future]

 

This year, we have new blood in the front office. Dinosoars like Nix and Gailey (and to a certain extent Ralph) have been replaced by Whaley, Marrone and the Brandon brothers. Six months ago we had a GM who couldn't even keep a simple conference call private, but we now have guys who know about stuff like AOL and Blackberry. Heck, our new offensive coordinator, Hackett, even has a degree in neurobiology.

 

Take heart, fellow Bills fans - - with new blood in the front office, we will eventually improve through the draft. But that takes time, and after missing the playoffs for 13 years, I'm inpatient. So let's take advantage of our newly found technical proficiency to maximize the production of our current talent. Let the Patriots be the dinosoars for a change.

 

You're probably thinking - - well that sounds good, Mr. Smarty Pants, but just how exactly are we supposed to do that? Here's just one example - - check out this article about brain research that Beerball recently posted in a different forum (no offense to Beerball, but he just didn't see the football implications of this new science):

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/experiment-lets-man-use-his-mind-to-control-another-persons-movements/2013/08/29/42bc646c-10bd-11e3-85b6-d27422650fd5_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop

 

In short, science can now use one man's brain to control another man's movements. Near the end of the article, it says that with the new gizmo, one guy's brain caused a different guy's body to hit targets he aimed at. Think about that for a minute.

 

No, I mean it, actually THINK about that.

 

We could take a quarterback like Leinart, that nobody else wants and won't cost us much, and control his movements with another QB's brain. The implications of that are astounding. Here's what the new gizmo requires:

 

“It’s also a completely voluntary process, so there’s no specter of mind control in secret,” Rao added. “You can’t read somebody’s mind or move somebody’s body without them knowing about it — they both have to have devices on or against their heads.”

 

Geez, if only the NFL was so concerned about head injuries that we could convince them to let us use an experimental "green dot" communications helmet of our own design. :flirt:

 

The NFL watchdogs might get suspicious if we turned a journeyman like Kolb or washout like Leinart into a star, but nobody knows what to expect from Tuel or EJ. I like their own potential, but we need them to beat the Patriots in less than 10 days. Jim Kelly's body may be ravaged by age and blitzers, but can you imagine how good EJ (or even Tuel) could be if Jim Kelly's brain was controlling their throws?

 

It's a new world - - let's leverage our Hall of Fame QB's mind to take advantage of it and beat the ever livin' snot out of the Patriots for a change!

 

Who's with me?

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What?

Welcome to the new world, my friend. The article I linked is from the Washington friggin' Post. Among others, it quotes "Duke University neurobiologist Miguel Nicolelis." And if you missed the fact that Hackett already has a degree in neurobiology:

 

http://www.wgr550.com/Bills--Hackett--From-neurobiology-to-NFL-OC/15360055

 

I never want to sit back and say 'Ok, this is what I am, this is all I know.' I think it's so critical to study everything," Hackett remarked. "Just like getting your Ph.D. in anything you're going to do, you have to keep studying. I love technology. I'm a geek at heart. I have lots of computers . . .

 

Who better to push the NFL talent frontier?

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I don't know about you, but I am sick to death of watching the Bills get clobbered. Our front office pays lip service to using modern sports management practices, but that's the problem, it's just lip service. I have no confidence in the analytics department when our talent evaluators give us CBs like Heath and Rogers - - even if they get cut.

 

The 2011 CBA now requires all teams to pay a minimum team salary over a 4 year period, so even IF the owner's profit motive put us at a disadvantage in the past, that handicap is gone. [Note that I said IF - - I don't want to get sucked into an argument about whether Ralph is cheap because that's in the past - - this post looks to our future]

 

This year, we have new blood in the front office. Dinosoars like Nix and Gailey (and to a certain extent Ralph) have been replaced by Whaley, Marrone and the Brandon brothers. Six months ago we had a GM who couldn't even keep a simple conference call private, but we now have guys who know about stuff like AOL and Blackberry. Heck, our new offensive coordinator, Hackett, even has a degree in neurobiology.

 

Take heart, fellow Bills fans - - with new blood in the front office, we will eventually improve through the draft. But that takes time, and after missing the playoffs for 13 years, I'm inpatient. So let's take advantage of our newly found technical proficiency to maximize the production of our current talent. Let the Patriots be the dinosoars for a change.

