We will not be a run-oriented offense next year

[Judge]

In my opinion, the Bills will not radically change their offensive orientation from what was largely successful this year-

At most, this will be a 50-50 split run/pass team, but having Drew Bledsoe and a talented pool of receivers is too tempting for any OC to pass by in favor of a boring, grind-it-out offense.

Believe me, if any coach in the league has the weapons, he'd go for the big-time offense. Not many teams have the explosiveness that the Bills do- it's a blessing, not a curse.

The key to the Bills' overall success next year is improvement on defense. Development of the o-line to tweak effectiveness of the offense will help, but there's no need to fix KG's offense- it ain't broke!

[HenryRules]

I agree ... however, I think we'll be a pass-first offense until Henry proves that he can carry the ball without fumbling. IMO, that can't happen until at least week 8 with Henry having 2 fumbles or less.

[LABillsFan]

I don't mind being a pass orientated offense as long as
1)KG figures out how to run screens and set up passes to wide open receivers/backs in the flat, and
2)DB alters his thinking by going through his progressions faster and dumping the ball off to those receivers/backs in the flat instead of getting sacked 54 times and knocked down 30 other times. He needs a QB coach than can help him with that.

[Judge]

Originally posted by LABillsFan
I don't mind being a pass orientated offense as long as
1)KG figures out how to run screens and set up passes to wide open receivers/backs in the flat, and
2)DB alters his thinking by going through his progressions faster and dumping the ball off to those receivers/backs in the flat instead of getting sacked 54 times and knocked down 30 other times. He needs a QB coach than can help him with that.

I don't blame Drew for that. The o-line could use some improvement at pass blocking- it wasn't that good this year. Also, Drew hangs in there, letting the pass routes develop, because he knows he can get rid of the ball quickly, and because he is immobile. He will take more hits as a result.

At least he can get the ball downfield at a reliable rate despite the hits- unlike RJ, who just got hit.

[LABillsFan]

I'm not putting blame on anybody, I get concerned with the amount of hits DB takes. I would like to see him dump the ball off more so he doesn't risk getting injured. He is big and strong, but he also gets hit hard and often, I am amazed that he lasted all 16 games, I know that the pounding he took this year could have been avoided somewhat if he would have gotten the ball off to his outlet receivers. Let's face it, he has courage, the arm, the leadership, but the Bills don't have a QB that has all those qualities to come in and take over. AVP could be effective with the short game but not the long ball, and TB is by no stretch of the imagination ready to come in and play good enough.

[BADTHINGSMAN]

Bledsoe is doing just fine. He has a young o-line and Ruben Brown(stop holding ruben). The line will get better. Alot of his sacks are because he doesnt scramble. He waits untill the last second to let recievers run there routes, or get open deep.

[Kelly The Dog]

It doesn't really matter. It matters what the defense does to try to stop you, who you match up well against, who on the other team is in a slump or injured, etc. The Bills have shown that they can run and they can pass. The OL run blocks better than they pass block now but they are young and that may be closer to 50-50 by next year. When Kelly ran the K Gun it was pass first run second, BUT many people felt that Thurman was the key to the offense. The same could be said of these Bills. There will be some games we rely on Drew and some games we rely on Travis and hopefully some games we can both run and pass. The trick is to use and utilize all of your weapons. But that is hard to do and hard to keep everyone happy, especially the fans. There is absolutely no reason that the 2003 Bills have to just DECLARE whether they are a power running team or a wide open passing team. With all this talent they should be able to do both.

BTW, for all the crap that Rueben takes for penalties, he had exactly one holding penalty the entire year and we scored two plays later on a 29 yard pass to tie the Jet game in the last two minutes. He had a grand total of 35 yards in penalties the entire season and of the 5 false starts, three of them were in games that we won so they obviously didnt hurt that much. One was in a drive that we got a first down anyway and scored a FG on. And only one, on 1-10, did we end up punting on. Total disaster of Rueben's penalties the entire year?

One punt.

[Halbert]

Funny you mention Kelly and the K-gun because it looks to me like we have the ingredients to run that type of offense again. I don't know if we need to return to the no-huddle, but the rest is there - vertical passing game, consistently dangerous ground game, good TE play. Travis hasn't shown he can catch like Thurman, but he had 40+ recepts this season and Centers makes up the difference.

There's no question the D stepped up the last few games and I don't think it was at all a fluke. A few key additions here and there and it's probably a top 10 unit. This team could end up looking a great deal like the SB teams of the early 90's. Only fate and bad luck kept us from winning one of those. I think TD is finally going to put together a winner for us.

[WG]

As long as Drew is here, our OL will not "be able to pass block" well.

I guess everyone is expecting the type of protection that Rypien had in 'the '92 season in Washington. It isn't going to happen. FAcy and the speed of defenses have permanently changed all of that.

Also, while Henry had many fumbles, Drew's INTs were far more costly to us than Henry's fumbles. The only fumble that came close to Drew's worst 7 or 8 INTs was the Denver fumble.

If we are a pass-first team again next season, prepare to be disappointed. Run-D is the way to go. If we had done that this season, many of us would be going to the Ralph on Sat. or Sun.

[colin]

Originally posted by Wys Guy
As long as Drew is here, our OL will not "be able to pass block" well.

I guess everyone is expecting the type of protection that Rypien had in 'the '92 season in Washington. It isn't going to happen. FAcy and the speed of defenses have permanently changed all of that.

Also, while Henry had many fumbles, Drew's INTs were far more costly to us than Henry's fumbles. The only fumble that came close to Drew's worst 7 or 8 INTs was the Denver fumble.

If we are a pass-first team again next season, prepare to be disappointed. Run-D is the way to go. If we had done that this season, many of us would be going to the Ralph on Sat. or Sun.

