Wow - has there ever been a more prophetic post than this on CZ??

[NJCowboy]

This Post from a Bills fan - needs to be read by all. Found by Kilyin - GREAT JOB!!!!

Bingo. Hey Dallas fans, do you feel like your offensive line suddenly got 100 times worse OVERNIGHT??? It's called the Bledsoe syndrome. You're going to feel it all year long. There's no known cure at this time. Last night was a perfect microcosm of what Bledsoe brings to the table. He is slow to read defenses, has little (if any) pocket presence, and doesn't protect the football.

What Bledsoe DOES give you (on a positive note) is durability (he never seems to get injured...which might get annoying as the year goes on and his inability to lead the offense gets more and more profound), and he can still throw the deep ball, which I didn't see him do last night. He still has a pretty deep ball.

Sorry. As a Bills fan I once went through what you're all feeling now. Pats fans came to our board and told us almost verbatim what I just told you all. We didn't believe it one bit...then the season started and for about 8 games Bledsoe proved the Pats wrong. Then he came back down to reality and just hasn't been the same since.

I'm not here to talk smack, but just to lay it on the line, this is EXACTLY what you have in Drew Bledsoe:

Pros:
-Good person
-Good arm, nice deep ball
-Durable
-okay leader

Cons:
-can't play-action
-can't throw screens
-struggles to read defenses (needs no less than 4 seconds to read a standard D)
-can't throw hot routes
-little pocket presence
-doesn't protect the ball
-seems to get lazy as the year progresses
-can't improvise


What annoyed me most about Drew's tenure with the Bills is that he came in talking the same big game that he's talking for Dallas right now...about how he is motivated to win a ring yadda yadda yadda...but he just doesn't play with the same fire and enthusiasm he shows in his introductory interviews. He seems snakebitten, rattled, and dumfounded after every negative play, and ends up walking off the field with this 'deer in headlights' glaised over look. It's HORRIBLY FRUSTRATING.

 

[TunaFan33]

What's even more frustrating about Drew is that he DOESN'T ANTICIPATE the pressure.

When guys come into Tom Brady's face, for example, he STEPS INTO his throws. Bledsoe doesn't really do much of that.

You always have to wonder-what if we had gotten Dilfer or Holcomb in FA instead?

 

[Jimz31]

Ummm.....so accurate that it is scary.

 

[NJCowboy]

What's even more frustrating about Drew is that he DOESN'T ANTICIPATE the pressure.

When guys come into Tom Brady's face, for example, he STEPS INTO his throws. Bledsoe doesn't really do much of that.

You always have to wonder-what if we had gotten Dilfer or Holcomb in FA instead?

You mean Jake Delhomme :bang2:

 

[TunaFan33]

You mean Jake Delhomme :bang2:

Oh-meant this season. Dilfer and Holcomb were the only other FA QBs in 05.

Dilfer has nothing left in the tank, and Holcomb is nothing more than a journeyman. But are either really better than Drew? That's a loaded q.

 

[NJCowboy]

...but he just doesn't play with the same fire and enthusiasm he shows in his introductory interviews. He seems snakebitten, rattled, and dumfounded after every negative play, and ends up walking off the field with this 'deer in headlights' glaised over look

:bang2: My lord ...!!! that's what I've been screaming about!! His post game interview was like he was headed to a big party in his honor....

 

[Sitting Bull]

That's a cute post, but somebody should track that guy down and ask him if it felt any better being eliminated from playoff contention by Week 6 with J. Kelly Loscomb at quarterback. Sounds like a more bleak prognosis than his previous syndrome.

I've been frustrated/concerned about Bledsoe's lack of mobility all year. But I've also been impressed many times by his willingness to hang tough and find that late-breaking receiver in the face of heavy pressure. This is a chicken/egg thing: Bledsoe's struggles have coincided with rapidly deteriorating O-line play.

If we had the same health/depth on the OL as we enjoy on the DL, I think we'd have pulled out the last two games. Fantasy trade scenarios aside, it will be a lot easier to upgrade our OL than our QB.

 

[Kilyin]

There is no team in the league with a perfect offensive line. Some are damn close, but even the best give up a sack, allow some pressure. Our OL can play better than they did against the Giants, but Bledsoe has to play better too. He panics and runs into a sack.

The first thing Bledsoe needs to do is learn how to sidestep. Seriously, I can't ever remember Bledsoe sidestepping. He's either moving up into pressure or moving backwards into it. I don't think he even sees it coming half the time, which leads to more fumbles.

I'm also convinced, as some others, that whatever they did to correct Bledsoe's fumbled snaps is how other teams are anticipating the snap and getting into the backfield so quickly. Someone tell Bledsoe about the hard count.

 

[Zman5]

People forget how bad Aikman played when our OL sucked azz around 97-2000 seasons. He had bad case of happy feet. Most QB would with Clay Shiver at center getting punked immediately after the snap.

Well our current centers aren't doing any better.

 

[Hostile]

"Ty Law will be our FS, book it!" comes to mind.

I don't know why?

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Dilfer has nothing left in the tank

Dilfer once had a tank? or he tanked? LMAO

 

[Smith22]

When you can't run the ball consistently due to poor run blocking, teams just start teeing off on the passing game. Having young, inexperienced guys like Tucker and Rob playing out at tackle only complicates matters even more, not to mention the poor play from both Gurode and Johnson. I honestly don't see how any other QB could have done that much better considering, but maybe that's just me......

 

[Zaxor]

This Post from a Bills fan - needs to be read by all. Found by Kilyin - GREAT JOB!!!!

