Bledsoe backer

[The_Philster]

By Michael Smith, Boston Globe
Sam Wyche didn't just feel the itch. He's just now getting around to scratching it.

"I missed coaching from the day I got out of it," said Wyche, the ex-Bengals and Buccaneers head coach, moments after being introduced as the Bills' new quarterbacks coach Tuesday. "I missed the teaching part of it. I stayed in touch with [new Buffalo head coach] Mike [Mularkey, a Wyche assistant in Tampa Bay], and I let him know that when his time comes, and I knew it was coming, that I could help."

Coming off the worst season of his career, help is precisely what Drew Bledsoe needs. He passed for only 2,860 yards and 11 touchdowns as Buffalo struggled to a 6-10 mark. Wyche, who last coached in the NFL for Tampa Bay in 1995, got to know the former Patriots quarterback as a broadcaster for CBS and NBC in the late '90s. The former tutor to Joe Montana and Boomer Esiason got acquainted with his new pupil last week; Wyche spoke to Bledsoe by phone, then reviewed every one of Buffalo's pass plays from last year....
more (http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2004/02/15/washingtons_good_guy_image_takes_a_hit/) scroll about halfway down the page for this topic

[BillsFever]

That would be cool in all if it was a 23 year old QB, not a 32 year old QB.

We need to teach our 11 year vet how to dump off to an outlet receiver and throw the ball away? That's pathetic.

Six other coaches within the last 15 years couldn't do it. Good luck, Sam.

[BigZ]

Good article. Wyche needs to work on Bledsoe's confidence and timing (his internal qb clock).

My feeling is if anybody can fix Drew, Wyche can.

And since it's always to be optimistic in the off-season, I totally believe Sam will get it done.

[BillsFever]

Bill Parcells, Bill Belicheck, and Charlie Weis couldn't do it. I don't feel too optimistic that Sam Wyche and Mike Malarkey will.

Damn, this is gonna be another long season.

[The_Philster]

Mularkey helped Kordella look like an actual QB for a season without Wyche's help

[BillsFever]

In 23 games with Mularkey, Stewart had 20 TD's and 23 TO's. His full season with him he had 14 TD's and 15 TO's.

Damn, we are well on our way to the Super Bowl now.

[The Spaz]

Negative Nancy:rofl:

[BillsFever]

I'm not negative. I just don't wear rose colored glasses.

I was told Stewart had a good year under Malarkey. According to that it's not a very good year.

Under a full season with Gilbride Stewart had 11 TD's and 11 TO's

Under a full season with Malarkey Stewart had 14 TD's and 15 TO's.

Stewart passed almost 150 more times under Malarkey then he did under Gilbride in the full season each of them had with Stewart.

Not much a difference there to me.

If the Bills consider 14 TD's and 15 TO's a good season out of 442 pass attempts, then we are in trouble for years to come.

[The_Philster]

Stats never tell the whole story :cynic:

[The Spaz]

Who has rose colored glasses I just see things differently?

[BillsFever]

Originally posted by The_Philster
Stats never tell the whole story :cynic:

The only people who say that is the ones who don't have the stats to back it up.

That's like when somebody says beauty is on the inside, not the outside. It's mostly ugly people who say that.

[The_Philster]

:lol: So every interception is the fault of the QB, right?


just give me the answer to that one. :snicker: :movie:

[juice]

HAVING dumpoff recievers and Knowing the offense inside out will help with sacks and turnovers. The offensive schemes were a major part of the teams problems last year.

I'm not too sure about him running more unless it's to just get outside of the tackles to throw the ball away. The less hits DB is exposed to the less likly he'll be injured.

SW makes a good point that DB still has all the tools, If he still has the armstrength and accuracy the other obstacles can be delt with in gameplanning and personnel. An upgrade in #2 reciever and moving Reed to the #3 will be a better all-around fit and making the TE a Hotread will give another option.

[BillsFever]

Originally posted by The_Philster
:lol: So every interception is the fault of the QB, right?

No, but the stats average themselves out by the end of a year. Especially after 11 years in the league.

It's everybody's fault but Bledsoe that he has a losing record for his career, has only won 9 games on the road against winning teams, and hasn't had a winning season in six years.

[BillsFever]

Originally posted by juice

SW makes a good point that DB still has all the tools, If he still has the armstrength and accuracy the other obstacles can be delt with in gameplanning and personnel. An upgrade in #2 reciever and moving Reed to the #3 will be a better all-around fit and making the TE a Hotread will give another option.

