(Opinion) Pride's Year End Analysis

[Pride]

[Coaching] - This will lead off since, most of the following has something to do with it. I believe that this was a playoff team. I understand that we are rebuilding, but with the subpar year that all of the teams had, we should have made a wild card, if not the division.
GW - Of the top 3, he deserves to stay the most, but only because the other 2 suck so bad.
KG - Get this guy out of town NOW!!! He single handedly ruined a great season for Drew.
JG - He might have bought himself another season, but I am not impress thus far.

[Offense] - The tale of two halves. With KG sucking so bad with the horrid play calling, and the giving up on the run, it is a miracle that the first half of the season was great for the O. Can you spell ADJUSTMENT Mr. Gilbride?
Bledsoe - He is still our QB for the next 3+ years. Give him a balanced offense, and a Defense that doesn't put us behind by 14 in the first quarter, and he will put up great numbers in a good way.
Henry - Hand him the damn ball, after he learns to hang onto the ball in traffic.
Moulds - nothing to be said.
Price - pack your bags, there is a rookie waiting to take over your spot, you sack of *****.
Oline - With a balanced Offense, they will improve, no big adjustments needed here.
TE - Cut both of them, and hire another Tackle. We don't utilize the receiving TE's anyway.

[Defense] - They showed improvement, but the 46 needs to go.
DLine - They suck, but with the addition of 1 or 2 studs, they already have the foundation. Schobel may come on strong next year with help.
LB's - Robinson is gone, but the rest will improve when the Dline improves.
Corners - This is our strength. Start Thomas next year (nickle), but keep Watson as #4.
Safety's - With experience, they will stabalize.

[Special Teams] - Some major changes needed here.
KR - Cut them all and use Bryson or Morris back there.
PR - Cut them all and put Watson Back there.
K - Hollis is average, if there is a better kicker on FA, grab him.
P - Mooreman is the guy for a few years.
Coverage - They solidified, but it would help if the Kicker could get it to the goal line on a regular basis.

[Next year] - We can win the division next year, if 3-4 changes are made. Dline (2), OLB (1), WR (1?) <- Price gone.


That is my analysis, take it or leave it. I will not reply to this message, as I am sure some will have something to disagree with.

[SoCalBillsFan]

Peerless can stay if it is for the right price (haha), GW still should be gone, I dont care if he sucks the least, he still sucks, and I agree this team could have made the playoffs.

[Dozerdog]

It's a shame they saved their jobs with a decent december (3-2) wins over the Fish and a good SD team)


Tom Coughlin is inching closer to unemployment. I would have loved to see him in here

[Pride]

Unfortunately, SD is not as good in week 16 as they were in week 6

Neither are the Dolphins. They shouldn't rank as high on the "save my job" list as they once did earlier in the season.

[colin]

Cut both of our TEs, get rid of our OC and change our D?

Terrible.

[Judge]

Originally posted by colin
Cut both of our TEs, get rid of our OC and change our D?

Terrible.

I agree Colin- Pride's plan is a mess.

[THATHURMANATOR]

Kevin Thomas has 2 decent games and you want him to start????? Who may I ask is he going to start over? Winfield or Clements???

[Pride]

Originally posted by THATHURMANATOR
Kevin Thomas has 2 decent games and you want him to start????? Who may I ask is he going to start over? Winfield or Clements???

Sorry, edited the post with clarification. Start him over Watson in Nickle D is what I was going for.

[Pride]

Ahhh, to hell with it... lets banter!

Tell me 1 good reason to keep KG or JG around for another season.

Is our Offense so ingrained in our players mind that they cannot run the ball more often? It is just expected to pass 70% of the time, and they can't change? Can Travis Henry not handle the load? Other than the change in philosophy, nothing else changes.
And his current pass 70%, run 30% philosophy SUCKS! If you don't believe me, ask drew!

And Jerry Gray, does anyone REALLY believe that the current 46 D that is installed in Buffalo will lead us, or even aid us in getting to and winning the Super Bowl? If you said yes to that question, then you haven't watched the games this year. This defense will not win us any games, and will struggle to keep us in them most of the time. For being such an agressive D, how many Turn Overs do we have? How many Sacks?

And are you telling me that changing to a standard 4-3 / 3-4 with small variations with the current talent, and the new talent to come will not work? Did anyone watch when Wade was running our D? How about Cotrell? Just wondering.

It sounds radical yes, but I believe until we make these changes, we may get the playoffs, but we will NEVER win the SB.

[ejsmith]

I love all these people that say that we should just run the ball 80% of the time. Did you watch the games?? Whenever we tried to just run a power running game we didn't have a lot of success. OUR PASSING GAME SETUP THE RUNNING GAME! Travis Henry would not have had the season that he had if DB didn't loosen up the defense for him. Ideally, next year our OL will have another year of experience and will be able to really dominate and maybe then we will have the ability to setup the passing game with the running game.

[THATHURMANATOR]

"Sorry, edited the post with clarification. Start him over Watson in Nickle D is what I was going for."

Oh ok!!! well then I agree!

[HenryRules]

I agree with ejsmith and have one other question for people wishing to run the ball more ... did Travis Henry not fumble the ball enough without running the ball in short yardage situations?? Imagine how many more fumbles he would have had if we ran the ball when other teams had their big hitters in there. Don't forget, Henry seldom got stripped of the ball, it was big hits that caused him to drop it, so big hitters would have caused more fumbles. Gilbride has shown in the past that when he feels comfortable with a back, he'll give him the ball (see his time in Pittsburgh where he gave Bettis the ball about 350 times in one season), so why is it Gilbride's fault that he doesn't have faith in our RB to avoid fumbles?
As far as cutting both TE's ... what did Dave Moore do to upset everyone?? The guys a solid blocker and has proven over his career, and again this season, that he's really good at getting open near the endzone. What's wrong with having a guy like that in your lineup? I understand that JR is overpaid and wanting to cut him, but see no reason to get rid of Moore at all.
Now, on to Gray ... the reason we have no turnovers is because Watson played CB almost all season ... notice that whenever teams threw near Clements or Winfield we started to get turnovers?? Watson can't catch or cover regardless of who his receiver is and the 46 is based on man coverage ... tell me, with Watson on single, why would any team throw near anyone but him? Perhaps with our personnel, we might have been better suited to a different D, but we're <i>rebuilding</i>. We're setting the foundation for when we have a full complement of players ... if you ask me, it doesn't make sense to bring in a different D (i.e. 34) for the two years where we're undermanned, and then once we get all the players in to change to the 46 D we really want to use. I'm not even sure that we would have had more success if we went to a 34 D. Our LBs are not that strong right now ... Robinson would still have to play OLB and I don't know who else we'd put in the other ILB slot. Also, Chidi might have worked alright as one DE in the 34, but Schobel IMO is much better suited to a 43-style DE than to being a 34-style DE.

[Pride]

I'll bite:

The idea about firing Gray is that we would also be scrapping the 46 with it!

When I say we switch to the 3-4 or 4-3, I meant as a permanent switch, not just a stop gap until we have the talent to play the 46. I do not believe in the 46... hasn't worked since Buddy Ryan, the Off Coords around the league figured it out 10 years ago.

[HenryRules]

The Titans seem to be doing alright the last few years. Can't think of anyone else playing the 46 right now.
However, I can understand your position about canning Gray if you want to get rid of the 46, but I think we're too far along that path right now to scrap it.

[Pride]

Do the titans still run the 46, the way that GW ran it?

I honestly do not know the answer to this.

[TedMock]

They do run it the same because of Jeff Fisher. He's the direct Buddy Ryan descendent. He worked with GW in developing that Titans D into what is was/is. They're still solid but when they were the number 1 D in the league 2 or 3 years ago, the talent was awesome. The whole d-line there and the db's were great. They still had Kenny Holmes and Jason Fisk on the line at that time along with Kearse.

[Pride]

Then it begs the question, does GW know the system well enough to implement it correctly? or was the success down there attributed to Fisher?

[TedMock]

I think he know the system well but neither of our de's are jevon kearse and our safeties aren't Blaine Bishop. He' no longer there but he was on that defense and did a lot of blitzing and was also able to cover the outside receiver when samari rolle blitzed. They just flat out had more talent on that defense then we have right now. Our corners are just as good, as is pat williams and london fletcher but the other 3 d linemen, safeties and our eddie robinson vs. their eddie robinson aren't as good.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Once again you hit the nail on the head. The Bears had Dent, Hampton, McMichael, Singletary, Wilbur Marshall, Otis Wilson, Fencik, Duerson/Plank (trivia: Plank was #46, that's what the defense was named after). The Titans also had a pass rush with Kearse, et al.

