Duke Williams played more snaps than Cole Beasley

[Steptide]

30 minutes ago, Joe in Winslow said:

Fans got what they wanted, and not surprisingly, it didn't work.

Not true at all. No fans wanted Duke in as a number 1 or 2 reciever. Fans like myself wanted him in over foster or mckenzie to be a red zone threat and a bigger target for Allen, that's it. Nobody thinks Duke is a number 1 reciever. That being said, he had some good catches last night and I don't blame him for the drop in the endzone. It was a contested catch and a tad bit over thrown. You could make the case that none of the recievers on the bills would've made that catch. 

[billsfan714]

If Duke had got the snaps McKenzie and Foster did I think he would of had way more production than McKenzie's 254 yards receiving and Fosters 64 yards.   Those are some anemic stats.

[SCBills]

1 minute ago, TPS said:

The critics need to explain why Foster would’ve been better, but don’t hold your breath...

I think Duke shut the door on any comparisons to Foster.  Duke is better.  
 

The question is, does he make the roster next year.  
 

I hope so.  I’m impressed by him.  He’s not the answer, but he’s an answer. 

[Southern Bills Fan]

4 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Daboll is s clown. My guess is if he doesn't get a HC gig next year is his last with the Bills.

It’s statements like this that make you look like a clown. Most of the plays that didn’t work came down to the poor execution of the o line. The qb sweep that Josh got rocked on because 3 blockers ran past the only defender in the area is an example. I believe that was in ot and would have gotten us into fg range. 

[DCbillsfan]

13 minutes ago, TPS said:

Personally, every time I saw Kroft come on the field I cringed. He was useless. 

 

What makes you think he was featured? Most likely the coverage dictated a throw to the #3 or 4 option. 

10 targets for 4 catches.  They threw to him three times in the end zone and zero catches.  He played 56 snaps.  The guy played a lot.  Why the sudden love for Williams? He was on the roster all season yet hardly dressed.  To me, a real head scratcher.  I thought he deserved the nod over Foster and he played fairly well but Brown and Beasley got us to the playoffs.

[Virgil]

The only logical reason is because we were going to a run heavy offense. 
 

But considering we pretty much abandoned the run int the second half....

 

Absolutely no excuse for this.  Daboll is still a problem and can’t get out of his own way.  It works when you have 3 legit WR, not when it’s a guy off the practice squad.  
 

This pisses me off as much as anything and I see no signs of it changing 

[LABILLBACKER]

30 minutes ago, RobbRiddicksTDLeap said:

Beasley is unreliable. He has suspect hands, and his knee down before the marker on 3rd and long is a perfect example of his limitations in big spots. It’s the reason he was phased out of the offense in Dallas.

 

He is not now, nor has he ever been, a reliable “Edelman-like” player.

I'm starting to believe this. Very disappointed in his impact yesterday. I'd obviously keep Smoke & Duke but after that anybody on this wr group is suspect. Obviously we need to draft a wr no later than round 2. And maybe even sign a mid level FA. I'm done with Smurfs and watching Patrick Dimarco run Go Routes.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

I can't believe that people are on here criticizing Duke Williams, but when it comes to John Brown, crickets... His failure to stay in bounds was a huge play in the game. That was a routine sideline grab and should have set us up first and goal. People wanted to call HIM a #1 receiver? He's a soft, finesse player who needs to work in space opposite a true #1.

[dave mcbride]

19 minutes ago, RobbRiddicksTDLeap said:

Clearly? His knee was down and was touched before he got past the line. 
 

He got the benefit of the doubt, just like

Hopkins did later in the game. 

Do you understand NFL rules? If you go down but are not touched, you are free to get back up and continue forward progress. His knee went down, and then he went airborne before he was touched. It is an open and shut case and the only people who didn’t understand this were the two morons announcing the game for ESPN.

[DCbillsfan]

21 minutes ago, TPS said:

Personally, every time I saw Kroft come on the field I cringed. He was useless. 

 

What makes you think he was featured? Most likely the coverage dictated a throw to the #3 or 4 option. 

10 targets and 4 catches.  Three of them to the end zone and no catches.  No other receiver had those opportunities except for Brown around 5 yard line.  Yep, Williams was featured.

[BillsFan130]

37 minutes ago, Joe in Winslow said:

Fans got what they wanted, and not surprisingly, it didn't work.

Well it was a pretty big upgrade over Foster... That';s what fans wanted and I would say it worked in that sense

[Bangarang]

25 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

Did you not see the other amazing catches he had yesterday? I would be willing to bet none of our other receivers made those catches. Yes, he dropped one in the end zone, it happens. But of course that's all anyone remembers

I wouldn’t call anything Duke did as amazing

[dave mcbride]

2 minutes ago, DCbillsfan said:

10 targets and 4 catches.  Three of them to the end zone and no catches.  No other receiver had those opportunities except for Brown around 5 yard line.  Yep, Williams was featured.

To be fair, two of those three were obvious throwaways and really shouldn’t be part of the talley.

