Ty Dunne: Motor can lift Bills to super bowl

[BillsVet]

3 hours ago, klos63 said:

Because our defense isn't good enough, which is why you focus the draft on defense.

 

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/2020/defense/

 

Buffalo had 2020's highest paid defense that featured 3 1st round picks and numerous highly paid UFAs.  If they don't have the horses 4 years into McD's tenure they never will.  The issue is not limited to personnel.  Because whenever McD meets an opposing offense that can score, he goes uber-conservative and ends up giving up big points. 

 

There's going to be a reckoning probably next year when Josh's contract begins to inhibit McD from getting all the players he thinks he needs on that defense.  Drafting more defense does not work in the NFL of the 21st century.  The faster people accept that, the better.  Now, it's a matter of a HC who begins to accept that as well.

[BarleyNY]

Just now, hondo in seattle said:

 

I hope so, too.

 

They said you can't teach accuracy.  Look what happened with Josh.

 

And they say you can't teach explosiveness.  I guess we'll find out. 

 

But wouldn't it be fun if Motor took a leap as big as Josh's?

I think we caught lightning in a bottle with Josh.  It’s not like the Bills weren’t due a break so I don’t feel the least bit bad about getting a big one.  Sure, it’d be great if Motor could take a giant leap too - and it’s not like FAU is a football player factory - but I’d have thought we’d have seen more already.  But you never know I guess.  It doesn’t hurt to root for him, but I don’t want the Bills to depend on him. 

[Paup 1995MVP]

4 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

So all of you believe a player can’t get better at his craft? By those standards no one gets better, which we all know is patently false. You all are the shinny new toy distracted from reality, and appear to have no knowledge of what actually transpired with the O line this past season or remember what Beane said in his season end PC, but whatever..., 

Sure guys can get better.  Most players are not stars their first year in the league.  But if you watch enuf football you can tell who is a top end player and who isn't.  Its not that difficult to gauge.  Singletary is not a top end RB.  He doesn't have the physical characteristics to be that type of player.  Even Willis McGhahee coming off his horrible knee injury (while not an all timer that many thought he would be before the injury against Ohio State) still had some of those dominating traits that the great ones have.  

 

Bottom line is we need to get better to beat the Chiefs Packers Bucs and anyone else in the AFC who has improved.  We need guys who can come in and make us better and more difficult to play against.  Someone on the level of AJ Epenesa is probably not that guy.  If Etienne or N Harris are that guy then by all means draft him and move on from Singletary, who after watching his body of work over the past two years seems a bit over drafted as a 3rd rounder.

[Don Otreply]

2 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

LOL....Josh didn't become an "elite" QB by running the ball.  He started passing more accurately to better receivers--and running less. This was obvious in 2020, when he became "elite".  

 

Singletary is a mediocre RB.  He's now paired with a second one--his game didn't improve.  That's just how it is.

The “Elite Athlete” moniker came after he showed he could run like he does, lots of guys have strong arms and are not considered athletic, let alone elite,  but you knew that...

2 hours ago, DCOrange said:

He was literally comped to Cam Newton throughout the draft process.

As a ball thrower yes, but not as a runner, 

1 hour ago, BillsFan130 said:

I am not pessimistic at all. 
 

I think the bills are a legit super bowl contender.

 

But I do think singletary is a mediocre football player who I really don't see getting that much better.

 

Just because I am not optimistic about every single player and every single thing about this team doesn't make me pessimistic lol.

Wasn’t talking about every single thing, but you can pretend I was... 😁

[Don Otreply]

1 hour ago, Bobby Hooks said:

What’s a shinny?

Shine E 😁👍

[John from Riverside]

20 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I hope so, too.

 

They said you can't teach accuracy.  Look what happened with Josh.

 

And they say you can't teach explosiveness.  I guess we'll find out. 

 

But wouldn't it be fun if Motor took a leap as big as Josh's?

I think we can all root for that the problem is the Devon doesn’t have Josh Allen’s raw talent there’s a ceiling I would love to be wrong

[hondo in seattle]

8 minutes ago, MJS said:

I think he is exaggerating to make a point. More often than not, Singletary was hit in the backfield or faced a wall of defenders. That's on the oline. Of course, when things aren't working, running backs may start trying to do too much and start second guessing things and I think Singletary did that, but the big problem was not having any holes to hit.

