Ready to run again

[LifetimeBillsFan]

In an article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Willis admits that he felt that he was misused last season and that he pouted about it:

Ready to run again
McGahee eager to prove he is NFL's best
Sal Maiorana (smaioran@democratandchronicle.com)
Staff writer

"....More than the loss of weight, McGahee is clearly happy that former coach Mike Mularkey and offensive coordinator Tom Clements are gone.

Part of McGahee's drop in production last year was directly attributable, he said, to the inconsistent play-calling that plagued Buffalo's offense.

"I wasn't part of the Mularkey package," McGahee joked when reminded that he was often off the field when the Bills were in passing situations, even though he has always shown an ability to catch the ball.

"It wasn't my fault. We'd get on the goal line and we'd start passing. I'm not going to sit here and pout about it, but we'd get on the goal line and we'd pass four straight plays, so what am I going to do?"

He knows what he needs to do this season: Get ready to be a workhorse.

"We believe he's really good, and we want to run," coach Dick Jauron said. "We know we have to run the ball, and we believe he can do it. He is definitely a guy we're counting on."
Good, said McGahee...."
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060730/SPORTS03/607300351/1021


Hopefully, the bad experience that he had last season will help him grow up and be a better player from here on out. Willis, like most top RBs, is a guy who thrives on getting the ball, getting better the more touches that he gets. I don't know why Mularkey refused to get him the ball last season, but I'm pretty sure that Jauron will make sure that McGahee gets enough touches this season to be as effective as he is capable of being with this Bills squad.

The sidebar to this article is an update on Nall's injury. Basically it says that they don't yet know how bad the injury is and may not know for a couple of days.

[Captain gameboy]

I really, really like what I'm hearing about the McGahee issue so far.

In my view, this was the single most puzzling aspect of the Mularkey second year.

Willis seemed like a Thurman Thomas type, but was never used that way.

If we get just marginal improvement from the offensive line, marginal improvement from the WR's as Reed gets going (is it my imagination or his name popping up more and more?), Lee Evans continues to break out, no Moulds feuding to put up with, marginally better tight end production and marginally better QB play, we could be closer to OK than a lot of us think.
Just a little bit at each position.

Anyway, as the result of this off season, I'm going to pull in the fangs a little about Willis.
Simply stated, this is his year to prove it or lose it.

[Historian]

I agree.

[YardRat]

Shaun Alexander led the league in attempts last year with 370, or roughly 23 carries per game.

McGahee had 325...just over 20 per game. I don't think less than 1 carry per quarter qualifies as 'refusing to get him the ball'. Add in 15 receptions by Alexander and 28 by McGahee and the margin narrows even more.

Willis was one of only three RB's in the top twenty to average under 4 yards per carry, and his longest run was only 27 yards...the shortest among the top twenty save one.

Mularkey's play-calling was suspect at times, especially in the red zone, but not getting touches or being under-utilized is certainly not the only factor involved here (if it even is a factor at all)...Willis has to take some of the responsibility on his own shoulders instead of placing the blame completely on others.

That being said, the guy definitely has the potential to be one of the best backs in the league, and I hope he fulfills his promise this season.

[shelby]

gameboy, i agree, we seem to be hearing more and more about Josh Reed.
i hope Willis has a breakout season this year.

[HHURRICANE]

McGahee had 325...just over 20 per game. I don't think less than 1 carry per quarter qualifies as 'refusing to get him the ball'. Add in 15 receptions by Alexander and 28 by McGahee and the margin narrows even more.

Mularkey's play-calling was suspect at times, especially in the red zone, but not getting touches or being under-utilized is certainly not the only factor involved here (if it even is a factor at all)...Willis has to take some of the responsibility on his own shoulders instead of placing the blame completely on others.

I am going to give Willis a pass on this one. I went and looked back at the stats for every game last year and play calling had alot to do with it. When you don't spread out the field and your OL stinks the power rushing gameplan is a joke. We could have had Shaun Alexander on our team last year and I really believe the results would have been the same.

Fairchild is going to have a huge impact on this team!!

[X-Era]

In an article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Willis admits that he felt that he was misused last season and that he pouted about it:

Ready to run again
McGahee eager to prove he is NFL's best
Sal Maiorana (smaioran@democratandchronicle.com)
Staff writer

"....More than the loss of weight, McGahee is clearly happy that former coach Mike Mularkey and offensive coordinator Tom Clements are gone.

Part of McGahee's drop in production last year was directly attributable, he said, to the inconsistent play-calling that plagued Buffalo's offense.

