off topic Buffalo Bills 2015

[inkman]

I love Freddy. A part of me is sad he's gone, another part realizes he was a part of the Bills stretch of no playoffs. Here's hoping he catches on with a contender and gets to hold the Lombardi trophy.

[Taro T]

Not a tough call really, based on Saturday's game.

 

I mean, even *I* figured that out.

 

 

 

....and relative to Tar T's response to my post,

 

 

I think if you're going to expect EJ to start after TT gets injured, he should be prepared to come in during a game as well. I would be okay with cutting Cassel loose. The QB corps was a collective 30 for 33, 3 passing TDs, no Ints, 395 yards, plus another 24 yards and a TD rushing.  They all looked pretty good.

 

 

Aw man... no way.  :(

During the regular season, the 2 & 3 don't get anywhere near the reps the 1's get. I am fine w/ giving EJ starts if TT gets hurt, but I'm not sure that I'm sold on having him coming in off the bench during the game if TT gets hurt (unless it's late in the game and they need a big rally).

 

The simple game that Cassel plays would seem to not need as many reps during the week to be what it is as EJ's game would need.

 

During the preseason, these guys have all been getting (well, the 1st 3 at least) a ton of reps as they were running 2 sets of their offense at the same time for large portions of training camp. Once they're down to 63 or so guys, there won't be enough bodies nor time to continue to do that.

 

Though I hope TT & EJ continue to look this good when other defenses are game planned rather than vanilla, it's almost inevitable that they don't. Without a starter's amount of work, I expect they'd be setting EJ up to fail at this point bringing him in in the middle of a game. The D's game planning would be roughly the same if EJ were in there rather than TT. They would necessarily have to go away from their game plan if Cassel came in in relief. Either that or essentially play the rest of the game w/ 10 D as the spy would be completely wasted as Roman set up pitches and RB screens.

 

There's a reason that RR has been saying for 2 weeks he expects to keep all 3 guys. Cassel's floor and experience combined w/ the Bills D should give them a higher probability of not throwing away a game if the starter is hurt than the other options would give.

 

I also still believe that EJ's arm gives them the better chance for a late 4th quarter rally than Cassel gives them and as the 3 he can be brought in without issue in the 4th.

 

On a separate note, sorry to see Fred Ex no longer making deliveries here. Hopefully they don't end up missing his pass protection. And if he ends up a Cheatriot, I will be ticked.

[calti]

4th and goal from the 2 or 3 for the win. Who do you want carrying the ball? FJ all day over any of the backs the bills have.

Not only bad karma but bad football mgmt.

Marcus Allen and John Riggins were highly clutch and valuable into their mid 30s.

[ubkev]

4th and goal from the 2 or 3 for the win. Who do you want carrying the ball? FJ all day over any of the backs the bills have.

Not only bad karma but bad football mgmt.

Marcus Allen and John Riggins were highly clutch and valuable into their mid 30s.

Marcus Allen and John Riggins? Really? Allen has 144 career TDs. Riggins has 104. Fred Jackson has 37.

 

Hall of Famers are often valuable their entire careers. That's why they're hall of Famers. Fred is getting old and slow and if he wasn't cut this year, it was definitely next year. Better a year too soon than a year too late.

[WildCard]

Marcus Allen and John Riggins? Really? Allen has 144 career TDs. Riggins has 104. Fred Jackson has 37.

 

Hall of Famers are often valuable their entire careers. That's why they're hall of Famers. Fred is getting old and slow and if he wasn't cut this year, it was definitely next year. Better a year too soon than a year too late.

Everything in his play indicated it wasn't a year too late. What is the downside of keeping him? I have yet to heard a good reason

[calti]

Marcus Allen and John Riggins? Really? Allen has 144 career TDs. Riggins has 104. Fred Jackson has 37.

 

Hall of Famers are often valuable their entire careers. That's why they're hall of Famers. Fred is getting old and slow and if he wasn't cut this year, it was definitely next year. Better a year too soon than a year too late.

yeah REALLY!!! FJ didn't start his NFL career till age 27. That's half a career.More really. And FJ played on lousy teams. If FJ started his career at a normal age his stats would be very big.

OJ has way less career TDs than either Marcus or Riggins--and he was clearly better than both of them. So that's not the stat to throw around loosely.

