Willis McGahee

[jamze132]

I am a bit concerned with Willis. Over the past few games dating back to last year, I haven't seen him "hit the hole" a hell of a lot. It seems like he receives the handoff and almost stops before he make a decision as to where he going to go. Now this may be in part to a crappy offensive line not making the proper holes for the designed play or it maye be that Willis is trying to hard to be a finesse back. I don't know. What I do know is that he is playing very timid. Yesterday watching Williams, that guy is running pretty hard when he reaches the first line of defense and it's no wonder why he got som many yards against us. Granted the Bills where tired, and beat up, Williams just seem to "hit the hole" at fuul speed and almost always made yardage after first contact. I know willis has the size and speed to do the exact same thing but I don't know why he doesn't.

It doesn't matter who is running the ball, when you play a tough run defense who just happens to be one of the fastest defenses in the league, you run north, not east and west before you even reach the line of scrimage. I know there are a lot of traps, counters, and sweeps that Buffalo uses, but they also us the good ole smash mouth, in your face runs too. But Willis needs to "hit the hole" a bit harder to break the initial contact. Watching a couple of games last year, he seemed to do this outstanding. But for the most part, he just seems hesitant while he's back there dancing around.

This is my opinion and I am not sure if the line has a lot to do with it or if it's just Willis. But whatever the problem is, it needs to be addressed and fixed. And yes, I know that Tampa Bay had 8-9 guys in the box most of the afternoon, but so did we.

[Pride]

Re: Willis McGahee

I agree.. apparently Willis took dancing classes in the offseason... because he dances WAAY too much out there. Part of it is also the fact that most of the running plays were delay's or traps... plays that take a while to develop. Why we arent doing half back dives I'll never know.

On a side note... did we attempt 1 screen yesterday?

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Willis McGahee

I also aree. Willis is tentative in hitting the hole, and does not seem to be running as physically as he did last year. He seems to lack a real burst, too. I'm worried that he is not going to give us what we need to take some of the pressure off JP. He certainly didn't yesterday.

[Bert102176]

Re: Willis McGahee

I agree also when he gets the ball he has to hit the hole and not dance back there and let the D's come to him

[DMBcrew36]

Re: Willis McGahee

Hopefully the coaches are coming to this realization also. I hope Mularkey answers a question regarding to McGahee's struggling in his "Ask the Coach" segment on their website.

[LtBillsFan66]

Re: Willis McGahee

I agree too. Cadillac can hit a hole like he was shot out of a cannon.

[Lone Stranger]

Re: Willis McGahee

I agree with all of the above. He's not hitting the hole hard and he's not showing any acceleration. There were a few opportunities when he could have made decent yardage.

[Buckets]

Re: Willis McGahee

DITTO!!!!!

[Voltron]

Re: Willis McGahee

I agree too. Cadillac can hit a hole like he was shot out of a cannon.

That kid is everything he was promised to be. I couldn't get over how many times he made our supposed top LB corps miss

[BuffaloRanger]

Re: Willis McGahee

What is WM's longest run from scrimmage? It can't be over 30 yards. And what's his longest TD run? I know he had some long runs called back due to penalties last season.

When will he break a long run?

[Italian Stallion]

Re: Willis McGahee

To me, and I hate to say this....he has looked alot like Antowian Smith lately.

-He seems to hesitate at trying to find a hole to run through at the line.

-He posesses almost zero burst when running through the l.o.s.

-Too often lately, he's been running latterally and trying to create something. He just doesn't have top speed (or hasn't shown it if he does) to beat athletic LB's to the edge.

-It's almost as if he tries to slow down to try and use his stiff-arm, instead of moving forward and using it when necessary. Hopefully he isn't doing this to get on the highlight reels, like many U of Miami players would.


I need to see alot more out of Willis the next few games in order for me to disspell the Antowian Smith comparison. Remember, AS looked awesome as a part time starter in his first year too, sharing time with Thurman. It was all downhill from that point on.....

As we all know, how Willis goes ultimatley determines how the offense does. If he becomes AS part II, this team will struggle to score ANY points.

[DMBcrew36]

Re: Willis McGahee

Does anyone wonder how hard McGahee REALLY worked out this offseason

I think he did, but he could still use some work in regards to hitting the holes and increasing his success going North to South, not East to West.

[Drive 4 Five]

Re: Willis McGahee

[QUOTE=Pride] Part of it is also the fact that most of the running plays were delay's or traps... plays that take a while to develop.[QUOTE]

Too often lately, he's been running latterally and trying to create something.

You guys nailed it right there. While his play does look somewhat uninspired to me as well, I think the design of the runs has been a huge factor in our inability to run the ball effectively. Make no mistake about it. Houston's defense sucks. When a TALENTED defense like Tampa's, who has the corners to leave GOOD receivers like Evans and Moulds alone in space with single defenders, bring eight and nine defenders on every play, you have to match this with an equal amount of blockers. For example, trying to run against Tampa yesterday out of a three wide receiver set was foolish. It worked somewhat with Williams but only because he has the quickness and shiftiness to dart through the small holes (much like Thurman used to) that McGaee just does not possess. If you are going to run Willis against a defense clearly devoted to shutting down the run, you have to use the BIG packages with multiple blockers (fullback and multiple TE's) to match blocker for blocker.

[Mr. Cynical]

Re: Willis McGahee

You guys nailed it right there. While his play does look somewhat uninspired to me as well, I think the design of the runs has been a huge factor in our inability to run the ball effectively. Make no mistake about it. Houston's defense sucks. When a TALENTED defense like Tampa's, who has the corners to leave GOOD receivers like Evans and Moulds alone in space with single defenders, bring eight and nine defenders on every play, you have to match this with an equal amount of blockers. For example, trying to run against Tampa yesterday out of a three wide receiver set was foolish. It worked somewhat with Williams but only because he has the quickness and shiftiness to dart through the small holes (much like Thurman used to) that McGaee just does not possess. If you are going to run Willis against a defense clearly devoted to shutting down the run, you have to use the BIG packages with multiple blockers (fullback and multiple TE's) to match blocker for blocker.

Good post.

[colin]

Re: Willis McGahee

You guys nailed it right there. While his play does look somewhat uninspired to me as well, I think the design of the runs has been a huge factor in our inability to run the ball effectively. Make no mistake about it. Houston's defense sucks. When a TALENTED defense like Tampa's, who has the corners to leave GOOD receivers like Evans and Moulds alone in space with single defenders, bring eight and nine defenders on every play, you have to match this with an equal amount of blockers. For example, trying to run against Tampa yesterday out of a three wide receiver set was foolish. It worked somewhat with Williams but only because he has the quickness and shiftiness to dart through the small holes (much like Thurman used to) that McGaee just does not possess. If you are going to run Willis against a defense clearly devoted to shutting down the run, you have to use the BIG packages with multiple blockers (fullback and multiple TE's) to match blocker for blocker.

signed.

pitts runs like a machine, and there are always hats on hats, they never leave it to their back to dance and wiggle. we are trying to outsmart the opposition a bit too much. against tampa that just will not fly.

we need to get back to our bread and butter, i'm pretty sure we will make the adjustment against hotlanta