Departure of Davis highlights bigger issue for Bills

[Don't Panic]

http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2007/04/davis_leaving_highlights_bigge.html


I think the Bills will find someone to step up and replace Davis and both of his catches last year. I checked his stats after he signed with the Texans and, even though I know he didn't do much, it turns out he did even less than not much. He did play well on special teams, a sign that a player is willing to contribute and perform tasks less glamorous than those associated with the wide receiver job title, but the Bills will probably be able to find someone else who can gain Davis' 13 yards, maybe by having ball carriers fall forward a few times.
He never gelled with the offense or quarterback J.P. Losman. In a universe where Fate is a Bills fan, Davis would have resurrected his game and aided the passing attack by stretching the field, thus making Evans' life a little less arduous. Call me negative, but it didn't really work out that way. That brings up the more pressing task: Davis didn't contribute, so are there guys on the current roster other than Evans who can?


Good question... make ot break time for Reed and Price.

[Night Train]

Reed plays the #3 slot and I'm not worried about him. He splits that position with Parrish. Reed actually surprised me with positive play last year.

It's Gutless...er...Peerless that needs to be replaced as the #2 WR. That's a must, IMO.

[YardRat]

I think if the front office were really concerned about the #2 they would have at least signed one in FA. If they don't draft one on Day 1, plan on Peerless being opposite Evans for the season.

[Forward_Lateral]

:rofl: Why is everyone so down on Price? Does everyone forget that he had 2 game winning catches for Buffalo? The guy isn't in his prime any longer, but he's still a valuable asset.

[Tatonka]

i tihnk a pass catching TE like miller or olsen is much more important that replaceing price or reed.

[Don't Panic]

I wish Everett would have developed into anything like we hoped he would have a couple years back. That guy would be the perfect remedy to this situation right now. They did mention freeing Royal up with Walker here, so maybe we'll get a ltitle production out of the TE spot this year. I wouldn't be opposed to taking one after the 2nd round.

[Tatonka]

well this year is everetts last call.. if he sucks again, he wont make the team.. so he is literally playing for his career.. and he will need to show why we drafted him or else he is going home.

[HHURRICANE]

i tihnk a pass catching TE like miller or olsen is much more important that replaceing price or reed.

Dude, get off the TE kick. I'm so sick of hearing how we need a TE. Most teams don't emphasize TE or FB unless they have a guy who can play the position at a high level.

Royal was asked to block a lot last year which he did. He did make some nice catches and I believe had some TD's. He made one terrible play not keeping his feet in bounds and did drop a couple of balls but for the most part played well.

If he gets to catch more than block his catching and awareness of the field will improve.

Too many of you fall in love with the idea of having a Schockey, Gonzales, or Metzelars around here when plenty of teams operate at a high level without even having someone as good as Royal on their team.

We need a big receiver, wether at #2 or #4. Somebody who's over the current 5' 10" status quo on this team. Someone who can get TD catches by out jumping the defender.

[Forward_Lateral]

i tihnk a pass catching TE like miller or olsen is much more important that replaceing price or reed.

I'd settle for actually using the TE in the passing game more than once a game.

[Mr. Pink]

Dude, get off the TE kick. I'm so sick of hearing how we need a TE. Most teams don't emphasize TE or FB unless they have a guy who can play the position at a high level.

Royal was asked to block a lot last year which he did. He did make some nice catches and I believe had some TD's. He made one terrible play not keeping his feet in bounds and did drop a couple of balls but for the most part played well.

If he gets to catch more than block his catching and awareness of the field will improve.

Too many of you fall in love with the idea of having a Schockey, Gonzales, or Metzelars around here when plenty of teams operate at a high level without even having someone as good as Royal on their team.

We need a big receiver, wether at #2 or #4. Somebody who's over the current 5' 10" status quo on this team. Someone who can get TD catches by out jumping the defender.


Indy-Dallas Clark
Chi-Desmond Clark
NE-Watson
NO-had no viable option at TE so they brought in Eric Johnson this year, coincidence?
KC-TG
Den-brought in Daniel Graham who is a big redzone target
Balt-Heap
Dal-Witten
Philly-LJ Smith
Seattle-had Stevens replaced him with Marcus Pollard

Notice a pattern here? Almost all of the playoff teams have good TEs and much better TEs then we have presently. And that's not even going into teams who are nowhere near playoff contention...Cooley in Wash, KII in Cleveland.

[gr8slayer]

Reed plays the #3 slot and I'm not worried about him. He splits that position with Parrish. Reed actually surprised me with positive play last year.