You think Marcus would have done better at the same ages in crap Buffalo than Freddy did??......You don't think Freddy coulda had 1700 yards rushing on a good team ala Marcus at a young age?. Fred was at 1000 yds not much more than halfway thru the season at(im not sure the age but it was up around 30) before he got injured.

[thewookie1]

Everything in his play indicated it wasn't a year too late. What is the downside of keeping him? I have yet to heard a good reason

 

 

I think Fred's biggest asset was his locker room presence and general leadership. He was a tireless worker and was beloved by the fan base. And with Incognito, punchy guy, Harvin and likely a few others; the fact we had an upstanding citizen who'd break his legs if it meant a win for us should have 1 spot in my opinion. Two players I immediately see as less useful is having a kickoff specialist and Bryce Brown, whom is as far from clutch as you can be. FJ knew how to play in the big game, the Bills didn't make it to the playoffs while he was here but it certainly wasn't because a lack of effort on his part. The least they should of done is tell him if he was willing to retire at the end of the year that they'd keep him, so he could ride off into the sunset a Bill. 

[That Aud Smell]

Rappaport tweeted that Jackson is flying to Seattle; expected to sign there.

 

F-Jax and Lynch were always (and remained) close, as a local writer observed.

[inkman]

Everything in his play indicated it wasn't a year too late. What is the downside of keeping him? I have yet to heard a good reason

I love Freddy but I need my RBs to break away and get into the end zone on that 41 yard run. It's picking nits but 90% of the backs in the league go in untouched.

[Doohicksie]

I love Freddy but I need my RBs to break away and get into the end zone on that 41 yard run. It's picking nits but 90% of the backs in the league go in untouched.

 

Oh come on.  Really? :rolleyes:

[That Aud Smell]

90% of the backs in the league go in untouched.

 

A large majority of the backs in the league do not have the vision to make the cut he made (at the 40 or so) that put him into that space.

 

Take a look at his head/eyes pre-snap - the guy's destined to be a coach.

 

[Claude_Verret]

Rappaport tweeted that Jackson is flying to Seattle; expected to sign there.

 

F-Jax and Lynch were always (and remained) close, as a local writer observed.

 

 

Good for him.  I've never been a "2nd favorite team" guy, but I'll be rooting hard for Seattle this year.

[TrueBlueGED]

Good for him. I've never been a "2nd favorite team" guy, but I'll be rooting hard for Seattle this year.

I'm not sure I can forgive them for the damn pass they threw.

[qwksndmonster]

I'm not sure I can forgive them for the damn pass they threw.

Hey. Sometime you forget that Marshawn Lynch is on your team... i guess

[shrader]

Hey. Sometime you forget that Marshawn Lynch is on your team... i guess

 

Were any of the Patriot offensive lineman drunk Canadian women?  That was the only way Lynch was going to run through that line.

[Doohicksie]

A large majority of the backs in the league do not have the vision to make the cut he made (at the 40 or so) that put him into that space.

 

Take a look at his head/eyes pre-snap - the guy's destined to be a coach.

 

Yeah, getting caught isn't on Freddo. That was just a great desperation tackle by Rocky Bleier.  :angel:

[That Aud Smell]

 Yeah, getting caught isn't on Freddo. That was just a great desperation tackle by Rocky Bleier.  :angel:

 

I won't (did not) deny that he tended to get caught because he lacked top-end speed. Shoot - one of the "all time" highlights that the Bills posted for him yesterday was a ~70+ yard kickoff return (where he did not take it to the house).

 

My point was only that his vision has always been among the league's best.

[qwksndmonster]

I won't (did not) deny that he tended to get caught because he lacked top-end speed. Shoot - one of the "all time" highlights that the Bills posted for him yesterday was a ~70+ yard kickoff return (where he did not take it to the house).

 

My point was only that his vision has always been among the league's best.

Can you imagine what Spiller would've been if he had Freddy's noggin?  GOAT.

[nfreeman]

4th and goal from the 2 or 3 for the win. Who do you want carrying the ball? FJ all day over any of the backs the bills have.

Not only bad karma but bad football mgmt.

Marcus Allen and John Riggins were highly clutch and valuable into their mid 30s.

 

This is where I am as well.

