vincec

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.

It's preseason. The refs aren't really trying so it doesn't mean anything. They will turn it on and be great once the regular season starts.

Haven't you heard, when the Bills play poorly in preseason or training camp then it doesn't mean anything but if they look good then it's an indication that they are going to make the playoffs this season.

What this nonsense again? The other team was trying to play well and the Bills weren't? The same as last week when the Redskins were blitzing and trying to make plays while the Bills were just going through the motions content to get their butts kicked? If the starters on a team that lost 8 out their last 9 games and hasn't had a winning season in over 10 years don't think it's important to try hard and show improvement in the time they are on the field then the Bills are in even bigger trouble. I'm fairly certain that the Bills starters were putting in a strong effort. They just got their butts kicked again.

I'm sure that you will help to keep things in perspective.

I don't know what Troup's propsects for recovery are, but he sure sounded discouraged about them. Chronic back problems don't just go away, take it from me, and I don't have 300# guys slamming into me. I think he's probably done with the Bills. In other news, I though Heard looked pretty good against Washington. He definitely made a better impression than Carrington to me. I think the 9th DL spot is between him and K Moore. I'm actually the most interested in what happens with Lindell v Potter. I have a feeling that if Potter hits his field goals during preseason that the Bills may cut Lindell rather than keep 2 kickers.

More unbiased commentary?

Well put.

I am not convinced that the Bills are going to keep both Potter and Lindell. Potter has been very accurate with his FGs during camp and if we start seeing him hitting field goals during the preseason games I think that there's a chance that Lindell could be gone.

This sums up my view as well. I will never forget Christie hitting the clutch 40+ yard field goal at the end of the playoff game in Tennessee, in the sleet and wind, to snatch a very emotional win against the Titans. Then of course...