ColdBlueNorth

Interesting this year that the read-option offense was supposed to be all the rage yet like most offensive gimmicks - DC's have gone back to college, done their homework and have figured out ways to neutralize it more often than not. I think with mobile QBs the read option should always be in the mix, but relying on it too much sets your QB up for being lit up and injured. I am actually relieved that Marrone is bringing EJ along differently - making him learn to read defenses and go through his progressions. Rookies already have a tendancy to tuck the ball and run and I do not think they would be doing EJ too many favors in the long run by playing into that tendancy.

That's what I saw...and he has probably been coached to stick to the single-coverage on the outside as it is easier to read, but with the Jets not dropping anyone back into an underneath zone, and committing 8 men to the rush, the receiver with the middle route was open a lot. Not a terrible strategy with a rookie facing constant blitz and not that comfortable yet putting the ball up for grabs across the middle, but EJ has to give his outside receiver against man coverage a fighting chance with a better thrown ball. A draw or two, or some screen plays to slow that rush would have been nice

Has anyone bothered to look at the Titan blogs and articles? If they did they would see that they are full of complaints about Locker needing better protection from an o-line that has Womack and Levitre as their bookend guards. I am not saying that it was not a mistake to not address the guard position - it was, but paying Levitre the kind of coin the Titans did when he was nursing a bum knee does not make a lot of sense when rebuilding. The coaching staff did not seem to have much faith in any of our left guard candidates through camp. We will see...next year's draft DB, OL, TE, and maybe throw in a 2-gap wide body run stuffer to boot. Getting pretty tired of losing though, but we do not have that veteran all-star QB to hide all our team warts like NE does. No choice but to take our lumps, and hope the kid is not ruined before he finds his game.

I think the Bills had the same secondary coach forever who I personally thought was a contributing factor to our DBs being so um.... well the sucked. Finally get teams in a third and forever and they would just about always convert. Catavolos. He may have been a nice guy, but he was paid to put a better product on the field than what we had seen and with the number of high DB draft picks underperforming it was wise for Marrone to look under the hood to see what needed replacing. It is still early, but the new secondary coach seems to be actually coaching these guys up to play: http://www.buffalobi...a6-c711c617d7f3 Props to Donnie. **** Ooops just noticed that others had picked up on the coaching change - been harping on our old secondary coach for years.

I agree JR. The cause was believed to be a heart attack. He was just 45 years old and knowone is prepped to lose someone early like that. It was obviously a shock to Marrone and in his presser he talked about Rob keeping him grounded and upbeat as he worked to turn the Syracuse program around and what that meant to him. Coaching can be a thankless loney job when you are losing. At least there was a small silver lining of pulling out that win yesterday and if Marrone continues to shine in the NFL, Mr. Edson played a role in getting him there - not a shabby accomplishment.

Thought I would pay some respects. Love the win, but obviously tough on Marrone to keep focus yesterday after the loss of his close friend.

I have to agree with the mind-set that he is working to enforce. I paraphrase, but he said in his post game and mirrored it a bit in the locker room, "we don't have the mentaility of "wow, we were actually able to pull out a win", we hit the field expecting to win and should not be surprised when we do"... Too many years of desparation football that breeds dumb mistakes and a laundry list of games where the Bills were able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Gilmore - yes, Byrd, just wants nothing to do with the team - would rather have young guys eager to learn and contribute and take our lumps that someone souring the milk with a lot of bad attitude.

Bet the under.

I think it is the right approach with EJ. You have to build that confidence from the inside out so to speak with most rookies - keep the drops short and the reads quick so that he does not get pummeled into concussion land and throw in a few shots downfield to keep the defense honest. They are doing what they need to do to bring him along slowly and allowing him to lean on the running game and quick hook-ups. He does have to hit on those long ones when he takes them or he is just going to see safeties in the box and single coverage on the outside more and more. Sort-of what we saw with Fitz's inability to hit the long balls when the outside man is singled up - the noose kept tightening up and there were a lot more 3 and outs. I would like to see the TE's more involved in the passing game, but they are probably more focused on pass protection at this stage but the coaching staff will take more chances as we roll this year. Next year's draft will probably focus on shoring up CB, OL, and the TE positions unless some unknowns turn into rock stars over the course of the season. Trying to stay level and not expect too much - just want the kid to stay healthy at this stage of the game.

OK, I can't be the only comics geek that gets this x-men reference, and I do not understand why are boys are so brittle.

Well played Mr. Easley. A prime example to kids everywhere of perseverance.

Not so much - if anything the Manuel's injury just proves you need the depth at QB.

Not so much... Marv would not play him as he preferred his old vets being on the field and was very slow to work Moulds into the lineup. Different game now with free agency where wet behind the ears kids fresh out of college are day 1 starters more often than not.

B-U-S-T Nice to see that even the vaunted 49ers FO draft a 1st round dud now and then.

Exactly. One does not temp the fickle football gods of fate - especially if that someone is a Buffalo fan (foot in the crease, wide right, home-run throw-up, helmets go missing, perfect TD passes get dropped, Ralph fires the whole front office and hires the Walmart door-greeter to run the show,.... bad things happen). Facts like these should not be taken lightly

C'mon guys... how long have you all been following Buffalo teams? Run away!!! This has JINX written all over it.... Remember when the Eagles named themselves the NFL "dream team" - ended up a horrible nightmare team.

Folks say his agent is a POS because this holdout does not help the team and I think although most of us understand that players want as much compensation as possible, we are ultimately concerned about what the team does in the W/L column. No surprises there, or at least there shouldn't be. But the argument could be made that he is a tough agent just doing his job for his client and if we were professional athletes we would probably want him representing us as well, but in the case of Bryd he may be over-estimating his value in the new Pettine system. There is no way that Whaley is going to cave in on this either. I have a feeling that if he needs to he will be perfectly fine with Byrd sitting out and losing an entire year. Folks scratched their heads when the Bills went after two safeties in the draft in Jonathan Meeks and Duke Williams, and then they added UFA Dangerfield as well. Teams do not pick up 3 safeties as a contingency if they plan on negotiating more than they have. The other reason I do not feel that Whaley will bend is because if he does then the playbook for every contract-year player negotiation will be the same thing - holdout, holdout,..and more holdout.

Sorry to rain on the parade Barbarian, gotta go with this.

Lindell is a solid field goal kicker and should be picked up pretty quickly. Any team that has the luxury of keeping a kickoff specialist and someone for field goals will grab him in a heartbeat. For someone who perfected his craft in the swirling winds of the Ralph, he would be a rock-solid steal for any dome team.

I know it is just the second pre-season game, but Searcy just looks lost out there to me. Very slow to react and locate the play and we have been fortunate that everyone in front of him has been playing so well. I wonder if he should be with the "1's", or if they should just go with a youth movement and try out one of the rooks to see if he can learn on the job?

I thought EJ did well, and I would rather see a QB that is able to work within the system and not press for what is not there and make a lot of bone-headed mistakes. That (working with what the defense is giving) approach in and of itself is a maturation progress and bodes well for our young signal-caller. Many come in and throw the playbook away and try to impress their peers by doing too much. What some folks see as baby steps I see as a vanilla offense going up against a vanilla defense playing a lot of cover-2 with safeties over the top. The coaches wanted up-tempo, quick hits. The offense was designed to clear the short zones, isolate your primary receiver underneath against either a safety or a linebacker and take that 4-5 yard gain with whatever YAC they could get. What has worked for New England time and time again with Welker and their TE's should not be scoffed at. Even if this was not the vanilla preseason, the concept remains the same. That concept being that the underneath quick hitters work as long as your QB is able to hit the long one behind defenders or the soft spots between zones and make them pay if they start to put more players in a shallow zone and go man/press single coverage on the outside to bring more defenders into the box. A QB has to make them respect the big play. With the speed the Bills have at receiver on the outside, even if teams go man on the outside I would expect pretty significant cushions and easy yards on quick slants, comeback routes, and hitches this year. If our two outside speedsters make enough plays deep then things will really open up underneath for our inside receiver which seems to be Woods or Johnson, and it will free up Spiller for run and pass. It was Fitz's inability to connect on those longer passes that allowed DCs to simply go man on the outside on us and focus on taking away a lot of the underneath stuff.

"again" apparently in Louisiana. Drag racing and then making a high-speed run from the cops or some such childish nonsense. As I have mentioned before, he is the Eagles problem child now, but folks still talk of how the Bills lost a great one. http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/2417467

Not a bad move for ol' Bill... Tebow Is a good all around athlete and he probably knows the Jet's playbook inside and out. Also Tebow comes cheap.

Marv never ran an intense camp and gave the veteran players a lot of leeway when it came to off season OTA's, or what passed for OTA's back then. I do not recall Bruce ever holding out for more money than his contract stipulated...he just showed up at the last minute because he was one of the privileged veterans in Camp Marv. Peters demanded to be paid as the best rather than keep to the contract he signed, but the Bills already had a lot of money tied up in FA Dockery and Walker. The pro-bowl is probably one of the biggest headaches for GM's because a soon as a player wins that popularity contest they want more money than they are making. Jason came into the 2008 season after missing all of training camp completely out of shape and easily gassed and he was tied for worst in the league after giving up 11.5 sacks. I do not see how someone can draw a comparison between the careers of Peters and Smith - totally different and totally irrelevant.