Bledsoe has always had the tools. The bad part is he has never had the brain tools. Doesn't anybody remember Rob Johnson?

[The Spaz]

No it's a lot of people's fault including Bledsoe.

[BillsFever]

Well, I'm done with this subject for now. It's time to get into the race. Take the rose colored glasses off and check out the race. You might enjoy it.

[The Spaz]

Originally posted by BillsFever
Well, I'm done with this subject for now. It's time to get into the race. Take the rose colored glasses off and check out the race. You might enjoy it.

How about you just see things without having an agenda.

[The_Philster]

Originally posted by The Spaz
No it's a lot of people's fault including Bledsoe.

Everyone can see that except a few who seem to blame it all on the QB
Originally posted by BillsFever
No, but the stats average themselves out by the end of a year. Especially after 11 years in the league.

It's everybody's fault but Bledsoe that he has a losing record for his career, has only won 9 games on the road against winning teams, and hasn't had a winning season in six years.
So the QB is the only one responsible for wins and losses now? :rofl:

No one is claiming that Bledsoe deserves no blame...but come on...you're blaming him for everything short of the bubonic plague

[juice]

Originally posted by BillsFever
Bledsoe has always had the tools. The bad part is he has never had the brain tools. Doesn't anybody remember Rob Johnson?

Tools without a workable game concept, Gilbrides offense never panned out and became too predictable.

[BAM]

there will always be negative people everywhere you go. no matter what you say, you will not change their minds. i for one, can do w/o the negativity, so i put the ignore option to use :up:

[helmetguy]

Originally posted by The_Philster
Stats never tell the whole story :cynic:

Only in fantasy football.

It's apparent that some people would blame everything on the QB; probably because that's the only position they can recognize without help. I never saw a stat win or lose a game.

[caveboy]

I skimmed the page in that link, something about Ted Washington ****ing Drew Bledsoe from behind on a bus?!?? Yeeesh.

;-p

Anyway, Drew had the outlet receiver last year: Henry. He just didn't use him. Drew may still have a quick release when he does decide to get rid of it, but his holding onto the ball too long most other times is going to be the toughest thing for him to overcome. Good luck Sam.

Curious what Slash's stats were before MM started working with him?

[helmetguy]

Are you kidding, cave? Henry wasn't even part of the 3rd down/two minute "package" most of the time. If the offense did have an outlet receiver out of the backfield, it was either Sammy Morris or Sam Gash being forced into a Larry Centers redux.

[BillsFever]

Here we go with the fantasy football stuff again.

My two eyes see Bledsoe hanging on to the ball too long, making bad decisions, no excitement of what's going on in the game, and throwing the ball away on 4th down.

Can you have a debate without trying to insinuate that the other knows nothing about football? Oh I forgot, you know it all so we better listen to what you say.

[caveboy]

helmut - Yep. But what I'm referring to is not the committment to using Henry as the go-to guy. We didn't do that by any stretch. What I mean are those times when he was free coming out of the backfield on 1st or 2nd waving his arms, yet Bledsoe inexplicably would still lock in down-field on Moulds/Shaw, even when they were in double coverage. Henry seems like he's smart enough to read when the play is breaking down and make himself available for Drew. I didn't see any of that awareness from Drew this season.

It just seems that Drew's sack totals would go down if he would check-off to Henry or the TE a lot more when he's that wide-open, rather than trying to force something downfield.

I attribute a lot of that to KG and GW's mindset that we would stop teams from blitzing by completing the 'big play' downfield. I guess after a whole season they finally realized the 'big play' wasn't too plentiful. I'd rather see us stop the blitz by releasing the ball sooner.

Man, this sure sounds an awful lot like a critique of RJ's imilar problem three years ago, ;-p.

[The_Philster]

Can't argue with that, caveboy. Drew has had a habit of locking onto receivers early on and forgetting his checkdowns. I'm not sure if it was the same in New England but I'd wager it was. I do know he's been doing that his entire time here.
Originally posted by BillsFever
Here we go with the fantasy football stuff again.

My two eyes see Bledsoe hanging on to the ball too long, making bad decisions, no excitement of what's going on in the game, and throwing the ball away on 4th down.

