"You have to look at the whole picture," Schobel rationalized. "Forget yards, it's all about...

"You have to look at the whole picture," Schobel rationalized. "Forget yards, it's all about points. That's what matters. As long as we're not giving up a lot of points and we're creating turnovers, I don't care about the rankings. As long as we're playing and not giving up points, that's what's important. It's points, period."

In theory, what Schobel says makes sense because if you hold a team to fewer points than you score, you win.

Comments

LOVED that quote from Sal Maiorana (italics).

by Brian Galliford on Jul 24, 2008 8:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That actually apperared in print?

Who was the editor, Yogi Berra?

by krytime on Jul 24, 2008 8:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sure, points are most important, Aaron

But keep in mind that the less time the opposing team’s offense is on the football field, the easier time you’re going to have keeping those points off the board.

Get the Bills back to the big game!

by Blitz on Jul 24, 2008 11:03 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

He's right

I argued this with a Browns fan last year.
What’s the point of defense? To keep the other team from scoring.
I don’t care that the Bills were ranked 30th in overall defense because all that counts is yards given up.
The Bills were 18th overall in points allowed per game, with a 22.1 average.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Jul 24, 2008 12:25 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

For the record, I, too, agree with Schobel. But I’ll admit that I only put this into a FanShot because of that glorious Maiorana quote. Absolutely priceless.

by Brian Galliford on Jul 24, 2008 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thats why he gets the big bucks.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Jul 24, 2008 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sal's quote is true.

However, regarding Schobel’s comments, I don’t like that kind of defensive mentality. Allowing long drives and a lot of yards but not allowing a lot of points is classic bend-but-don’t-break defense. That’s the type of defense you play when you’re not good enough to stop your opponent, so you hope that your opponent will stop themselves.

Why bend at all? Why not try to rank 1st in points allowed and yards allowed, and for that matter, 1st in turnovers? Aim higher.

Hopefully, with the improved talent on defense, the Bills’ defensive mentality (aggressiveness) and performance (rankings) will improve as well.

by Fort Worth on Jul 25, 2008 10:11 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs