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Just looked it up. Hughes has five career sacks. But four of them were last year. And that was playing OLB in our 3-4 hybrid so maybe he does have some upside for you guys.
I would love it if they signed Dansby--although i'm curious why he hasn't been picked up already
Just looked it up. Hughes has five career sacks. But four of them were last year. And that was playing OLB in our 3-4 hybrid so maybe he does have some upside for you guys.
Very surprised to see you on board with this move.
Read option with spiller and Manuel will be sick
We hit rock-bottom long ago, this move can't hurt us.
Dude thinks he's the best LB in the NFL. Probably asking for too much $
Yeah his agent needs to go down on the price for sure, but he's still a very good LB imo. Buffalo would be wise to sign him to a 2-year dea,l and he could work the inside with Alonso.
I was amazed by all those Yi Jianlin vs. The Chair style videos Manuel had on ESPN around the draft he was like repeatedly throwing the ball through a tiny hoop from 30 yards out while back pedaling..it was pretty amazing..I know there are stories of scrubs like David Klingler doing all kind of crazy stuff like that, but I don't see how having the ability to do that could hurt and plus with unlike Yi and Klingler, Manuel has faced top level comp
Dude looked good. He's got a cannon and a quick release to boot. 5-0 in bowl games ain't too shabby either.
Cards got Dansby back....fuuuuuuuu
GM Buddy Nix steps down and Doug Whaley takes over...the last remnants of the old regime have been swept away. Legitimately excited about this team's future now.
Da'rick Rogers tore it up in OTA's--really excited about this kid and thought we got an absolute steal of an UDFA. HC Doug Marrone seems to be doing it right too--bringing in officials this early on to help cut out penalties (historically horrible in that regard). At one point Rogers made a great leaping catch over Ron Brooks then decided to stand over him and gloat. Marrone sent him to the sidelines and reamed his ass out.
It's looking like a 5-6 win season, but with parity being what it is Buffalo always has an outside chance at a playoff run--especially in a weak AFC.
ESPN Insider article on EJ Manuel (found on billszone.com, courtesy of Homegrown):
Reasons to believe in EJ Manuel
Why the former Florida State QB can lead Buffalo to a top-10 offense
Quarterback hasn't been a position of strength for the Buffalo Bills in their history. Yes, the Bills did have Jim Kelly (whom I wish the best in his battle against jaw cancer) and Jack Kemp, but their fourth-highest rated passer in Pro-Football-Reference.com's career approximate value register is Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was recently cut after leading Buffalo to a mediocre 20-33 record in his four years under center.
The necessity for upgrading at that position is a primary reason the Bills selected EJ Manuel in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft.
That pick was seen as something of a reach given many of Manuel's question marks. Scouts Inc. noted in its pre-draft analysis of Manuel that while his physical tools and leadership qualities are unquestionably strong, he had notable issues with reading progressions, decision-making under pressure and pass accuracy.
Given those weaknesses, it doesn't look possible for Manuel to replicate the recent dominant rookie seasons posted by Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson and Robert Griffin III -- especially since Manuel needs to first beat out Kevin Kolb for the starting job. Yet the metrics show there is a good chance Manuel could help the Bills field a top-10 offense in 2013 if he is the starter.
That may sound far-fetched at first glance, but the Bills were not far away from being a top 10 offense in yards per play last season. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Buffalo averaged 5.58 yards per play, a mark that ranked 13th in the league.
The primary reason for that ranking is a rushing attack that was one of the best in the NFL. Last year, Buffalo's blockers topped the league in the good blocking rate (GBR) metric with a 52.3 percent mark. (Note: GBR gauges how often the offense gives a ball carrier good run blocking, which is very roughly defined as plays when they do not allow the defense to disrupt a rush attempt.)
That dominant performance is a major part of why C.J. Spiller was able to rank sixth in the league in the good blocking yards per attempt (GBYPA) metric that measures how productive a back is when given good blocking. His 9.1-yard GBYPA total placed fourth among lead running backs (those with the most carries on their team) and no back was given a higher GBR (53.9 percent of his rush attempts qualified as good blocking).
The offense also had some strong suits in the passing game. ESPN Stats & Information had Fitzpatrick ranked 10th in short pass yards per attempt (defined as passes thrown 10 or fewer yards downfield). That quality showing was due in part to the Bills' aforementioned run-blocking prowess, as Buffalo leaned heavily on a dose of screen passes to rack up those gains.
The Bills also have a top-flight vertical wideout, Steve Johnson, who averaged 22.2 yards per reception on throws 11 or more yards downfield (which is the definition of a vertical pass). That mark ranked him 16th out of the 36 players who had at least 20 vertical receptions last year.
Buffalo upgraded its receiving corps by adding WRs Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin via the draft. Woods' 2012 season was something of a drop-off from his 2011 campaign, but he ranked fifth in my pre-draft comparison of the top wide receivers in the 2013 NFL draft, and Goodwin provides a vertical threat.
All of these items show that Manuel has a lot of capable offensive talent around him, so the top-10 offense question really centers on whether he can produce better numbers than Fitzpatrick did last year.
In many ways, the bar for improvement is quite low, as Fitzpatrick ranked 27th in Total QBR last year (45.8); he had nine games with a Total QBR of under 50.0 and four games with a Total QBR of 31.8 or less. Since 50.0 is the median number for this statistic, Fitzpatrick clearly performed at a below-average level in half of his games.
His numbers start to look even worse once the short passes are taken out of the equation, as Fitzpatrick averaged a meager 8.85 yards per vertical pass attempt. For perspective, Brady Quinn (9.21), Matt Cassel (8.95) and Mark Sanchez (9.45) -- among the worst passers in the NFL last year -- all did better than Fitzpatrick in vertical YPA.
It isn't a given that Manuel will be able to top that figure, but he did place eighth in the nation in yards per attempt last year (8.76). That figure was higher than the YPA marks posted by Geno Smith and Matt Barkley, and Manuel didn't have the benefit of throwing to two dominant wide receivers as Smith (Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey) and Barkley (Woods and Marqise Lee) did.
As Gary Horton notes in this article, new Bills coach Doug Marrone's up-tempo West Coast offense will provide Manuel with an opportunity to use his athleticism to run the ball if nothing is available downfield.
While Manuel's rookie limitations will almost certainly preclude his moving the Bills' vertical pass numbers into an upper-tier range, even if he is able to move only the vertical numbers to a mediocre level, it will still be a significant plus for this offense and could be the steppingstone needed to vault this platoon into top-10 contention.
A lolgerian
Go Bills
http://www.syracuse.com/orangefootba...o_buffalo.html
lefty, we signed rookie EJ Man'sgame to a 4-year deal and cut Tarvaris Jackson. 10-6 here we come!
We stackedlefty, we signed rookie EJ Man'sgame to a 4-year deal and cut Tarvaris Jackson. 10-6 here we come!:
Zach Chibane looked good in minicamp i heard
Good to know; thanks for the news
Manuel looking alright so far...Robert Woods, OTOH, is going to be a stud
Decent scrimmage tonight...No Mario, CJ, Stevie, Kyle Williams, Chandler and obviously Byrd.
Manuel started rough, then led 3 straight TD drives.
The rookie WR's have some serious talent. Woods skills are well do ented, but Goodwin plays much bigger than he is and Rogers is a beast. All had great catches tonight.
Jerry Hughes could wind up being a steal for Buffalo, apparently has showed well at camp and had a few sacks tonight.
Alex Carrington (PFF secret superstar) continues to improve.
Our LB's seem to actually have some speed for once with Kiko and Bradham
Gilmore is said to be having a great camp, but the rest of the secondary worries me. Aaron Williams is playing better at safety, but you never know which Mckelvin you're going to get and who knows what is going through Byrd's head.
Kyle Williams is the most overrated player on our team...would really like to see some injury-free, inspired play out of him this year. Hope Stevie's ok, but hamstring and groin injuries tend to linger throughout the year.
How did Manuel look from what you saw? I know his arm is good, but was he quick in his progressions?
Our LB's have nowhere to go but up (worst unit in the league last year)--and although they are very young--I welcome as much speed as we can get there.
As long as Gilmore is playing bump-and-run he'll be a stud...play him back and he'll get torched. I'm also weary of McKelvin as our #2--would much rather see him as the Nickel. AW is much better suited at safety--but it better be FS as a b/u to Byrd. I don't trust his soft ass against the run.
Totally agree on Carrington. If KW is our most overrated Bill, AC is our most underrated.
WR has me the most optimistic. Your report on Goodwin is exciting (and hopefully a harbinger of things to come), but I'm crazy about Woods and Rogers
Goddamn, Buffalo has ridiculous speed at the skill positions on offense. Stevie and Woods are sure things, but if Graham and Goodwin can get the ball in space and get separation then this could be a fun offense. CJ and EJ are also fast as for their positions. Probably looking at 6-10 again this year, but this time they'll be fun to watch and should improve throughout the year.
Bills offense runs another high play total
Posted by Chris Brown on August 17, 2013 – 2:55 pm
The tempo of Buffalo’s offense caters to them running more plays than the average NFL club on a game to game basis. After running 85 in Week 1 of the preseason, they came close to matching that total Friday night.
Again Minnesota, Buffalo ran a total of 78 offensive plays on 13 possessions. Last season Buffalo averaged 61.5 plays a game. So far in two preseason games the Bills are averaging 81.5.
Think about averaging 20 more offensive plays a game and what that means in terms of touches for C.J. Spiller, Stevie Johnson, Fred Jackson, etc.
Stuck with Kolb...fml
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