Your eyes also see WRs dropping balls and running the wrong routes? Those problems are partly responsible for some of the interceptions. That's why going by the stat line is a joke. It don't tell you squat. For every play, you have to analyze exactly what happened each time. Did the WR run the right route and make every attempt to catch the ball? Was the pass tipped or knocked out of the QB's hands? Did the QB make a bad read and throw into coverage that he shouldn't have? No one is absolving anyone of blame except for the guys quoting the stat lines.

[BillsFever]

Originally posted by The_Philster
Can't argue with that, caveboy. Drew has had a habit of locking onto receivers early on and forgetting his checkdowns. I'm not sure if it was the same in New England but I'd wager it was. I do know he's been doing that his entire time here.

Your eyes also see WRs dropping balls and running the wrong routes? Those problems are partly responsible for some of the interceptions. That's why going by the stat line is a joke. It don't tell you squat. For every play, you have to analyze exactly what happened each time. Did the WR run the right route and make every attempt to catch the ball? Was the pass tipped or knocked out of the QB's hands? Did the QB make a bad read and throw into coverage that he shouldn't have? No one is absolving anyone of blame except for the guys quoting the stat lines.


Every team has some dropped balls. The WR's can't catch everything.

The Seahawks probably had the most amount of drops in the league. Hasselback still had a pretty good year.

I guess WR's have been dropping balls, running wrong routes, and Bledsoe has had a bad coach and OC for the last 6 years.

Damn, if only his WR's, OL, and coaches would've been better when he was in New England...Oh wait, they are the same coaches, OL, and WR's.

If only them guys would've knew how to coach, catch and block when Bledsoe was there.

[helmetguy]

Originally posted by caveboy
helmut - Yep. But what I'm referring to is not the committment to using Henry as the go-to guy. We didn't do that by any stretch. What I mean are those times when he was free coming out of the backfield on 1st or 2nd waving his arms, yet Bledsoe inexplicably would still lock in down-field on Moulds/Shaw, even when they were in double coverage. Henry seems like he's smart enough to read when the play is breaking down and make himself available for Drew. I didn't see any of that awareness from Drew this season.

It just seems that Drew's sack totals would go down if he would check-off to Henry or the TE a lot more when he's that wide-open, rather than trying to force something downfield.

I attribute a lot of that to KG and GW's mindset that we would stop teams from blitzing by completing the 'big play' downfield. I guess after a whole season they finally realized the 'big play' wasn't too plentiful. I'd rather see us stop the blitz by releasing the ball sooner.

Man, this sure sounds an awful lot like a critique of RJ's imilar problem three years ago, ;-p.

Thanks for clearing that up for me cave. From watching the games over and again, my chief objection is that, when things go wrong, it's always convenient to put the entire onus on the QB. Sure, there were times when Bledsoe held the ball too long. Sure, there were times when he didn't see a receiver. Sure, there were times when he locked in on a receiver. In all the years I have been following the game in general-and the Bills in particular-you could substitute any number of names into those sentences; even a couple of HOFers. The problems our offense had this past season were a double-edged sword. Bledsoe couldn't do much of what KG called upon him to do, just as much as KG couldn't devise a system that took advantage of the personnel we had.

To me, a QB is akin to a pitcher in baseball. That is, a pitcher with an ERA of 5-something that goes 18-10 looks a lot better than aguy with the same ERA and goes 10-18. That's why I don't hang my hat on stats alone.

[doug45]

Originally posted by The Spaz
Negative Nancy:rofl:


More like Realistic Ralph! ;)

[hemi13]

Billsfever - you need to relax and switch to decaf man. No matter how much you hate Drew, he ain't going anywhere and no one can be as bad as RJ was or is.

[doug45]

Originally posted by hemi13
no one can be as bad as RJ was or is.

I use to think that too, but I think Drew has a much better team around him and if he wastes that it would almost be as bad.

