Cover 1: The Bills Are Changing Their Approach to the WR Position

[26CornerBlitz]

 

The Buffalo Bills’ wide receiver group has been maligned all season long. Lack of speed, separation, consistency, or reliability has marked the group in 2018. In fact, it wasn’t all too different a year ago. Brandon Beane came from the Carolina Panthers and brought the same approach they had there: towering, possession-type targets with a wide catch radius, and with the intention of facilitating the job of their big, strong-armed QB.

 

The Panthers invested a first round pick in the 6’5″ Kelvin Benjamin in 2014 and a second on the 6’4″ Devin Funchess a year later. Jerricho Cotchery (6’1″) and Brenton Bersin (6’3″) were on the roster, too, with only Ted Ginn Jr. (5’11”) and Corey “Philly” Brown (5’11”) offering great speed in the group in that span. The team found success, especially in the 2015 Super Bowl season, but the running game was always the strength of those Panthers offenses. The passing game was a bit predictable, with Benjamin being the number one target and Ginn responsible for stretching the field vertically.

 

After a historically bad start by the Bills’ offense, it looks like Beane and McDermott have stolen another page from the Panthers’ book. The head coach revealed a talk between himself and the GM about the need to insert speed into the offensive unit before the game versus the Jets.

 

Brandon and I talked a couple weeks ago and we thought we were lacking in the speed department on offense. That’s been an emphasis the last couple of weeks. You saw some of that against the Jets. That just opens things up a little bit, not only for the passing game, but at times, the running game. That’s not the only part of what we’re doing right now, but that’s some of what we’re trying to get on the field at this point. HC McDermott

 

They acted quickly, adding former Broncos wideout Isiah McKenzie to the mix and calling up Robert Foster from the practice squad. The impact was immediate. The running game started to work and the quarterback, Matt Barkley, found success, even having only been with the team for two weeks.

 

 

[bigK14094]

Yes

[Buffalo Bills Fan]

The NFL has been trending to speed WRS. If slow you're not going to do well in todays NFL for WR

[stinky finger]

alright - who let this dirty little secret out?

[26CornerBlitz]

4 minutes ago, Buffalo Bills Fan said:

The NFL has been trending to speed WRS. If slow you're not going to do well in todays NFL for WR

 

I don't know why this is a recent revelation to Beane and McDermott. 

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

I'm not staying we are even close to NFL WR's but I play flag football once a week and all the WR's wear those damn gloves. I very rarely see anyone drop catchable passes that hit WR's in the hands. When I see KB drop a pass that hits him in the hands it just makes me sick.

[GimmeSomeProcess]

Just now, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

I don't know why this is a recent revelation to Beane and McDermott. 

Ya not sure but probably cause of past success at other organizations. The good thing is they out willing to adapt and change their philosophy. That’s a great sign. Even McDermott singing a different in regards it’s though now winning games 9 to 7 

[Kirby Jackson]

This is revolutionary!!! Who’d have thought that you needed speed to win in the NFL? Surely the Rams and Chiefs don’t believe in that. I’m so glad that the Bills are ahead of the trend on this one.

[Steptide]

So, it took half the season for them to realize that the wide reciever core was bad? Have fans and media not been saying this since the draft

[26CornerBlitz]

1 minute ago, Steptide said:

So, it took half the season for them to realize that the wide reciever core was bad? Have fans and media not been saying this since the draft

 

It had to be a gut punch! 

 

5 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

This is revolutionary!!! Who’d have thought that you needed speed to win in the NFL? Surely the Rams and Chiefs don’t believe in that. I’m so glad that the Bills are ahead of the trend on this one.

 

Eureka!

[BillsFan1988]

5 minutes ago, Steptide said:

So, it took half the season for them to realize that the wide reciever core was bad? Have fans and media not been saying this since the draft

Took a season and a half. U cant make this stuff up. 1 1/2 yrs to figure out u need speed. Cmon man!

[KW95 - JA17]

I think they should suggest a 40 yard dash at combine to find fast receivers.

 

 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

24 minutes ago, GimmeSomeProcess said:

Ya not sure but probably cause of past success at other organizations. The good thing is they out willing to adapt and change their philosophy. That’s a great sign. Even McDermott singing a different in regards it’s though now winning games 9 to 7 

That’s the silver lining here, something else to be thankful for today?—McBeane are capable of chucking their ego at the door and making necessary changes as opposed to Wrecksy who insisted on doubling down and bringing his Santa ?? impersonator brother to add another flavor of incompetence to his swan song season 

[without a drought]

Kelvin Benjamin say this is fake news.

[BADOLBILZ]

 

Ya' know how people characterize incoming rookie QB's as more or less ready to play?

 

McDermott was a coach who was less ready to compete against the best coaches.

 

He and Beane killed a highly productive offense(best Bills offense since the second SB) by ridding it of the outside speed that helped create space for the running game.

 

Then it took them a year and a half to either realize or fess up to that error............and begin to put that dynamic back together.

 

Let's hope that the light has come on and stays on.

[Tenhigh]

1 hour ago, Kirby Jackson said:

This is revolutionary!!! Who’d have thought that you needed speed to win in the NFL? Surely the Rams and Chiefs don’t believe in that. I’m so glad that the Bills are ahead of the trend on this one.

 

[BuffaloBillies]

For people who are paid to think about this team 24/7/365... it's actually pretty disheartening that some sort of light bulb seemed to turn on in week ~11 that they might want to mix in some fast guys. This is third grade stuff.

[BillsVet]

You gotta trust the process...even when the process repeatedly changes.  How many iterations of the process have they been through after a season and a half?

[Chandler#81]

1 hour ago, Steptide said:

So, it took half the season for them to realize that the wide reciever core was bad? Have fans and media not been saying this since LAST YEAR PRESEASON?

 

Fixed it for you.

[BADOLBILZ]

23 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Yea but according to this message board all of that tearing down of the offense ABSOLUTELY NEEDED to happen because "cap hell", "process", and "Whaley mistakes".

 

 

Yes there was no legit reason to take a step back offensively.

 

Just wasn't necessary.

 

It wasn't just the WR position........the QB of the future that they've been waiting decades for fell into their lap on draft day 2017........and almost impossibly it wasn't even just ONE option.?

 

While we have vocal apologists for these moves right now.............if Allen doesn't turn into a stud QB and McBeane get fired..........we will UNIVERSALLY pan their handling of the offensive side of the ball.     Even John from Riverside via Hemet will hate them for it!

 

Fortunately they can still turn this program into a contender with some good moves and some bounces.......... but the past two seasons have been HARD on the eyes if you appreciate offensive football(which is to say if you appreciate CURRENT and "entertaining" NFL football).

[JinxedBill1]

Just look at the Chiefs 

[BADOLBILZ]

13 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

You gotta trust the process...even when the process repeatedly changes.  How many iterations of the process have they been through after a season and a half?

 

 

Trust the process = trusssssssst meeeeeeee wrapped in an unlicensed Bill Belichick/Nick Saban Snuggie.

 

Any market that has a flagging pro sports franchise is being told to trust the process and at least half of them hate the fact that their coach claps incessantly after both good and bad plays.

[MJS]

2 hours ago, Call_Of_Ktulu said:

I'm not staying we are even close to NFL WR's but I play flag football once a week and all the WR's wear those damn gloves. I very rarely see anyone drop catchable passes that hit WR's in the hands. When I see KB drop a pass that hits him in the hands it just makes me sick.

 

I agree with you. Those gloves make catching the ball very easy. Now add to that the fact that Benjamin probably has huge hands and I don't understand why he drops it so much.

[Kirby Jackson]

19 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

You gotta trust the process...even when the process repeatedly changes.  How many iterations of the process have they been through after a season and a half?

We shouldn’t have expected this to happen quickly. It’s pretty clear that these guys don’t value speed. 

 

 

[KW95 - JA17]

1 minute ago, MJS said:

 

I agree with you. Those gloves make catching the ball very easy. Now add to that the fact that Benjamin probably has huge hands and I don't understand why he drops it so much.

 

cuz defenders have huge hands as well, have more talent and bigger hearts!

[MJS]

2 minutes ago, KW95 said:

cuz defenders have huge hands as well, have more talent and bigger hearts!

 

No, they don't have huge hands. Defensive backs are usually smaller. You can attribute some of the drops to good defensive plays, but a lot of them seem to be just a lack of effort and focus.

[wppete]

I really hope Robert Foster pans out and becomes a weapon for this team in the years to come.

 

[Cripple Creek]

2 hours ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

The Buffalo Bills’ wide receiver group has been maligned all season long. Lack of speed, separation, consistency, or reliability has marked the group in 2018. In fact, it wasn’t all too different a year ago. Brandon Beane came from the Carolina Panthers and brought the same approach they had there: towering, possession-type targets with a wide catch radius, and with the intention of facilitating the job of their big, strong-armed QB.

 

The Panthers invested a first round pick in the 6’5″ Kelvin Benjamin in 2014 and a second on the 6’4″ Devin Funchess a year later. Jerricho Cotchery (6’1″) and Brenton Bersin (6’3″) were on the roster, too, with only Ted Ginn Jr. (5’11”) and Corey “Philly” Brown (5’11”) offering great speed in the group in that span. The team found success, especially in the 2015 Super Bowl season, but the running game was always the strength of those Panthers offenses. The passing game was a bit predictable, with Benjamin being the number one target and Ginn responsible for stretching the field vertically.

 

After a historically bad start by the Bills’ offense, it looks like Beane and McDermott have stolen another page from the Panthers’ book. The head coach revealed a talk between himself and the GM about the need to insert speed into the offensive unit before the game versus the Jets.

