Hapless Bills Fan Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 This was linked in the recent article about Daboll incorporating R&S concepts It's from last March, but of interest with that news https://theathletic.com/838469/2019/03/06/it-was-a-perfect-storm-how-jim-kellys-usfl-seasons-changed-the-course-of-the-bills-and-pro-football/ Some key tidbits: "It’s easy to think of Jim Kelly as the quarterback he became. (....) Buffalo got to witness Kelly as a finished product — a quarterback with unmatched toughness, jaw-dropping arm strength and the mind to match. What Buffalo didn’t get to see was the early development of Kelly’s Hall of Fame career." ........ "The offense also required a lot more thinking. During one practice, Davis pulled Kelly aside. He wasn’t recognizing the blitzes, and Davis couldn’t figure out why. “Jimmy, I don’t understand,” he said. “When you were in college, how did you read if a blitz was coming?” “Well, Howard Schnellenberger would whistle,” Kelly said. “When he whistled, I knew blitz was coming.” “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Davis said. “ ........ "After about a month of practicing, progress was so slow that Davis dropped into Argovitz’s office.....Davis said. “The Big Fella just isn’t buying into the program. He wants to drop back and throw the ball 60 yards down the field like he did in college. He’s just not fitting into the offense. He’s not accepting it and he’s hard to coach right now.” Argovitz told Davis he would fix that.......Todd Dillon had been the quarterback at Long Beach State where, in 1982, he led all of college football with 3,517 passing yards. He was also a roll-out quarterback who fit the Run and Shoot perfectly. Argovitz signed him and told Davis that if Dillon was outperforming Kelly, he should start taking reps away from the Big Fella. " ......... "This time, it was Kelly storming into Argovitz’s office. The owner had been expecting it. “You and I are going to be the laughing stock of professional football,” Argovitz told him. “What are you talking about?” Kelly said. “Number one, I’m going to be the stupid shmuck who paid you three-and-a-half million dollars to play for my team and you’re going to look pretty foolish when your ass is sitting on the bench because Todd Dillon beat you out,” Argovitz said. Kelly slammed his fist on the table and shouted, “Nobody is going to beat me out! That’s my job!” .......... “From that point on, Jim was all-in. He meshed with the offense, learned how to read defenses,” Argovitz said. “I feel like that was the turning point of his career.” “We did sit him down at one point and when he went home, his brothers told me later, he was bitching about handling all this bull#### and how he didn’t need that,” Davis said. “But when he came back, he was a different kid. When I talked to his brothers they said, ‘Yeah we told the little son of a B word he needed to get squared away or we would kick the ***** out of him. We would have, too!’ They had a really positive effect on Jimmy.” I had no idea that Kelly had such a steep learning curve, where when he came into the league he didn't know how to read defenses or recognize a blitz and was resistant to coaching about it. And the tidbit about his brothers ....? But can you imagine if he'd come straight to Buffalo? It would have been a different Football universe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
entropyrules Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 nothing like brothers to lead you to the promised land Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed83HOF Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 7 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said: I had no idea that Kelly had such a steep learning curve, where when he came into the league he didn't know how to read defenses or recognize a blitz and was resistant to coaching about it. And the tidbit about his brothers ....? But can you imagine if he'd come straight to Buffalo? It would have been a different Football universe. The USFL help make him what he was. His stats were ridiculous; those 3 years set the foundation for everything. He very easily could have been a bust if he signed right away - that coaching staff here was awful. One of the really interesting overall themes seem to be, to me at least, how similar him and Josh are; along with where our offense is going. Mouse Davis is a brilliant offensive mind: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevewin Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 So Nathan Peterman is Allen's Todd Dillon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxx Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 This topic is already under discussion in another thread. Please search and read other threads before starting new threads. i kid... i kid... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed83HOF Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 2 minutes ago, Foxx said: This topic is already under discussion in another thread. Please search and read other threads before starting new threads. i kid... i kid... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts