What Does Drew Need To Succeed?

[Kramer]

You know, I am on the fence as far as Drew is concerned. I am neither a die hard supporter nor a Drew antagonist. What I would like is for him to succeed. After all, those opposed to Drew should know by now that he is going to be our starter know matter what. So I ask, What does Drew need to be successful. Allow me to offer my opinion on the matter.

Drew needs:

1. An OL that can pass protect. Not all of the 49 sacks were his fault.

2. An effective running game. Keeps the D honest and minimizes the potential sacks for losses as well as no-gain incompletions

3. Someone to tell Drew to stop the darn audiblizing to a pass at the line of scrimmage. Drew needs to have confidence in the running game.

4. A speed burner at WR to stretch the field and take pressure off of Moulds and Reed. (aka Evans)

5. An effective TE to handle the hot read. Drew LOVED his TE's in NE and made the most of their presence.

6. Running backs that can take advantage of the dumpoff pass in the event of the blitz. I believe that Henry is capable and McGahee proved that he can do this at U. of Miami.

This is just my 2 cents. I'd love to hear further input on this topic.

Kramer

[ShadowHawk7]

Another good post Kramer, that was more than 2 cents. I agree with pretty much everything on there. About the TE's, Mark Campbell, and maybe even Euhus are more than capable Hot Read recievers for Bledsoe. It's just too bad that Kevin Killdrive didn't know what a Tight End was last year. Mark Cambell was underused and still managed 44ish catches.

[mypoorfriendme]

the offensive coordinator doesnt decide who drew throws the ball to...drew does. given there are primary recievers who are primarily recievers, but drew decided not to dump it to our TE's often.

as far as the original list goes...i think the one major factor is solid o-line play. it was this and moulds's injury that hampered our offense the most last season. i really dont think it was price alone that could have made THAT big of a difference.
with the tight ends, drew had riemersma and didnt use him much.
we had a good running game last year and drew still struggled and also rbs that could catch the ball out of the back field.

hence, our only major concerns are our o-line and perhaps playcalling. evans will help, but if our offense succeeds it wont be any where close to 100% thanks to evans

[BillsFever]

A new brain.

[ShadowHawk7]

Then why did DB like tossing it to Coates so much, and not Remersma or Campbell. KG always put our TEs into positions not favorable for a quick dump/Hot Read, or just had em blocking.

[Tatonka]

drew needs the following to be successful:

1. all pro Oline inside and out. (he would still take 25-30 sacks though)

2. jamal lewis and barry sanders in the backfield.

3. randy moss, marvin harrison, hines ward, and eric moulds as his top 4 wrs.

4. tony gonzales and jeremy shockey or todd heap as his TEs

5. the most creative offensive coordinator in the league, like charlie weiss.. oh wait.. he failed under him.. :shakeno: ... ok... um... well.. another good OC.


Originally posted by BillsFever
A new brain.


and that. :snicker2:

[The Spaz]

This year will tell all.

[B-DON]

herb brooks

[Tatonka]

Originally posted by The Spaz
This year will tell all.

i know.. i just hadnt bashed drew in a while.. i felt the urge. :D

[Mr. Cynical]

Originally posted by Tatonka
drew needs the following to be successful:

1. all pro Oline inside and out. (he would still take 25-30 sacks though)

2. jamal lewis and barry sanders in the backfield.

3. randy moss, marvin harrison, hines ward, and eric moulds as his top 4 wrs.

4. tony gonzales and jeremy shockey or todd heap as his TEs

5. the most creative offensive coordinator in the league, like charlie weiss.. oh wait.. he failed under him.. :shakeno: ... ok... um... well.. another good OC.


You forgot:

6. Needs to play against teams with defenses that start 50 year old vets who have the flu.

7. All his receivers need to have big, bright yellow signs on them that say "Throw pass here."

8. Other teams' pass rushers have to count to "10 Mississippi" before rushing him.

9. Have a hypnotist convince him he is playing a regular season game against a losing team when playing a playoff game.

10. Attach an electro-shock device in his jock and zap him everytime he holds the ball too long.

:D

[Tatonka]

Originally posted by Mr. Cynical
You forgot:

6. Needs to play against teams with defenses that start 50 year old vets who have the flu.

7. All his receivers need to have big, bright yellow signs on them that say "Throw pass here."

8. Other teams' pass rushers have to count to "10 Mississippi" before rushing him.

9. Have a hypnotist convince him he is playing a regular season game against a losing team when playing a playoff game.

10. Attach an electro-shock device in his jock and zap him everytime he holds the ball too long.

:D

:rofl:

[The_Philster]

The big thing he lacked last year was an offensive coordinator who had his head out of his ass. When you give all the receivers extra reads to make, it multiplies the number of reads the QB has to make. When Mularkey took over from Gilbride in Pittsburgh, the biggest change he made was take away those extra reads so that the QB was able to make smart decisions much quicker.

[Jan Reimers]

Confidence.

[Kramer]

Originally posted by The_Philster
The big thing he lacked last year was an offensive coordinator who had his head out of his ass. When you give all the receivers extra reads to make, it multiplies the number of reads the QB has to make. When Mularkey took over from Gilbride in Pittsburgh, the biggest change he made was take away those extra reads so that the QB was able to make smart decisions much quicker.

How many times did you see Drew throw to a spot on the field only to have the WR break to a different location. Philster, you pretty much summed it up. Good post.


My God am I naive. This is my first post about Drew on this site and it has spawned a lot of emotion for/against him. I should hve known better. Like i said, I am neutral about Drew but wanted to brain drain to see what factors could help his performance.

[Cntrygal]

Originally posted by Kramer
My God am I naive. This is my first post about Drew on this site and it has spawned a lot of emotion for/against him. I should hve known better. Like i said, I am neutral about Drew but wanted to brain drain to see what factors could help his performance.

This is nothing yet. :D

[Tatonka]

Originally posted by Cntrygal
This is nothing yet. :D

:rofl: i was thinking the same thing.

i dont think anyone is emotional about drew right now. we are all detatched from the situation until training camp.

[Lefty2985]

The biggest thing Drew needs is a OLINE. Our tackles are good but we need a better inside.

[BigZ]

:hammeru:

Kramer - Good posts. I agree with what you've said and the post that said an OC who has his head out of his ass.

The reads that he and all his potential receivers had to make effectively gave him about 12 places on the field four receivers might be depending on the reads. A lot of times the receivers were't where Drew thought they'd be. Many times a defender was.

A simplified offence can fix a lot of that.

The one negative comment that I did agree with though was:

10. Attach an electro-shock device in his jock and zap him everytime he holds the ball too long

He needs to get the clock inside of his head working again. Wyche can help a lot with that. The ball zapper might be an option though.

Keep posting - your comments are right on. I expect that this thread will continue to grow and be one of the longest you've started - the bashers can't help themselves.

Z

[buffmaniac]

I don't think people realize how bad Gilbride was as an OC. His schemes and his play-calling were terrible. I mean they were the reason Drew held onto the ball. Drew is actually very good at reading defenses. Last year though he had to wait for his WRs to choose their routes before he could throw it. The fact is that KG's offense was definitely more complicated than most other offenses in the league. Simplifying the offense will help Bledsoe, the WRs, and the OL. Just Remember:
2000 Pitt O under Gilbride 22nd
2001 Pitt O under Mularkey 3rd

Gilbride has been the main problem with this offense. The poor OL play last year and the Moulds' injury only magnified the problem. Things will be much better next year for this offense with Mularkey.

[The_Philster]

Originally posted by Kramer
How many times did you see Drew throw to a spot on the field only to have the WR break to a different location. Philster, you pretty much summed it up. Good post.

Yeah..Drew was trying to get rid of the ball and thought that the WR was reading one thing when he was actually reading something else. A pre-planned blitz adjustment is one thing, but no way should the WRs be making all those extra reads. :cynic:

[helmetguy]

Y'know, Kramer, I watched a few of last year's games, then dug out some of the Bills-Oilers games I had on tape (when KG was houston's OC). For all of the harping we heard about Buffalo going to a West Coast Offense (according to Gregg Williams) the closest we ever got to using it was in Williams' first year in Buffalo. Once Gilbride arrived, it was WCO in name only. Gilbride's version resembled WCO as much as an Asian child resembles his White Anglo Saxon adoptive parents. What I mean is, while receivers often do make sight adjustments to their routes in WCO, they have much more freedom to roam in a "Run and Shoot" type of offense, which Gilbride ran in Houston. With Warren Moon at the helm, and the four "Smurf" receivers, it wasn't a bad plan at all. However, if you take a look at our offense last season, you'll see tight ends and fullbacks running the same pass routes the inside ("slot"-sort of) receivers did in "Run and Shoot." With Riemersma as TE and Centers as FB, it had a better chance at succeeding. Change that to Campbell and Gash and...well...just watch the tapes and hurl!

In answer to your original question, though, Bledsoe can succeeed if Mularkey and Clements just get back to basics. don't make the O-line sustain pass protection for more that 3.5-4 seconds. Don't go empty backfield without at least one hot read (preferably two). Use formations/personnel groupings that are favorable to both the run or pass. In short pan and play smarter. How's that?

[Kramer]

Originally posted by helmetguy
Y'know, Kramer, I watched a few of last year's games, then dug out some of the Bills-Oilers games I had on tape (when KG was houston's OC). For all of the harping we heard about Buffalo going to a West Coast Offense (according to Gregg Williams) the closest we ever got to using it was in Williams' first year in Buffalo. Once Gilbride arrived, it was WCO in name only. Gilbride's version resembled WCO as much as an Asian child resembles his White Anglo Saxon adoptive parents. What I mean is, while receivers often do make sight adjustments to their routes in WCO, they have much more freedom to roam in a "Run and Shoot" type of offense, which Gilbride ran in Houston. With Warren Moon at the helm, and the four "Smurf" receivers, it wasn't a bad plan at all. However, if you take a look at our offense last season, you'll see tight ends and fullbacks running the same pass routes the inside ("slot"-sort of) receivers did in "Run and Shoot." With Riemersma as TE and Centers as FB, it had a better chance at succeeding. Change that to Campbell and Gash and...well...just watch the tapes and hurl!

In answer to your original question, though, Bledsoe can succeeed if Mularkey and Clements just get back to basics. don't make the O-line sustain pass protection for more that 3.5-4 seconds. Don't go empty backfield without at least one hot read (preferably two). Use formations/personnel groupings that are favorable to both the run or pass. In short pan and play smarter. How's that?

Very impressive post. However, I think we can buy Drew a little time in the pocket using play action. And you are right about the hot read. Where the heck was it last year? Simplify the offense. Hell, Jim Kelly's K-gun was an extremely simple offense that relied on the skill of the players rather than some intimidating and complicated scheme cooked up to deceive or confuse the D. Last year looked like the offense was confused more than anyone. I think we have the skill players to run a simplified offense.

[helmetguy]

Originally posted by Kramer
Very impressive post. However, I think we can buy Drew a little time in the pocket using play action. And you are right about the hot read. Where the heck was it last year? Simplify the offense. Hell, Jim Kelly's K-gun was an extremely simple offense that relied on the skill of the players rather than some intimidating and complicated scheme cooked up to deceive or confuse the D. Last year looked like the offense was confused more than anyone. I think we have the skill players to run a simplified offense.

I completely agree. "K-Gun" was your basic Two-Minute Drill run over the course of the game. The only drawback to it was that it didn't burn a lot of clock. Last year's offense looked more like school yard football, with a lot less organization.

