Can Drew Bledsoe pass for 4,000 yards this year?

[Echo9]

Witten.

And since I'm not sure how good Bledsoe is about leading the receivers to get that extra YAC, I have no idea about anybody else. I just think Witten can dominate whoever's covering him.

\

While I do think Witten is a bright spot on the team with a ton of potential, I don't think YAC is actually a strong suit with him. Maybe I'm the only one who saw it, but IMO Witten biggest strength was in getting open and making the catch. Early in the season he had some difficulties in that he'd fight too hard for YAC and end up getting stripped. Later on in the season it seemed as though he was told to fight a bit less, and as a result went down easier.

I know I'm in the minority here, but it's what I saw on a pretty consistent basis.

Ball placement could have been a large factor (not leading him properly). I may be focusing on examples where it was just Witten's ability to make a catch that normally wouldn't have been made, and I'm see ing the glass half empty in watching him stumble after the catch and go down.

It may be that (as a young player) he is still focusing on the 'catch' part of the play rather than planning his escape route ahead of time (which is a good thing for now)

But in summary, I think that of all the factors in being a great TE, his YAC ability shows the biggest need for improvement. I think he can do it, but I haven't seen much of that aspect yet.

 

[Big Country]

I would like to see a ball control offense. Lots of balance. I could careless about pretty stats. 3,200 would be just fine if the running game is hitting on all 8 cylinders.

You said it G... If Bledsoe throws for 4K but has more picks than TDs I don't really want to see that... Vinny threw lights out and by the time teams started to figure it out the threat was over... I actually liked T-Bonehead and his clock gobbling runs... but like I said once teams figured that out... back in 03... then Dallas didn't have much else to offer... Give me some balance on offense and I'll be happy. :laugh1:

 

[jterrell]

I don't think 4000 yards in this offense necessarily 'speculates' out as a winning season.

And it might not be saying too much about the D either.

I agree here. 4000 yards smack of either pure desperation to stay in games or from an injured Julius Jones and neither would be a good thing.

I do expect 3200+ and 3500+ is possible but that extra 500 would be a bad sign, IMHO.

 

[Nors]

http://www.nfl.com/players/playerpage/1041

Factoring in his 1 season basically missed to injury.
Bledsoe has 40,000 yards in 11 seasons.

Thats an average of approximately 3650 yards a season and he's gone as high as 4600 yards under Parcells.

4000 is a possibility here. Tack on a Jules Jones 1300+ yards and we are playing football in January and maybe February.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

http://www.nfl.com/players/playerpage/1041

Factoring in his 1 season basically missed to injury.
Bledsoe has 40,000 yards in 11 seasons.

Thats an average of approximately 3650 yards a season and he's gone as high as 4600 yards under Parcells.

4000 is a possibility here. Tack on a Jules Jones 1300+ yards and we are playing football in January and maybe February.

Not with all those rookies on defense we won't. And I'm guessing our wr aren't going to get it done... we just don't have enough depth there. It already looks like Morgan is busted up.

Anywhere from 8-8 to 10-6.

 

[Nors]

Not with all those rookies on defense we won't. And I'm guessing our wr aren't going to get it done... we just don't have enough depth there. It already looks like Morgan is busted up.

Anywhere from 8-8 to 10-6.

Anywhere from 8-8 to 10-6 gets us in playoffs.

Those rookies are upgrades.

3-4 might actaually cause sacks , pressure and turnovers.

Yes at WR - I see a Chrebet type Vet being picked up.

 

[big dog cowboy]

It already looks like Morgan is busted up.

Nah he is alright. Good to go by camp. No surgery until after the season.

 

[lane]

bledsoe can throw for 4000 every year if he has the receivers and the time to do so.
but we gonna do some old school smashmouth this year. drew will still throw for 2800 any ol ways. 985 of that to witten.

 

[kartr]

Anywhere from 8-8 to 10-6 gets us in playoffs.

Those rookies are upgrades.

3-4 might actaually cause sacks , pressure and turnovers.

