eball Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 From the interview, this is what Whaley had to say: It's not like Whaley has no idea or intention to address the issue. Just relax and let it play out. I like the subtle (intentional or otherwise) dig at Marrone, too..."you could use obviously offensive line interior..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billykaykay Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 But he did say it -- although not in that manner. He was specifically asked "what if they don't improve" and he answered it honestly. He essentially said, "we have to be prepared for that, which is why we're always looking for a replacement." I'm a huge Whaley fan -- the man has a plan and he's sticking to it. Can't think of a better person to be running the Draft than Whaley. He has a lot more hits than misses. A QB usually masks the misses for GMs throughout the league. The Steelers are a good team to emulate for long term success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Hammersticks Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Can't think of a better person to be running the Draft than Whaley. He has a lot more hits than misses. A QB usually masks the misses for GMs throughout the league. The Steelers are a good team to emulate for long term success. Sooooo....you're saying we should draft Sean Mannion and hire Don Beebe as his speed coach? Rexy and Roman could turn him into Big Ben. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) I like the subtle (intentional or otherwise) dig at Marrone, too..."you could use obviously offensive line interior..." - Marrone was working with a cast of players on the OL that was clearly either incapable or not ready to play. Richardson was so atrocious that most analytics indicated that he was the worst starting guard in the league. His failures had nothing to do with coaching. He simply was a developmental type player who should not have have been on the field. Kujo was so overwhelmed and over-matched that on a serious team with high aspirations he would have been cut. Henderson was a physical talent who was too raw to start or get a lot of playing time. He struggled all season long. I'm not suggesting that these three rookie players won't develop. What I am saying is that these players were simply not ready to play. Pears and Urbik are both immobile players who are on the downside of their lackluster careers. Neither of these players should be starters at this stage of their careers, or for that matter any stage of their careers. My point is simply that our OL collectively was arguably the worst OL in the league. It had little to dowith the caliber of coaching. If there is a marked improvement on our OL, especially the interior, it will be mostly due to a change in personnel and not from an upgrade in coaching. The complaints that Marrone had with the players Whaley provided him on the OL and at qb were very warranted. The failure of the offense was mostly related to a lack of talent than it was to coaching. You can't have elite players at every position. But when you have so many grossly incapable players on a unit the lack of production will be very evident. Edited January 23, 2015 by JohnC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanC883 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Again, I wouldn't read this much into his comments. At this stage in the game he gave the appropriate, responsible answer to the question he was asked. He said that if Cyrus (and others) improved and was worthy of seeing the field, then he would play. If not, they will find his replacement. I don't know how folks are drawing from his statement that they are perfectly comfortable with the o-line personnel, and are not going to do anything about it. Offseason panic mode is setting in. I'm sure they will bring in more OL talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsBytheBay Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 and from what we have heard its a smart, executable plan. he has a methodology and vision and its adaptable to changing circumstance without scrapping the whole system....in Rex's first presser he said something that stood out to me. Something like: if we keep drafting like we do, we'll be fine. A lot of people took it as a shot at the Jets, and it probably was. I'd like to think it was also a complement to Whaley and his staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomon Grundy Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Maybe the linemen Whaley brought in didn't fit Marrone's style/or his blocking scheme/philosophy. Maybe the round peg didn't fit in the square hole. Everybody knew Kouandijo didn't have the movement skills to play on the outside in the NFL, yet Marrone kept trying him at tackle and refused for the longest to consider moving him inside. It'll be nice to have someone evaluate the talent on the roster and put them in the best position to utilize their talents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 (edited) Maybe the linemen Whaley brought in didn't fit Marrone's style/or his blocking scheme/philosophy. Maybe the round peg didn't fit in the square hole. Everybody knew Kouandijo didn't have the movement skills to play on the outside in the NFL, yet Marrone kept trying him at tackle and refused for the longest to consider moving him inside. It'll be nice to have someone evaluate the talent on the roster and put them in the best position to utilize their talents. Whaley drafted Kujo in the second round with the intention that he would play at the right tackle position. In today's NFL movement skills are just as important at the guard and tackle positions. If you can't move you can't play. Pears is an illustration of that point. The problem wasn't that Marrone wasn't willing to play Kujo at the guard position, the problem was that Kujo wasn't capable of playing adequately enough at any position on the line. It'll be nice to have someone evaluate the talent on the roster and put them in the best position to utilize their talents. Marrone did properly evaluate Kujo last season. He made the judgment that he wasn't ready to be trusted anywhere in the lineup. That was a very easy call for him to make. Edited January 24, 2015 by JohnC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomon Grundy Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Whaley drafted Kujo in the second round with the intention that he would play at the right tackle position. In today's NFL movement skills are just as important at the guard and tackle positions. If you can't move you can't play. Pears is an illustration of that point.The problem wasn't that Marrone wasn't willing to play Kujo at the guard position, the problem was that Kujo wasn't capable of playing adequately enough at any position on the line. Marrone did properly evaluate Kujo last season. He made the judgment that he wasn't ready to be trusted anywhere in the lineup. That was a very easy call for him to make. Pears played a lot better at tackle than at guard. He couldn't recognize a line stunt for crying out loud. Aaron Williams was drafted to be a CB, but his coaches realized that his talents were much better suited at safety hence the switch. I'm just wondering why after mini/training camp it wasn't known that