 

You're probably thinking - - well that sounds good, Mr. Smarty Pants, but just how exactly are we supposed to do that? Here's just one example - - check out this article about brain research that Beerball recently posted in a different forum (no offense to Beerball, but he just didn't see the football implications of this new science):

 

http://www.washingto...pm_national_pop

 

In short, science can now use one man's brain to control another man's movements. Near the end of the article, it says that with the new gizmo, one guy's brain caused a different guy's body to hit targets he aimed at. Think about that for a minute.

 

No, I mean it, actually THINK about that.

 

We could take a quarterback like Leinart, that nobody else wants and won't cost us much, and control his movements with another QB's brain. The implications of that are astounding. Here's what the new gizmo requires:

 

 

 

Geez, if only the NFL was so concerned about head injuries that we could convince them to let us use an experimental "green dot" communications helmet of our own design. :flirt:

 

The NFL watchdogs might get suspicious if we turned a journeyman like Kolb or washout like Leinart into a star, but nobody knows what to expect from Tuel or EJ. I like their own potential, but we need them to beat the Patriots in less than 10 days. Jim Kelly's body may be ravaged by age and blitzers, but can you imagine how good EJ (or even Tuel) could be if Jim Kelly's brain was controlling their throws?

 

It's a new world - - let's leverage our Hall of Fame QB's mind to take advantage of it and beat the ever livin' snot out of the Patriots for a change!

 

Who's with me?

 

Holy ****! What did I just read???

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Welcome to the new world, my friend. The article I linked is from the Washington friggin' Post. Among others, it quotes "Duke University neurobiologist Miguel Nicolelis." And if you missed the fact that Hackett already has a degree in neurobiology:

 

http://www.wgr550.co...NFL-OC/15360055

 

 

 

Who better to push the NFL talent frontier?

 

I'm sending you a signal to stop typing...

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What you don't know is that I controlled OP''s movements and made him post this.

I don't care who gets the credit - - I just wanna beat the snot out of the Patriots for a change.

 

I'm sending you a signal to stop typing...

As the article clearly states (I even provided the relevant excerpt), it only works if both parties have the device "on or against their heads." Even if you are wearing one, I'm not, so your signal was ineffective. So you might as well take it off.
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In short, science can now use one man's brain to control another man's movements. Near the end of the article, it says that with the new gizmo, one guy's brain caused a different guy's body to hit targets he aimed at. Think about that for a minute.

 

 

 

like when Bran wargs into Hodor ?

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I don't know about you, but I am sick to death of watching the Bills get clobbered. Our front office pays lip service to using modern sports management practices, but that's the problem, it's just lip service. I have no confidence in the analytics department when our talent evaluators give us CBs like Heath and Rogers - - even if they get cut.

 

The 2011 CBA now requires all teams to pay a minimum team salary over a 4 year period, so even IF the owner's profit motive put us at a disadvantage in the past, that handicap is gone. [Note that I said IF - - I don't want to get sucked into an argument about whether Ralph is cheap because that's in the past - - this post looks to our future]

 

This year, we have new blood in the front office. Dinosoars like Nix and Gailey (and to a certain extent Ralph) have been replaced by Whaley, Marrone and the Brandon brothers. Six months ago we had a GM who couldn't even keep a simple conference call private, but we now have guys who know about stuff like AOL and Blackberry. Heck, our new offensive coordinator, Hackett, even has a degree in neurobiology.

 

Take heart, fellow Bills fans - - with new blood in the front office, we will eventually improve through the draft. But that takes time, and after missing the playoffs for 13 years, I'm inpatient. So let's take advantage of our newly found technical proficiency to maximize the production of our current talent. Let the Patriots be the dinosoars for a change.

 

You're probably thinking - - well that sounds good, Mr. Smarty Pants, but just how exactly are we supposed to do that? Here's just one example - - check out this article about brain research that Beerball recently posted in a different forum (no offense to Beerball, but he just didn't see the football implications of this new science):

 

http://www.washingto...pm_national_pop

 

In short, science can now use one man's brain to control another man's movements. Near the end of the article, it says that with the new gizmo, one guy's brain caused a different guy's body to hit targets he aimed at. Think about that for a minute.

 

No, I mean it, actually THINK about that.

