Inaccurate,... Nelson had just as many catches and more yards in his 5 games wth Hill, as he did in the 7 games he played without him. 5 games w/ Hill: 18 - 217 7 games w/out Hill: 18 - 206
There's a reason this guy was cut 15 times by the Bills. He's not that good. I don't know how he's worth 5 pages on this site, he should be nothing more than a tweet.
actually, nelson played seven games with hill and five games without him hill didnt finish the first mia game and then proceeded to miss the last four games of the season ... in those five games, nelson had 212 of his 423 yards on the season also, 80 of nelsons yards "with hill" came in the bengals blowout and most of those yards were in garbage time
so if he is such a bad WR option, why was Idzik content going into the season with Nelson penciled in as the starter?
Because it's year 2 of a rebuild. You take chances on guys when you aren't ready to compete yet. He finished strong last year, showed some chemistry with our rookie QB, there was no reason to not give him a shot. Unfortunately, he didn't get any better. Buffalo wasn't wrong. There is no such thing as Idzik groupies, and no he wouldn't have even if there were such thing as Idzik groupies. The answer is pretty simple and I stated it above.
There's not a single bit of what I said that could be considered backtracking. It's alarming to me how many people here have NO idea what it means to rebuild. Why did the ever-so-perfect Seahawks trade so much for Harvin? Why did they give Matt Flynn a huge deal? Why did they trade the farm for Charlie Whitehurst? Is that all backtracking too, or is it leaving no stone unturned when you're trying to build a competitive team? That just blew the minds of SOJFs.
So Buffalo was right to cut him over and over, but Idzik was also right to be content with Nelson as our starter heading into the season? got it. you are the definition of an Idzik groupie..
Let's try this again. I'll copy and paste for you since you seem to have missed it: He finished strong last year, showed some chemistry with our rookie QB, there was no reason to not give him a shot. Unfortunately, he didn't get any better. Buffalo wasn't wrong.
He did regress. something wasn't right with him this year, whether it was the illness, ankle, something else, or all of the above. Last year he wasn't spectacular by any means, but he was at least reliable. Not a terrible option for depth heading into the season, and a high character vet to boot. This year he just wasn't getting any separation at all, for whatever reason. It was pretty clear right from the preseason. But rather than moving on from him at final cuts, putting him on short term PUP, or just keeping him as a depth option, he was thrust into a starting role out of necessity. That necessity came due to not signing anyone else of value, signing Ford instead, and completely whiffing on a WR rich draft. That is on Idzik.
Going into training camp we had Stephen Hill coming off a good minicamp and 3 drafted rookies. Nelson wasn't projected to be the starter until the week before the season started.
What the hell was with this anyway? Nelson didn't even do anything in TC to actually deserve a spot no less a promotion. Anyway,.. As NotSato so eloquently put,.. C'est la Vie.
Well, I'm not sure they were thinking "Nelson should start" so much as "Oh my god Stephen Hill has looked so bad in live games this pre-season we cannot in good conscience keep him on the roster." That's just what I think though.
Let's not forget Idzik extended Nelson before the end of last season through 2015. Clearly they expected more from him going into this season.
He did not "finish strong" last year. His numbers in those magical Final six games were subpar at best. He did not even average 10 yards per catch.
That was misreported, he signed a 2 year contract when he first came aboard midseason. Many players who sign minimum contracts sign 2 year deals with nothing guaranteed.
