Great quote - Drew to Henry

[Tatonka]

Buffalo quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who stopped to chat after the morning practice against the Browns in Berea, Ohio, Friday:

MMQB: You've heard your coaches talking about needing more balance in the offense this year than last year, when the Bills had a 63 percent to 37 percent pass-run ratio. Are you OK with that?

Bledsoe: I'm great with that. We need to do it. It's music to my ears. When you come down to it, you're not going to succeed bigtime on offense unless you do everything well. You look at what the Rams have done in making Marshall Faulk a weapon in both the passing game and the running game. You respect his ability to hurt you both ways. That's how I hope our offense works, with that kind of versatility.

MMQB: So you think Travis Henry's going to be a big force, even with Willis McGahee looking over his shoulder?

Bledsoe: I told Travis after the draft, 'You're going to win the rushing title this year.' And I really think he can. He's going to get a lot of touches.

MMQB: How's Josh Reed doing as he tries to replace Peerless Price?

Bledsoe: Well, that was a big loss. Josh doesn't have Peerless' speed, but he's a great receiver too. You're still going to have to cover us deep. I don't think our ability to hurt people deep in the passing game will change very much.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=campcontroversy&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns

there is a great story about Chad Johnson in there too.. cracks me up..

[mikemac2001]

Good Find

[MDFINFAN]

He wasn't exactly very convincing in his Reed statement, it's more of what he didn't say that was big here. Rushing title for TH huh, there's still, Holmes, Portis, LT, RW, Deuce and a couple of other great runners, who will give him a run for that, this should be a great year in football period..Can drew actually not throw a lot, I can wait to see this..Gilbrite is gonna keep his cool and actually stick to the run...I'm looking forward to Saturday Night, got to see this.

[Tatonka]

trouble maker.

[SABURZFAN]

Originally posted by Tatonka
trouble maker.

i was thinking the same thing and.....:biggrin:

[MDFINFAN]

Originally posted by Tatonka
trouble maker.

I wonder where I learned this from..:D

[bernielivsey_1]

Travis is good enough to get the rushing title if he doesn't fumbleruskie 8 to 11 times. The o line is solid enough to get him there. Crosby and Gash will be essential in achieving this. The only thing that might get in his way is Drew and Kevin. Pass Pass Run. I hope not. The rushing title doesent mean much when you think about it though, look at the 2002 dolphins

[northernbillfan]

Last season I was calling Henry the next Sweetness. That may be a little to much, but I still think he has what it takes to get to the level of all the greats.

Fumbles aside, Henry had almost 2000 all purpose yards last year. He'll match that or better it this season. He's title bound, especially since he's in a contract year.

[Cntrygal]

Originally posted by MDFINFAN
I'm looking forward to Saturday Night, got to see this.

What time is the game... because I need to figure out what time on Sunday morning that is for me..... it's probably something like 1am or something. :eek:

[northernbillfan]

Originally posted by Cntrygal
What time is the game... because I need to figure out what time on Sunday morning that is for me..... it's probably something like 1am or something. :eek:


Sorry cntry, you missed the game. It's over already. We'll let you know who won, as you are now on a need to know basis.

[The_Philster]

Originally posted by northernbillfan
Sorry cntry, you missed the game. It's over already. We'll let you know who won, as you are now on a need to know basis.
:lol:

Originally posted by Cntrygal
What time is the game... because I need to figure out what time on Sunday morning that is for me..... it's probably something like 1am or something. :eek:

It's at 8pm EDT

[Jan Reimers]

Drew simply doesn't want everyone to know how great Reed really is.

[JefftheBillsfan]

ouch. i have work 130-10 saturday...that's a downer

[WG]

What a bunch of crap...!!







:D

:jk:

Good piece. I agree w/ him that Henry will be challenging for the rushing title this year with the determining factor as to whether he will be competitive doing it being how often he's used. I can easily see him putting up 1,600 and it isn't a reach for me to see him hit 1,800+ w/ solid OL play.

Reed will seriously make everyone forget that Price was even on the team last season after the first couple of games. Just look at his SEC records for cryin' out loud! Dang, they don't get any better and many have said he's the most prolific WR to ever have come out of the SEC. He's highly underrated and IMO a capable #1 starting this season.

[HenryRules]

I think the main reason that Henry won't win the rushing title is that we will have at least one (possibly 2 if/when WM plays) backs that are capable of carrying the ball. Unlike last year, or Miami this year, I don't see all our carries being devoted to Henry.