[TedMock]

The problem with the whole "he doesn't know how to dump it off" argument is that it completely contradicts his best years. Remember Ben Coates and Keith Byars? He made his name throwing to a TE and a FB for god's sake. He got gun-shy by the 4th game last season and never recovered resulting in a horrible year. No doubt about it. Yes, he held the ball too long at times and yes he made stupid throws at times but to put most of the blame on one person is pure ignorance to the game itself. I've seen others put full blame on the OL.......again, ignorance. If Bledsoe looks terrible this year in an offense that SHOULD suit his strengths then by all means get rid of him. In my opinion, he and the OL needed to get better but the playcalling made it very difficult. 5 guys in to block the 7 or 8 rushing. The QB get's 1.3 seconds to throw on several downs while the FB, HB and TE's are all out in pattern. Well, of course he should've dumped it off. The problem is when you can't even get your head around to see the outlet, it's kind of tough to dump it off. The guy got crushed quite a few times. So what happens? There are then other plays where he actually has time to throw (too much time) and get uneasy in the pocket and looks stupid. That's all on him. What if, for the first time in his career, he's able to really expose what he's good at and hide his weaknesses? He's slow, immobile and get's uncomfortable in the pocket if there too long. He has a great arm, great release and great play action. Looking at basic strengths and weaknesses, would you split Sam Gash out wide on 3rd and short? We did, several times during the year. We also took our starting RB out in those same situations and never did we even think about max protect. I think he's overrated, no doubt about it. But I also don't buy into the "he's a bum" theory either. I don't watch the games in "rose colored glasses" and I don't watch one player at a time. When there's an INT or a fumble, it's not always the QB or the OT who was at fault. Watch the game, not the individuals.

[Dozerdog]

Nice post, Ted!

When your 1400 yard back plays only 1st and second down, and your blockign FB gets sent in motion??? all the freakin' time- and you run 5 yard routes every freakin' play- and the opposition Blitzes without fear of an offensive adjustment or threat of a run-

I don't care- no one can survive at QB like that.

[pats-were-right]

I'm a Bledsoe critic and even I'll acknowledge he's a better QB than Johnson. It's just that his career as a whole has been mediocre and he never lived up to being the #1 overall pick. He wasn't a bust though. Overall I'd put him somewhat below Vinny Testaverde and somewhat higher than Jeff George, two other notable #1 overall picks.

[BillsFever]

Originally posted by hemi13
Billsfever - you need to relax and switch to decaf man. No matter how much you hate Drew, he ain't going anywhere and no one can be as bad as RJ was or is.

Yeah, RJ was pretty bad. As bad as he was, and as bad as our team was in 2001, he still never pulled a stinker like Drew has 22 out of the last 26 games.

[BillsFever]

Hey look at it this way. On the average, one in every 6 games Drew will play well. I can't wait for them few games next season.

[The Natrix]

Originally posted by TedMock
The problem with the whole "he doesn't know how to dump it off" argument is that it completely contradicts his best years. Remember Ben Coates and Keith Byars? He made his name throwing to a TE and a FB for god's sake. He got gun-shy by the 4th game last season and never recovered resulting in a horrible year. No doubt about it. Yes, he held the ball too long at times and yes he made stupid throws at times but to put most of the blame on one person is pure ignorance to the game itself. I've seen others put full blame on the OL.......again, ignorance. If Bledsoe looks terrible this year in an offense that SHOULD suit his strengths then by all means get rid of him. In my opinion, he and the OL needed to get better but the playcalling made it very difficult. 5 guys in to block the 7 or 8 rushing. The QB get's 1.3 seconds to throw on several downs while the FB, HB and TE's are all out in pattern. Well, of course he should've dumped it off. The problem is when you can't even get your head around to see the outlet, it's kind of tough to dump it off. The guy got crushed quite a few times. So what happens? There are then other plays where he actually has time to throw (too much time) and get uneasy in the pocket and looks stupid. That's all on him. What if, for the first time in his career, he's able to really expose what he's good at and hide his weaknesses? He's slow, immobile and get's uncomfortable in the pocket if there too long. He has a great arm, great release and great play action. Looking at basic strengths and weaknesses, would you split Sam Gash out wide on 3rd and short? We did, several times during the year. We also took our starting RB out in those same situations and never did we even think about max protect. I think he's overrated, no doubt about it. But I also don't buy into the "he's a bum" theory either. I don't watch the games in "rose colored glasses" and I don't watch one player at a time. When there's an INT or a fumble, it's not always the QB or the OT who was at fault. Watch the game, not the individuals.

good post.

However, I argue that even if Bledsoe has a decent enough year to buy himself another, it is very likely he will go back to being himself the following season. His consistency is disgusting. Just end the Bledsoe error now.

[BillsFever]

Originally posted by The Natrix
good post.

However, I argue that even if Bledsoe has a decent enough year to buy himself another, it is very likely he will go back to being himself the following season. His consistency is disgusting. Just end the Bledsoe error now.


