I broke down my warm fuzzies about Stevie yesterday, but really didn’t get into the football element of it. So..here goes…I still don’t like the trade. For starters, I think there is going to be A LOT of pressure on Watkins to preform right away and I’m not talking a 700 yard season. In this day and age where draft experts pump rookies up like they will be instant impact players, history shows it doesn’t work like that. I had the stat the other day and it is worth repeating: Since 1990, only 4 WRs went over 1,000 yards during their rookie years and only one of them (Randy Moss) dominated. It would have been nice if Stevie was still there as it would have been an easier transition for Watkins. It would have also opened up so many other options with defenses trying to decide who they should focus on in the passing game, especially since the Bills like to run 3 WR sets.
On top of that, the “win-now” mode I heard about 200 times on Thursday and Friday morning from the Bills doesn’t make sense when you trade Stevie for a 4th round pick in next year’s draft. How will that trade help us in the “Win-now” mode that we are advertising?
It just doesn’t add up.
Why did they trade him? I’m sure a lot of stuff will come out, especially with lamestreamers trying to pump the “Diva” act. If Marrone/EJ were bumping heads with Stevie, I want to hear specifics. I want to hear a story where Stevie didn’t want to go to practice because he was going to a photo shoot or he faked an injury or something over the top. So far, I’ve only read passe stuff like celebrations and being immature. That’s the same crap the lamestreamers preached in 2011, which I didn’t see a problem with.
I do think a lot of crap will get out, but I can see it totally being jaded and 1-sided. Some Lamestreamers are going to take the Bills side mainly cause Stevie’s gone and they have to find someway to keep face with the Bills. This always happens. When Vanek got traded, some chatter revolved around him not being in shape. Even when Lee Evans got traded, some chatter came out about him butting heads with Fitz/Chan. The Sabres made Chris Drury out to be a greedy son of a bitch. Even when Miller left, Paul Hamilton kind of crapped on him when he wrote his piece about Miller getting shelled against St. Louis about his mindset. Reporter/Team tend to find a lot of nuts when it comes to kicking a player in the nuts on the way out of town because the team doesn’t care if shit about a former player gets out. The team also may want to deflect the scrutiny they may go through after letting a player go, so, let’s just leak stuff out like its Titanic.
Still, even with my cynical approach towards the media and undying love for Stevie, I am curious to hear what happened.
The chemistry with EJ/Stevie could get brought up. Did they lack chemistry last year? At times, yeah. I did think they performed well together as Stevie had 17 catches and 2 TDs in their first three games. Those are Stevie numbers for the most part. Then, EJ got hurt two games later against Cleveland and the chemistry went downhill. Keep in mind that after week 4, they only played a full game together 4 times and that’s including the Jags Game where Stevie lost his mom the night before.
To me, saying they lacked chemistry has more to do with them not being on the field as much and the fact that EJ was a rookie than the guys themselves. You aren’t going to automatically have a Montana/Rice combo in 8 games when one is a rookie. Some on Twitter mentioned Stevie’s freelance route running and that I can totally see as being a problem. But, again, I think it takes time for a rookie and vet WR to get on the same page. Now, they may have told Stevie “You can’t run those routes anymore” and that could obviously lead to a problem that Stevie needed to bite the bullet on. Again, I’m just speculating.
There’s also Robert Woods. Maybe the Bills view him as someone who can break out. I’m pretty sure we know what we have with Mike Williams when he’s not getting hurt or getting stabbed (60 catches/6tds), but Woods’ ceiling still hasn’t been determined yet. For a 2nd rounder, you’d want him to start coming into his own this season. Maybe Woods will end up being better than Stevie this season and that’s why the Bills viewed Stevie as expendable.
I wonder how much will come out about Stevie’s workouts. I tend to feel something is up there. We all remember the silly-ass shitstorm that happened last year when a 3-time 1,000 yard receiver didn’t lift weights in the offseason. And what happened when he started lifting? It did nothing and he got hurt. I bet, and I’m just spit-balling here, there may have been some beef here. Marrone strikes me as a micro manger who is pretty much in the mode of “My way or the highway”. He always talks about “Getting with the program”…His program, mind you. Which is cool, you are the captain of the ship and you should have full command on where the ship sails. Stevie is an individual and I can see him saying “I’ve gotten by without doing your training, so, why do I need this?” Anyways, it is something to keep an eye on.
Like I said, for me to really turn on Stevie, I need specifics of what happened and not some white lamestreamer yelling to turn down the music or to get off my lawn. Outside of the TMZ stuff, the football field stuff still doesn’t exactly make sense to me. Hopefully, it will become addition by subtraction for the Bills, but when exactly has that worked out in Buffalo sports history?
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