 

Here's a related point:  why do we watch sports and root for teams at all?  Because we want "our" teams to win, of course.  And how does a team become "our" team?  Most of the time it's because of where we grew up, but teams have plenty of fans from other cities who for whatever personal reason like those teams.

 

The point is that it's OK to like a team for personal and idiosyncratic reasons. 

 

Fred Jackson is one of my idiosyncratic reasons.

 

I want the Bills to win, of course, and I recognize that some of the players are going to be jerks and others are going to be worse than that, and that there are going to be great guys who just aren't good enough on the field.  But there's a line that I don't want the Bills to cross.  I don't want guys on "my" team who are true thugs and I do want Fred Jackson as my #2 or #3 RB over Bryce freaking Brown.

[shrader]

Freeman, do you find yourself being in touch with the character issues on the team given that you're out of Buffalo?  Personally, I don't find myself even the slightest bit in touch with the character of the players given that I'm not exposed to them on a day to day basis in the media.  Short of someone pulling something high profile like Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson, I don't really see or hear much from these guys. 

 

Obviously guys like Incognito and IK got some press for their actions, but I'm more willing to look past it given that it happened inside the locker room as opposed to some real world problems like all the arrest stories.  That's the kind of stuff a team can much more easily police actively since the players are all on site.

 

So if there is some line that I don't want to Bills to cross, I'm not quite sure where it is, but I know that they haven't done so at this point.

[That Aud Smell]

The point is that it's OK to like a team for personal and idiosyncratic reasons. 

 

Fred Jackson is one of my idiosyncratic reasons.

 

Good stuff. I've fairly backed off any need to have the players on my team(s) to be upstanding citizens, or whatever. But it sure is nice when there's a leading player on a team you love who is, by all accounts, a super good dude.

[Doohicksie]

I won't (did not) deny that he tended to get caught because he lacked top-end speed. Shoot - one of the "all time" highlights that the Bills posted for him yesterday was a ~70+ yard kickoff return (where he did not take it to the house).

 

My point was only that his vision has always been among the league's best.

I'm a bit put out that you didn't pick up on the Rocky Bleier reference.  :unsure:

[nfreeman]

Freeman, do you find yourself being in touch with the character issues on the team given that you're out of Buffalo?  Personally, I don't find myself even the slightest bit in touch with the character of the players given that I'm not exposed to them on a day to day basis in the media.  Short of someone pulling something high profile like Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson, I don't really see or hear much from these guys. 

 

Obviously guys like Incognito and IK got some press for their actions, but I'm more willing to look past it given that it happened inside the locker room as opposed to some real world problems like all the arrest stories.  That's the kind of stuff a team can much more easily police actively since the players are all on site.

 

So if there is some line that I don't want to Bills to cross, I'm not quite sure where it is, but I know that they haven't done so at this point.

 

Well, with so much local media online now, I guess I'd say that I'm fairly plugged in to what's going on with the Buffalo teams.  (E.g. when I'm doing stuff by myself around the house I'm usually listening to some kind of podcast, and it's been mostly Bills-related stuff from WGR for the past month or so.)  I think those who are inclined to keep up on team news are pretty able to do so, including news regarding arrests/other sociopathic behavior.

 

I agree that certainly there's no way to really know what goes on in someone's home if it doesn't get reported on.

[Doohicksie]

I've fairly backed off any need to have the players on my team(s) to be upstanding citizens, or whatever.

 

Yeah, I think it really is a case of nice guys finish last.  I mean you want all the positive character guys you can get on a team, but you have to also take a chance on some "rehab" projects to squeeze that last little bit of talent out of the salary cap to put you over the top.  The Oakland Raiders had terrible character issues in days of yore, but they won championships, and people admired them for doing it in spite of the character issues.

 

This summer has offered a lot of opportunity to think about this - between the Bills cutting Jackson, one of the Sabres' new shiny pieces getting a DUI, a hometown product involved in a sexual assault investigation, I have certainly considered the relative morality of the players I root for, and I think I'm realizing that for all the idolization, pro athletes are flawed like the rest of us, and have to deal with the curse of living under the spotlight.

[That Aud Smell]

I'm a bit put out that you didn't pick up on the Rocky Bleier reference.  :unsure:

 

Um, yeah. Sorry. Other than recognizing him as an old Steeler, I had nothing.