If the Bills can come up with a pass rush, the LB's and DB's will look a helluva lot better.

[Rebecky]

Of course, Kearse was out, injured, for most of this season, and they still had a bodacious pass rush.

The Titans secondary changed during the season -- they tried zone at first, it flopped, the cb's hated it, so Fisher created some kind of combination of cover-2 but still with the cb's playing mostly aggressive man-on-man and the cover-2 safeties playing aggressively, making quite a few int's for the team. I'm not clear on the particulars, but whatever it was, it worked out.

[timfromjersey]

I like the 46 defense. Just not the way Gray uses it. Not agressive enough. But lets face it, you got to have the horses to run it. Very solid Def. line and like the 3-4, dominate linebackers. The secondary of the Bills are almost Ideal for it.

My innermost secret fantasy: Some NFL Coach will go back to a run and shoot offense with a 46 defense. That and the other fantasy... Heather Locklear, using lit candles and twine, takes them and...uh..(ahem)..uh...never mind!

[colin]

Don't cut Moore because he is the best price/value TE we can get, and he is allready signed.

Resign price unless he is too expensive (I say $5 mil is prolly too much, but not $4, 9 TDs, nearly 100 catches, 1200 yards for what JR and any given player who does not even play makes, sounds good to me).

About getting rid of Gilby and JG, our O was VERY good this year, we just sputtered at the end. Travis dropping the rock was a horrible thing for us, we will prolly get a good back up to spell him and continue with a running attack and let Henry get some bench time during the game so he is fresh in the 4th. Gilbride just needs to be reigned a a tiny bit.

Our D has many holes, and with the exception of the Jets game and the first quarter of the NE game, played at the top of the NFL for the second half. Our Run D sucked a touch on a couple games, but our pass D and turnover production more than made up for it. Stick in Colvin and/or Spikes, as well as a new Safety, and perhaps a DT, and you are looking at a very good D. Great if our O gets us in a lead.

Why scrap what we have? What are we going to put in to replace it? A 3-4? who the hell are gonna be our 4 new LBs, becuase we need to upgrade and add a new position, and some depth. We also lose what we have developed so far.

[The_Philster]

The 46 defense is supposed to be an all-out pressure defense with man-to-man coverage. That's not what we saw.
As far as the run-and-shoot....it's nice for lighting things up but what happens when you have to grind out clock or get into the end zone from up close? To run the run-and-shoot, you need to carry extra WRs and all but do away with TEs and FBs. That also hurts on special teams because WRS just can't do the things that FBs and TEs with heftier bodies can do.

[colin]

We don't run a run and shoot, we run a pro set or 3 wide O with some single back. It is a vertical passing and power running mix, it is what Gilby did in Jaxonville. It can be great, we just need to run a bit more, pass block a bit better, and hold on to the rock.

We DO run a 46, but we mix in a couple of different looks now. Running a 46 does not mean we have to have the exact same play book the 85 Bears, the same way that both Green Bay and San Fran are west coast offenses.

when we sign the ninjas we are gonna sign this offseason, you will see some wicked blitzes.

[timfromjersey]

Colin, no one said the Bills have a run and shoot offense. I was just making a light hearted jest.

To the Philster,

I was unaware of any team who ran the run and shoot had trouble with special teams on account of carrying too many WRs. Can you cite a specific example for me?

As far as your comments about the problems of the run and shoot, When the Houstan Oilers ran it with Moon, they didn't seem to have a lot of trouble scoring. No, I think the biggest problem with it was that it was explosive with the offense scoring too fast, putting the defense right back on the field without the opportunity to rest. Therefore, the tired defense allowed as many points as the offense scored. Often these high scoring games would be close, down to the wire and if the team with the run and shoot had a 1 score lead they couldn't protect it with a ground it out, kill the clock, run for the first down type of possession.

But if you think about it, pairing the run and shoot with a 46 defense like Chicago's back in '85 is sound theory. That defense holds the world record for three and outs and while it got beat occasionally on a long pass with the one on one coverage, few opposing offenses amassed many yards and scores against it. But most importantly, it got the defense off the field quickly, therefore it would eliminate the main problem of a team using the Run and shoot offense, a tired defense. Plus it would get the ball back in the hands of the explosive offense. With both these styles of offense/defense being used, There wouldn't be so many close games.

Case in point. Remember the early eighties Chargers with the Air Coryell offense. While not a run and shoot per say, it was the sort of pre-cursor to it. They had great seasons and made it to the playoffs but often would lose high scoring games because the defense had to return to the field too quickly after Fouts, Winslow, Joiner et al would score in minute-and-a-half drives. I guarantee if they had a defense like Chicago's, Fout has two or three SB rings on his fingers.

But like the 46 defense needing the right personal so does the Run and shoot need the right qb. I would like to see someone use it again. Another problem with run and shoot is only pass protection is from 5 lineman only. Therefore you need outstanding pass blockers or a mobil qb. In my mind, right now, Vick, with his laser arm and incredible mobility would be lethal. With the spread widouts he have a lot of room to run.

[LABillsFan]

THe basis of the BIlls D is the 46 but GW does install variations like the 4-4-3. There is only so much he can do with the talent that was on this team this year. WE all witnessed what happened once a few personell and assignments were tweeked towards the end of the year. The D started reacting faster and playing very good football. And if some of you hadn't noticed the Offense had been sputtering since the 1st NE game, GW's d kept the Bills in the game the second half of the season. KG's off plan was the factor in losing IMHO.

[The_Philster]

To timfromjersey....I was going off a few comments made by Steve Tasker on Empire last week when someone suggested that we run a run-and-shoot....he barely kept from laughing as he answered the comments. Without the personnel needed to run short-yardage packages, defenses will be able to cover WRs pretty easily down in the red zone because that's all they'd really have to do. Think about it....if they lined up in a heavy jumbo formation, they'd have to use linemen as FBs and TEs...othrwise, the WRs would just get blown back off the line of scrimmage.
As far as the special teams stuff, WRs are good as return men and gunners but what else can they do? You need some medium-sized bodies in there as well...guys large enough that can take on blocks and make blocks but small enough that they can get downfield quickly.

[Judge]

Originally posted by colin
Don't cut Moore because he is the best price/value TE we can get, and he is allready signed.

Resign price unless he is too expensive (I say $5 mil is prolly too much, but not $4, 9 TDs, nearly 100 catches, 1200 yards for what JR and any given player who does not even play makes, sounds good to me).

About getting rid of Gilby and JG, our O was VERY good this year, we just sputtered at the end. Travis dropping the rock was a horrible thing for us, we will prolly get a good back up to spell him and continue with a running attack and let Henry get some bench time during the game so he is fresh in the 4th. Gilbride just needs to be reigned a a tiny bit.

Our D has many holes, and with the exception of the Jets game and the first quarter of the NE game, played at the top of the NFL for the second half. Our Run D sucked a touch on a couple games, but our pass D and turnover production more than made up for it. Stick in Colvin and/or Spikes, as well as a new Safety, and perhaps a DT, and you are looking at a very good D. Great if our O gets us in a lead.

Why scrap what we have? What are we going to put in to replace it? A 3-4? who the hell are gonna be our 4 new LBs, becuase we need to upgrade and add a new position, and some depth. We also lose what we have developed so far.

Well said Colin- a very intelligent post.

You can't junk 2 years of work at this point- the Bills braintrust deserves one more year to see if everything works out according to plan.

Radical changes would mean a likely step backward. Continuing to develop what's begun may not work out, but it deserves a fair shot next year after the improvement over this year.

[TedMock]

The 46 defense does work but you do need the horses. Everybody who's stated this is correct. To just say get rid of it, it doesn't work is ignorant. They need a few more guys to make it work the way it's supposed to. Buddy Ryan's defenses were great. They weren't great in year one. Everybody talks about the 85 Bears but what about the Eagles defense in the late 80's? That was a 46 defense but you had a stud D-Line (White, Brown, Golic, Simmons) and Seth Joyner covering the middle of the field. Don't forget Eric Allen was probably the best cover corner at that time and they had a lunatic safety who's name is escaping me. He had a reputation as a cheap shot artist and wore #20 but I can't for the life of me remember his name. Either way, the talent was sick. Give us one more season to see if it works. when the talent is in place it'll work.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Originally posted by timfromjersey


My innermost secret fantasy: Some NFL Coach will go back to a run and shoot offense with a 46 defense. That and the other fantasy... Heather Locklear, using lit candles and twine, takes them and...uh..(ahem)..uh...never mind!

You're really Kevin Gilbride, aren't you?