It's Gutless...er...Peerless that needs to be replaced as the #2 WR. That's a must, IMO.
Peerless was pretty damn good for us this year. If nothing else he earned himself another year on the squad.

[gr8slayer]

I'd settle for actually using the TE in the passing game more than once a game.
We'd win more games that way too.

[The Answer]

http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2007/04/davis_leaving_highlights_bigge.html



Good question... make ot break time for Reed and Price.

LOL! Davis was a complete scrub - who cares.

~The Answer

[Saratoga Slim]

Indy-Dallas Clark
Chi-Desmond Clark
NE-Watson
NO-had no viable option at TE so they brought in Eric Johnson this year, coincidence?
KC-TG
Den-brought in Daniel Graham who is a big redzone target
Balt-Heap
Dal-Witten
Philly-LJ Smith
Seattle-had Stevens replaced him with Marcus Pollard

Notice a pattern here? Almost all of the playoff teams have good TEs and much better TEs then we have presently. And that's not even going into teams who are nowhere near playoff contention...Cooley in Wash, KII in Cleveland.

I fully agree. I'm just not sure there's a guy in this draft outside of Olsen that is going to really give us an upgrade on Royal. Olsen might, but he's going to be gone in the 1st round and I do NOT want to spend #12 on him.

[OpIv37]

:rofl: Why is everyone so down on Price? Does everyone forget that he had 2 game winning catches for Buffalo? The guy isn't in his prime any longer, but he's still a valuable asset.

he makes #2 money and plays like a #3. Same for Reed. One of these guys needs to step up and be a REAL #2 and neither is doing it.

[OpIv37]

Good question... make ot break time for Reed and Price.

It's been make or break time for Reed for 3 seasons and he has yet to step it up. The guy run blocks, which is good and it's something that a lot of the prima donna WR's in this league don't even attempt. But as far as an offensive threat to give JP a target or take pressure off of Evans, he just doesn't cut it.

[raphael120]

Price has had what...7 seasons to "step it up"

Reed has had 4 seasons to "step it up"

Personally, I think both should be steppin up to the unemployment line.

[ShadowHawk7]

Personally, I thought Reed did a solid job as #3/#4 WR last year. We've been waiting for him to "step it up" for years. It's clear now he can't be more than a dependable 3rd WR; it's time to realize that.

[evol4276]

Indy-Dallas Clark
Chi-Desmond Clark
NE-Watson
NO-had no viable option at TE so they brought in Eric Johnson this year, coincidence?
KC-TG
Den-brought in Daniel Graham who is a big redzone target
Balt-Heap
Dal-Witten
Philly-LJ Smith
Seattle-had Stevens replaced him with Marcus Pollard

Notice a pattern here? Almost all of the playoff teams have good TEs and much better TEs then we have presently. And that's not even going into teams who are nowhere near playoff contention...Cooley in Wash, KII in Cleveland.

desmond clark - benefited last year with an off-n-on mediocre qb that had his first full year starting with his only complete wr threat (berrian) out for much of the year, tho did benefit well (to a still young qb). gets a handfull of receptions every year, but no real big recieving threat. has 1-2 good wrs im berrian and maybe muhs

watson - yes i agree they used him well, but they do a good job of spreading the ball around to every recieving threat on the team. 29 and 49 recepts the past 2 years.. jury's still out on him with a good qb at the helm. hes better than a lot of tes tho (recieving-wise) has no legitimate wr threat, tho always has a good recieving threat

johnson - yes, no te play last year. made up for it with rb recieving. i dont see that changing much as long as colston and bush are on the team as the biggest threats. eric johnson, while yes i like him, also benefitted from a very young so-so qb (possibly only cuz they were sf, only really had bryant as a decent wr who still was lackluster). however did have a good year before smith came along. i just dont see no using him much still. played 2 of the past 4 years. did not make playoffs. had bryant tho did not produce as much as thought. now has colston, bush

gonzalez - legitimate pass-catching te. no complaints or questioning here. had 102 in 04 and at least 70 recepts in the past 4 years. 24 tds in those 4. no legitimate wr threat

gates - not mentioned (and personally one of my fav players) but also a wonderful pass-catching te 3378 yds in 4 years with 34 tds. total freak for position and rare to find. no legitimate wr threat (maybe jackson soon?)