Lets not even factor in where all but like 2 of his seasons, his play has dramatically declined in the 2nd half of the season from the 1st half.

And to the post about Bledsoe throwing to Byars and Coates all the time. You don't think that them 2 guys just being good at what they do factored in on the balls thrown to them? They were a major part of the offense.

The only time Bledsoe has ever had success with his TE's and FB's is when he had Byars and Coates. Them 2 guys were one of the best at their positons at the time. No way that would have anything to do with it.

Without them guys, Bledsoe has never used his dumpoff outlets. These guys were major parts of the offense. Not just used as an outlet for Drew to dump off too when he felt like it.

And who the hell really cares? That was what, 8 years ago? I guess the last 7 years of losing seasons while he has been a QB doesn't mean anything. He has "potential" at 32 years old.

[The Natrix]

Originally posted by BillsFever



Lets not even factor in where all but like 2 of his seasons, his play has dramatically declined in the 2nd half of the season from the 1st half.



if he plays decent in the first half of the season, and the Bills are say 5-3 or 4-4, you can be sure there will be threads like "Bledsoe is back, baby!" or "Bledsoe haters eat crow!"

I'll wait till the stiff makes some plays to win us a playoff game before I eat crow thank you.

[BillsFever]

Originally posted by The Natrix
if he plays decent in the first half of the season, and the Bills are say 5-3 or 4-4, you can be sure there will be threads like "Bledsoe is back, baby!" or "Bledsoe haters eat crow!"



Hell they did that everytime he had a good game last year. Too bad it was only 3 times. I couldn't imagine what it would be like with a 5-3 start. They would be giving him the key to the city.

I'd love to eat some crow next year. Throw some ketchup and salt on it, maybe fry it in a little alcohol. Too bad I won't be able to taste it.

[TedMock]

Originally posted by BillsFever



Lets not even factor in where all but like 2 of his seasons, his play has dramatically declined in the 2nd half of the season from the 1st half.

And to the post about Bledsoe throwing to Byars and Coates all the time. You don't think that them 2 guys just being good at what they do factored in on the balls thrown to them? They were a major part of the offense.

The only time Bledsoe has ever had success with his TE's and FB's is when he had Byars and Coates. Them 2 guys were one of the best at their positons at the time. No way that would have anything to do with it.

Without them guys, Bledsoe has never used his dumpoff outlets. These guys were major parts of the offense. Not just used as an outlet for Drew to dump off too when he felt like it.

And who the hell really cares? That was what, 8 years ago? I guess the last 7 years of losing seasons while he has been a QB doesn't mean anything. He has "potential" at 32 years old.

Well, I completely agree you. "potential" was never meant to be part of what I was saying. I agree that "potential" at 32 is a little ridiculous. Anyway, YES he's inconsistant and YES Coates and Byars were "The Man" at their respective positions. I would never, ever say that they weren't. Obviously that became part of the game plan as it should have. My point was that the idiotic posts about how he can't throw short/medium passes and how he can't dump it are off base. Anybody who thinks he can carry a team is wrong, I'll never say he can and I'll never say that he wasn't horrible last season or that his arm doesn't wear down during the year. All facts. Now, lets say that we properly used personell last season. Maybe have Sam Gash block, maybe run between the tackles with a strong back like Henry, maybe set up a play action now and then. I'm not saying the guy's "great", I am saying that he's solid and that, if used properly, he's dangerous. Why not keep him one more year and draft a kid to learn the ropes so we're not taking a step back by throwing a rookie in there or by getting some other free agent QB who has nothing left. Brunnell? maybe, but it looks like he's a Redskin. Kordell? No. Ramsey? If the Skins let him go, I like him but anybody who hates Bledsoe will fall into hating him as well.

[TedMock]

Originally posted by The Natrix


good post.

However, I argue that even if Bledsoe has a decent enough year to buy himself another, it is very likely he will go back to being himself the following season. His consistency is disgusting. Just end the Bledsoe error now.

I agree that he's inconsistant. It drives me nuts. My biggest reason for wanting to keep him hear 1-2 more seasons is just so we don't have to throw a rookie in there or some scrub FA QB. That could potentially be a lot worse. If Bledsoe lowers his paycheck, the alternative isn't any better for the short term. Maybe a Henson, Rivers, Losman ends up a bust but there's a better chance of success if they're able to absorb everything for a season first. What do you think?