[billsfan714]

3 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

Well it was a pretty big upgrade over Foster... That';s what fans wanted and I would say it worked in that sense

Amen.

[HalftimeAdjustment]

24 minutes ago, Buffalo Boy said:

The one in the EZ was broken up by the DB.

It was a great pass, a good attempted catch and a great play by the DB.

Blaming the loss on Duke is STUPID 

 

This. And I have not been a Duke booster really. It looked like a good defensive effort on a contested catch.

[Warcodered]

42 minutes ago, Joe in Winslow said:

Fans got what they wanted, and not surprisingly, it didn't work.

I thought fans wanted him over Foster not Beasley.

[Buffalo03]

3 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

I wouldn’t call anything Duke did as amazing

You didn't see the catches he made yesterday? They were better than any of the other catches that we had all game from anyone else and possibly even some of the better catches we had all season

[Lurker]

2 minutes ago, DCbillsfan said:

10 targets and 4 catches.  Three of them to the end zone and no catches.  No other receiver had those opportunities except for Brown around 5 yard line.  Yep, Williams was featured.

 

I don't know about 'featured.'   IMO, about half of those targets came from Josh coming off his initial read and coming back to Duke as the second option.   

[TPS]

6 minutes ago, DCbillsfan said:

10 targets for 4 catches.  They threw to him three times in the end zone and zero catches.  He played 56 snaps.  The guy played a lot.  Why the sudden love for Williams? He was on the roster all season yet hardly dressed.  To me, a real head scratcher.  I thought he deserved the nod over Foster and he played fairly well but Brown and Beasley got us to the playoffs.

As you agree, he should be there over Foster. 

As for targets, that doesn’t mean he was the #1 target on the play. Coverage dictates where the QB goes, and often that will be the #3 or 4 option. 

Also, 2 if those end zone throws were Uncatchable. 

They clearly need a #1, but Duke is a good #4 option. 

[Bangarang]

Just now, Buffalo03 said:

You didn't see the catches he made yesterday? They were better than any of the other catches that we had all game from anyone else and possibly even some of the better catches we had all season

I saw them and they weren’t AMAZING. 
 

[DCbillsfan]

11 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

To be fair, two of those three were obvious throwaways and really shouldn’t be part of the talley.

You may be right on that.  I haven't watched any replays.  Just the game live.  

[wvbillsfan]

It’s perplexing why we just can’t/couldn’t lineup duke and brown as outside wrs and put Beasley in the slot. 
Far too often we use personnel groupings to help Josh figure out the coverage when using motion with your best players on the field works just as well. 
 

Put your best players on the field and use motion, then you don’t have Patrick DiMarco trying time catch jump balls. 
Daboll gets too cute for my liking in game. 

[TPS]

7 minutes ago, DCbillsfan said:

10 targets and 4 catches.  Three of them to the end zone and no catches.  No other receiver had those opportunities except for Brown around 5 yard line.  Yep, Williams was featured.

Of course the end zone throws were targeted, and 2 of those were uncatchable. 

[dave mcbride]

1 minute ago, DCbillsfan said:

You may be right on that.  I haven't watched any replays.  Just the game live.  

Houston was playing cover 2 on both of those and he was blanketed. Allen just threw it away both times because it wasn’t there and he needed to avoid the sack. 

[DCbillsfan]

9 minutes ago, TPS said:

 

They clearly need a #1, but Duke is a good #4 option. 

I agree with this 100%.  Yesterday, clearly demonstrated a need for a WR1.  A guy with speed, size, and big catch radius.

[Buffalo03]

1 minute ago, Bangarang said:

I saw them and they weren’t AMAZING. 
 

Ok let me go one step below then. They were "great" catches that no other person on our team makes. He literally laid out and caught at least 3 catches that were really good

[Bangarang]

Just now, Buffalo03 said:

Ok let me go one step below then. They were "great" catches that no other person on our team makes. He literally laid out and caught at least 3 catches that were really good

It’s still a hard no from me. Duke did neither great or amazing things. 
 

He’s a fringe roster guy in the NFL. He shouldn’t be leading this team in targets in a playoff game. 

[Teddy KGB]

Breaking news at 11.  
 

Professional wide receiver catches a football 

[DuckyBoys]

Duke was fine  He had a chance to come down with a td and came up short on a tough catch  He's not the answer but could be a viable wr3 for 2020  I'd start the depth chart with brown,beasley,duke and jettison the rest unless Mckenzie can be trusted to handle PR/KR  Get all new rbs to go with Singeltary

[Livinginthepast]

48 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

Can we please put the Duke Williams nonsense to bed now? He had a chance to catch a perfectly placed jump ball in the end zone yesterday and failed. 

 

He is a #4 WR at best.

There is absolutely no way in hell that was a "Jump Ball" pass. The play to DiMarco was a Jump Ball. The play to Duke in the endzone was a fastball. Difficult catch but he should have caught it. And why are you dissing him if you think that he is only a #4 WR?? You expect a #4 receiver to catch that pass? You must be blind or high to make this observation.

[LABILLBACKER]

10 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

I wouldn’t call anything Duke did as amazing

Come on bang....you're better than that...I saw 3 amazing catches all for 1st downs that Foster, McKenzie or Roberts don't make. The 2 drops were both contested and broken up by the DB. The remaining target misses were poor throws by Josh. It's as simple as that. Duke could've brought more to this team over an entire season than these other wr pretenders. 

[HappyDays]

5 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

I saw them and they weren’t AMAZING. 
 

 

On an NFL level they weren't, but for Bills fans it was something we haven't seen in years. A tight coverage contested catch is a normal weekly occurrence for most teams, but no one on our team other than Duke can make them. I think McDermott and Beane know we are missing that part of our offense which is why they activated him over Foster. It's just weird we only make him a featured part of our offense in the playoffs and give our 2nd most reliable receiver less snaps to accommodate him.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

55 minutes ago, RobbRiddicksTDLeap said:

Beasley is unreliable. He has suspect hands, and his knee down before the marker on 3rd and long is a perfect example of his limitations in big spots. It’s the reason he was phased out of the offense in Dallas.

 

He is not now, nor has he ever been, a reliable “Edelman-like” player.

 

It was his elbow that came down before his knee actually. He did a great job actually of keeping his knees from hitting the ground. It was a really close call. Had it been ruled a first down initially they would have stayed with that call. That's how close it was.

[Bangarang]

3 minutes ago, Livinginthepast said:

There is absolutely no way in hell that was a "Jump Ball" pass. The play to DiMarco was a Jump Ball. The play to Duke in the endzone was a fastball. Difficult catch but he should have caught it. And why are you dissing him if you think that he is only a #4 WR?? You expect a #4 receiver to catch that pass? You must be blind or high to make this observation.

I must be high to think a WR should catch a nicely thrown ball that hit him in the hands? Plays like that are what he’s supposed to be really good at right? 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

I think the real question is where was Duke all season long? He should have been active on game days. Yeah he has some drop issues but so do a whole lot of guys on this team. He is one of the only guys on the team that makes regular "wow" type catches. Too bad he couldn't hall in the perfectly placed TD pass to end the half though. 

[Scott7975]

4 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

On an NFL level they weren't, but for Bills fans it was something we haven't seen in years. A tight coverage contested catch is a normal weekly occurrence for most teams, but no one on our team other than Duke can make them. I think McDermott and Beane know we are missing that part of our offense which is why they activated him over Foster. It's just weird we only make him a featured part of our offense in the playoffs and give our 2nd most reliable receiver less snaps to accommodate him.

 

And what no one has really talked about, that I have seen anyways, is how accurate the throws Josh made to get them there.  

[Bangarang]

4 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

On an NFL level they weren't, but for Bills fans it was something we haven't seen in years. A tight coverage contested catch is a normal weekly occurrence for most teams, but no one on our team other than Duke can make them. I think McDermott and Beane know we are missing that part of our offense which is why they activated him over Foster. It's just weird we only make him a featured part of our offense in the playoffs and give our 2nd most reliable receiver less snaps to accommodate him.

If you ONLY watch Bills games and only compare Dukes catches to catches by our other receivers then I guess you’d be super impressed by him. 
 

He made solid catches that a lot of other receivers make on a weekly basis. Good for him. Amazing or great though? Nah I don’t think so.

8 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Come on bang....you're better than that...I saw 3 amazing catches all for 1st downs that Foster, McKenzie or Roberts don't make. The 2 drops were both contested and broken up by the DB. The remaining target misses were poor throws by Josh. It's as simple as that. Duke could've brought more to this team over an entire season than these other wr pretenders. 

Amazing? Really? I guess you like to play real fast and loose with that adjective. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

1 minute ago, Bangarang said:

I must be high to think a WR should catch a nicely thrown ball that hit him in the hands? Plays like that are what he’s supposed to be really good at right? 

 

I agree he should have caught that TD pass. Allen delivered the ball right where it needed to be. At the same time. Guys drop passes. Especially other guys on this team. It happens. Duke appears to actually have a decent ability to make some tough catches. Him and Allen should put in some two a days over the summer out at the ranch in Firebaugh. Get those hands ready for next season.

[Bob in STL]

1 hour ago, Buffalo Bills Fan said:

Another reason why Daboll needs to hit the road jack.

I wont be upset if Cleveland takes him.  The constant change is not good but in this case it might be.  

[Livinginthepast]

1 minute ago, Bangarang said:

I must be high to think a WR should catch a nicely thrown ball that hit him in the hands? Plays like that are what he’s supposed to be really good at right? 

The throw was in the right place for only Duke to catch it but it wasn't a perfect throw by any means, he should have caught it but in no way it was a jumpball  pass. So yes blind or high or completely mistaken .  It wasn't an easy catch because the defender leaves his feet and comes across Duke's body. Duke is also at full stretch and twisting. Watch the replay in slow mo if you cant get this point, or just keep up the hate for Duke because he's the only reason they lost the game right?