There's no question he's our #1 RB, but to win a rushing title nowadays, you need to get 1800+ yards, and I don't see a need/reason for giving Henry the 400 carries or so to get those yards. Giving him that # of carries would be a similar issue that many currently complain about - getting Drew to pass the ball too much just to pad his stats. Only difference is, Drew won't get hurt if he throws an extra 50 or 60 passes in a season, whereas an RB will.

Maybe in a year or two Henry will win the title - when we might have a line capable of getting Henry 5+ yards per carry, but I don't think we're there yet.

[justasportsfan]

Originally posted by Wys Guy

Reed will seriously make everyone forget that Price was even on the team last season after the first couple of games. Just look at his SEC records for cryin' out loud! Dang, they don't get any better and many have said he's the most prolific WR to ever have come out of the SEC. He's highly underrated and IMO a capable #1 starting this season.

In order for that to happen Drew would have to throw to Reed a lot. Scary thought. :D

I doubt he'll make the same nos. Price did last year considering we are "supposedly" going to run more but, I think his catches will be big plays. Not neccesarily for huge gains but important plays.

[WG]

That's more or less what I'm talking about just. There's no way, or someone help us if it's the case, that Reed posts Price's numbers. But "numbers" as many rant about, don't always tell the picture. On 610 attempts, big deal. When another WR somewhere else catches 100 balls for 1,400 yards and a dozen TDs w/ a QB who put up only 450 attempts, it means quite a bit more.

I'm quite sure we could have gotten Moulds and Price both to 1,500 fairly easily, it just wouldn't have resulted in more wins. Many teams will give you of lot of passing yards down to the red zone or thereabouts. But after that, you've gotta be able to put the ball into the EZ w/o the use of a deep game. Thus Drew's limited utility when it comes to scoring. There's no deep game to cross the EZ. Perhaps in the CFL, not here!

Reed will in my estimation, attain to between 800 and 1,000 yards, likely w/ 6-8 TDs. But he'll make us forget Price. In fact, we may start hearing at some point how our passing game is far more versatile w/o two deep threats and w/ some real middle-short threat w/ a RAC capability!

HR,

It would be a slap in the face to Henry if we start giving McGahee and Gary much time other than brief relief. If Henry proves he can be the F/T rusher, then we shouldn't waste our time platooning the others. Team after team has tried that, and it simply doesn't work as well as just starting your best RB. I'm sure you can find an example of it working somewhere, but 90%+ of the time it doesn't work as well as when you simply have a F/T RB. Most teams don't have one, thus their need to platoon. We have one, it makes sense to use him in that capacity. Gary's nothing for the future of this team! Sure, Henry'll need spelling, but IMO if the Gary/McG combo gets more than 8 or 10 carries per game while Henry gets less than 20, it won't be right or best for the team.

I still don't think carrying McG on the roster at this point is/was wise. Time will bear out what happens. But I simply cannot imagine that it's not gonna be disruptive to team chemistry at some point, whether this year or next. Not to mention that I'm really kinda angry that we didn't select William Joseph. Hopefully that "non-move" won't come back to bite us in the haunches!

[HenryRules]

I'm not talking about splitting time ... but I am saying that Henry touched the ball often enough last season (however he touched it very inconsistently). Even if we give Henry the ball 22 times per game (which is an increase over last season and too many carries in my opinion), that's still not near enough to be an 1800-yard carrier.

With a solid backup, there's no need to give Henry the 380+ carries or so that Ricky Williams got. It simply makes no sense because running backs simply cannot handle 350+ carries in a season. Look it up, every single running back that has carried the ball more than 350 times in a season is either out of the league or not producing at similar levels in 2 or 3 years.

The only quasi-exception was Emmitt Smith, but the years after his big carry seasons were the same years that everyone said he is washed up and can't run anymore.

[justasportsfan]

I have all the faith in Henry being a great back. I still have my doubts about his fumbling sproblems being taken care of. He has the tendencies to be a Drew's version of a rb. Good nos. and then blow a momentum with a fumble. The difference is that he's proven to bounce back after a fumble and not let that fumble get to him.

Honestly speaking, Unlike last year where Drew had two no. 1 guys to throw to, I think Reed will not be the same but he could very well be the best no. 2 in the league and a probowler barring injuries on Drew , Moulds and Reed. There's no doubt moulds will play a big part in Reed's performance.

I was worried at the wr position depth at first and after what I've seen , there's a lot of guys stepping up because of the heavy competition at that position.

I just hope Drew doesn't start acting like he has to do it all. His best game (and the entire O) IMO was against the fins@buffalo. Henry was the featured player and his success made Drew a better qb. Because of Henry running well, Drew didn't feel pressured to throw all the time. The less pressure the more dangerous Drew becomes (to other teams). When he get's cocky and pressured ( both NE games) he becomes dangerous to his own team.