 

We could take a quarterback like Leinart, that nobody else wants and won't cost us much, and control his movements with another QB's brain. The implications of that are astounding. Here's what the new gizmo requires:

 

 

 

Geez, if only the NFL was so concerned about head injuries that we could convince them to let us use an experimental "green dot" communications helmet of our own design. :flirt:

 

The NFL watchdogs might get suspicious if we turned a journeyman like Kolb or washout like Leinart into a star, but nobody knows what to expect from Tuel or EJ. I like their own potential, but we need them to beat the Patriots in less than 10 days. Jim Kelly's body may be ravaged by age and blitzers, but can you imagine how good EJ (or even Tuel) could be if Jim Kelly's brain was controlling their throws?

 

It's a new world - - let's leverage our Hall of Fame QB's mind to take advantage of it and beat the ever livin' snot out of the Patriots for a change!

 

Who's with me?

Not me. Wait what is your book about again?

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I don't care who gets the credit - - I just wanna beat the snot out of the Patriots for a change.

 

As the article clearly states (I even provided the relevant excerpt), it only works if both parties have the device "on or against their heads." Even if you are wearing one, I'm not, so your signal was ineffective. So you might as well take it off.

 

Touché :D

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This technology seems to be at a relatively early stage. Could it be used to allow an off-the-field quarterback to tell the on-field QB which targets to hit? Yes, absolutely. But could it allow the off-field QB to transfer his throwing accuracy to the guy on the field? Probably not. A perfect NFL throw is the product of footwork, movement of the hips, swiveling the shoulders, moving the arm, flicking the wrist, holding onto the ball the right way with fingers. The motor control required for all that is complex: far more complex than clicking a button on a mouse. Not only that, but some throws require you to throw the ball with exactly the right amount of force. Too much force or too little, and you'll overthrow or underthrow the intended receiver. A particular throw might represent 80% of the off-field QB's maximum throwing distance, but only 60% of the on-field QB's max. If the off-field QB sent brain signals consistent with throwing it at 80% of maximum distance, the result would be a massive overthrow.

 

A good off-field QB for this system would be someone like Fitz. He'd choose which target to throw to, and would choose it quickly. Fitz wouldn't send any information about how to throw the ball; leaving that part of things up to the on-field QB. If the on-field guy already knew how to throw the ball accurately, and just needed a little guidance about which targets to choose, this system could really work.

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This technology seems to be at a relatively early stage. Could it be used to allow an off-the-field quarterback to tell the on-field QB which targets to hit? Yes, absolutely. But could it allow the off-field QB to transfer his throwing accuracy to the guy on the field? Probably not. A perfect NFL throw is the product of footwork, movement of the hips, swiveling the shoulders, moving the arm, flicking the wrist, holding onto the ball the right way with fingers. The motor control required for all that is complex: far more complex than clicking a button on a mouse. Not only that, but some throws require you to throw the ball with exactly the right amount of force. Too much force or too little, and you'll overthrow or underthrow the intended receiver. A particular throw might represent 80% of the off-field QB's maximum throwing distance, but only 60% of the on-field QB's max. If the off-field QB sent brain signals consistent with throwing it at 80% of maximum distance, the result would be a massive overthrow.

 

A good off-field QB for this system would be someone like Fitz. He'd choose which target to throw to, and would choose it quickly. Fitz wouldn't send any information about how to throw the ball; leaving that part of things up to the on-field QB. If the on-field guy already knew how to throw the ball accurately, and just needed a little guidance about which targets to choose, this system could really work.

I think Leinart could actually be useful as the on-field QB. He threw 2 INTs yesterday, but in both cases, those throws would have been on the intended WR's frame and catchable if the defender had not intersected the ball's path. They were not wildly off-target throws - - just ill-advised ones. Both throws presumably went exactly where Leinart intended them to go, but he made a bad front-end decision when picking which target to throw to.

 

I think the bigger problem with Leinart is how suspicious the NFL watchdogs would get if he started wearing this new helmet and his performance skyrocketed. I like the idea of a Fitz/EJ or Fitz/Tuel combo, but unfortunately Fitz is on the Titans roster, right? So the off-field guy would need to be currently available. How about Joe Montana? His anticipation was excellent, and like Fitz, he used that mental ability to compensate for unexceptional arm strength. Who wouldn't want a return to the glory days without having to take the hits?

 

On the 60/80 percent arm strength thing, we could probably just put a resistor in the loop to attenuate the signal. It would just be a matter of linearly scaling the signal - - we're not talking about putting a man on the moon or some other form of rocket science.

Edited by ICanSleepWhenI'mDead
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