daniel graham - was used well in pat-land with the rest of the recievers/tes, and will benefit from a 1st year qb. still no saying he's heaps and bounds better than royal. 49 recepts since 2002 with 17 total tds. same as watson (tho not number 1 te). now has walker, smith

heap - no question. good reciever. at least 70 receptions each year along with 13 tds (mason)

smith - benefitted from elite qb (when healthy) but not as much when mcnabb goes down. 05 and 06 show significant decreases in receptions once he went down. 8 tds in 2 years. 30 yds in playoffs. no real consistant #1 wr threat

stevens - really i dont know.. dont really like him as a pass-catching te. 22 recs last year, 44 the year before. not too good of an example. 9 tds both years combined. has hackett, branch

royal - only had about 25 receptions last year, tho it only seemed like we started using him a lot more a little later in the year. 4 tds the past 2 years obviously did not make playoffs. has evans, but no other wr threat

cooley - h-back, more notably than te.. kidna confusing to me tho did not make playoffs. santana, lloyd??

winslow - i like him, had a good year, but only one and apparently he may be done for good??? did not make playoffs, 3rd worst overall. no real wr threat (tho i like edwards as hes coming up)

------

baker - 300 yrds last year, 81 recepts in the past 4 years with 9 tds. cotchery, coles? mccareins?

crumpler - in 6 years, over 3000 yds recieving from vick. seems to be his only recieving threat, tho still not really a threat. hes large and slow and still cannot catch the ball as well as you'd think (i saw a bunch of bad games this year at least from him). did not make playoffs. no wr threat really

shockey - good offensive leader for a team that has almost no leadership offensively (god forbid manning wuld step up). 6 yrs with only 1 year not over 60 receptions. burress.

anderson - horrible qb play the past few years, maybe 25 the past 2 years each. team deads last in nfl. moss, not really porter much. moss not so much as a raider.

smith - 76 rec in 2 years in the nfl. average 300 yds a year. bad qb play. 5 tds. good reciever tho doesnt get many yds. did not make playoffs. galloway who is good for his age.

putzier - nearly 1000 yds and 73 rec. in 2 years with denver, 13 receptions in 06 with houston. did not make playoffs. johnson, maybe moulds, not so much though

miller - 70-some rec. over 800 yds in 2 years. team did win in sb a year ago but was not riding on offense. did not make playoffs. ward.

kelly - team has been good the past few years, tho has not had more than 20 recs int he past 4. (tho has cj and housh)

i could keep going but im growing more drunk/tired as the night goes on.

my point is yes you can get a lot of use from a te, but it doesnt take as much to get progress from one as you normally would think. a lot of these guys (outside of heap gonzalez and gates) are only so-so and that might only be because of the system theyre in (suprise suprise) or because they either have a great qb that can understand the idea of having a big reciever at times, or a learning qb whos last resort may be that te, or even lack of wr support on their offense that they recieve so much atteniton. some of these teams have even had a lackluster offense even with these te's, let alone terrible teams. notice how a lot of them have a lot of tds tho, a lot of which are short distance tds, which tes are better known for. the tallness for them make sit easier to toss it to them in valuable times. i dont think we need an ELITE te, because few of them exist in the nfl right now. you dont need a superior tight end to catch 30-40 balls and a few touchdowns. just one that is decent at recieving and can catch on the fly. i am not sure if royal is the answer but he showed at the ending quarter of last year that he can be valuable if taught a little better in the recieving department. you dont have to be TOO picky about tight ends really.. i cant lie tho i would love to have a gates, tho it wuld be a lot harder to find one than to find and work with a tight end to do a good job and put up close to as good of numbers as those guys. it takes more than a decent tight end to make a team complete and superbowl-bound. i think for us itd take more for us to get a #2 reciever to enhance our offensive play from before.

[EDS]

Peerless was pretty damn good for us this year. If nothing else he earned himself another year on the squad.

How did he play pretty good for the Bills last year? He had two notable plays and was invisible the remainder of the season. He averaged less then 10 yards per reception! That is horrible for a supposed "speed" receiver.

[ublinkwescore]

desmond clark - benefited last year with an off-n-on mediocre qb that had his first full year starting with his only complete wr threat (berrian) out for much of the year, tho did benefit well (to a still young qb). gets a handfull of receptions every year, but no real big recieving threat. has 1-2 good wrs im berrian and maybe muhs

watson - yes i agree they used him well, but they do a good job of spreading the ball around to every recieving threat on the team. 29 and 49 recepts the past 2 years.. jury's still out on him with a good qb at the helm. hes better than a lot of tes tho (recieving-wise) has no legitimate wr threat, tho always has a good recieving threat

johnson - yes, no te play last year. made up for it with rb recieving. i dont see that changing much as long as colston and bush are on the team as the biggest threats. eric johnson, while yes i like him, also benefitted from a very young so-so qb (possibly only cuz they were sf, only really had bryant as a decent wr who still was lackluster). however did have a good year before smith came along. i just dont see no using him much still. played 2 of the past 4 years. did not make playoffs. had bryant tho did not produce as much as thought. now has colston, bush

gonzalez - legitimate pass-catching te. no complaints or questioning here. had 102 in 04 and at least 70 recepts in the past 4 years. 24 tds in those 4. no legitimate wr threat

gates - not mentioned (and personally one of my fav players) but also a wonderful pass-catching te 3378 yds in 4 years with 34 tds. total freak for position and rare to find. no legitimate wr threat (maybe jackson soon?)

