vincec

I don't know if Jackson is any good, but I've seen enough to know that Young and Thigpen aren't. So as long as it's a 6th or 7th, I have no problem with it.

I'm still concerned with the offense, especially the OL, but I don't think that people here are giving enough credit to the Steelers. I mean, they had the #1 defense in the NFL last season and are among the best every season. The Bills starters made some plays, picked up some first downs and scored a TD. Decent performance, not great, but did you really expect the Bills to light it up vs Pittsburgh's defense?

Well, since Lebeau consistently has the best or among the best defenses in the NFL maybe the Bills should start copying what he's doing.

I wish that the Bills would've given Potter a chance to win the position outright instead on just being a kickoff specialist. He was kicking FGs very well from the training camp reports but it seems that they had decided before he even got there that if he was going to make it then it would just be as a kickoff specialist. Now the Bills are going to have to cut someone at another position if they want his leg on the team. Frankly, I'm not sure it's worth it. I don't think kicking it out of the end zone is such a big advantage to kicking it high and down to the 1 yard line. The Bills covered these very well last season and you always have the chance for a turnover.

Finally. I was starting to wonder if I was watching the same game as everyone else.

I say Gilbert, IF the Bills keep 9 DL. It may only be 8. I saw the Steelers go to max protections on that drive so the problem was that 3 WR were able to get wide open vs 7 in coverage or the QB was able to make great throws. If the Bills coverage can't hold up 7 vs 3 then they will have to start to blitz more, which Wanny does not like.

People have been picking on the DL for the pass rush "disappearing" during the long Steeler drive before half time but I remember several maximum protection passes vs 4 man ruses where the receivers still got wide open or Roethlisberger threaded the needle. That's on the DBs. You can't expect 4 men to beat 7 in protection quickly. You expect that 3 WR can't get open vs 7 in coverage. If the coverage can't hold up then the answer is to blitz to keep the pressure up, but usually when a team has to max protect vs 4 it's not good for their passing game.

The Bills have lost 8 of their last 9 regular season games and now 3 straight preseason games for a total of 11 losses in their last 12 games. I know these games don't count in the standings but it's hard to feel confident about a team when they lose every time they take the field (and often look bad doing it).

His draft record is not as strong as some people pretend but he has done a good job with free agents, IMO. I just don't see a strong MLB candidate on the roster right now. It's got to be a top priority come draft day.

The neck roll collars are the best. All the Bills need to do now is bring the grazing Buffalo back and they'll be all set. I suggest a red helmet with white Buffalo for maximum hilarity.

Strange that no one bothers to respond to the most informative post in this thread. Perhaps there's nothing you can say against the facts. History indicates that Wilson is a longshot. He may work out and I may hit the lottery, but I wouldn't bet on it and I certainly can't fault the Bills for not doing so.

What is Schoop?

Yes. The kickoff rule change last year to kickoff from the 35. The touchback rate is so high now that most teams just make you go 80 yards and eliminate the chance of a big return.

From the article: "when teams aren’t expecting it, the success rate averages 60%". Makes you wonder why we don't see it more often. The one I always wanted to see is when the kicker drills it at the nearest defensive player in the front line. If it hits him then it ricochets back towards the kicking team to recover. If it misses him then it skids into the second or third row and is like a squib kick with minimum loss of field position. I fear that this part of the game will be completely lost with the new kickoff rules. The only onside kicks will be at the end of the game when you need one to have any chance to win.

You would assume that it would have to be Potter. The kickoff team would be his and Lindell has the field goal unit. I do still want to see Potter kick some field goals in preseason because I would like the Bills to keep just 1 kicker if possible. Actually, it's higher than you think. I remember a few years ago hearing that it was like 1 in 4 or something.

Hank was good for a quote. That's about all though.

I never got that one. Germany won a lot on the road until they got to the USSR and Egypt vs the British- Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Poland, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Norway ... I mean come on, you can't win them all. My favorite.

Maybe I'm being unfair to him, but I tried to watch him whenever he was out there and it just looked very easy to handle him on the vast majority of plays. I believe that Wanny rotated him and S Johnson in with the Vikings first string offense still out there a little at they really got moved around. I don't blame him. He's playing out of position but with his age and being on the downside of his career I would really like to see a replacement on the roster.

That's what I hear from the training camp reports but he hasn't made a peep in either of the two preseason games and when Dareus and Williams have gone out the Bills interior run defense has gone out with them. If the Bills had any real prospects behind him I'd cut him in a second, but unfortunately Carrington, Troup and Heard have been unable to step up for various reasons so we may be stuck with him.

Did you read the article? Just asking.

I'd be down with this.

+1 !?!? The MLB on a 4-3 team did not even have an assist on a tackle? Wow.

I went back and re-reviewed the game. The Bills run defense in the first 3 Vikings drives when their starters were in was pretty good. They got gashed by Gerhart as you say but the other runs were handled pretty well. So I agree that things didn't break down vs the run until the backups started rotating in. Minnesotta did get a TD and two field goal attempts out of their three drives vs the Bills starters however so I don't see how you can say that "the defense wasn't that bad". Hopefully the underneath passing can be controlled a little better because they got roasted by it.

This. Don't worry though, it'll all be fixed when the Bills finally start trying. What is it that they say? The first step in dealing with a problem is to admit that you have a problem in the first place. I saw problems in the Bills run defense and their underneath coverages. Hopefully, the team is not in the kind of denial this board is and it working on fixing these issues instead of just waiting for the regular season when everything will magically be fixed.

Sheppard is the MLB now, not Barnett. Even though Sheppard hasn't shown anything, I think that Barnett is too small to play MLB. The teams future MLB may not be on the team yet. I think McKelvin has a ways to go to reclaim a starting position and Gilmore has played well for a rookie and will only get better. McGee can't stay healthy and may be cut outright but if not he is in a dogfight with Brooks for the nickel because Brooks has looked pretty good and, as a rookie, has a high upside. I think the DL is solid but I am concerned that there doesn't seem to be a run stuffing DT. I thought it would be Dareus but he is really more of a penetrator like Williams, IMO. With no run stuffer, everyone trying to penetrate on every down and a weak MLB this team will be vulnerable to the run. Think the Colts during the Tony Dungy era.