phishhead220
07-07-2007, 08:13 PM
http://mvn.com/nfl-bills/2007/07/07/buffalo-preseason-running-back-analysis/
By Dan Goldman | July 7th, 2007
Before the start of the 2006 season, Buffalo running back Willis McGahee, the self-proclaimed best back in the league, chose not to show up to OTA’s. When a new coaching staff is coming in and a new offense is being installed you would think a player would be there.
Yahoo! Sports writer Jason Cole broke the story in February that McGahee never knew the plays. Cole received his information after talking with an anonymous source with the team.
“Willis literally didn’t know what to do on the plays,” a source said. “After the play was called, we’d have another coach signaling to Willis what to do because he didn’t know. He’d miss blocks [in pass protection] a few times, not because he was beat, but because he didn’t know what he was doing.”
This combined with his lackluster performance (990 yards, 3.8 average, 6 TD’s) and idiotic comments about moving the franchise to Buffalo earned him a ticket out of town.
General manager Marv Levy quickly moved to re-sign running back Anthony Thomas. Levy and Dick Jauron both repeated that they were content entering the season with Thomas as the team’s feature running back, but that did not fool anyone.
In the draft Buffalo found its feature back of the future selecting Cal’s Marshawn Lynch with the No. 12 overall pick.
Lynch comes in with a better skill set than McGahee whose style was to stiff arm defenders, dance around in the backfield excessively and appear to never run hard. Coming into the league, Lynch appears to be a hybrid running back, mixing elusiveness and power. He ran a 4.46 40-yard dash time at the combine, which is not as good as some, but he has quick feet so he hits the whole hard and can make the first guy miss. This season he had long runs of 71, 56, 42, 40 and 30 yards (I was unable to find detailed stats, such as runs over 20 yards, so I was forced to look at his longest runs from each game).
He led the Pac-10 in rushing last year, averaging 104.31 yards-per-game and led the conference in all-purpose yards (averaging 137.31). He scored 11 touchdowns in his final season, averaging 6.6 yards-per-carry.
That all-purpose yardage accounts for his outstanding ability as a receiver. At Cal the offense often split him out as a wide receiver, something you would never see McGahee do. Passing to the running back is supposed to be a big part of Steve Fairchild’s offense, remember what Marshall Faulk did in St. Louis? Lynch averaged a fantastic 9.6-yards-per-catch at Cal and scored four touchdowns through the air, so he could be the missing piece of the puzzle.
Buffalo has not had a skilled receiving running back since Thurman Thomas lined up behind the quarterback, unless you count fullback Larry Centers as a running back.
Lynch’s versatility also extends to throwing the ball, as he threw for two touchdowns in his collegiate career.
I cannot accurately gauge how Lynch will do at the NFL level, but I feel that he will have a lot of success behind Buffalo’s rebuilt offensive line.
When Bills players has been interviewed about Lynch and what he brings to the table compared to McGahee, they have been very quick to stay that they will be better.
The only question is if Lynch will be the starter for week one. I see no reason why he should not be with how much raw talent he has, but you have to factor in that he is a rookie. First-year running backs often struggle to learn blitz pickups (or in McGahee’s case refuse to learn them), as they never needed to in college. Thomas has a leg up in that department and he already knows the offense.
The A-Train successfully revived his career last year, which appeared to be going nowhere since he left Chicago.
The former Offensive Rookie of the Year backed up McGahee, but also put up solid numbers in a starting role. Against Indianapolis, he racked up 109 yards and added 95 yards against Green Bay.
In other games, he did not see as many carries and sometimes struggled. However, against New England he recorded 29 yards on three carries, including an 18-yard touchdown run.
Another aspect Thomas brought to Buffalo’s offense was a reliable receiver out of the backfield. Against Houston, he caught a season-high seven balls for 33 yards. Throughout the season he recorded 139 receiving yards.
Next up on the depth chart is rookie Dwayne Wright, who was selected in the fourth round of the draft out of Fresno State.
Wright is a bigger back at 5-11, 226-pounds, than Lynch (5-11, 217). He is not a burner, posting a 4.78 40-yard dash time at the combine, but from what reports came out of OTA’s he is deceptively nimble.
Last year he racked up 1,462 yards and 11 TD’s, averaging a healthy 5.6 average. Like Lynch he is also a capable receiver, he finished second on the team with 29 catches for 221 yards. He ranked 11th in the country for all-purpose yardage, averaging 140.3 a game.
I am excited to see what he can do during the preseason, because if he is the real deal Wright and Lynch could form a thunder and lightning type duo.
Wright likely will start the season as the third back on the depth chart, but I feel that if he learns the offense he could compete for the back up job with Thomas.
Shaud Williams, did not do much in terms of offense last year. He received just two carries and gained two yards.
He did get reps on offense, but they were mainly in blocking roles on third down. You know your top running back is bad at blitz pickups when you bring in a 5-7, 193-pound guy to pick up linebackers.
He is a reserve kick returner and serves other roles on special teams. (Interestingly Shaud also has his own personal web page. Want to buy an autographed helmet?)
The team re-signed him to a two-year deal this off-season.
Buffalo also added Josh Scobey to the depth chart at running back this year. Do not expect Scobey to receive any carries, as he only played special teams in Seattle.
He led the Seahawks unit with 19 tackles, so he is a candidate to replace Andre Davis as a gunner on punts.
Lastly, there is Fred Jackson who was on the practice squad last year. I do not see him earning a spot on the 40-man roster this year, but he can eat up some carries in the preseason.
Overall, I am excited about the possibilities for the Bills in the backfield. Thomas provides a good veteran presence while Lynch and Wright could be a force in the league for years.
By Dan Goldman | July 7th, 2007
Before the start of the 2006 season, Buffalo running back Willis McGahee, the self-proclaimed best back in the league, chose not to show up to OTA’s. When a new coaching staff is coming in and a new offense is being installed you would think a player would be there.
Yahoo! Sports writer Jason Cole broke the story in February that McGahee never knew the plays. Cole received his information after talking with an anonymous source with the team.
“Willis literally didn’t know what to do on the plays,” a source said. “After the play was called, we’d have another coach signaling to Willis what to do because he didn’t know. He’d miss blocks [in pass protection] a few times, not because he was beat, but because he didn’t know what he was doing.”
This combined with his lackluster performance (990 yards, 3.8 average, 6 TD’s) and idiotic comments about moving the franchise to Buffalo earned him a ticket out of town.
General manager Marv Levy quickly moved to re-sign running back Anthony Thomas. Levy and Dick Jauron both repeated that they were content entering the season with Thomas as the team’s feature running back, but that did not fool anyone.
In the draft Buffalo found its feature back of the future selecting Cal’s Marshawn Lynch with the No. 12 overall pick.
Lynch comes in with a better skill set than McGahee whose style was to stiff arm defenders, dance around in the backfield excessively and appear to never run hard. Coming into the league, Lynch appears to be a hybrid running back, mixing elusiveness and power. He ran a 4.46 40-yard dash time at the combine, which is not as good as some, but he has quick feet so he hits the whole hard and can make the first guy miss. This season he had long runs of 71, 56, 42, 40 and 30 yards (I was unable to find detailed stats, such as runs over 20 yards, so I was forced to look at his longest runs from each game).
He led the Pac-10 in rushing last year, averaging 104.31 yards-per-game and led the conference in all-purpose yards (averaging 137.31). He scored 11 touchdowns in his final season, averaging 6.6 yards-per-carry.
That all-purpose yardage accounts for his outstanding ability as a receiver. At Cal the offense often split him out as a wide receiver, something you would never see McGahee do. Passing to the running back is supposed to be a big part of Steve Fairchild’s offense, remember what Marshall Faulk did in St. Louis? Lynch averaged a fantastic 9.6-yards-per-catch at Cal and scored four touchdowns through the air, so he could be the missing piece of the puzzle.
Buffalo has not had a skilled receiving running back since Thurman Thomas lined up behind the quarterback, unless you count fullback Larry Centers as a running back.
Lynch’s versatility also extends to throwing the ball, as he threw for two touchdowns in his collegiate career.
I cannot accurately gauge how Lynch will do at the NFL level, but I feel that he will have a lot of success behind Buffalo’s rebuilt offensive line.
When Bills players has been interviewed about Lynch and what he brings to the table compared to McGahee, they have been very quick to stay that they will be better.
The only question is if Lynch will be the starter for week one. I see no reason why he should not be with how much raw talent he has, but you have to factor in that he is a rookie. First-year running backs often struggle to learn blitz pickups (or in McGahee’s case refuse to learn them), as they never needed to in college. Thomas has a leg up in that department and he already knows the offense.
The A-Train successfully revived his career last year, which appeared to be going nowhere since he left Chicago.
The former Offensive Rookie of the Year backed up McGahee, but also put up solid numbers in a starting role. Against Indianapolis, he racked up 109 yards and added 95 yards against Green Bay.
In other games, he did not see as many carries and sometimes struggled. However, against New England he recorded 29 yards on three carries, including an 18-yard touchdown run.
Another aspect Thomas brought to Buffalo’s offense was a reliable receiver out of the backfield. Against Houston, he caught a season-high seven balls for 33 yards. Throughout the season he recorded 139 receiving yards.
Next up on the depth chart is rookie Dwayne Wright, who was selected in the fourth round of the draft out of Fresno State.
Wright is a bigger back at 5-11, 226-pounds, than Lynch (5-11, 217). He is not a burner, posting a 4.78 40-yard dash time at the combine, but from what reports came out of OTA’s he is deceptively nimble.
Last year he racked up 1,462 yards and 11 TD’s, averaging a healthy 5.6 average. Like Lynch he is also a capable receiver, he finished second on the team with 29 catches for 221 yards. He ranked 11th in the country for all-purpose yardage, averaging 140.3 a game.
I am excited to see what he can do during the preseason, because if he is the real deal Wright and Lynch could form a thunder and lightning type duo.
Wright likely will start the season as the third back on the depth chart, but I feel that if he learns the offense he could compete for the back up job with Thomas.
Shaud Williams, did not do much in terms of offense last year. He received just two carries and gained two yards.
He did get reps on offense, but they were mainly in blocking roles on third down. You know your top running back is bad at blitz pickups when you bring in a 5-7, 193-pound guy to pick up linebackers.
He is a reserve kick returner and serves other roles on special teams. (Interestingly Shaud also has his own personal web page. Want to buy an autographed helmet?)
The team re-signed him to a two-year deal this off-season.
Buffalo also added Josh Scobey to the depth chart at running back this year. Do not expect Scobey to receive any carries, as he only played special teams in Seattle.
He led the Seahawks unit with 19 tackles, so he is a candidate to replace Andre Davis as a gunner on punts.
Lastly, there is Fred Jackson who was on the practice squad last year. I do not see him earning a spot on the 40-man roster this year, but he can eat up some carries in the preseason.
Overall, I am excited about the possibilities for the Bills in the backfield. Thomas provides a good veteran presence while Lynch and Wright could be a force in the league for years.