"I wasn't part of the Mularkey package," McGahee joked when reminded that he was often off the field when the Bills were in passing situations, even though he has always shown an ability to catch the ball.

"It wasn't my fault. We'd get on the goal line and we'd start passing. I'm not going to sit here and pout about it, but we'd get on the goal line and we'd pass four straight plays, so what am I going to do?"

He knows what he needs to do this season: Get ready to be a workhorse.

"We believe he's really good, and we want to run," coach Dick Jauron said. "We know we have to run the ball, and we believe he can do it. He is definitely a guy we're counting on."
Good, said McGahee...."
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060730/SPORTS03/607300351/1021


Hopefully, the bad experience that he had last season will help him grow up and be a better player from here on out. Willis, like most top RBs, is a guy who thrives on getting the ball, getting better the more touches that he gets. I don't know why Mularkey refused to get him the ball last season, but I'm pretty sure that Jauron will make sure that McGahee gets enough touches this season to be as effective as he is capable of being with this Bills squad.

The sidebar to this article is an update on Nall's injury. Basically it says that they don't yet know how bad the injury is and may not know for a couple of days.

Now Ronnie Brown has to suffer through it!!!!!!!!!!

[SABURZFAN]

the playcalling was a bunch of mularkey last year.i hope willis can turn it around.it all starts up front though.

[Jan Reimers]

I am going to give Willis a pass on this one. I went and looked back at the stats for every game last year and play calling had alot to do with it. When you don't spread out the field and your OL stinks the power rushing gameplan is a joke. We could have had Shaun Alexander on our team last year and I really believe the results would have been the same.

Fairchild is going to have a huge impact on this team!!
I am going to give every offensive player a pass for last season. I think Jauron and Fairchild will be a breath of fresh air after the stench of Mularkey and Clements.

God, did those guys even have a clue?

[ublinkwescore]

Shaun Alexander led the league in attempts last year with 370, or roughly 23 carries per game.

McGahee had 325...just over 20 per game. I don't think less than 1 carry per quarter qualifies as 'refusing to get him the ball'. Add in 15 receptions by Alexander and 28 by McGahee and the margin narrows even more.

Willis was one of only three RB's in the top twenty to average under 4 yards per carry, and his longest run was only 27 yards...the shortest among the top twenty save one.

Mularkey's play-calling was suspect at times, especially in the red zone, but not getting touches or being under-utilized is certainly not the only factor involved here (if it even is a factor at all)...Willis has to take some of the responsibility on his own shoulders instead of placing the blame completely on others.

That being said, the guy definitely has the potential to be one of the best backs in the league, and I hope he fulfills his promise this season.

A lot of those carries came in very few games - there were games where McGahee didn't hardly touch the ball.

[YardRat]

6 games Willis had 16 carries or less...all six were losses.

10 games he had 20 or more carries.

6 games he had 23 or more carries (Alexander's average)...3 wins, 3 losses.

Holcomb started 4 of the 6 23+ games. Losman started 4 of the 6 16- games.

[Lexwhat]

Shaun Alexander led the league in attempts last year with 370, or roughly 23 carries per game.

McGahee had 325...just over 20 per game. I don't think less than 1 carry per quarter qualifies as 'refusing to get him the ball'. Add in 15 receptions by Alexander and 28 by McGahee and the margin narrows even more.

Willis was one of only three RB's in the top twenty to average under 4 yards per carry, and his longest run was only 27 yards...the shortest among the top twenty save one.

Mularkey's play-calling was suspect at times, especially in the red zone, but not getting touches or being under-utilized is certainly not the only factor involved here (if it even is a factor at all)...Willis has to take some of the responsibility on his own shoulders instead of placing the blame completely on others.

That being said, the guy definitely has the potential to be one of the best backs in the league, and I hope he fulfills his promise this season.


I dont think the issue was getting him the ball. I think, as you are saying, he wasnt used correctly. When it came to the red zone or goal-line situations, Willis simply wasn't used.

Anyways, last year was last year. As already stated, I think we all should give Willis a chance this year. If last year was a fluke, he can overcome it by playing well this year.

[Lexwhat]

God, did those guys even have a clue?

That's rhetorical, right?

[ParanoidAndroid]

6 games Willis had 16 carries or less...all six were losses.

10 games he had 20 or more carries.

6 games he had 23 or more carries (Alexander's average)...3 wins, 3 losses.

Holcomb started 4 of the 6 23+ games. Losman started 4 of the 6 16- games.

Interesting.