Good quote in NY Times article

[G. Host]

"Last year he [Bledsoe] might have felt pressure to do too much, especially in that game," Bills Coach Gregg Williams said. "A little of it was him pressing, but, obviously, we weren't good enough as a team. They were better than us. But I want him, and we all want him, to go into this season knowing that all he has to do is play his position and do his job, especially in that ballgame."

:angry: Seems like N Y Times lost some registrations and I needed to register again.
If anyone wants access to article and either can't register or doesn't want to send me a PM; I will ignore requests in replies to this thread.

This quote was interesting as well.

The Bills are talented enough to win this punishing division, and they seem to understand that this is the year to start. Bledsoe is 31, receiver Eric Moulds is 30 and Williams is in the final year of a three-year contract.

This is the year to start? Isn't that every team's goal every year? That is what some pretend but it is good that some writers realize that teams are smart enought to understand that every year is not their time.

And to those who have been debating Bledsoe's record against Belichick :

Bledsoe said he took the losses to the Patriots especially hard. His record against Patriots Coach Bill Belichick fell to 4-7. Bledsoe, with 13 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in those games, blamed himself for not being more precise.

But I disagree with author there - It is Bledsoe's team's record against Belichick.

NY Times July 28 article

[Judge]

Interesting points. I largely agree- with a more talented overall roster, Bledsoe will not be asked to do as much and will be more effective in that type of role.

In this NFL era, every team should consider this to be their year, as there's a worst-to-first story all the time. However, the point is well-taken that the "stars" like Bledsoe and Moulds are at or near their athletic peak, and another year or 2 could mean a decline in ability- that's his point, I'd guess.

[MDFINFAN]

We're waiting Wys...

[WG]

Even if he was "asked to do too much", I completely fail to see how 18 TOs in 7 games, all losses BTW, helped the team accomplish it's goals in light of them!

It's not as if he played well in 11 of 16 games! He played average ball to downright horrible in those 11 games!

Just b/c "he's called upon to 'do too much' " shouldn't mitigate his own personal shortcomings!!!

Or should it?

HMMMM...???

Lastly, he didn't "have to do too much!" Gilbride, and presumably Williams, decided that Drew "needed to do too much!" Most of us realize we didn't run enough. This notion that we were always down by too much is bogus as I've proven beyond any notion of reasonability!

And in many cases when we were down by points, it was because "Drew did too much!" In the Jets game, the score was tied early in the game before two of Drew's INTs helped put the Jets up by 14!

In the Raider game w/ plenty of time left, trailing by only 4 points, again, Drew "did it all!" and tossed 2 back-to-back INTs, the first to let a CB score and put the game at 11, and the second to put them up by 18, the final margin of victory!

Yes, Drew "did it all!"

In the K.C. game, we were down by 1 point, a measly point, before "Drew did too much" and cost us the game when all we needed to do is run out the clock and either run Henry in, who OH BTW was averaging what, 6.0 YPC, or kick a simple easy-to-make FG somewhere down inside the 20 presumably!

In the S.D. game, Gilbride forced Drew to "do it all" but doing so only netted 13 points thru 57 minutes of play. So we had to abandon the "Drew doing it all" approach and run Henry some where we promptly scored quite easily in fact, when "Drew didn't do much!"

Go figure!!!

Instead, "Drew did it all! At least this guy's got it right! In several losses, Drew "did it all!"



Again, even if he was called upon to "do it all", throwing INTs isn't helping matters!

That's where y'all and I depart ways!

[WG]

P.S.

I sure hope Drew doesn't "Do it all!" again this year in 7 of our 8 losses!

B/c in 5 of those 7 losses I believe, he in fact did "do it all" in terms of creating TOs!!!

If that's the way it's gonna be, then I'd rather not "have his all!" I'd also think we could find another QB to put up the 1 TD/game that he had for most of last season! The easier part will be finding one that doesn't "do it all!"

[justasportsfan]

Wys, Greg Williams was on tv last night and guess what? He had said the same thing Drew said, he's excited about the D getting better in hte hopes that we don't have to play catch up and always have to start with tons of yards to make up.

Playing catch up helped those INT's. You practically called Drew "self-serving" for making those comments that Greg himself also said last night. .

Your stats and what Greg sees are two different things. No offense but I think Greg knows the teams better than your stats.

[WG]

Funny though just, 3-3 seems like a tie to me!