You sure are right Wys, no one can pass block anymore. Especially not the Raiders, they never pass, they always run.

[MelK]

Originally posted by Wys Guy
As long as Drew is here, our OL will not "be able to pass block" well.

I guess everyone is expecting the type of protection that Rypien had in 'the '92 season in Washington. It isn't going to happen. FAcy and the speed of defenses have permanently changed all of that.

Also, while Henry had many fumbles, Drew's INTs were far more costly to us than Henry's fumbles. The only fumble that came close to Drew's worst 7 or 8 INTs was the Denver fumble.

If we are a pass-first team again next season, prepare to be disappointed. Run-D is the way to go. If we had done that this season, many of us would be going to the Ralph on Sat. or Sun.

A turn over is a turn over. How can one br "More impoirtant" or "Less significant " than the other? Henry's fumbles didn't occur while the Bills were up 3 TDs and we were killing the clock.

If anything, more of Henry's turnovers occured with the Bills were ahead, tied, or slightly behind. Many of bledsoe's occured when the Bills were farther behind and more risks needed to be taken.


Talk about being a apologist for a player....

[WG]

Well, unfortunately colin, that's exactly the kind of stuff used to bolster up Drew. Sadly.

Yards, as if they matter apart from points. Yet, w/ Drew they do.

If some of us critics ask for specifics as to what he actually did in any of his playoff games to help the Pats win, it's always "he's 3-3" but no specific evidence to suggest how a QB w/ around 150 passing yards and 2 INTs did anything. '

His wins, even though most of his wins, the enormous majority, are against teams not even close to qualifying for the playoffs.

His Lines play great except when he's concerned. His holding onto the ball to long couldn't possibly have anything at all to do with his poor play I realize. Only RJ can be a beneficiary of that even though Drew got sacked more. I understand all of that.

Yards, the team's winning reacord apart from the fact that he did little to contribute in most of the wins against decent teams. Again, I realize that all of his contributions in that area are purely "intangible." Understood.

So the bottom line, Drew contributes in the NFL like no other QB has before. He loads up on yards and it really doesn't matter if he has over 300 yards but only 7 points as in the N.E. game. He played a great game while the OL couldn't pass protect and Henry and the D are to blame.

He contributes only mysteriously after putting up games like his masterful 178 yard performance yielding 0 TDs and 1 INT but his contribution was in helping the D to play better and Martin to run well. That much is understood.

Meanwhile, other QBs get measured on silly and irrelevant things such as touchdowns. Realizing of course that Drew has a bigger game in which he throws for more yards than a game by say another QB who has 3 TDs but less than 200 yards and is say 75%. Again, that much is understood.

So I think we're very much on the same sheet. We're just reading it differently!

Stats! Heck, who needs 'em when you're talking about Drew. Only intangible and subjective measures and those that cannot be attributed to him are used. Gotcha!



There's really no need for further explanations. I fully realize that the answers to questions such as what he specifically did in any o fthe 6 playoff games that he started and finished for the Pats are not forthcoming. I know why and you know why if you want to be honest. Therein lies the issues.

Meanwhile, last year many here define his playoff successes by a 10 of 21 performance last season on less than 5 YPA and 102 big yards on the merits of one single drive that he picked up halfway thru at the Pittsburgh 40 and then threw 3 passes for 36 yards and a TD.

Meanwhile, what gets completely ignored, is his 7 of 18 for 66 yard performance in the second half on a YPA of what, 3.7.

Why? Why are 6 complete games and an entire half of football ignored in favor of half of a 4 play drive while the D was adjusting?

I'm not holding my breath on getting an answer to that one. But nevertheless, here are the N.E. possessions following that "spectacular" drive and 3 plays that supercedes 26 entire Qs in relevance to us:

Drive 1/3rd Q: 1 for 4 for 3 yards; out on downs, failed 4th down, incompl. pass

Drive 2/3rd Q: Smith for 5 yards, Bledsoe Inc., Bledsoe sacked on 3rd dn. for a loss and punt

Drive 3/3rd/4th Q: 3 of 5 for 34 w/ Bledsoe failing to get a first down on a pass attempt on 3rd and 4; FG

Drive 4/4th Q: 3 of 8 including 1 sack and a drive ending on a Bledsoe incompletion; punt

Drive 5/4th Q: 2 runs by Smith and an incomplete pass by Drew on 3rd and 8; punt

Last drive ran the clock out w/ no effort.

Q: Are you going to be happy if he plays that way for us in the playoffs? I'll tell ya I'll be pretty PO'd if it happens after all the hype. Again, not holding my breath on an answer here.

[WG]

Oh yeah, and I'm curious if you think this is relevant or not;

His record against teams that are 10-6 (career) is 11-32

Against teams 11-5 or better, it's 4-21

Against teams 12-4 or better, he's 1-11

Which other QBs that are deemed great continually choke vs. good teams like that?

Do you think that he has anything to do with any of that, or not?

Would that track record give you a lot of hope that we'd win 3 or 4 back to back games against teams likely all 10-6 or better, possbly several 11-5 or 12-4 or better?

Because it sure doesn't do much for me. Who cares if we go 11-5 in the RS and get our pants yanked down in the POs? I'd rather go in as a WC and win the SB.

Then again, perhaps it was his OL's fault, all the coaches, and his RB, usually Curtis Martin. Afterall, Martin isn't very good in this league. He seemed to have fallen apart as soon as he went to the Jets.

[MelK]

Can you compare other QB's records agains teams that are 10-6? 11-5? 12-4?

Can we measure a Punter's performance this way? Or a Guards?

What's Chris Chandler's record vs these teams? Rob Johnsons?

[MelK]

Maybe it's the Jersey color? What's his record vs teams wearing Blue? Green? Red? Black?