 

I'd say Singletary was only 15% of the problem. The rest was on the oline blocking and the scheme, in my opinion. And, BTW, I don't think that Moss looked significantly better than Singletary. That narrative is out there, but I have to trust my own eyes. And the stats don't support a major difference between the two.

 

I agree he's exaggerating to make a point.  But there is a valid point there: Motor didn't always make lemons when given lemonade.

 

And, look, I'm not absolving the OL.  I watched Willie Ellison break Cookie's pro football single game rushing record in 1971 when he gained 247 yards on 26 carries.  Most folks here probably don't remember Ellison.  He wasn't a spectacular back but the holes that day were so big and lasted so long that you or I could have rolled a keg of beer through them.  Neither Moss nor Motor ever see holes like that.  

 

But, damn, KC was lining up in a 4-1-6 and we still couldn't run.  That's not all on the OL.  

 

The Chiefs sold out to stop the pass and dared us to run.  We can't let teams do that in 2021.  We need to be multidimensional.  Both our OL and our RBs need to get better.  So I'm hoping the change in Singletary is real.  

 

 

[Putin]

4 hours ago, McBean said:

My exact thoughts.

 

I told my buddies when it happened shortly afterwards to get Harris or ETN ASAP.

 

We have to get more balanced on offense and have a serious threat in the backfield. It sets up play action too.

 

It’s only going to help Josh more.

 

I’m one of the few but I would love a trade up for Harris. This team is ready to win a super bowl now. You’re not going to stop KC on defense. You gotta out score them bottom line.

I agree with your logic that if we can’t stop them on defense lets just score more points on offense, I’m just not sure if trading up for any of these RB’s is the way to do that , 

I still think Zack Moss can be a very good back lets not forget our OL was a mess last year mainly because of injuries  , I expect a much better production in the run game from our starting 5 this year , 

I wouldn’t mind another weapon on offense with ELITE SPEED to strike fear in to opposing D  

[MJS]

4 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I agree he's exaggerating to make a point.  But there is a valid point there: Motor didn't always make lemons when given lemonade.

 

And, look, I'm not absolving the OL.  I watched Willie Ellison break Cookie's pro football single game rushing record in 1971 when he gained 247 yards on 26 carries.  Most folks here probably don't remember Ellison.  He wasn't a spectacular back but the holes that day were so big and lasted so long that you or I could have rolled a keg of beer through them.  Neither Moss nor Motor ever see holes like that.  

 

But, damn, KC was lining up in a 4-1-6 and we still couldn't run.  That's not all on the OL.  

 

The Chiefs sold out to stop the pass and dared us to run.  We can't let teams do that in 2021.  We need to be multidimensional.  Both our OL and our RBs need to get better.  So I'm hoping the change in Singletary is real. 

Our line really struggles with interior pressure. Jones was a wrecking ball in that game. That was the worst oline performance of the year, in my opinion (pass blocking included). So yeah, I do put most of that on the oline, not on the backs.

[TC in St. Louis]

I like how hard Motor is working.  He's got  moves that would put every member in our community into the hospital.  Get him in the open field and he's awesome.  I can't stand how people say he's mediocre.  He had an off year, I guess.  This is his third year.  Let's hope his hard work pays off.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfxTTwE73Fk,  his highlights from last year.

[hondo in seattle]

1 minute ago, MJS said:

Our line really struggles with interior pressure. Jones was a wrecking ball in that game. That was the worst oline performance of the year, in my opinion (pass blocking included). So yeah, I do put most of that on the oline, not on the backs.

 

Yeah, our pass protection sucked that game.  But overall, I think our passpro is better than our run blocking.  I think that's intentional.  I think, on a limited budget, Beane brought in FAs to be Josh's bodyguards.  

 

In a perfect world, you want Pro Bowl offensive linemen who can road grade as well as protect your QB.  In a salary cap world in a passing league, it's better to find pass blockers than run blockers.  

 

What Beane's been doing got us to the AFC Championship game.  But to go further, we have to find ways to energize the run game.  

[turftoe]

20 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

Shine E 😁👍

ShineEE

[Don Otreply]

9 minutes ago, Paup 1995MVP said:

Sure guys can get better.  Most players are not stars their first year in the league.  But if you watch enuf football you can tell who is a top end player and who isn't.  Its not that difficult to gauge.  Singletary is not a top end RB.  He doesn't have the physical characteristics to be that type of player.  Even Willis McGhahee coming off his horrible knee injury (while not an all timer that many thought he would be before the injury against Ohio State) still had some of those dominating traits that the great ones have.  

 

Bottom line is we need to get better to beat the Chiefs Packers Bucs and anyone else in the AFC who has improved.  We need guys who can come in and make us better and more difficult to play against.  Someone on the level of AJ Epenesa is probably not that guy.  If Etienne or N Harris are that guy then by all means draft him and move on from Singletary, who after watching his body of work over the past two years seems a bit over drafted as a 3rd rounder.

No one said star or elite etc, we are talking about improving technique and execution to become a more effective RB,  all y’all seem to think and speak in absolutes that are not all absolutes, he is doing things to become a  more effective RB, and that should be viewed as a good thing.  Will it work? Time will tell. As we are a pass first, second and third offense, I’m thinking with Beane’s not so subtle nudge to the O line and their coaches about the poor performance of the run game, we will see a more effective run element in our offense, still we will very likely not run the ball a hell of a lot more than we have been doing, so don’t get your hopes up that the run game is going to get particularly bigger as part of the overall offensive scheme, that just won’t happen, 

[Bobby Hooks]

1 hour ago, BUFFALOBART said:

The larger factor in the Championship game, was that our defense, and wide receivers were beat up. In spite of the victories, we were outplayed in the two previous playoff contests, for the same reason. I'm not a big fan of Singletary, but I think that the Chiefs would've beaten us anyway.

I think an even larger factor was that KCs corners were literally holding our receivers every play. Just basically had carte blanche to take away our greatest strength. Refs didn't allow it in the super bowl and they were completely outmatched. Hopefully they don't allow that "sticky" coverage to continue next season. 

 

I know that comes off sour grapes-ish but they looked completely different as a team when they were getting penalties for doing exactly what they did to us all game. 

 

KC fans were completely blown away that those calls were being made. Which just goes to show they’ve been getting away with it all season.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Bobby Hooks

[Doc Brown]

2 minutes ago, Bobby Hooks said:

I think an even larger factor was that KCs corners were literally holding our receivers every play. Just basically taking away our greatest strength. Refs didn't allow it in the super bowl and they were completely outmatched. Hopefully they don't allow that "sticky" coverage to continue next season. I know that comes off sour grapes-ish but they looked completely different as a team when they were getting penalties for doing exactly what they did to us all game 

The biggest weakness in our passing offense is when teams play us in press coverage and the addition of Sanders doesn't help improve that.  There's only so much motion and window dressing you can do to get a free release off the line.

[billsbackto81]

5 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I agree with this 

True. But he is elusive, shifty and surprisingly strong for his size. I do think McBeane are ready to move on from Motor and find different running mate for Moss, whether it's Breida or someone else.

[BillsFan130]

1 hour ago, Don Otreply said:

Wasn’t talking about every single thing, but you can pretend I was... 😁

Well with all die you respect you said I was "pessimistic ".

 

Just because I don't have blind optimism about everything and I critique players on this team doesn't mean I'm pessimistic.

[Punching Bag]

Seen comparisons between two RBs first years.  The OL/game plan was very different which is partly why Motor digressed.  In Motor's 1st year guards like Quitinn' Span created holes for RBs to run but last year guards concentrating on redirecting rushers to give Josh time to throw, dodge and scramble so performance of all RBs was down.  Josh also takes runs which normally would be run by RBs so I think this makes their performance look worse.

[BuffaloBill]

6 hours ago, BillsMafi$ said:

 

 

https://www.golongtd.com/p/what-fuels-motor-devin-singletary

 

 

Nice PR piece and good insight to Motor but it has to translate to production on the field. I hope it does. The lack of a running game in Buffalo ultimately cost the Bills. They have to have both the reality and the threat. It will make Josh Allen that much better.

[ColoradoBills]

Moss seems to have found a niche on the team being able to run and catch fairly well with very good pass blocking skills.

These reasons seem to make him a lock for the next few years.

 

Breida has been brought in for a speedier change of pace back.  We'll see if that works or not but if it doesn't I think Beane will

try to "refill" that style next year.  It would not surprise me that a speedy RB is brought in with a 5th thru 7th round pick to compete for that role.

 

Singletary is at the crossroads in his career with the Bills this year.  I truly hope this training helps improve his play.  He's coming into his

3rd season of a 4 year contract and he and everyone knows it's his "do or die" year.  Unless Breida fails to impress in camp Devin

will be in a fight to dress for games and will have Antonio Williams and maybe even a late round BPA RB pushing him for playing time.