Down by 4 is "down by 4" regardless of how many points either team has!

A one-point deficit is a one-point deficit! No?

Which one of us is seeing reality here? Myself or GW?

Heck, the entire amount of points scored by G.B. was 10 in the entire game, so Drew's 4 TOs in that game couldn't ever have been down by more than that same 10, eh!

Wait, perhaps I'd better check w/ GW!!!

You may wish to ask for his math grades in secondary and post-secondary school. I fear that he didn't do well.

And by all means, how on earth do you explain a game like the S.D. game? We put up 13 thru nearly the entire game before virtually abandoning the pass and giving it almost exclusively to Henry!

Again, S.D. had 13 total!

Our offensive outputs tell a completely different story! This is simply another example of you trying to "prop up" the partyline!

Drink the koolaid if you insist. But anyone w/ even a quarter of a brain and a capfull of honestry is fully capable of seeing thru this nonsense and charade!

[WG]

Besides, aren't you one of those people who don't think GW's a good coach?

What happened? When it suits you, all of a sudden he's genious and knows what he's doing...?

[justasportsfan]

You're not getting my point wys. You blasted Drew and called him self-serving for making those comments that Greg ( D coord) who's annointed boy Gray runs it made the same comment, just wanted to point out you will find anything bad to say about Drew.

The difference between you and I is that we both think Drew is overrated but I don't have a "Drew Sucks" obssession. He may have made bad decisions in his first year but none of which was any worse than your boy Rob in the 4 years he's been here.

[justasportsfan]

Originally posted by Wys Guy
Besides, aren't you one of those people who don't think GW's a good coach?

What happened? When it suits you, all of a sudden he's genious and knows what he's doing...?

Me? Not me, I was harsh with him but am one of those who reserves my opinion about him til' the end of this year. He has no excuses now.

[WG]

Originally posted by justasportsfan
You're not getting my point wys. You blasted Drew and called him self-serving for making those comments that Greg ( D coord) who's annointed boy Gray runs it made the same comment, just wanted to point out you will find anything bad to say about Drew.

The difference between you and I is that we both think Drew is overrated but I don't have a "Drew Sucks" obssession. He may have made bad decisions in his first year but none of which was any worse than your boy Rob in the 4 years he's been here.

Drew, along w/ Plummer, is one of the most overrated QBs to ever play the game!

He's OK, not great or even near it by any stretch. If he were, he wouldn't have had so many lousy seasons. Not a one of his records, milestones, or achievements is based on points scored, offensive production from that perspective, or anything other than "moving the ball" aimlessly.

As to Gray, Williams, you miss my point, which is, "Just b/c it comes out of OBD, does that mean you suck it up hook, line, and sinker simply b/c 'they' say it?"

It seems as if truth and reality are being written by the FO/Coaches and not being derived from the truth. That one article that I cited a week or two ago that was on the front page of TOS is the perfect evidence for it.

You know as well as I that the stigma for the Bills last year is that the difference between '01 and '02 was largely if not just about all due to Drew having arrived. No considerations were or are given to any other aspect of the team's play. No credit for Henry's emergence in his second season, only complaints about his 8 lost fumbles, only 1 of which had any consequences. No credit for an OL that was worlds above the '01 OL with 3 different starters altogether.

Believe what you want, but I'm an intelligent man w/ keen analytical skills and I know what I see, and what I see is different than the drivel that I'm being spoon fed by the FO!

[WG]

BTW, I fully believe that both will bear out this year; namely that both Drew and Plummer will be exposed as being "something other than what many seem to think they are!"

In Drew's case, my guess would be that the "excuse" will be that he's "not the same after the injury" or some nonsense, or that "he simply isn't mobile enough" for the modern day NFL.

In Plummer's case, I'd wager real dollars that by midseason the Bronco fans are gonna be so PO'd that they are paying Plummer what he got that it's gonna be near a Ryan Leaf situation! He's gonna be hated QB in this league by season's end IMO. We'll see however.

But if he couldn't do it w/ Moore, Boston, Sanders, Centers, and others, then he surely isn't going to be able to do it w/ an aging Smith, a worrisome McCaffrey after a serious injury, and aging to boot, and the young Lelie who will be his best friend.

[WG]

The only difference between Plummer and Bledsoe is the teams they came into. Bledsoe had Martin carry the Pats for him, while Plummer had hardly anything.

If the roles would have been reversed, then so would the performances have been. Plummer's even more mobile.