Yes at WR - I see a Chrebet type Vet being picked up.

But how many sacks and fumbles and ints will Bledsoe make to offset what the defense does?

 

[kartr]

Anywhere from 8-8 to 10-6 gets us in playoffs.

Those rookies are upgrades.

3-4 might actaually cause sacks , pressure and turnovers.

Yes at WR - I see a Chrebet type Vet being picked up.

How many times did he get the Bills to the playoffs in three years or the Pats the 3 years before that?

 

[kartr]

I do not see the starting QB as a QB that can get us 10 wins

Neither do I, partner.

 

[ravidubey]

How many times did he get the Bills to the playoffs in three years or the Pats the 3 years before that?

Pats were a bad team in 1999 and 2000. In 2001 Bledsoe was badly injured. In 2002 he had a great season offensively but the defense was broken. In 2003 the defense was fixed but the offense lost its TE and #2 WR.

In 2004 the running game was AWOL the first several games, and then the Bills became the hottest team in the NFL as Lee Evans got better his rookie year.

The Bills dumped Bledsoe one year prematurely, but remember they traded 1st, 2nd, and 6th round picks for Losman and he'd have been on the bench twiddling his thumbs had Bledsoe started the whole 2005 season. I think Bills management jumped the gun big time because they are going to take one or maybe two steps backward before moving any steps forward. They are wasting away the last effective years of Eric Moulds' career.

Incidentally, nobody hammered Troy Aikman in 1996 when he couldn't get the team into the endzone without a #2 WR or Jay Novacek, even after Irvin returned. If anything, people blamed Switzer and Jerry or ABT-- Anyone But Troy.

Perception rules the roost in the eyes of media, fans, and apparently some GMs. THANK GOD FOR THE CLEAR VISION OF BILL PARCELLS (apologies for caps).

 

[kartr]

Pats were a bad team in 1999 and 2000. In 2001 Bledsoe was badly injured. In 2002 he had a great season offensively but the defense was broken. In 2003 the defense was fixed but the offense lost its TE and #2 WR.

In 2004 the running game was AWOL the first several games, and then the Bills became the hottest team in the NFL as Lee Evans got better his rookie year.

The Bills dumped Bledsoe one year prematurely, but remember they traded 1st, 2nd, and 6th round picks for Losman and he'd have been on the bench twiddling his thumbs had Bledsoe started the whole 2005 season. I think Bills management jumped the gun big time because they are going to take one or maybe two steps backward before moving any steps forward. They are wasting away the last effective years of Eric Moulds' career.

Incidentally, nobody hammered Troy Aikman in 1996 when he couldn't get the team into the endzone without a #2 WR or Jay Novacek, even after Irvin returned. If anything, people blamed Switzer and Jerry or ABT-- Anyone But Troy.

Perception rules the roost in the eyes of media, fans, and apparently some GMs. THANK GOD FOR THE CLEAR VISION OF BILL PARCELLS (apologies for caps).

About the only thing I agree with you about is the take on Troy. I would have traded him after 1996 season playoffs after he could hit a wide open Billy Davis down the right sideline after and missed a wide open Kevin Williams running down the left side line in the Carolina playoff game. I then knew he had lost whatever he ever had and he wasn't taking us anywhere anymore.

As for Parcells clear vision, every decision he's made other than allowing QC to compete for the starting job against Hutch, drafting Julius Jones and bringing in Keyshawn to improve QC's accuracy have been highly suspect,
examples:
A) drafting Newman over Kevin Williams, reason: Always take the pass rusher
over the corner because no one knows what makes a pass rusher
successful, you just have to hope you get one(see Charles Haley and
Michael who were not high draft picks and from small schools)
B) releasing Ekuban without drafting Williams,reason: we'll never really know
if Eb would have improved and so we wasted a 1st round pick;Eb did have
8 sacks in Cleveland last year
C) not drafting Rashean Mathis at corner in the 2nd round;he's just as good
better than Newman;we could have a pass rusher and cover corner in
the same draft
D) not drafting Chris Brown in the 3rd; even though he is injury prone, he is
very talented and would have helped push or replace Hambrick and
given our offense balance in 2003 for our playoff run
Because he didn't do these things in 2003, we are still looking for a pass-
rusher, questioning if Newman will develop,hoping JUJO can stay healthy
enough to give our offense balance. If we had made these selections in
2003, we would had a better team then and an even better team now.
He's doing now what I would have done in 2003.

 

[blindzebra]

About the only thing I agree with you about is the take on Troy. I would have traded him after 1996 season playoffs after he could hit a wide open Billy Davis down the right sideline after and missed a wide open Kevin Williams running down the left side line in the Carolina playoff game. I then knew he had lost whatever he ever had and he wasn't taking us anywhere anymore.

As for Parcells clear vision, every decision he's made other than allowing QC to compete for the starting job against Hutch, drafting Julius Jones and bringing in Keyshawn to improve QC's accuracy have been highly suspect,
examples:
A) drafting Newman over Kevin Williams, reason: Always take the pass rusher
over the corner because no one knows what makes a pass rusher
successful, you just have to hope you get one(see Charles Haley and
Michael who were not high draft picks and from small schools)
B) releasing Ekuban without drafting Williams,reason: we'll never really know
if Eb would have improved and so we wasted a 1st round pick;Eb did have
8 sacks in Cleveland last year
C) not drafting Rashean Mathis at corner in the 2nd round;he's just as good
better than Newman;we could have a pass rusher and cover corner in
the same draft
D) not drafting Chris Brown in the 3rd; even though he is injury prone, he is
very talented and would have helped push or replace Hambrick and
given our offense balance in 2003 for our playoff run
Because he didn't do these things in 2003, we are still looking for a pass-
rusher, questioning if Newman will develop,hoping JUJO can stay healthy
enough to give our offense balance. If we had made these selections in
2003, we would had a better team then and an even better team now.
He's doing now what I would have done in 2003.

Just what team do you work for ol' king of hindsight?

 

[Tio]

About the only thing I agree with you about is the take on Troy. I would have traded him after 1996 season playoffs after he could hit a wide open Billy Davis down the right sideline after and missed a wide open Kevin Williams running down the left side line in the Carolina playoff game. I then knew he had lost whatever he ever had and he wasn't taking us anywhere anymore.

As for Parcells clear vision, every decision he's made other than allowing QC to compete for the starting job against Hutch, drafting Julius Jones and bringing in Keyshawn to improve QC's accuracy have been highly suspect,
examples:
A) drafting Newman over Kevin Williams, reason: Always take the pass rusher
over the corner because no one knows what makes a pass rusher
successful, you just have to hope you get one(see Charles Haley and
Michael who were not high draft picks and from small schools)
B) releasing Ekuban without drafting Williams,reason: we'll never really know
if Eb would have improved and so we wasted a 1st round pick;Eb did have
8 sacks in Cleveland last year
C) not drafting Rashean Mathis at corner in the 2nd round;he's just as good
better than Newman;we could have a pass rusher and cover corner in
the same draft
D) not drafting Chris Brown in the 3rd; even though he is injury prone, he is
very talented and would have helped push or replace Hambrick and
given our offense balance in 2003 for our playoff run
Because he didn't do these things in 2003, we are still looking for a pass-
rusher, questioning if Newman will develop,hoping JUJO can stay healthy
enough to give our offense balance. If we had made these selections in
2003, we would had a better team then and an even better team now.
He's doing now what I would have done in 2003.

B:what has ekuban showed that suggests releasing him was a bad idea?
C:completely disagree.
d:you know how many people passed on chris brown? If we say that, th an I guess every team is an idiot for passing on any player that is a stud past the first round huh?

 

[LaTunaNostra]

As for Parcells clear vision, every decision he's made other than allowing QC to compete for the starting job against Hutch, drafting Julius Jones and bringing in Keyshawn to improve QC's accuracy have been highly suspect.

Unbelievable.

But it makes sense if the locus is Quincy...

Drafting Witten, T-New, Johnson, picking up Glenn for a 6th, revamping the off season conditioning program, building a solid coaching staff as coaches become available, this year's draft (on face value), reclaiming 'character' as a central criteria, overall tightening up of the organization, making changes in scouting and pro personnel, allowing the cap situation to become more solvent before crying for free spending, yes, and letting Quincy go after he was found to be unreliable...all these were good decisions/policies.

Individual decisions, as with all coaches, have gone wrong or right. There were FAs brought in who could not get the job done due to previous injury, like Young and Mitchell, mistakes past their prime lile Wiley and George, and over-reliance on sub par talent, mistaking the degree to which it could be coached up.

But that is what happens to every coach, and particularly when you take a job where there is so so little talent, so little depth, and coming off several bad bad bad draft classes.

Keyshawn, btw, was brought here to provide a possession outlet for ANY QB who plays, not solely or primarily to "improve Carter's accuracy". Your perspective so completely revolves around QC, that you seem oblivious to what the head coach's responsibilties are...from personnel to policy to franchise building.

Yes, BP made his share of poor decisions last year, most of them based on a low-ball, frugal offseason, but I am not convinced that year of disappointment won't reap later rewards. He merits criticism like any coach, but does not deserve to have his tenure judged by what he did with Quincy.

In fact, it's highly doubtful Carter, who cost us a full year of Bill's contract, will ever again have a coach as renowned and committed investing in him. There's a very good argument for Bill's biggest mistake being wasting as much time on Q as he did. There are 52 other players on a roster more worthy of his concern.

 

[jay cee]

\

While I do think Witten is a bright spot on the team with a ton of potential, I don't think YAC is actually a strong suit with him. Maybe I'm the only one who saw it, but IMO Witten biggest strength was in getting open and making the catch. Early in the season he had some difficulties in that he'd fight too hard for YAC and end up getting stripped. Later on in the season it seemed as though he was told to fight a bit less, and as a result went down easier.

I know I'm in the minority here, but it's what I saw on a pretty consistent basis.

Ball placement could have been a large factor (not leading him properly). I may be focusing on examples where it was just Witten's ability to make a catch that normally wouldn't have been made, and I'm see ing the glass half empty in watching him stumble after the catch and go down.

It may be that (as a young player) he is still focusing on the 'catch' part of the play rather than planning his escape route ahead of time (which is a good thing for now)

But in summary, I think that of all the factors in being a great TE, his YAC ability shows the biggest need for improvement. I think he can do it, but I haven't seen much of that aspect yet.

I felt the same way when watching Witten. I don't think he is a very good runner after the catch, and like you, I don't think it is a major issue. He will probably never be great at it, but I think he will improve.

I think it is more important for the wide receiver's to be a threat after the catch. For tight ends IMO, it is just make the catch and secure the ball, anything you do after that is just gravy.

 

[Hollywood Henderson]

Good thread Ben,
great posts guys!

Yes, Bledsoe could pass for 4,000, it was what 250 a game?
But I doubt he will...

I think a Key is how healthy Morgan is...
He could be deadly coming into the game fresh on passing downs and able to stretch the field for everyones benefit! I think he leads the team in average & YAC.

However, I do think we are starting to get a real good group together on both sides of the ball...

I love then new dirty dozen new guys or what ever number it is..FA & Draft picks...
If the Online meshes, we will score points and we now have things in place to actually play some exciting D now...

 

[Cowchips]

Bledsoe may pass for 4,000 yds and it may not be a bad thing. Unlike in Buffalo, he has better protection and more weapons. WR's that are equal to Buffalo, if healthy, and a probowl outlet TE could be a deadly combination with JJ to mix in some rushing.

It's also a much weaker conference for Bledsoe to attack, so get ready for some fun football in Dallas!!

 

[Billy Bullocks]

In Buffalo he lacked what I felt was the key to his success. A good TE. He has that here. That's all I need to say about Bledsoe. Just watch. Bledsoe and Parcells both rely on a good TE to be succesful, just watch and see.