It will be even tougher if a RB is selected earlier than the 2nd 5th rounder.  He knows he needs to play better and is evidently working on it!

 

How anyone can see it differently is a puzzle to me.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

The narrative on Singletary would be a lot different if he catches that third down pass in the AFC championship game. That one play alone has put a permanent scar in the memory of Bills fans. Not because we would have somehow won the game but just because it was the only memorable thing he did in that game and it completely killed a drive. And he probably catches that pass 8 or 9 times out of 10.

[ColoradoBills]

38 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

Seen comparisons between two RBs first years.  The OL/game plan was very different which is partly why Motor digressed.  In Motor's 1st year guards like Quitinn' Span created holes for RBs to run but last year guards concentrating on redirecting rushers to give Josh time to throw, dodge and scramble so performance of all RBs was down.  Josh also takes runs which normally would be run by RBs so I think this makes their performance look worse.

 

All good points and I will add what I have been saying that this year will have a bigger emphasis in the running game during camp.

But, all the RBs will be judged running behind the current OL and that's just the way it's going to be.

[colin]

im pretty down on motor, but a big truth is that our run blocking is weak.  i do think if we draft someone who could eventually start at G or C in the next season (who is nasty anyhow) then we have a chance of improving the while run game right there.

[Don Otreply]

1 hour ago, BillsFan130 said:

Well with all die you respect you said I was "pessimistic ".

 

Just because I don't have blind optimism about everything and I critique players on this team doesn't mean I'm pessimistic.

When did blind optimism get mentioned? Except by you, your choice of verbiage says you’re pessimistic about Singletary, I ‘m talking about one guy, if you go back to my first post I said he could get better, and you and others said he can’t, that would be pessimistic would it not?? I’m thinking he can get back to his first year performance, especially with the emphasis Beane put on the run game in his season ending PC , it’s not that big a stretch if you give it some thought..., let’s just agree to disagree, I’ve got dinner calling, sea scallops wrapped in bacon, you know the food of the blind optimist, 😁👍

[BillsFan130]

4 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

When did blind optimism get mentioned? Except by you, your choice of verbiage says you’re pessimistic about Singletary, I ‘m talking about one guy, if you go back to my first post I said he could get better, and you and others said he can’t, that would be pessimistic would it not?? I’m thinking he can get back to his first year performance, especially with the emphasis Beane put on the run game in his season ending PC , it’s not that big a stretch if you give it some thought..., let’s just agree to disagree, I’ve got dinner calling, sea scallops wrapped in bacon, you know the food of the blind optimist, 😁👍

When i said blind optmist I wasn't referring to you being that blind optimist. Apologies if it came across that way.

 

But agreed sir, let's agree to disagree. Enjoy your dinner!

[OrtonHearsaWho]

If Singletary had two bad years I'd say move on but it's a little hard to forget that he was awfully elusive in his rookie year...so much so that it seemed criminal how poorly he was used.  He wasn't great last year but he absolutely wasn't as bad as a lot of the board thinks he was...his yards after contact were excellent, yards before contact not so good.  The latter really seems to be more blocking than anything although he may have missed the hole plenty of times as well.

 

For all of the talk about Motor, I'm surprised that Moss hasn't been talked about more.  He's the back that I really think has the most upside and he's also why I'm not a big fan of RB in the first.  I think Etienne and Harris are obviously both better backs than what we have but that doesn't mean we can't have a good running game with what we have.  The good thing is that I have exponentially more faith in the McBeane admin so my reaction to a 1st round RB wouldn't be what it was in the past 😆

[Jay_Fixit]

8 hours ago, McBean said:

Devon seems like a good kid but he’s so “meh” it hurts. Can’t catch, not explosive, so slooooow..

 

We need Harris or ETN to go over the top on offense.

 

I always think back to how KC mauled us in Buffalo last year by just handing the ball off.

 

Defenses would have to focus on Harris or ETN which leads to Allen cooking all day. 
 

We need our Thurman Thomas folks. Get it through your heads.

 

Harris or ETN! Make it happen BBB

I actually don’t want the Bills to draft Etienne because people refer to him as ETN.

[klos63]

4 hours ago, BillsVet said:

 

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/2020/defense/

 

Buffalo had 2020's highest paid defense that featured 3 1st round picks and numerous highly paid UFAs.  If they don't have the horses 4 years into McD's tenure they never will.  The issue is not limited to personnel.  Because whenever McD meets an opposing offense that can score, he goes uber-conservative and ends up giving up big points. 

 

There's going to be a reckoning probably next year when Josh's contract begins to inhibit McD from getting all the players he thinks he needs on that defense.  Drafting more defense does not work in the NFL of the 21st century.  The faster people accept that, the better.  Now, it's a matter of a HC who begins to accept that as well.

Why not?

[Coach Tuesday]

Just now, klos63 said:

Why not?

Because the rules overwhelmingly favor the offense.

[Mr. WEO]

4 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

The “Elite Athlete” moniker came after he showed he could run like he does, lots of guys have strong arms and are not considered athletic, let alone elite,  but you knew that...

As a ball thrower yes, but not as a runner, 

Wasn’t talking about every single thing, but you can pretend I was... 😁

 

 

What??  Newton was one of the dual threat QBs every to come out of college and you say Allen was only being compared to Newton....for their passing games??  Come on!  Everyone redraft was commenting on his athleticism and his ability to scramble and run.  Even low level buffalo rumblings Madde the obvious observation: " his tape is full of examples of Allen bullying his way for a first down."

 

 

[klos63]

14 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Because the rules overwhelmingly favor the offense.

Doesn't mean that drafting good defensive players won't help your defense.

15 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Because the rules overwhelmingly favor the offense.

The quote states that Allens contract will prevent signings of players we need on defense, but also says you can't draft for defense.  Makes no sense.

[cba fan]

9 hours ago, SCBills said:

I'll be honest, I'd almost rather give a late round pick a shot to platoon with Moss/Breida after what I saw from Singletary last year.   

yeah Williams or Wade too even.

Edited April 27, 2021 by cba fan

[Rockinon]

For all the smart asses with quick takes, I highly recommend actually reading the article that was posted. It was very inspirational. And the trainer is adamant that Singletary is going to be much faster. Hit his holes quicker and tear it up this year. This was a very good read and provides very good insight into Singltary's training program as well as his mindset.

[Shaw66]

12 minutes ago, Rockinon said:

For all the smart asses with quick takes, I highly recommend actually reading the article that was posted. It was very inspirational. And the trainer is adamant that Singletary is going to be much faster. Hit his holes quicker and tear it up this year. This was a very good read and provides very good insight into Singltary's training program as well as his mindset.

Right. Singletary himself says he will be a different back, and not because he's motivated.  It's because he is learning to run differently and training to have strength specific the changes in style. 

 

We will see if the change is real. 

[just1hugheser]

it is fully possible to make drastic changes through training, it just depends on how maxed out his body's potential was prior to the proper training, also doing the right training is only one step actually doing the work is the difficult part.  And based on his career so far I would say that he hasn't been through the proper training to maximize his body's potential for the movements his position performs on a game by game basis, so I would guess that he could develop significantly better explosiveness, acceleration and top end speed if he puts in the work.  That being said hopefully he is working on changing his mindset too, not just to be ready or to just do your job but developing a sense of urgency where he sees every play as an opportunity to hit a home run, to develop that mentality of 'when i cross the white line onto the field i transform into something else and i will dominate physically just with my effort. . .'

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

This is a real stretch.

[Thurman#1]

Great article. Makes me even more hopeful.

[Don Otreply]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

What??  Newton was one of the dual threat QBs every to come out of college and you say Allen was only being compared to Newton....for their passing games??  Come on!  Everyone redraft was commenting on his athleticism and his ability to scramble and run.  Even low level buffalo rumblings Madde the obvious observation: " his tape is full of examples of Allen bullying his way for a first down."

 

 

Yikes, nuance is not one of your super powers it would appear..., it’s no longer worth explaining...we see this differently and that will have to do, till another thread, 

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, Don Otreply said:

Yikes, nuance is not one of your super powers it would appear..., it’s no longer worth explaining...we see this differently and that will have to do, till another thread, 

yes, you’ve nuanced it to unintelligible.   I’m forever lost...

[machine gun kelly]

12 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I agree with this 

So do I.  Given we can’t really get a game breaking Edge, CB, or TE, Ettiene kind a makes sense.  Harris is a mistake.  He’s another Moss, maybe better, but Ettiene is more like a Kamara.  That’s what makes this team better.  The championship game KC was begging us to use Knox and Singletary as they didn’t respect either.  Well, we don’t have an option for Pitts at all so Ettiene is someone who could make us more versatile, good character and no medical issues in a year like this one.

 

ive gone back and forth and thought for sure we were going for a CB, but maybe this is what Beane wants.