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Harrison Phillips - Odd man out Or "our kind of guy"?


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So just listened to McDermott's "Victory Monday" interview on Facebook. 

 

Matt Fairburn asked McD about Harrison Phillips (8:20 in):

Q: "What does he have to do to get back in the lineup?" 

A: "Oh, he's doing great.  I love Harrison Phillips.  Nothing's changed with that.  It's just we've got a couple other guys right now that are playing and we feel are getting into a rhythm, so we'll see.  Harrison is a hard worker, certainly our type of guy and we love who he is and what he brings to our football team.  Each week's gonna be different and we'll see what this week brings"

 

My response: *blink*  *blink* *blink*

 

I'm pretty sure there isn't room in the DL tent for 10 bodies, so WTF does this mean, McD?  If you love what he brings to our football team and he's doing great, why has his butt been sitting on the bench in street clothes?  If you have other guys playing ahead of him who you think are playing better, how is there room for him on the team?

 

Can someone translate this Fine Piece of Coachspeak into Haplessly Interpretable English?

 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

So just listened to McDermott's "Victory Monday" interview on Facebook. 

 

Matt Fairburn asked McD about Harrison Phillips (8:20 in):

Q: "What does he have to do to get back in the lineup?" 

A: "Oh, he's doing great.  I love Harrison Phillips.  Nothing's changed with that.  It's just we've got a couple other guys right now that are playing and we feel are getting into a rhythm, so we'll see.  Harrison is a hard worker, certainly our type of guy and we love who he is and what he brings to our football team.  Each week's gonna be different and we'll see what this week brings"

 

My response: *blink*  *blink* *blink*

 

I'm pretty sure there isn't room in the DL tent for 10 bodies, so WTF does this mean, McD?  If you love what he brings to our football team and he's doing great, why has his butt been sitting on the bench in street clothes?  If you have other guys playing ahead of him who you think are playing better, how is there room for him on the team?

 

Can someone translate this Fine Piece of Coachspeak into Haplessly Interpretable English?

 

 

 

 

Honestly I think Phillips is on the bubble.

 

They like him, he works hard in their community outreach, and he seems to be a good locker room guy, but he is not bringing enough play making to their d-line to justify starting him on game days.

 

Not sure where they go from here, but the IR and now that he is back, he is not playing at a high-enough level.... I don't see them tying up any significant cap dollars retaining him. IMO I think it was just McD saying Phillips is a great guy and just not saying the, "but we need to play guys that can get the job done." part.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Probably as you said yourself, there's not room for 10 DL so someone will be traded.  Him and Johnson have the most tradeable contracts, maybe Zimmer too.   The other two are playing better than Phillips and considering how shaky the line has played I'd be afraid to trade anyone who has helped at all so he may be the odd man out.

 

On the other hand could be they do like him and feel right now he just can't do enough as still recovering from the ACL injury.  And as I just said, the line play is shaky but also deep with very little difference in talent between many so can't afford to play an extra guy who's not 100% healthy.

 

But he doesn't get traded, the team could see him being a more bigger contributor next year.  The other option would be if they can't trade him, he gets moved to IR for the rest of the year assuming they do really like him.

 

Bottom line is coaches GM, etc are never going to talk ill will  about anyone for the most part unless it's to motivate them.

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9 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

So just listened to McDermott's "Victory Monday" interview on Facebook. 

 

Matt Fairburn asked McD about Harrison Phillips (8:20 in):

Q: "What does he have to do to get back in the lineup?" 

A: "Oh, he's doing great.  I love Harrison Phillips.  Nothing's changed with that.  It's just we've got a couple other guys right now that are playing and we feel are getting into a rhythm, so we'll see.  Harrison is a hard worker, certainly our type of guy and we love who he is and what he brings to our football team.  Each week's gonna be different and we'll see what this week brings"

 

My response: *blink*  *blink* *blink*

 

I'm pretty sure there isn't room in the DL tent for 10 bodies, so WTF does this mean, McD?  If you love what he brings to our football team and he's doing great, why has his butt been sitting on the bench in street clothes?  If you have other guys playing ahead of him who you think are playing better, how is there room for him on the team?

 

 Can someone translate this Fine Piece of Coachspeak into Haplessly Interpretable English?

 

 

 

Long answer:

 

I messed around with Duolingo to freshen up on my French after taking 6 years of it in school. I stopped when I realized nobody I know speaks French. I also took some Spanish before a trip to Spain last year, and “donde esta el bano” came in VERY handy one time! I just checked, Duolingo does not have a Coachspeak module, sorry. 

 

I wonder if Harry is 100% physically (and mentally) healthy at this point. I also wonder about the ages and contract status of the other DT’s. It seems we are old and expensive at DE, and Star opted out, but not sure on the other guys. Harry on a rookie deal is at least relatively inexpensive.  Harry will start getting his chances soon, I bet. Didn’t they do something similar not starting or dressing Oliver for a while?

 

Short answer:

 

No idea. 

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20 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

So just listened to McDermott's "Victory Monday" interview on Facebook. 

 

Matt Fairburn asked McD about Harrison Phillips (8:20 in):

Q: "What does he have to do to get back in the lineup?" 

A: "Oh, he's doing great.  I love Harrison Phillips.  Nothing's changed with that.  It's just we've got a couple other guys right now that are playing and we feel are getting into a rhythm, so we'll see.  Harrison is a hard worker, certainly our type of guy and we love who he is and what he brings to our football team.  Each week's gonna be different and we'll see what this week brings"

 

My response: *blink*  *blink* *blink*

 

I'm pretty sure there isn't room in the DL tent for 10 bodies, so WTF does this mean, McD?  If you love what he brings to our football team and he's doing great, why has his butt been sitting on the bench in street clothes?  If you have other guys playing ahead of him who you think are playing better, how is there room for him on the team?

 

Can someone translate this Fine Piece of Coachspeak into Haplessly Interpretable English?

 

 

 

While Phillips is clearly struggling a bit right now, they believe in him and will be patient as he works himself back from his knee injury.

 

Thats my translation, anyway.  Given the severely curtailed offseason, this is a tough year to be coming back from an injury. It’s probably going to take some time.  My hope is that he will begin to regain his form in the second half of the season.

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I’m going to guess that McDermott determined that Phillips is not fully back from his injury. A torn ACL can take 18-24 months for full recovery. The Bills need Phillips to occupy two offensive linemen, 600+ pounds of world class athlete. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he is a lost cause or out of favor with the organization. It may simply mean he needs more time to get to 100%. McDermott’s supportive words here could be encouragement to Harry as he works to get to the “ready-ready” finish line.

 

More broadly speaking, we as fans, would do well to be more respectful of injuries and what players endure:

- White has an ongoing back injury, his play suffers, and some accuse him of being happy with his money.

- Edmunds guts it out with an ongoing shoulder injury and some call him a bust, as he essentially plays one-handed.

- As Milano works through a strained or slightly torn pec, some say do away with him.

 

The commentary I have read over the past month leads me to suspect that many on this board have never played contact sports, and therefore, haven’t a clue.

Edited by RochesterLifer
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12 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

It means "I love hard and I hate letting go." 

 

Last witnessed with Sean's previous man crush - Peterman, Nate.

This is very different.  Phillips was performing at a very high level before the injury. I would fully expect that patience would be exercised with him, unless it was a work ethic thing which does not seem to be the case.

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His benching means he's on a "Get Well Program".

Horrible Harry needs to get a lot more meaner and tougher if he wants to play DT for the Buffalo Bills.

McDermott (who likes him a lot) hated to put it this way to him but he did.

 

It's up to HH as to what his fate will be and the clock is ticking.  He's going to get a few more chances.

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Translation: Pre-injury, he showed a lot of promise. He's taking a little longer to get back to full-strength, so we're playing other guys for now.

 

I don't think they're ready to give up on him at this point. He's no Kyle, but it's too early to call him a bust.

 

 

 

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26 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

So just listened to McDermott's "Victory Monday" interview on Facebook. 

 

Matt Fairburn asked McD about Harrison Phillips (8:20 in):

Q: "What does he have to do to get back in the lineup?" 

A: "Oh, he's doing great.  I love Harrison Phillips.  Nothing's changed with that.  It's just we've got a couple other guys right now that are playing and we feel are getting into a rhythm, so we'll see.  Harrison is a hard worker, certainly our type of guy and we love who he is and what he brings to our football team.  Each week's gonna be different and we'll see what this week brings"

 

My response: *blink*  *blink* *blink*

 

I'm pretty sure there isn't room in the DL tent for 10 bodies, so WTF does this mean, McD?  If you love what he brings to our football team and he's doing great, why has his butt been sitting on the bench in street clothes?  If you have other guys playing ahead of him who you think are playing better, how is there room for him on the team?

 

Can someone translate this Fine Piece of Coachspeak into Haplessly Interpretable English?

 

 

 

Yeah, the guy played in limited amounts during his rookie season in 2018 and showed flashes.
 

Looked like a contributor early in 2019 and had a serious injury... as much as people dismiss how easy it is to come back from an ACL year... it’s really not... just because it’s common and the rehab is common doesn’t mean it happens the same for everyone. 

 

Has struggled early this year like the rest of this defense, so he’s sitting. It think McDermott has faith in the kid, he knows he’s working hard. I don’t think it’s coach speak... I think sometimes you can just take things at face value. Sometimes you ride the hot hand and create some competition.. that’s what is happening here with Zimmer. Epenesa was a healthy scratch early and now he’s seems to be turning the corner a little bit and contributing defensively, it’s not like the concept is foreign. 
 

I come from the world of baseball, so it doesn’t necessarily work here as a 1 for 1 comp in the NFL. But plenty of times guys are talented and have the tools but things aren’t clicking or they’re not 100% back from an injury, so you send them down and give them time to get right. That’s what this seems like to me. I’d be shocked if he gets traded... we’re likely going to be cutting some DL this off-season for cap space and Harrison can be a contributor. 

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Bills fans hang on.

 

They’ll hang onto some PFF stat that said Levi Wallace and Tre White were the 2nd best tandem in the NFL two years ago, they’ll hang onto the “first four weeks”, and some are hanging onto this idea Harrison Phillips was coming into his own at the beginning of last year.

 

I think the comments about lunch pail player, and translation he isn’t that good are closer to the truth.

 

If he was a difference maker, you’d know it and he’d be out there. 

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38 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Can someone translate this Fine Piece of Coachspeak into Haplessly Interpretable English?

 

Translation: "I really like the guy, but if we can get a 7th round pick for him, his ass is gone."

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18 minutes ago, Rico said:

High-motor lunch pailer (HMLP) who makes for a feel-good story for HMLP lovers, but he’s no Kyle Williams on the field.

 

Comparisons are difficult because different defensive scheme and personnel, but Kyle Williams was arguably not Kyle Williams on the field for the first 3-4 years of his career.

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