Kujo couldn't hack it(excuse the pun) at tackle and tried at a different position? Kujo was known as a "road grader" at Alabama Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Biscuit97 Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 So many people have hard ons to call players a bust after one year. Marrone is a joke. Let's see how he does with a real oline coach. Robinson, the #2 pick, barely played and was a G. It takes time sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 So many people have hard ons to call players a bust after one year. Marrone is a joke. Let's see how he does with a real oline coach. Robinson, the #2 pick, barely played and was a G. It takes time sometimes. I'm not declaring any young player a bust at this point. What I am saying is that Richardson, Kujo and Henderson weren't ready to play last year. Although Kujo was a second round pick he was simply not ready to play. Marrone did the right thing not to play him. It didn't take him too long to come to a similar conclusion with Richardson. Pears played a lot better at tackle than at guard. He couldn't recognize a line stunt for crying out loud. Aaron Williams was drafted to be a CB, but his coaches realized that his talents were much better suited at safety hence the switch. I'm just wondering why after mini/training camp it wasn't known that Kujo couldn't hack it(excuse the pun) at tackle and tried at a different position? Kujo was known as a "road grader" at Alabama It was known very quickly from the start that Kujo couldn't make it as a tackle or even as a guard. He simply was overwhelmed and dominated by the defensive linemen when he tried to block them in practice. Not playing him was the right thing to do for the team and for the unready player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob's House Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 How does the person responsible for drafting Cyrus Kouandjio (Doug Whaley) defend the selection? Why does everybody love Whaley as GM? I guess he says he was a highly rated prospect that they took a chance on that hasn't worked out but they still have hopes for? I'm not a "Whaley can do no wrong" type, but missing on a second rounder is not that big a deal. Trashing him for that is like trashing a QB because he threw an INT. It happens to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purple haze Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I guess he says he was a highly rated prospect that they took a chance on that hasn't worked out but they still have hopes for? I'm not a "Whaley can do no wrong" type, but missing on a second rounder is not that big a deal. Trashing him for that is like trashing a QB because he threw an INT. It happens to everyone. But we don't know that he missed on CK at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Yawn. It's not really surprising that Whaley is going to talk up a young player that he drafted less than a year ago, is it? The concerning thing will be if they decide to "rest on their laurels" with respect to the OL and don't bring in better competition. The unit was erratic and highly inconsistent. It may have been bad coaching, bad schemes, and perhaps even flawed judgment, but I don't want to see Whaley try to paper over glaring roster holes with warm sentiments ranging to hyperbole. A GM doesn't build a team by being satisfied with the work he did yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beef Jerky Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Pears played a lot better at tackle than at guard. He couldn't recognize a line stunt for crying out loud. Aaron Williams was drafted to be a CB, but his coaches realized that his talents were much better suited at safety hence the switch. I'm just wondering why after mini/training camp it wasn't known that Kujo couldn't hack it(excuse the pun) at tackle and tried at a different position? Kujo was known as a "road grader" at Alabama Only took forever for those idiots fk realize AW plays Safety... For crying out loud that was the whole reason I thought he was drafted was to play safety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Whaley drafted Kujo in the second round with the intention that he would play at the right tackle position. In today's NFL movement skills are just as important at the guard and tackle positions. If you can't move you can't play. Pears is an illustration of that point. The problem wasn't that Marrone wasn't willing to play Kujo at the guard position, the problem was that Kujo wasn't capable of playing adequately enough at any position on the line. Marrone did properly evaluate Kujo last season. He made the judgment that he wasn't ready to be trusted anywhere in the lineup. That was a very easy call for him to make. We dont know that Kujo didnt improve as the season went on....he was not give a chance to prove that..... and I dont trust Marrones ability to judge OL talent....he did in fact make Urbik ride the pine for the majority of the year even though he was our best OG (even if that is not saying much) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 We dont know that Kujo didnt improve as the season went on....he was not give a chance to prove that..... and I dont trust Marrones ability to judge OL talent....he did in fact make Urbik ride the pine for the majority of the year even though he was our best OG (even if that is not saying much) Joe Delamielleure, the Bills' HOF lineman, was asked on WGR about Kujo's prospects. At the time Kujo was not activated. He basically said that he wouldn't have selected Kujo because he had slow feet and was not athletic enough for him. He said when he evaluates prospects the most important attributes for him are mobility and athleticism. He felt the emphasis shouldn't be on a lineman's raw strength so much as it should be on one's ability to use leverage. He noted that wrestling was a good preparation for linemen because it taught you how to use leverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coseybedaman Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Its not a coincidence that every player on the line was just awful last season. I am sorry but I do not think you incorrectly evaluate 5 players on an offensive line (plus the backups). The coaching, quarterback, and offensive scheme was a HUGE part of the offensive line failure. By normal standards Eric Wood and Cordy Glenn did not even play that well. Those two guys have already proven to be very solid players in the NFL. The line will be absolutely just fine next year. That is truly the least of my worries. Predictable play calling, over conservative offense with no shots down field, and absolutely horrendous quarterback play will contribute to poor offensive line play EVERY SINGLE TIME! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Did they have Kujo read any pamphlets before they drafted him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 But we don't know that he missed on CK at this point. Yea it's more like a tipped pass right now- could be ugly but could be salvaged into a big play. All we can do is hold our breath and see where it comes down.... But even a pick isn't some catastrophic thing by itself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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