WhitewalkerInPhilly

I don't doubt that the players are doing better. The Graham article counts for a lot for me. I think our D scheme is still far from perfect, and Wanny should be kept on a tight leash, but I can't deny that Mario Williams is making the progress we were hoping he would. I remember people saying that we would be happy if he got 10 sacks, and already he's at 9.5. He's clearly turning the corner faster and is finally looking to be worth the money. We do have him locked up for a long time, remember? Meanwhile Stephon Gilmore is coming along nicely. We kept seeing him get beat consistently early in the season but I think he's been playing admirably against the opponents #1 receivers. So really, I don't know Wanny is doing anything, but we are seeing markedly better play, even against crazy good offenses like the Texans and Patriots.

I think he's promising and well, to be blunt, what really are our odds for the playoffs going forward? Considering that he was thrown into the deep end of the pool for his first start I think he did alright. I seem to remember Gilmore getting picked on early and often during the beginning of the season and he has come a long way since then. I'm still holding out hope that Aaron Williams can turn it around but to be honest I'm feeling better about our secondary than I did this time last season.

Seriously, where has this run defense been all season?

Is anyone else thinking "Hey, this is the D-line they promised us in preseason"?

I think this is a good point. Whenever someone comes off with a hot new defensive system it takes a while for people to catch up. For more recent examples, look how the Bills played for the first few weeks last season. We were lighting up the scoreboard until people figured out the best ways to make Fitz miss. We also had Tebow mania, which took a lot of people by surprise, but as the season closed you could definitely see that people were figuring him out. He's still playing better than Fitz though

Well, the title of "best O-line" is certainly a little bit subjective but I certainly believe that we are much better than the average rating we received in the beginning of the season in the previously mentioned article. (Ranked 13 out of 32) Yes, Fitz has been throwing short routes, but right now we are third in sacks allowed, third in rushing yards per attempt, and have helped Spiller to lead the league in yards per carry. With the exception of Pears, no one has played more than 5 years and Glenn has made Nix look like a genius and Mayock look like an idiot (not too tricky) so barring career ending injuries I think our O-line will be a tough unit for years to come. If we want to take a rookie QB and try to groom him for the future, the time is going to be at this next draft.

I don't think my screenname has ever been quite so appropriate. HE WON'T DIE! Ahahaha!

For this season? I highly doubt that's going to happen. I do think that Fitz' effort so far will quite possible have them looking around for the next QB to start grooming. I can see grabbing someone in the draft and trying to help Fitz teach him game management. I don't even mind that Fitz does't have a cannon, but you see him simply missing open men. He makes the right choice, but simply can't deliver.

In spite of all of my cynicism, I can't just throw in the towel this season. So we're not elite...I still think we're better than the Phins, and better than the jets without holmes and Revis. If we can beat the Titans and go 4-3 into our bye, we have an entirely winnable stretch of games to finish out the season. 10-6...chancy, but maybe.

As snarky as I want to be, it does give me hope that everyone in the division is having a hard enough time to all be 3-3.

But entirely ACCURATE! BYRD IS THE WORD!!!

That would be great. We could use everyone we possibly can for the Texans.

He does look like the future. He looked pretty good today running off of a banged up O-line and he knows routes well enough to be dangerous.

It's not a horrible call if your wildcat QB can make a decent throw. Brad Smith obviously can't. Kill. The. Cat.

As an argument against the "A quarterback can't fix a horrible defense" crowd, I would like to point out that the longer the offense is able to keep up sustained drives, the more time the defense has to rest. But we could have taken Luck in this draft, and our defense would STILL have taken a pound from the Pats and 49'ers. Whether it's more time needed for the rookies or a simple need for more talent, any team with a half decent offense has walked all over us.

I'm going to take a stab and say "Act of God"

Look, it's not over, but realistically speaking we're going to have to win at least three games in the division to have a shot. This means we're going to have to get those playing the Patriots at home, sweep the Dolphins, and win the last game of the season against the Jets, We have an incredibly tough looking two game road trip ahead and we'll be lucky to be 3-4 at the bye. Panic time? No. Time to get serious? Yes.

I know! I'm in Philly too and I thrilled I can watch it!

Mankins being out is big. Attack D-line, attack!

I can't say that this isn't the beginning. But the Patriots used to be a team that could be very good even if Tom Brady was out (See the 2008 season) But now, if Brady is out I don't see them doing it again. Brady, though a very good at reading a defense, and is now 35. Favre was pushing it at 40, and was first going to retire at 37. I won't say the Bills are going to take over, but I do think that something is coming down the pipe.

I'm entirely OK with trusting our O-line for once. Seriously, they've earned it. Last year, even with the injuries, they were good. This year they have Wood back and brought in Glenn who is looking like a STEAL. I don't want to tempt fate, but we've spent time and effort making our trenches better and it's starting to show.

I don't really get the "i want them to be fully healthy so we can beat them that way" attitude. We, quite frankly, would lose 9/10 times. MANY teams in the league lose 9/10 times when Tom Brady is on track and with all his receivers. I'll take whatever we can get and teams do as well. Is a O-line player hurting? Guess who you gun for. Is there a rookie cornerback? Guess who you're picking on. The entire game is exploiting your opponents mismatches while trying to minimize your own.

Dancer's hip? ... IT'S A LEGITIMATE CONDITION!

I can't believe that the transition from the (honestly weak) D-line last year and what we have this year is without Williams being added. Our numbers a little low from the fact that we laid an egg in Game 1, and in game 2 we got gouged in run yards since we played 1.5 quarters simply making sure the deep pass was gone. Up until then, there was no running game, and in Game 3 we shut down Trent Richardson. Now, you can argue that Anderson or the return of Kyle Williams is doing more, but I still think we have a formidable D-line and Williams is getting better every game he's back.

This thread is probably a lost cause, but if I make a new one it'll be closed in three posts... 1) Pressure on Brady! This is obvious, but it has multiple factors. If, indeed, Logan Mankins is not going to play, the Pats line looks surprisingly weak. After all, this is the group that allowed the Cards to push them around. If we can beat their offensive line with 4 playerss like Wanny likes it gives us two things A) Allows our young CB's support, especially while we're in the nickel, allowing us to double team Welker and B) Forces Gronk to block. Tom Brady had all day Sunday night, but Gronk only had three targets because he was blocking so much. All in all, that takes out Brady's receiving targets and gives us more flexibility to throw in a blitz every so often. 2) Keep the ball running. Yes, Fitz did a pretty good job through the air last week and had his second straight INT free game. But the quickest way for people to get him off balance is BLITZ, BLITZ, BLITZ! An effective run game, and screen game makes the Pats look, and will buy Fitz time. Now, we don't quite know how the injury status of our RB's is.Chan says Jackson should play, but how effective will he be? I don't want Spiller out there if we have a viable option by rotating in Choice and Freddy. After this, we go on a two game road slog against very strong defensive teams (Cards and 49'ers). If we're going to have a chance, both of them need to be healthy. 3) Keep the spread going The spread still plays to our strengths. Our O-line is looking A LOT better this year, but it still prevents teams from stacking the box. Spiller AND Jackson can take it through the middle now and if teams try to cheat, Fitz can audible in a pass play. With that, and a heavy dose of #2 we might actually stand a chance.