If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
All: The new Billszone site with the updated software is scheduled to be turned on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The company that built it, Dynascale, estimates a FOUR HOUR shut down, from 8pm Pacific, (5pm Eastern) while they get it up and running. Nobody will be able to post in any forum until they are done. Afterwards, you may need to do a web search for the site, as old links will not work, because the site is getting a new IP address. Please be patient. If there are bugs, we will tackle them one at a time. Remember the goal is to be up and running with no glitches by camp. Doing this now assures us of that, because it gives us all summer to get our ducks in a row. Thank you!
There is work to be done and things to be learned. We are going to try to get the old look back - or something close to it. We also know there are bugs. A thread will be started to report bugs and then we can pass those onto the host.
Thank you for all the patience and support with this - hopefully this will greatly reduce the crashes and other site issues we have had lately.
Please use this thread to report any issues you come across
http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/forum/feedback-forums/billszone-q-a/6521455-upgrade-report-bugs-here
Reed will likely be the #2 with Parrish as the #3. We didn't get to see much of Parrish last year because of his injury. However, I thought he showed some flashes as a good slot receiver and returner at the end of the year. He is extremely shifty in the open field. Also, he was having a great training camp last year prior to his injury.
If he can stay healthy--and that is a HUGE IF based on his past history--it would not surprise me to see Andre Davis emerge as the # 2 WR this season.
I know Davis has a chequered past, but IMHO it is no more chequered than Reed's performance has been and, when healthy, Davis brings something to the table that Reed does not: real "home-run " threat speed and striking ability. Davis can "take it to the house" as well or better than Lee Evans when he is healthy.
There are two problems with Davis that have kept him from becoming the top-flight WR that he was projected to be: his health, something that Reed has a huge advantge over him in, and his hands, which is a problem he shares with Reed.
Davis came out of an unsophisticated passing offense at Va. Tech where he didn't have to learn to run a lot of different routes or develop reliable hands--all he had to do was keep running deep patterns and catch a couple of bombs from Mike Vick every game and that was it. Like Antonio Freeman and some other Va.Tech WRs, Davis was raw when he came into the NFL and had a lot to learn--and Cleveland, with Tim Couch and K.Holcomb at QB, Butch Davis as HC and Dennis Northcutt as the only other credible wide out was hardly the place for him to develop quickly. Still, Davis showed that he could still run by DBs at the pro level--as evidenced by the fact that he has, I believe, a 98-99 yard TD catch and several other long receptions to his credit. But, his hands, especially at the outset, have been suspect. Both his route running and his hands looked to be considerably improved just before his last full season in Cleveland two years ago, but by then he had been hit with the injury-bug and had a bad toe that he ultimately had to have surgery on. With Butch Davis gone, Antonio Bryant and, then, Braylon Edwards on-board to assume Davis' role in the offense, Cleveland decided to cut Davis loose--much in the way that they are likely to eventually cut Lee Suggs loose.
I don't know what it is with the field in Cleveland, but they seem to have had an inordinate number of serious foot and toe injuries to their players that have taken a lot of time to heal. Davis' turf toe injury--which is actually a severe sprain of the big toe--got so bad that he eventually had to have surgery, which led to his release from the Browns and limited him at the begining of last season. The question is whether it has fully healed to the point where he has regained his speed and can avoid reinjuring it. He says that it has and that he is running freely again. If so, he is a big, 4.3 40 yard dash fast receiver who has shown that he can stretch the field as well as Evans has. As T.Holt and I.Bruce have shown for the Rams, that can pose major headaches for opposing defenses.
If Davis is really fully healthy, the only question with him would be whether he has gotten to the point where he can run the shorter routes and catch the ball consistently. Josh Reed does not have Davis' speed, but he has shown that he can get open on the short routes, especially out of the slot. And, Reed has shown improved hands this past season. It is hard to say whether Davis' hands have improved enough to match Reed in consistency because they were both used in different capacities last year and Davis wasn't asked to run short routes or catch the ball a lot--even the Patriots basically used him to run fly patterns and didn't throw to him that much. As much as I liked Josh Reed in college and think that he can be a good possession receiver, despite all of the hype about Reed being able to get a lot of yards after the catch, he really hasn't show the ability to run away from or over NFL DBs and IMHO will never be the kind of TD threat that Davis is when healthy. Also, while a lot of the attention focused on Reed's inability to catch the ball when he did have the chance to be a starter a couple of years ago, he also seemed to have a lot more trouble getting open against starting DBs than he did when playing in the slot against nickle-backs.
While it is likely IMHO that the Bills will use Reed and Davis situationally on the outside--with Reed playing more in possession situations and Davis being used to stretch the field for the running game and underneath receivers in other situations--it is also possible that the Bills will put Davis on the outside and continue to use Reed in the slot in most passing situations unless Roscoe Parrish can beat Reed out for the primary slot receiver position. I think a lot will come down to what these receivers are able to show in mini-camps and training camp. Personally, I think that will be a very close competition between Reed, Davis and Parrish--all of whom bring something very different to the table. Still, it wouldn't surprise me to see Davis emerge as the starter opposite Lee Evans, especially if the passing game has any resemblance to the Rams' passing attack.
Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. And, thus it was that they surrendered their freedom; not with a bang, but without even a whimper.
Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. And, thus it was that they surrendered their freedom; not with a bang, but without even a whimper.
Tweet
Comment