 

Brandon and I talked a couple weeks ago and we thought we were lacking in the speed department on offense. That’s been an emphasis the last couple of weeks. You saw some of that against the Jets. That just opens things up a little bit, not only for the passing game, but at times, the running game. That’s not the only part of what we’re doing right now, but that’s some of what we’re trying to get on the field at this point. HC McDermott

 

They acted quickly, adding former Broncos wideout Isiah McKenzie to the mix and calling up Robert Foster from the practice squad. The impact was immediate. The running game started to work and the quarterback, Matt Barkley, found success, even having only been with the team for two weeks.

 

 

Amazing that it took McDefense so long to figure it out.  What's tough to defend McGenius? Speed.  What do you want on your defense McProcess? Speed. Why do you want speed on your defense McSlow? To combat that of the offense.

 

It really isn't hard to figure out for most. Unfortunately it took our HC a year and a half.

[Kirby Jackson]

The NFL has been moving to smaller, faster guys for the last 5-10 years. The rules make it so that these guys can get space. They are also less of an injury risk than the used to be because the game is safer. The rules all favor speed and offense. So what did the Bills do? They got big, slow guys that can’t get into open spaces and wondered why it didn’t work. That’s really dumb.

[billsfan_34]

1 hour ago, The Drought said:

Kelvin Benjamin say this is fake news.

Ever notice KB never holds himself accountable? The sooner he is gone the better. He may be the laziest receiver I have ever watched play.

[26CornerBlitz]

7 minutes ago, wppete said:

I really hope Robert Foster pans out and becomes a weapon for this team in the years to come.

 

 

He would be a great find if he pans out.  It was nice to see improvement from the earlier stint on the 53.

[YoloinOhio]

2 hours ago, Buffalo Bills Fan said:

The NFL has been trending to speed WRS. If slow you're not going to do well in todays NFL for WR

While I agree that speed is helpful, Michael Thomas isn’t very fast and he still gets separation and and catches everything. I still think the two most important aspects of being a successful nfl WR are route running and hands. 

[KW95 - JA17]

18 minutes ago, MJS said:

 

No, they don't have huge hands. Defensive backs are usually smaller. You can attribute some of the drops to good defensive plays, but a lot of them seem to be just a lack of effort and focus.

 

Trust me, they have huge hands!

[JPP]

19 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

While I agree that speed is helpful, Michael Thomas isn’t very fast and he still gets separation and and catches everything. I still think the two most important aspects of being a successful nfl WR are route running and hands. 

Kinda helps he's got a guy named Drew Brees throwing the ball at him....

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

3 hours ago, inaugural balls said:

alright - who let this dirty little secret out?

 

 

...probably Benjamin......

[Coach Tuesday]

53 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

The NFL has been moving to smaller, faster guys for the last 5-10 years. The rules make it so that these guys can get space. They are also less of an injury risk than the used to be because the game is safer. The rules all favor speed and offense. So what did the Bills do? They got big, slow guys that can’t get into open spaces and wondered why it didn’t work. That’s really dumb.

 

The Process = Reverse Moneyball

[HappyDays]

54 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

The NFL has been moving to smaller, faster guys for the last 5-10 years. The rules make it so that these guys can get space. They are also less of an injury risk than the used to be because the game is safer. The rules all favor speed and offense. So what did the Bills do? They got big, slow guys that can’t get into open spaces and wondered why it didn’t work. That’s really dumb.

 

They tried trading up for Christian Kirk. They brought in Robert Foster. They tried to get McKenzie out of Denver twice. They have been trying to add speed all year. Of course they weren't going to fill every hole on the team in one offseason.

[H2o]

We just need to find our Steve Smith 

[Kirby Jackson]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

They tried trading up for Christian Kirk. They brought in Robert Foster. They tried to get McKenzie out of Denver twice. They have been trying to add speed all year. Of course they weren't going to fill every hole on the team in one offseason.

I loved that they wanted Kirk. They tried to get John Brown too. An UDFA rookie doesn’t count as valuing speed though. If anything, it’s an indictment on their inability to add speed that Foster was the best option. McKenzie was added after the middle of the season as they realized that speed was needed. That’s a reaction to a tragic passing game. They should have made it a bigger priority. Speed isn’t “optional” in today’s NFL. They treated it as such and learned a hard lesson. Thankfully, they did appear to learn that lesson.

[NoSaint]

2 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I loved that they wanted Kirk. They tried to get John Brown too. An UDFA rookie doesn’t count as valuing speed though. If anything, it’s an indictment on their inability to add speed that Foster was the best option. McKenzie was added after the middle of the season as they realized that speed was needed. That’s a reaction to a tragic passing game. They should have made it a bigger priority. Speed isn’t “optional” in today’s NFL. They treated it as such and learned a hard lesson. Thankfully, they did appear to learn that lesson.

 

Hopefully! 

 

The “can’t fill every hole in one offseason” excuse from happy was pretty weak. Even if you limit it solely to beane — he traded away Sammy and acquired benjamin and Matthews. Had kerley for 6 months and cut him the day after guaranteeing his salary. Never gave Coleman much of a shot. 

 

That we are relying on a udfa rookie right now  and have benjamin as a starter does certainly reflect on him. He has had time and opportunities to shape the group and he’s made his choices.