[WG]

Originally posted by HenryRules
I'm not talking about splitting time ... but I am saying that Henry touched the ball often enough last season (however he touched it very inconsistently). Even if we give Henry the ball 22 times per game (which is an increase over last season and too many carries in my opinion), that's still not near enough to be an 1800-yard carrier.

With a solid backup, there's no need to give Henry the 380+ carries or so that Ricky Williams got. It simply makes no sense because running backs simply cannot handle 350+ carries in a season. Look it up, every single running back that has carried the ball more than 350 times in a season is either out of the league or not producing at similar levels in 2 or 3 years.

The only quasi-exception was Emmitt Smith, but the years after his big carry seasons were the same years that everyone said he is washed up and can't run anymore.

First of all, his total was good, but we overused him in few games. Here were his carries:

35
31
30
28
24
22
22
20
19
17
15
15
12
12
12
11

It's maybe those 35/31 carry games where Gary or McG might get some time. But in what, 8 games, he carried less than 20 times.

As well, your statement is based on the premise that he averages only 4.4 YPC again. I think we can expect that to go up. Also, keep in mind, that his YPC avg. was artificially kept low b/c of some of those low-carry games. RBs need to establish a rythym, which simply doesn't happen on 3 carries/Q. IMO we would have seen some of those games improve had he gotten more than 11 or 12 CPG.

If he doesn't increase his YPC, then you are correct. Given some luck w/ injuries, IMO our OL will be good enough to give Henry that special OL. One injury however other than at the Ts, could alter that drastically IMO. I don't think we have the experience or talent yet in our depth that we'd need to play w/o losing a significant beat if our interior OL gets banged up.

[mikemac2001]

to many long post

[WG]

I know!

Think of all the thinking and reading necessary!

Ridiculous!

:D

[Throne Logic]

It's not so much the number of carries per game, although 20 or so would be idea. It's the consistancy of carries within each game. If Henry doesn't touch the ball for the entire 3rd Q, then he doesn't have the same rythme going into the 4th that he otherwise might of had. Gilbride doesn't understand the rythme of his offenses. He just understands throw, throw, throw.

[cordog]

I agree with all of you. We need to give Henry the ball 22-24 times a game and give Gary and McGahee (if he plays at all) 10 carries a game. With a revamped D, we shouldnt be falling behind like we did last year and KG will be able to put the ball in Henry's hands. With Gary, and if McGahee does come back and play, it will be nice to have fresh legs and that should be able to keep Henry relatively fresh going into the latter part of the season and into the POs.
Last year it was nice having 2 #1 guys a WR. But i believe Reed will be the perfect #2 guy. Hes a guy that can catch everything around him and be able to run after the catch. I think it will help our passing attack because he is a more reliable target. Price had alot of drops last year and alot of dumb ass penalties.

[MDFINFAN]

Originally posted by Cntrygal


What time is the game... because I need to figure out what time on Sunday morning that is for me..... it's probably something like 1am or something. :eek:

The game start at 8 pm eastern time.

[MDFINFAN]

Originally posted by Wys Guy


First of all, his total was good, but we overused him in few games. Here were his carries:

35
31
30
28
24
22
22
20
19
17
15
15
12
12
12
11



Wys this is the opposite of what should happen typically, especially since you're a cold weather team, at the end of the season at home, you guys should be running more. That's why you was successful against Miami, you played more balanced, and Miami wasn't prepared for that. If TH gets about 320-340 touches this year, that should be just about right to complete for a rushing title. You can't survive at the end of the season if he's only avg'ing..12-14 carries a game. Especially not this year, looking at your last 6 games, you will have to be balance to win those games, all those teams can clamp down on a one dimensional team. If you're passing a lot in those games, then your D is not working and your behind. In those kinds of game, TH should be touching the ball between 25-30 times for you to be effective.

[HenryRules]

MDINFAN, he sorted the carries in order of highest to lowest, not in order of game played. Other than that I agree with you (assuming 25-30 touches includes receptions) except I don't think 340 carries is enough to win the rushing title.

[MDFINFAN]

Originally posted by HenryRules
MDINFAN, he sorted the carries in order of highest to lowest, not in order of game played. Other than that I agree with you (assuming 25-30 touches includes receptions) except I don't think 340 carries is enough to win the rushing title.

Ricky had 325 last year.

[HenryRules]

Actually, Ricky had 383 last year.

[MDFINFAN]

Originally posted by HenryRules
Actually, Ricky had 383 last year.

Your right...:dink: