Even if Marcus Jones heals up nicely, why is there so much optimism about him?

[WG]

I just revisited his career stats.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/stats?statsId=3530

I'm not exactly impressed here. Seems like a Posey type of player in terms of numbers. I.e., didn't start or play much early in his career, then only posted one significant season in 6 years. The big difference is that he was drafted in the first round.

In 6 seasons he's had only one outstanding season among 1 very average one, the last one, and then 4 in which he didn't make much of an impact at all for one reason or another.

He'll be 30 this year, so for a Bruce Smith type of player who relies on his speed, that may be a factor too. He's obviously coming off of a significant injurie(s).

I guess I find myself hoping that he's "our answer", but then I also find myself asking why I have that hope. It appears that Jones is oft injured and really is only a player who had high hopes upon entering the NFL but who never lived up to those hopes.

What are your all's thoughts?

[THATHURMANATOR]

While he might not be a star Player I think he is an upgrade over Anhonatou and has shown in the past he can get to the QB. Whether he will be able to do it again is what we will find out.

[Dozerdog]

Ditto Thurm

[Patrick76777]

Because I invented a time machine, and saw that he’ll have 15 sacks this season. He’ll also make the Pro-bowl. Unfortunately we won’t make the playoffs because of a bizarre Piano incident with one of our superstars.

[Tatonka]

Originally posted by Patrick76777
Because I invented a time machine, and saw that he’ll have 15 sacks this season. He’ll also make the Pro-bowl. Unfortunately we won’t make the playoffs because of a bizarre Piano incident with one of our superstars.

roflmao

[LtBillsFan66]

I haven't heard too much optimism about him. Maybe I'm missing something.

[TheGhostofJimKelly]

I don't know if I had seen anybody shooting a load over him, I just think the fans are hungry for a good front four and hope that he can be an upgrade.

[THATHURMANATOR]

I agree. An upgrade no matter how small it is helps!

[WG]

Originally posted by THATHURMANATOR
While he might not be a star Player I think he is an upgrade over Anhonatou and has shown in the past he can get to the QB. Whether he will be able to do it again is what we will find out.

Well, I guess that's my point then.

You say that as if it's a foregone conclusion that Jones is better than CA. Well, if you compare the careers of the two you'll see that Ahanotu had by far the better one. CA was a bit older, but w/o the injury concerns.

We will find out whether he'll match his career best or do what he did in 4 other seasons or in between. But again, I just don't see the validity to the statement that based on a difference of essentially Spikes, the entire D is gonna be all that much faster when we've replaced our DT w/ a slower one, albeit much better v. the run, and essentially swapped out Newman for Posey who are about equal.

I'm not saying it definitely won't be faster, but I also don't understand how one guy, Spikes, is gonna add that much team speed to the other players.

CA: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/player...s?statsId=2439

Jones: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/player...s?statsId=3530

[WG]

Originally posted by TheGhostofJimKelly
I don't know if I had seen anybody shooting a load over him, I just think the fans are hungry for a good front four and hope that he can be an upgrade.

Hope is one thing, but expectations based on reality is entirely another.

Heck, I'm hopeful that we'll have 50 sacks this season, that Drew won't bumble, that Henry doesn't fumble more than 4 times, and that we have no injuries on our OL or WRs. But reality suggests that none of that will occur.

[HenryRules]

Originally posted by billsfanone
I haven't heard too much optimism about him. Maybe I'm missing something.

Agreed.

I haven't heard much positive or negative mentioned about Jones in the last month or so.

[LABillsFan]

You know we have a lot of non star players on the roster but if each one holds his own good things will happen. Sure there is no Smith or Douglas on this team but there is Spikes, a good seconday and the PW SA team in the middle. It just may be a team of not well known names with the exception for a few that play their postion well forcing plays into the arms of the others, like the way Hanson held his own, I'm not ready to write off any possibilities until I see this team play. Plus I want to see the shemes LeBeau brings in. We may be under estimating them.

[The_Philster]

It doesn't have to be a case where we have a few players stepping up and giving All-Pro performances to get the team to play well. As long as they all carry out their assignments and play as a unit, we should be fine.

[Typ0]

I agree with you guys. There certainly are a lot of what if's. But I think TD has done a nice job of trying to find pieces that can fit together for the team to be successful and he probably isn't done yet.

[casdhf]

I haven't seen anyone knocking down Ahanatu's door, isn't he still a FA?