David Nelson: #2 WR material? I think so.

by ThaRealTruth on Nov 14, 2011 10:12 PM EST

Is it time to accept the fact, that if the Bills had their two best receivers on opposite sides of the field, the defense would have a harder time shading the coverage to their shared side? In addition, wouldn't it be an advantage to use Donald or Naaman, or both as inside receivers, where they have shown potentially effective? This can allow Buffalo to more effectively attack the middle with their other weapons, like Scott Chandler another not-oft enough used weapon on the team.

It seems as though in addition to failing at utilizing a number 1 draft pick, or even finding a way to get the ball to your go-to-guy... it is somehow a complete conundrum how to re-establish some productivity with the current weapons. I for one, would like to see what David can do in addition to gaining national attention for having a cheerleader girlfriend, that he had a great opportunity to have a moment with. He has proven to be able to compete and to produce, and It seems like the staff should consider that he might not just be a mismatch inside. This also means a chance to further develop Donald Jones, especially since ultimately he might be better suited working the inside. It was nice when we had Lee drawing some (admit it, A LOT) of coverage to his side, which let Donald and David be effective inside, all while Steve got to be the outside target. Now that equation has changed, and Donald has not shown capable, as of yet. Nelson has shown me enough to consider this move. What do you think fellow Rumblers?

Poll

Should David Nelson be on the outside, as our #2 WR?

Yes, David deserves the chance

50 votes

No, stay the course.

18 votes

Maybe some shuffling will produce results, but David can't play outside.

29 votes

It doesn't matter what we do to the WRs because of the line/Fitz

8 votes

105 votes | Poll has closed

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.

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Comments

I’m not sold with David as the #2 as both he and Donald are slot receivers. That being said, Gailey loves to put three WRs on the field at a time and Nelson has good red zone production.

by DynamicHero22 on Nov 14, 2011 10:30 PM EST reply actions

I'm pretty sure they tried this a few weeks ago

and nothing came of it

by lord gloom on Nov 14, 2011 10:32 PM EST reply actions

i am pretty sure we have tried

to stick with donald for more than a one game attempt (which i don’t actually recall seeing much personally; do you recall when a few weeks ago?) and i personally have been pretty disappointed. Nothing much has been coming from what we are doing right now, either.

ABAYARDE IS NOSTRADAMUS JUST WATCH WE WILL NOT YIEALD TO NOBODY YOUR SOUL WE WILL TAKE

by ThaRealTruth on Nov 15, 2011 10:49 AM EST up reply actions

Nelson

Whatever, We lost game . His GF is #1 WR material though! Go Bill’s ad naseum!

by buffalobacker on Nov 15, 2011 1:26 AM EST reply actions

The Bills almost never have only 2 receivers on the field so it doesn’t really matter who # 2 is. The biggest problem is that we have a bunch of #3 and #4 wide receivers and not any #2s if that makes any sense.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you sireric for bringing the furious punching cat back into my life. - poz

by bluecollarbuffalo on Nov 15, 2011 7:46 AM EST reply actions

i don't disagree

but as i state above, perhaps we should be considering attacking the middle of the field with other weapons, and consider coming out of spread formation once in a while. obviously what we are doing isn’t working.

ABAYARDE IS NOSTRADAMUS JUST WATCH WE WILL NOT YIEALD TO NOBODY YOUR SOUL WE WILL TAKE

by ThaRealTruth on Nov 15, 2011 10:39 AM EST up reply actions

I don’t think Nelson can play outside at all with his speed – #1, #2, etc. is all overrated IMO – Antonio Gates is a TE, but he is their #1 option (maybe Vincent Jackson) – I think we need to look at it more in terms of who is our #1 go to option (should be Stevie) and then who is our #2 option, which IMO, should be Nelson, but he should stay in the slot and work the areas that a receiving TE would work.

by JustAskTheAxis on Nov 15, 2011 9:05 AM EST reply actions

funny you mention the chargers

as they are the team i was imagining, and in a way, i think Nelson is as fast as most of their tall wide receivers. WR in this league is no longer only about how fast you are. Body position is a huge advantage as well. This point can be made also in increased use of Chandler, who might also benefit from not having blanket coverage on the strong side, where nelson and steve are currently most often lined up.

ABAYARDE IS NOSTRADAMUS JUST WATCH WE WILL NOT YIEALD TO NOBODY YOUR SOUL WE WILL TAKE

by ThaRealTruth on Nov 15, 2011 10:41 AM EST up reply actions

I agree with bluecollar and asktheaxis. Your number two doesn’t have to be lined up outside. It’s all about what routes you can run from certain parts of the field and maximizing your talent as a result. When you line up your #1 and #2 outside, the sideline limits the route options that can be run. To be succesful outside, WRs need to be able to get open simply going up and down the sideline on fly routes, comebacks and similar routes. Working from the slot, you’ve got a bigger variety of short routes to run. So, you maximize your talent on the field with a #2 WR that can get open down the field and a slot guy that beats coverage underneath or knows how to pick apart a zone.

I trust that the coaches are putting these guys in the right spot. Although, I’m not sure there would be a big enough difference in the two WRs for it to really matter. I think the bigger problem is a lack of overall talent on offense. We need more players capable of beating man coverage with some consistency. Jones is really a number 4 type WR and we need somebody at least as good as Nelson, but also a better fit than Nelson playing outside as the #2.

"You mean @TWHITNER. It’s how he prefers to be referenced." - Jon Harrington

by kaisertown on Nov 15, 2011 10:02 AM EST reply actions

I agree with bluecollar and asktheaxis. Your number two doesn’t have to be lined up outside.

clearly all three of you miss my point then. What does what we call a guy, have to do with where the coverage is lined up to oppose? What i am saying, is currently, all defenders need to do to shut us down, is control the strong side, and let Donald have a man to man matchup, because he has not been able to provide production. If you have a #1 target (lets say steve) and a #2 target (David) who is actually producing, then the defense must defend both halves of the field, the right, AND the left. Currently, they can focus on the right, bring pressure from the left and middle (where our line happens to be patchwork right now) and basically only the left outside receiver is an outlet, as our HB is staying in to block on non-run downs. This is a recipe for disaster, as illustrated in the last two weeks. I guess, if everyone is still on the Donald Jones bandwagon with Chan, this topic will be revisited later this season, or next season, after we see defenses controlling us completely the remainder of this year. to coin a phrase “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”…. well, it is obviously broke, and in desperate need of repair.

ABAYARDE IS NOSTRADAMUS JUST WATCH WE WILL NOT YIEALD TO NOBODY YOUR SOUL WE WILL TAKE

by ThaRealTruth on Nov 15, 2011 10:46 AM EST reply actions

I don’t think anyone is still on the Jones bandwagon, but you’re not playing to Nelson’s strengths when you put him out there, IMO.

by JustAskTheAxis on Nov 15, 2011 12:01 PM EST up reply actions

clearly all three of you miss my point then

No, you’re missing our point. Yes, Nelson is our #2 target, but it’s because of his threat out of the slot. Donald Jones is WR2 on the depth chart and in the playbook, not on the reads.

What i am saying, is currently, all defenders need to do to shut us down, is control the strong side, and let Donald have a man to man matchup, because he has not been able to provide production. If you have a #1 target (lets say steve) and a #2 target (David) who is actually producing, then the defense must defend both halves of the field

The first half of this is completely true; DJ hasn’t been able to produce on his own when opposing defenses take Stevie and Nelson out of the game. But moving Nelson to the WR2 position doesn’t fix that problem. Outside cornerbacks are as fast as they come and are usually larger in stature than a nickel or dime back. Moving Nelson outside does a better job of eliminating him than anything the defense could throw at us, because he simply won’t get open. Sure, we could throw him a jump ball, but those guys match up with red zone targets like Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, Vincent Jackson, D’Wayne Bowe and others every week. They battle for the ball with the best of them. You certainly won’t convince any of us that Nelson is going to beat his man deep down the sideline. His production is a direct result of playcalling and his slot receiver role. He’s not fast, but he runs flawless quick routes and speed routes that give just enough separation for him to use his size against the more diminutive interior cornerbacks. He’s a PERFECT role player. He’s not a true gamebreaker. Case in point, we need another receiver. Whether DJ or Easley grows into that role, or we draft a new guy, we need a burner on the outside to make our offense tick. Just look at what Torrey Smith, even as a rookie, has done for Baltimore (though he can’t compensate for Flacco…ha).

I may have scored a hundred points yesterday, but I scored a lot more off the court.

by Adam_K on Nov 15, 2011 2:23 PM EST up reply actions

Sure, we could throw him a jump ball,

isn’t that what we do with Jones? I have yet to really see otherwise on the outside.

You certainly won’t convince any of us that Nelson is going to beat his man deep down the sideline

we have yet to see D. Jones do this at all.

we could fiddle faddle with this crap but who cares – we’re devoid of talent at the WR#2 position. D.Jones just needs to step it up because he clearly is going to be given the opportunities but if Nelson is better at jump balls than Jones then it would make sense because Jones cannot catch anything resembling a jump ball on a DB – he’s proven that much

by J2 on Nov 15, 2011 2:36 PM EST up reply actions

you basically agreed with everything i said

and i can definitely get behind splitting nelson wide for a jump ball situation (in theory), but i’m fairly sure that it would be all too obvious to the defense what the play would be.

I may have scored a hundred points yesterday, but I scored a lot more off the court.

by Adam_K on Nov 16, 2011 4:52 PM EST up reply actions

you basically agreed with everything i said

well, I really wasn’t attempting to disagree. :)

by J2 on Nov 17, 2011 10:25 AM EST up reply actions

again you completely fail to discuss or recognize my discussion.

two guys on right, no guys on left = easy to defend. one guy on right, one guy on left, defense must defend whole field. Thoughts?

Otherwise, you are basically just saying one of our most effective weapons is only good at playing inside, and even without any evidence to the contrary, that he cannot play outside. Not only is this an opinion that can easily be proven wrong, should Nelson get the chance and prove successful, but this is still disregarding the entire point of my article, not only that Nelson be used as an outside threat that we are lacking, but also acknowledging that the lack of outside threat allows the defense to blanket one side, while separating them forces the defense to cover the entire field.

ABAYARDE IS NOSTRADAMUS JUST WATCH WE WILL NOT YIEALD TO NOBODY YOUR SOUL WE WILL TAKE

by ThaRealTruth on Nov 17, 2011 6:31 PM EST up reply actions

also

though i agree with you on a need for a true #1/#2 WR type selection (steven may be a possession more than a go to guy, or if he is both, he can still benefit from a “field stretcher” …. but idk that i would go with

Just look at what Torrey Smith, even as a rookie, has done for Baltimore (though he can’t compensate for Flacco…ha).

because that guy has like barely 2 weeks of legit production, and the rest of the time he has been shut down. He had one week of 3 tds, and most weeks he manages only 3 total catches. He has as many TDs as Steve, but he is also not getting as much attention, because he has Boldin drawing coverage too. Basically, he isn’t even Nelson.

ABAYARDE IS NOSTRADAMUS JUST WATCH WE WILL NOT YIEALD TO NOBODY YOUR SOUL WE WILL TAKE

by ThaRealTruth on Nov 17, 2011 6:38 PM EST up reply actions

#1,#2,#3,#4,#5!

What we lack is production, move them all around until we find something that works. We can still make the playoffs, but not if we don’t make some successful changes quickly! If Akin is another slot reciever that has special teams potential cut him now we have enough of those, and now that we need one of them to step up their just not good enough, not their position isn’t a strong enough excuse. If their tall enough move them to defense let’s get ahead of the curb DB skills are overrated the new way to defend WRs is to have someone who can run with them and compete for the ball at the highest point, heck most of them can’t tackle, they hit with their pads or helmets, they don’t rap up. which is all the more reason we should throw to our tall recievers even when they appear to be covered, unless it’s against Revis.

by atsnigduh2u on Nov 15, 2011 8:05 PM EST reply actions