I said the same thing so did Mike and Juke and LTN and a host of other people.... Bledsoe imho will never get it done if he has to be counted on...by that I mean if he is just a bit or role player he may be ok but if you need him to win more than a game or two forget it...He might make a good back up but not for an extended period of time 2-3 games max... I expect I will get roasted for this post but when it is all said and done see if I and many others weren't right about Bledsoe

 

[TunaFan33]

I said the same thing so did Mike and Juke and LTN and a host of other people.... Bledsoe imho will never get it done if he has to be counted on...by that I mean if he is just a bit or role player he may be ok but if you need him to win more than a game or two forget it...He might make a good back up but not for an extended period of time 2-3 games max... I expect I will get roasted for this post but when it is all said and done see if I and many others weren't right about Bledsoe

I'm with you too.

However-I hope we're wrong 'cuz our good buddy Skip Bayless has been ROOTING for Bledsoe to be Parcells' undoing in Big D since Jan.

Well-at least Bayless was wrong about Henson.

 

[ddh33]

Fair enough. We all knew Bledsoe wasn't perfect. He was still the best available option for this team, and he still is. We need to put him in a position to succeed now.

 

[Sarge]

Morning Winky - wherever you are.

 

[Martice]

This Post from a Bills fan - needs to be read by all. Found by Kilyin - GREAT JOB!!!!

The funny thing is if I told you that I was describing Chad Hutchinson with the above post I'd get hardly a rebuttal.

 

[JohnsKey19]

Well the Bills fan is 100% correct unfortunately. And anyone who has followed the NFL should've known these things about Bledsoe the day he signed with the Cowboys. It happens, but very rarely does a player re-invent himself 10+ years already in the league.

Now this doesn't mean Bledoes is terrible. He can still be a good QB at times. But the fact remains that you have to hold your breath when you know he as the QB is going into a hostile enviroment playing against a team that can bring pressure. I don't care how good/bad your O-Line may be, you're going to have to face and defeat pressure if you plan to be a succesful QB on a playoff team. I dont think Bledsoe can get that done.

 

[Grevus]

Bledsoe has made some bad plays, but I can't blame him completely. The OL is playing like crap. Losing Adams for the season is the real killer. Prior to losing him, the Cowboys were moving the ball well, they still didn't run very well, but the passing game was on. Since then, the Cowboys can't run or pass. With Flozel in there, you only needed a TE or RB to help the RT, now with Tucker, you need to help both the RT and LT. This limits the number of plays you can run. Max protect.

Let's add another equation to this, the WR position isn't doing it's job either. Bledsoe made some bad throws, but I didn't see too many wide open recievers either.

The Giants this weekend didn't blitz a lot. They played a lot more 2 deep zones. In a 2 deep zone, the middle of the field is usually open, this is were the TE or RB is needed, but we don't have this since we run max protect.

Bottom line, Bledsoe isn't playing well, but neither is the OL. I expect in the off-season to see the Cowboys go heavy on OL similiar to what they did this year on DL.

 

[Martice]

When you can't run the ball consistently due to poor run blocking, teams just start teeing off on the passing game. Having young, inexperienced guys like Tucker and Rob playing out at tackle only complicates matters even more, not to mention the poor play from both Gurode and Johnson. I honestly don't see how any other QB could have done that much better considering, but maybe that's just me......

Hi Smith. I totally agree to a point. The problem is that when Drew does have time to throw the ball he is still feeling the effects of the last pressure. The fact that he is being pressured relentlessly is not in question. The point some are making (like me) is that Drew seems to be affected and responds to the pressure like a rookie and that is strange for a guy with his experience. You cannot put that on the 'O' line.

Standing tall in the pocket and waiting for Terry to get open is not his only job. The 'O' line is getting beat. Drew knows this. The question is when will Drew learn to make adjustments to the pressure so that he can give his (?) offense a second or two longer life? He doesn't step into his passes. He doesn't know what a side step is and he can't throw on the run. He throws short passes like a rookie. I don't get it guys. I just don't get it.

People say that Witten's numbers have gone down because he has been blocking for Drew more these days. This is partly true. If you look at the beginning of the year, I remember Witten getting upset that he wasn't being thrown too the amount of times he should be. With him being a Pro Bowl TE and all. The only argument is that Drew still needed to learn the offense so I give him a pass on this criticism. Somehow we need to get Witten back up the field and off the line and the coaching staff needs to get more creative getting our weapons up the field. All it willl take is a couple of good passes and (like some have said) a few more delayed draws. But the key is for Drew to make a couple of quick passes to cool off the pressure. Unfortunately, he's struggling with 3 step drops and I've seen faster drop backs in pop warner. His delivery is too slow as well.

Drew doesn't look good reading defenses. He seems to have his mind up where he is going to go when he does get a good pass off and usually it's to TG. When he does have to make his reads, he's panicked and erratic. For the last few weeks we have all been seeing those 'what was that' kind of passes coming from Drew. You know, the kind that rolls to the receiver, the kind that comes too hard, the kind goes behind, the kind that goes too high for the running back to catch on a simple screen that makes the RB have to stretch to catch. If this were Hutch playing like this we would be cruxifying him right now. Then again, some here still defend Hutch and his promise with his big arm and all. Funny though, he couldn't feel the rush either, just like Drew.

I'm stopping now. I am growing frustrated thinking about this guy. It is all on him to get us going. BP has said that we have done everything possible to keep this guy off of his back. The question is, WHAT CAN DREW DO TO HELP US, HELP HIM?

Sorry for the rant. I'm sure I'll feel better and differently by tomorrow.