I do disagree that play action will buy Bledsoe that much more time, though. What it will do, however, (if executed well) is to get the 'backers and/or Safeties to over-commit to the possible run and drop off coverages. All of this can be executed and the ball away within about 4 seconds.

[Kramer]

I agree to disagree. :)

[finsrclowns]

Play action wouldn't have worked last year since Killdrive passed on third and under 3's over 70 times in a row between the 20 yard lines. Why would a team dream of respecting it? And when a WR has at least 3 options on where to go in the event of a blitz it's no wonder teams blitzed us TO DEATH last year. That and the OL was pass blocking challenged.

[Ickybaluky]

Just Remember:
2000 Pitt O under Gilbride 22nd
2001 Pitt O under Mularkey 3rd

Actually, Pittsburgh finished 18th in Total Offense in Gilbride's last year, 2000. That was an improvement from 22nd in Gilbride's first season, 1999. That, too, was an improvement, as the Steelers were ranked 25th in Total Offense the year prior to hiring Gilbride.

Keep in mind, Pittsburgh's offensive improvement between 2000 and 2001 was in large part due to the improvement in their passing game. However, there were two major factors:

1) Kordell Stewart having a career year.

However, keep in mind Gilbride was hired to resurrect Stewarts' career, at a point where the Steeler's were ready to give up on him. Stewarts improvement actually began under Gilbride, and down the stretch of Gilbride's tenure he played pretty well (QB Rating of a little over 80 in his last 6 games).

2) Drafting Plaxico Burris and Hines Ward emerging.

The improvement in the Steelers passing game was in large part due to both these guys have 1000 yard seasons. Having targets like this helped Stewart improve even more and put up better numbers.


There is no doubt Gilbride probably wasn't the best match in Buffalo last year, but you guys are putting too much of the blame on him. He has had sucess before as a OC. Warren Moon and Mark Brunell are both QBs who thrived under him.

[DraftBoy]

Originally posted by NE39
Just Remember:
2000 Pitt O under Gilbride 22nd
2001 Pitt O under Mularkey 3rd

Actually, Pittsburgh finished 18th in Total Offense in Gilbride's last year, 2000. That was an improvement from 22nd in Gilbride's first season, 1999. That, too, was an improvement, as the Steelers were ranked 25th in Total Offense the year prior to hiring Gilbride.

Keep in mind, Pittsburgh's offensive improvement between 2000 and 2001 was in large part due to the improvement in their passing game. However, there were two major factors:

1) Kordell Stewart having a career year.

However, keep in mind Gilbride was hired to resurrect Stewarts' career, at a point where the Steeler's were ready to give up on him. Stewarts improvement actually began under Gilbride, and down the stretch of Gilbride's tenure he played pretty well (QB Rating of a little over 80 in his last 6 games).

2) Drafting Plaxico Burris and Hines Ward emerging.

The improvement in the Steelers passing game was in large part due to both these guys have 1000 yard seasons. Having targets like this helped Stewart improve even more and put up better numbers.


There is no doubt Gilbride probably wasn't the best match in Buffalo last year, but you guys are putting too much of the blame on him. He has had sucess before as a OC. Warren Moon and Mark Brunell are both QBs who thrived under him.


Good points! :bf1:

[The Spaz]

What has Gilbride done well since Brunell and Moon were in there prime? Gilbride is garbage and everyone knows his hand.

[WNYnut]

Originally posted by The Spaz
This year will tell all.

I agree, all the doubters will be eating their words this year....

[The_Philster]

Originally posted by NE39
Stewarts improvement actually began under Gilbride, and down the stretch of Gilbride's tenure he played pretty well (QB Rating of a little over 80 in his last 6 games).

Yeah...because he started cutting back on the number of reads that the QB had to make. Why couldn't he do that here?

[RedEyE]

Originally posted by Tatonka
drew needs the following to be successful:

1. all pro Oline inside and out. (he would still take 25-30 sacks though)


If Drew and the OL cut the sack totals to half, then we have a playoff competitive team.

[mybills]

Originally posted by Mr. Cynical


You forgot:

6. Needs to play against teams with defenses that start 50 year old vets who have the flu.

7. All his receivers need to have big, bright yellow signs on them that say "Throw pass here."

8. Other teams' pass rushers have to count to "10 Mississippi" before rushing him.

9. Have a hypnotist convince him he is playing a regular season game against a losing team when playing a playoff game.

10. Attach an electro-shock device in his jock and zap him everytime he holds the ball too long.

:D

LMAO!!! :10:

2 more...

Remove horse blinders

Learn how to scramble

[buffmaniac]

Originally posted by NE39
Just Remember:
2000 Pitt O under Gilbride 22nd
2001 Pitt O under Mularkey 3rd

Actually, Pittsburgh finished 18th in Total Offense in Gilbride's last year, 2000. That was an improvement from 22nd in Gilbride's first season, 1999. That, too, was an improvement, as the Steelers were ranked 25th in Total Offense the year prior to hiring Gilbride.

Keep in mind, Pittsburgh's offensive improvement between 2000 and 2001 was in large part due to the improvement in their passing game. However, there were two major factors:

1) Kordell Stewart having a career year.

However, keep in mind Gilbride was hired to resurrect Stewarts' career, at a point where the Steeler's were ready to give up on him. Stewarts improvement actually began under Gilbride, and down the stretch of Gilbride's tenure he played pretty well (QB Rating of a little over 80 in his last 6 games).

2) Drafting Plaxico Burris and Hines Ward emerging.

The improvement in the Steelers passing game was in large part due to both these guys have 1000 yard seasons. Having targets like this helped Stewart improve even more and put up better numbers.


There is no doubt Gilbride probably wasn't the best match in Buffalo last year, but you guys are putting too much of the blame on him. He has had sucess before as a OC. Warren Moon and Mark Brunell are both QBs who thrived under him.

Yeah your right double checking. My stats were wrong. Pitts O was actually 19th under Gilbride in 2000 and their run game wasn't that bad that year which I was wrong about because I looked at the wrong stats.

But the fact remains the same. Pitt's O went from 19th to 3rd with very little change in the roster. The players were better under Mularkey because of the changes he made. And really all Mularkey did was simplify the offense and focus on the things that his players did best. He will do the same things here and we will see the same kind of improvement.

Gilbride's offense used to be effective but in today's NFL it just no longer works. The complex passing schemes take alot of time for the players to get on the same page. And in today's NFL with so much player movement it just won't work. You need to have a simpler offense than what we had so that people can come in learn the offense and get on the same page with each other. Last year too many people were either confused on what to do or just not on the same page. And that goes for the entire offense with Drew, the WRs, and the OL. This year I expect things to be much smoother under Mularkey and this simpler offense. We shall see.

But I will say that Gilbride and schemes were not good and they do deserve a lot of the blame for what happened with this team. The fact that he made no adjustments to the offense even while we were struggling is absolutely ridiculous. We are much better off with him gone.

[elltrain22]

Drew just needs to get his confidence back, and he needs to trust in his offensive line once again. Then, and maybe then, we can see the Bledsoe of 2002...

[mybills]

Trust me-I believe in miracles, but I don't think Drew will ever be better than he has ever shown us at QB. That's not saying much. :cynic:

[colin]

Gilbride has had some good years with great players (look at buffalo in 2002, we had a great O roster inspite of not great pass protection and had huge offensive numbers) but he can't do jack with an OK team. As much as everyone likes to diss bledsoe for needing a good line (and to a good extent he really does) the OC decides what the O going to do, and option routes and deep outs every damn play without great speed is a joke, but it is what he did last year. With the massive talent we have at our skill positions and our giant line with 2 good backs we should get enough 2nd and shorts to really light it up this year.

[DraftBoy]

Originally posted by mybills
Trust me-I believe in miracles, but I don't think Drew will ever be better than he has ever shown us at QB. That's not saying much. :cynic:

:lol!: