Coach55

OK - Last year when McKelvin came on the scene, they put him in as the starting KR since McGee was the starting CB. My personal opinion is McGee is a better return man. Now that both McKelvin and McGee are both starting, shouldn't they both split return time? Even better, why can't Roscoe Parrish return kicks - why should we be risking our starting secondary when you have the NFL's most prolific punt returner who is your #4 receiver on the bench?

As much as can be said about McKelvin's fumble, we had plenty of drive killing drops and penalties that could have resulted in more points for us, keeping the offense on the field and the defense more rested. Drive 1: (3 plays, -2 yds, punt) Drive killer 1: 21 yd pass to Reed negated due to illegal formation (3rd & 7). DK2: Fred Jackson drops a sure 1st down pass (3rd & 12) Drive 2: (6-68, TD) - good drive Drive 3: (5-17, Punt) - T.O. drops a sure 1st down (3rd & 5) Drive 4: (5-17, Punt) - Evans drops a sure 1st down (3rd & 10) Drive 5: (4-27, Punt) - Poor drive execution - Holding penalty by Bell and Drop by Nelson, but good defense on 3rd & 3. Drive 6: (7-42, FG) - Bad Sack, but good 16 yd pick up on 3rd & 20 to get a makeable fg Drive 7: (14-62, TD) - Good Drive Drive 8: (5-35, Time Expired) - Bad sacks. Of the Bills 8 drives, 3 ended in points and 3 ended due to drops. Take away the drops and who knows what could have happened. All in all, the offense moved the football well and Edwards was able to find the open man. These guys have to catch.

Anyone else find the 8 linemen they kept quite interesting. Assuming the starting five are Walker, Levitre, Hangarter, Wood and Butler that means they have 2 back-up tackles and 1 back-up interior lineman. Which gives me reason to believe you are going to see a different set of starters opening day. I think you are going to see Bell, Levitre, Hang, Wood and Walker as your starting 5. This way Butler is your swing guard and Scott is your swing tackle with McKinney as a utility guy. It doesn't make sense otherwise. Why would you leave only 1 backup to cover 3 positions, as Scott and Bell are pure tackles?

What happens to the open roster spot for the next 5 days?

Nobody really watches football outside this country.

OK. Here goes: 1. Week 1 - DJ decides to spread the field and the Bills pull a 4th quarter final drive comeback upset, shocking the country. All preseason beliefs of Trent Edwards are quickly forgotten and Fred Jackson goes for over 150 yards of total offense 2. Thru Week 3 Jackson has amassed over 400 yards of offense. In Week 4, Lynch returns to rush for 30 yds on 15 carries and drops a pass. The Bills fall to 3-1. Fans are in an uproar, RB Controversy begins. 3. By week 8, Shawn Nelson and Steve Johnson are both starting, supplanting Reed and Shouman. The larger receiving core has resulted in a devastating passing attack as the Bills are top 5 in the league. 4. Bills end up 12-4. Top 5 in overall offense. T.O., Eric Wood, Fred Jackson and Trent make the pro-bowl. 5. Offensive Line gels as sack total is top 5 in league. 6. Defense finishes middle of the road - 15th overall, top 10 against the run 7. Bills get knocked out in 2nd round of playoffs.

It has been repeatedly discussed that our secondary is above average in all material respects and that we are especially deep at corner. Everyone has been complaining that if we had a pass rush, that they would make more plays. Has anyone else felt that this really isn't the case and that our coverage has been servicable at best? Starting QB's this preseason have hit 73% of their passes, with all QB's averaging 66% of their passes. We have been particularly bad on 3rd down. I know that improving the pass rush will help these issues, but quite honestly the coverage hasn't been all its cracked up to be.

Does anyone out there feel that the coaches may not be stretching the field in the preseason intentionally, as to not show their hand?

This may give Stupar his shot against a first team defense. Good be blessing in disguise.

Just remember Marv was a sub .500 lifetime coach with only one winning season until the Bills started their run in 1988 (40-55 over 4 full seasons and 2 partials).

Actually - yes. If the Bills can stretch the defense, opposing teams will be less apt to blitz, making the overall line blocking easier.

There has been a lot of skepticism about TE's ability to stretch the field and that he is "Captain Checkdown". IMO, these arguments are valid. However, I think a lot of these issues stem from lack of confidence in his receivers. He doesn't seem to like to force the issue, as often he has gotten burned, which in turn has gotten him gun shy. In reality there is some truth to this. Last year, Lee Evans was double teamed often as other teams knew Parrish and Reed are #3's at best. Throw in the fact we had Mr Fumble at Tight End who was a drive killer, Trent's options were limited. As teams have recognized that the team throws short, they play tight coverage, exacerbating the need to check down. Insert TO. In the past 2 games, TE has been effectively using the same offense as last year, albeit we have an improvement at tight end. When you add TO to the equation, all of a sudden you are going to open up Evans dramatically, meaning TE will be more comfortable in throwing the intermediate routes. This will also make Parrish/Reed more effective as they will play better in the slot. Once TE gets more comfortable throwing the intermediate routes, his confidence will improve and he will be willing to take more riskier passes, which will in turn spread the defense, meaning the receivers will have looser coverage. In essence, you have a domino effect. His talent is there. If TO stays healthy, TE will go from Pop-gun to cannon relatively quickly. But QB is a confidence game and any doubt will kill him (case in point Rob Johnson).

The math is totally wrong. Per the link, thru 40 meters he was at 4.64 seconds. Assuming he was running the whole time at the same speed (which isn't the case as the last 3 yds would be the fastest), he would have ran a 4.24 40. Taking into consideration his reaction time of .146, he would have ran ~4.1 in an NFL style 40. Their calculations are massively off.

He's out with "I don't feel like playing the rest of the preseason" elbow.

Wasn't Coy Wire a captain as well? (may have been Special teams)

Why are they not trying this guy with the first team offense? He has been a consistant target of both Fitz and the Chroise. He clearly knows how to get open and he his hands seems solid. He is definately a gamer. Considering Fine and Shouman have shown nothing this pre-season, they should give him a shot. They have 2 more preseason games, IMO he has already made the roster, let him play with the first team next game. At worst, he stinks and goes back to #3, at best you have found a diamond in the rough.

Considering he was an outside linebacker, I don't see how he dominated the middle.

Something I have been thinking about for a while is if you analyze the Bills this year, they have some weaknesses, but no glaring holes. Most teams have massive problems at least on one side of the ball. If you think of our weaknesses, how bad are they really? - Keith Ellison - not the greatest LB, but he is a 3-yr starter. He is clearly the weakest position, but he has plenty of experience. Throw in the fact that Nic Harris is looking pretty good and Ellison will come out in Nickel situations means our exposure is minimal. - Offensive Line - Through 2 games, looked pretty good. I am more concerned with the Pass blocking than the run blocking as Edwards can't be left for dead, or we're screwed. This is still a big question mark, but given the nature of the offense and Turk putting TE into more 3 step drops, we should be okay at worst here. - Lack of Pass Rush - Schobel is back and Maybin is finally in camp. This should not be a problem this year. - Kyle Williams - People all wanted to bring in Henderson, but is KW really that bad? IMO he is fairly productive. Will he ever be an All-Pro, probably not, but would he start on at least half the teams in this league - probably. - Red Zone Offense - Add 6'2" Terrell Owens and 6'5" Shawn Nelson, problem should be solved. - Tight Ends - Robert Royal is no longer on the team, will be an improvement no matter who is slotted in. This position could have some surprising results given the rest of the weapons on offense. - Coaching - DJ has historically been a bad game day coach, but I think he may have learned from his mistakes. Throw in the fact that they are opening up the offense to utilize our weapons, we again may be pleasantly surprised this year. Bottom line - we do have weaknesses as does every team. But quite honestly, I don't think we have the glaring holes that other teams have (even the Cheats* have an extremely weak secondary) and as bad as our weaknesses are, they aren't really that bad. Keep this team healthy and I expect some serious fireworks this year...

Asterisk Please.

Andre Smith - Cinci plays at 1, SF at 4:15 and Buffalo not until Monday Night. All 3 will be active by opening game.

Congrats to the rookie who skipped his sister's wedding for a Bills tryout. http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-3...6e-b2b3d5c79a4a Edit - Sorry didn't realize there was already a post on this.

Throw in the fact he is late to camp, just starting to learn the playbook and is 64 years old - they may only go 8-8 (despite one of the easiest schedules in the league)

How about 17 games? http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/index.php?...c=89537&hl=

I like it.

Other than Maybin, the only two remaining players are Andre Smith and Crabtree. At this point, Maybin should have all the data points necessary to sign considering Raji was at 9 (5y/28.5mm) and Orakpo at 13 (5y/20mm) are comparable positions. His contract should come in at 5y/24.5mm. The fact that he is waiting for Crabtree is rediculous. Crabtree has all-star agent Eugene Parker who ruins players reputations as he lacks capable negotiating skills.