daniel graham - was used well in pat-land with the rest of the recievers/tes, and will benefit from a 1st year qb. still no saying he's heaps and bounds better than royal. 49 recepts since 2002 with 17 total tds. same as watson (tho not number 1 te). now has walker, smith

heap - no question. good reciever. at least 70 receptions each year along with 13 tds (mason)

smith - benefitted from elite qb (when healthy) but not as much when mcnabb goes down. 05 and 06 show significant decreases in receptions once he went down. 8 tds in 2 years. 30 yds in playoffs. no real consistant #1 wr threat

stevens - really i dont know.. dont really like him as a pass-catching te. 22 recs last year, 44 the year before. not too good of an example. 9 tds both years combined. has hackett, branch

royal - only had about 25 receptions last year, tho it only seemed like we started using him a lot more a little later in the year. 4 tds the past 2 years obviously did not make playoffs. has evans, but no other wr threat

cooley - h-back, more notably than te.. kidna confusing to me tho did not make playoffs. santana, lloyd??

winslow - i like him, had a good year, but only one and apparently he may be done for good??? did not make playoffs, 3rd worst overall. no real wr threat (tho i like edwards as hes coming up)

------

baker - 300 yrds last year, 81 recepts in the past 4 years with 9 tds. cotchery, coles? mccareins?

crumpler - in 6 years, over 3000 yds recieving from vick. seems to be his only recieving threat, tho still not really a threat. hes large and slow and still cannot catch the ball as well as you'd think (i saw a bunch of bad games this year at least from him). did not make playoffs. no wr threat really

shockey - good offensive leader for a team that has almost no leadership offensively (god forbid manning wuld step up). 6 yrs with only 1 year not over 60 receptions. burress.

anderson - horrible qb play the past few years, maybe 25 the past 2 years each. team deads last in nfl. moss, not really porter much. moss not so much as a raider.

smith - 76 rec in 2 years in the nfl. average 300 yds a year. bad qb play. 5 tds. good reciever tho doesnt get many yds. did not make playoffs. galloway who is good for his age.

putzier - nearly 1000 yds and 73 rec. in 2 years with denver, 13 receptions in 06 with houston. did not make playoffs. johnson, maybe moulds, not so much though

miller - 70-some rec. over 800 yds in 2 years. team did win in sb a year ago but was not riding on offense. did not make playoffs. ward.

kelly - team has been good the past few years, tho has not had more than 20 recs int he past 4. (tho has cj and housh)

i could keep going but im growing more drunk/tired as the night goes on.

my point is yes you can get a lot of use from a te, but it doesnt take as much to get progress from one as you normally would think. a lot of these guys (outside of heap gonzalez and gates) are only so-so and that might only be because of the system theyre in (suprise suprise) or because they either have a great qb that can understand the idea of having a big reciever at times, or a learning qb whos last resort may be that te, or even lack of wr support on their offense that they recieve so much atteniton. some of these teams have even had a lackluster offense even with these te's, let alone terrible teams. notice how a lot of them have a lot of tds tho, a lot of which are short distance tds, which tes are better known for. the tallness for them make sit easier to toss it to them in valuable times. i dont think we need an ELITE te, because few of them exist in the nfl right now. you dont need a superior tight end to catch 30-40 balls and a few touchdowns. just one that is decent at recieving and can catch on the fly. i am not sure if royal is the answer but he showed at the ending quarter of last year that he can be valuable if taught a little better in the recieving department. you dont have to be TOO picky about tight ends really.. i cant lie tho i would love to have a gates, tho it wuld be a lot harder to find one than to find and work with a tight end to do a good job and put up close to as good of numbers as those guys. it takes more than a decent tight end to make a team complete and superbowl-bound. i think for us itd take more for us to get a #2 reciever to enhance our offensive play from before.

Is that Langston Walker in your Sig?

[evol4276]

Is that Langston Walker in your Sig? hahah i highly doubt it kinda looks like him tho, so... sure! i can lie