Mantis Toboggan M.D Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 Honestly all the big runs i remember from Willis were big runs from the left side. But he also mostly ran plays to the right. His big plays to the left were also mostly tosses, sweeps, like the fake qb sneak pitch for willis td in seatle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CentralVaBills Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 Actually, if you look at the 5 playoff teams the Bills played with Willis starting(opponents combined record of 57-24), Willis' averages are quite good, with the exception of NE: NE - 2.6 ave (37 yards) NYJ - 3.6 ave (132 yds) Stl - 5.0 ave (100yds) Sea - 4.1 ave (116 yds) Pit - 4.4 ave (79 yds) So if you total it up, McGahee had 464 yards on 117 carries against playoff teams, for a 3.96 average, which is right on his overall 4.0 ypc. The idea that McGahee only ran well against poor teams is a myth. 404784[/snapback] OK, let's talk about this a little more honestly. And this is not indicative of Willis, but the overall running game. Willis is just where we are getting the averages from......but please.... He (team) was awful vs. NE. That's the game where we need the running game most. VERY average vs. the Jets. I consider those two good teams. Seattle and St. Louis both sucked. If they were in the AFC OR any other division in football, neither would have made the playoffs. Both of those teams had swiss cheese defenses. And do we really have to re-hash the Pittsburgh reserves game? It's not a myth. Our schedule is markedly more difficult this season. Last year's schedule was a joke in our favor. We'll see how it goes this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 Bottom line...the OL was not that good last year and many of the yards that WM gained were by his own efforts. There were way to many times where WM had no hole to run through. Hopefully this aspect of the OL will improve this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kota Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 I hope teams do stack the box against JP but that only means big plays from the WR's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadBuffaloDisease Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 I hope teams do stack the box against JP but that only means big plays from the WR's. One successful deep throw will cure all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad1 Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 OK, let's talk about this a little more honestly. And this is not indicative of Willis, but the overall running game. Willis is just where we are getting the averages from......but please.... He (team) was awful vs. NE. That's the game where we need the running game most. VERY average vs. the Jets. Seattle and St. Louis both sucked. If they were in the AFC OR any other division in football, neither would have made the playoffs. Both of those teams had swiss cheese defenses. And do we really have to re-hash the Pittsburgh reserves game? It's not a myth. 404829[/snapback] You saw the stats, it's not a myth. You can spin it all you like, but the fact remains to support my original claim. I'm not going to argue your shoulda's and coulda's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003Contenders Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 Another factor regarding running to the left is that is also the direction that the opponent's best pass rusher is coming from. It's not hard to imagine an occasional big run coming at the expense of an over-pursuing DE/OLB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CentralVaBills Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 You saw the stats, it's not a myth. You can spin it all you like, but the fact remains to support my original claim. I'm not going to argue your shoulda's and coulda's. 404872[/snapback] No shoulda, coulda, and woulda's there.......there were only two good football teams mentioned in that group, and one, that played it's scrubs against us. Seattle and St. Louis were a joke. Our team's (and this means the whole team), including the defense, ran up their stats against a patsy schedule. And yes, I, as would most football fans, include St. Louis (especially on the road) and Seattle in that group. Pittsburgh was embarassing enough, I'd rather not even get into who was on the defensive side of the ball for them in that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarthur31 Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 Listening to the Czaban show this morning and this fantasy guy pulls this stat. Willis average per carrry Running Left---- 5.3 Running Right----3.1 Number one surprised the hell out of me. Number two, with two new guys on the left side and guys stacking the box with the JP, are we DOOMED. Number three, my sense was big Mike and CV were are our strengths on the line, but this sure does not support that theory 404640[/snapback] Last year, when Willis was starting, he favored the right side of the line. As the season progressed, he started going left alot more. I think it has more to do where there is the least amount of opposing jerseys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typical TBD Guy Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 Maybe he was running to the right much more often when he we looking for short yardage. 404648[/snapback] Exactly. That idea matches pretty well with my fuzzy memory of last season's offense. Plus, opposing defenses probably figured that the right side of our OL was the more dominant run-blocking side, so more often than not they'd focus more guys on that side. This could be another explanation for the left/right disparity. EDIT: oops, I see jarthur31 made this point 1 minute before me. Sorry, jarthur31! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad1 Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 No shoulda, coulda, and woulda's there.......there were only two good football teams mentioned in that group, and one, that played it's scrubs against us. Seattle and St. Louis were a joke. Our team's (and this means the whole team), including the defense, ran up their stats against a patsy schedule. And yes, I, as would most football fans, include St. Louis (especially on the road) and Seattle in that group. Pittsburgh was embarassing enough, I'd rather not even get into who was on the defensive side of the ball for them in that one. 405044[/snapback] The original premise was that McGahee's totals went down against the teams with better records on the Bills schedule. Whether you like it or not, Seattle and and St. Louis fall into that group. And while he did flounder against the Pats (with a whopping 14 carries) and the Bills did lose against the Steelers (18 carries), the fact remains that his performance against teams with better records was on par with his performance against teams with losing records. Whether you believe the opposing teams were worthy of their records is irrelevant. The Bills played the teams on their schedule, and McGahee for the most part, was consistent, regardless of the level of competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinandjokin Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 VERY average vs. the Jets. 404829[/snapback] You have a horrible memory. "In his third career start, McGahee set career highs with 37 attempts and 132 rushing yards…his 37 attempts are tied for second on the Bills all-time list for attempts in a game and he became only the third Bill with three 100+ rushing performances in a season (first to do it in first three starts)…" He also had a nice touchdown run (about 15 yards if I remember correctly) on a 4th and 1. He was a beast in this game and the Jets couldn't stop him. Maybe the avg per carry wasn't big, but they gave it to him 37 times so he was doing something right. Willis and the D won this game for the Bills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadBuffaloDisease Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 You have a horrible memory. "In his third career start, McGahee set career highs with 37 attempts and 132 rushing yards…his 37 attempts are tied for second on the Bills all-time list for attempts in a game and he became only the third Bill with three 100+ rushing performances in a season (first to do it in first three starts)…" He also had a nice touchdown run (about 15 yards if I remember correctly) on a 4th and 1. He was a beast in this game and the Jets couldn't stop him. Maybe the avg per carry wasn't big, but they gave it to him 37 times so he was doing something right. Willis and the D won this game for the Bills. Ironic it was against the Jets. Curtis Martin's career average is about 3.7 YPC, but no one is saying HE is "very average." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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